Well, here it is: my curriculum choices for 2011-2012. It feels so official to be posting it! Although I had made most of my choices a while ago, it's still difficult to list them out - so permanent feeling. But that's one of the wonderful things about homeschooling...if it's not working, you can always try something new! I think part of the difficulty I have is that there are so many good choices out there. Every time I chat with my homeschool friends I seem to come away with another great resource, curriculum, game, etc. We are so blessed to be homeschooling at time when we have so much available to us. Okay, here we go...
We will start with my oldest. My Little Buddy is entering 3rd grade this year - I can't believe it! This is his list:
Language/Reading: ABeka
Spelling/Vocab: Spelling Power (new for us this year)
Cursive: New American Standard Cursive Book 3
Math: ABeka
Bible: My Father's World Exploring Countries and Cultures & his AWANA verses
History/Geography: My Father's World Exploring Countries and Cultures
Science: My Father's World Exploring Countries and Cultures & Apologia Zoology 3
Art: I Can Do All Things & Global Art
Now my little Curly Girlie! She's entering 1st grade this year. This is her list:
Phonics/Reading: ABeka
Spelling: ABeka
Handwriting: ABeka (manuscript)
Math: ABeka
Bible: My Father's World Exploring Countries and Cultures & her SPARKS verses
History/Geography: My Father's World Exploring Countries and Cultures
Science: My Father's World Exploring Countries and Cultures & Apologia Zoology 3
Art: Usborne I Can Draw Animals & Global Art
And finally my Little Squirt. He is only 3, so we are doing a relaxed PreSchool year with him.
I am using Letter of the Week PreSchool from Confessions of a Homeschooler
I am also putting together several activity bags for him to keep him occupied when needed - more on this to come, hopefully ;)
And he will be learning his Cubbies verses this year.
Well, there it is, our list for the school year. That wasn't so hard. And I guess making my list didn't make it any more permanent than when it was just rolling around in my head! ;o I wish everyone the best when making curriculum choices this year!
Hi! I have been trying to find someone who has used My Father's World along with ABeka. Your blog came up during a google search. I have been using ABeka for the past few years and am currently still using it. I am wanting to use MFW for this next year, but continue to use ABeka for Phonics/Language and Math. We will be starting with the MFW Adventures for my 2nd grader and Kindergartener.
ReplyDeleteHow has it worked for you? Do you like using both curriculums?
Thank you for your reply.
--Gayla
Hi Gayla,
DeleteI'm so glad you found me! You are going to love MFW Adventures! I started with that one last year and history became my son's favorite subject. I can't remember my exact schedule from last year, but this year's schedule is working great for us. We do our ABeka work in the morning - total it takes us abou or 2 1/2 hours, including interruptions. :) Then we pick up MFW after lunch for another 1 1/2 to 2 hours, again with interruptions. :) I like breaking up our day, which allows me to take some time with my toddler and not feel like I'm throwing our whole schedule out of whack. Plus, the kids seem to respond better to doing schooling chunks, like this. Before, when we tried to do it all at once, it was overwhelming to them and sometimes me too!
I love both of these curriculums! Like you, I was already using ABeka and was fairly used to the structure of it. Adding MFW last year, was such a fun experience for all of us. I love all the reading - we'd snuggle up in our reading chair or on my bed and enjoy! I didn't always make my Kindergartener participate. Sometimes she played nearby and listened other times she's run off and play in another room with my toddler. I felt like her core subjects were more important. And I felt like adding Bible, History and Science was more important for my 2nd grader.
I hope this helps! I'd love to chat with you more. Feel free to join my site or to leave more comments. I pray you will have as wonderful of an experience as we did combining the two curriculums.
Andrea
Thank you. It sounds like your schedule is very similar to mine. We currently do our ABeka (Phonics, Language, Writing, Reading and Math) in the morning and then after lunch we do History, Geography, Science, or Art ---- whatever is on the schedule for the day. We seem to have quite a few interruptions as well, but we've learned to just go with it and it works for us. We also have a 1 1/2 year old so I too have to take time with him.
ReplyDeleteThank you for you reply. It has been helpful. I am really looking forward to using MFW Adventures next school year. I know my son is going to love it. We have used Galloping the Globe this year for our Geography/History and he has loved it. Actually, I have enjoyed it too. I'm relearning with them....so much I have forgotten!
--Gayla
Sounds like we have a lot in common, as far as homeschooling. I hope you'll follow me so we can continue to share ideas with one another!
DeleteBlessings,
Andrea
Hi Andrea,
ReplyDeleteWe are currently finishing up MFW Adventures for my 2 boys (K and 2nd) and I am trying to determine if ECC will be too much for my upcoming 1st grader next year. How did it work for you? I'm sure it's different being that you had a 1st grade girl, but I'd love to hear your opinion.
Christine
Hi Christine,
DeleteDidn't you just love Adventures?! We did!! ECC was quite a bit different and it took me a bit to get into the groove of it. But we enjoyed it once I figured out how to make it work for us.
For instance, I didn't follow the order of the week. The kids and I preferred to tackle it more by subject. By the end, I found it helpful to write the assignments down on index cards. Then I could grab the card and the one or two books needed for that subject, and head to the couch or wherever to do our reading. This felt much more doable for us, than trying to juggle a big stack of books along with the teaching guide, and trying to cover all those different subjects at once.
As far as your question about doing it with your 1st grader, it can be done. We had some struggles along the way, but my daughter definitely learned and grew from being included. She loved having her own notebook, eventhough I helped her with a majority of the writing early on. We also skipped some activities, or I would let her go play and I would do some one on one with my oldest. I would just pull them out of her notebook, if i decided to not have her do them (sometimes out of both of their notebooks) - lol!
They both loved the John 3:16 pages for each country. In fact, my preschooler was even interested in those, as well as the map and flag pages, so I was always looking for something else for him to color at the same time. This was also a great time to get lots of the reading done - while they were coloring. :)
We found Properties of Ecosystems to be the most challenging. But we stuck with it. I just kept it light, often just reading and discussing it the best we could. We would skip the worksheet or I would write it out very simply and they would copy. And you know, by the end, we were all understanding more. And they were assisting with the worksheet!
If it helps, when I ordered year 2 - Creation to the Greeks, I ordered 3 student packs. So my Kindergartener will be included. I know he won't retain as much as the older two, but he will feel proud to be included, he will be occupied (hence, I won't have to wonder what he's doing in the other room), and he will most likely amaze me with what he does learn!
Homeschooling choices are never easy. I pray that your decision will work well for you for this coming school year. I hope this helped a little. If you have any further questions, I'd love to help out.
Andrea