I am a Christian and a wife and mother of three trying to live out God's purpose for my life. Our homeschooling journey was not a typical beginning. My husband and I had attended public school and had planned for our children to attend there as well. My oldest had attended a pre-k program at a Christian school to get him ready. It had been a bumpy start but he finally settled down and got used to it. When time came to tour the elementary school that our son was zoned for (which was known to be the best one in the county) we decided it wasn't for us. I was floored at what they had planned on teaching them in kindergarten and the learning environment was not inviting. We therefore decided to leave him at the private Christian school he was at and that is where he stayed until 3rd grade. By that time my middle child was ready for pre-k and I signed him up that year as well. Things went pretty well for him but my oldest through the years was bored and didn't want to go. He almost always got perfect scores and never studied. I tried talking with the teachers and they said there was nothing they could do until he got into the upper grades just to be happy that he was bright and "didn't need help." I was tired of paying big bucks for my son to sit and not be challenged so that is the year I took the plunge and pulled him out. It has been a learning road and I have spent many hours studying and learning what is best for my children. Everyone has a story and what works for their family. This blog is what has worked for mine. I hope that what I write will help others who are beginning or those who are always looking for things to help deepen their children's learning. Blessings!

Monday, September 2, 2013

2008-2009 Curriculum K & 3rd Grade


Kindergarten Curriculum

This was my first year of homeschooling and I was treading on unknown territory.  I was petrified so I contacted their old Christian school that they had been attending and asked what curriculum they were going to be using for my kids ages next year and that is where I began.  As you can see through the year I made some changes and for the following school year even more changes.

Language Arts – Abeka for phonics, spelling, and handwriting

Math- Started with Addison Wesley but he finished rather quickly and so we then moved on to Saxon K which was too easy so we finished up the year completing Saxon Math 1 (which I would recommend starting with)

Science – We started using Abeka for Science/History but was such a joke so he tagged along and participated in big brother’s science and history for the remainder of the year.  We also just ended up going to the library and reading about the topics that were supposed to be covered in the Abeka book but were just so simplistic and my kids found it to be boring.

History- Started with Abeka but ended up using books from the library to coincide with topics to be covered.  We focused on our state study, basic map skills, and famous people in history.

Health- Used Abeka and we did use this throughout the year but ended up finding more books at the library to add to it since it was too basic.

Art- Draw Write Now using various of their books

Music- Learning to read notes and playing the recorder

Computer- Working with Kid Pix program (my kids really enjoyed this and it was a lot of fun)

Bible- Used various books but focused on:  Salvation, Creation, Life of Christ, Studies on Samuel, David, Elijah, Esther & Daniel, also Parables and we memorized bible verses and songs



3rd Grade Curriculum

Language Arts- Used Abeka Basal readers, also read:  Little House in the Big Woods, Charlotte’s Web, The Whipping Boy, Winn Dixie, Farmer’s Boy & Pilgrim’s Progress (Abeka)

Grammar- Shurley English 3

Spelling- Spelling Workout by Modern Curriculum Press

Handwriting- Zaner Bloser cursive

Math- Saxon 3 & 54 (finished quickly and so we breezed through both)

Science- used Abeka’s text Exploring God’s World but was way too basic so we ended up adding more reading from the library along with writing reports and activities to go along with it. 

Health- Abeka’s Health Safety and Manners, again too simplistic so we added more reading using books from the library to add and go more in depth.

History- Used Bob Jones Heritage Studies 3 (hated it very boring) we ended up throwing it to the side and just used the ideas and went in depth reading books from the library as well. 

Art- Draw Write Now using various of their books

Music- Learning to read notes and playing the recorder

Computer- Working with Kid Pix program (my kids really enjoyed this and it was a lot of fun)

Bible- Used various books but focused on:  Salvation, Creation, Life of Christ, Studies on Samuel, David, Elijah, Esther & Daniel, also Parables and we memorized bible verses and songs

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