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

2010-11 Curriculum 2nd & 5th Grades

2nd Grade Curriculum

  • Literature - Novels: Little House in the Big Woods, Velveteen Rabbit, Pinocchio, The Boxcar Children, Henry Huggins
  • Grammar- Shurley English 2
  • Writing- IEW (Institute for Excellence in Writing)
  • Spelling/Vocabulary - Spelling Workout C by Modern Curriculum Press 
  • Critical Thinking - Building Thinking Skills
  • Math- Saxon 3 
  • Latin- Song School Latin
  • Science- Weather unit (The College of William & Mary's Center for Gifted Education unit study on Weather)  & Noeo Science curriculum Chemistry and Geology as well as reading many books see 2nd grade reading list.
  • History- Studying New Testament and Ancient Rome & Greece using www.easyclassical.com curriculum which uses Veritas Press and Story of the World reading
  • Art- Drawing with Children & participating in a local art class 
  • Handwriting- Zaner Bloser Cursive 
  • Bible- We started reading the Bible through last year and this year we are finishing it up.  Also Memory verses we are memorizing and songs to go with out study.
  • Art- Drawing with Children & participating in a local art class
  • Music -  Taking private violin lessons.
  • Keyboarding - Starting to learn the correct fingering of the keyboard using various games and programs online
  • PE - Participating in UPWARD basketball and baseball for the county.

5th Grade Curriculum

  • Literature-Reading many novels and for many suing Veritas Press guides.  (Adventures of Tom Sawyer, The Hobbit, The Secret Garden, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory) Also using Jacob's Ladder Reading Comprehension Program (The College of William & Mary Education Unit)
  • Grammar & Writing II - Shurley English Level 6 & Institute of Excellence in Writing (2nd semester took an online course at www.veritaspress.com) To make sure he was ready for the next writing and grammar course.
  • Spelling- Spelling Workout F by Modern Curriculum Press and did use some of Spelling Power
  • Science-Physical Science using Plato Learning Science Cyber Ed curriculum which focused on:  matter, chemistry, energy, and motion. (Okay curriculum ended up not being a favorite for us) He also studied Chemistry and Geology using Noeo Science curriculum and many correlating read alongs with the unit.  We liked this curriculum pretty well but it has changed quite a bit since we used it so not sure what it is like as of 2013.
  • Critical Thinking -  Building Thinking Skills
  • Latin- Latin for Children B 
  • Math- Pre-Algebra We started using Thinkwell Math but ended up not liking it at all.  It just wasn't a good fit for my son and the way he thinks so about 1/4 of the way we gave it up and went back to Saxon.  He completed Saxon 76 rather quickly and then we just reviewed for the remainder of the year.
  • Bible- We started reading the Bible through last year and this year we are finishing it up.  Also Memory verses we are memorizing and songs to go with out study.
  • Art- Drawing with Children & participating in a local art class
  • Music - Continuing his study of the guitar
  • Keyboarding -  Working on correct fingering and the correct way to type using different games and programs
  • PE- Participating in UPWARD basketball and baseball for the county.


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