Curriculum line-up: 1st and 12th grades
I'm always skeptical about posting a curriculum line-up because it never stays the same. I guess it will be interesting to see how things develop and change through the year. If for no other reason than entertainment value.
This would be my oldest daughter, Dancer, studying the "required" courses like economics and government that she considers boring. When I suggested she looks like this when I put a book in front of her, she corrected me to say she loves books. So make no mistake there.
This will be her senior year, and she is so ready for school to be over. OVER. She will do half dual enrollment and half at home, more or less. Her schedule will look something like this:
Year-long, at home
American history with Fundafunda
American literature through VHG (which I'm teaching) using Excellence in Literature
Personal finance through VHG using Dave Ramsey's Foundations in Personal Finance
She is also still finishing up economics from last semester using Notgrass Exploring Economics
Fall, at the community college:
Culinary Fundamentals I (goes toward an associate's)
First year student success (required for certificates and degrees)
Pastry presentation and display - last class for Certificate in Patisserie
She should finish the certificate by December- if we can ever catch the head of the department so he can sign off on her petition to graduate. The deadline is already past, but we're hoping she can slide in.
In the spring, she'll continue her at-home courses and maybe take the Business Math at the college. We'll see when we get there.
Then, we have Gymnast. I always imagine our homeschool days would look like that picture, open a book and magic pours out. Unfortunately, I have a child who for some reason creates conflict where there really is none. I've decided not to fall for it. I succeed sometimes.
I have a curriculum line-up, sort of. I mostly have resources, and I pull what I like from them as they fit our needs.
That lovely imaginative book image above looks like this in reality:
Note the SERIOUSLY? expression on the child's face. That's Gymnast. But, give her numbers, and she's all:
In my ideal, I would create a curriculum based on numbers and science (there's research on that, by the way), and integrate writing in it. The reality is, I will probably use what I have and pull from it. (Hoping above all hope that it really works...)
What I have
Language Arts:
The Reading Lesson
All About Spelling 1- I have through level 4 from working with Dancer, so...
My Father's World 1st grade - I like the reading and phonics integrated into the Bible reading. This may actually motivate her more to want to read. She loves picking up Bibles and other large books and trying to read them. I love the Bible notebook to start writing. I used this with Dancer at this age and we both liked it and it worked well, which probably means that Gymnast will not like it, and it won't work. But, we'll give it the old college try, right?
Math:
Math Lessons for a Living Education 1 - it's what gets done here. I'm all for that. When she finishes 1 (she started in the spring), we'll move on to 2.
MEP - done for fun. My vision is a math lab once a week that will be a mix of MEP "puzzles," Singapore, and other math games. As I was going through my boxes of books, I found Games for Math!
Spanish:
La Pata Pita
Juguemos a Leer - I found it free! I've had the workbook forever, but I may or may not use it.
Cultures and Languages, er, social studies?:
This is a home-grown course using Children Just Like Me and other resources around the house and the library. I actually wrote a plan and everything! Gymnast is really interested in different people and is always trying to pick up languages or making up her own. We have fun pretending we are speaking other languages to one another. I'll continue to try to integrate German with her though, but we will learn simple phrases and greetings in some of the languages of the countries we study.
Science:
Interest-led, home-grown units I pull together with stuff I have on my shelves and the liberal use of the library. I like finding or making picture word cards of the topics so she can have little word walls. Maybe, one day, she'll use them to write.
Space, planets
Plants
Human body
Bible: Explorer's Bible Study
Character Study: A Hive of Busy Bees - Dancer even remembers this and likes it. I make a little beehive bulletin board and make bees with the attributes on them. It's pretty fun.
Art: Drawing with Children, and lots of creative materials available all the time.
Music: Music for Little Mozarts - I think she'll have fun with it. (Dancer did.) I have the stuff for level 1. Thank you MyBlessings4!
I keep saying I'll use things off my shelves. That's because my shelves (er, house) look something like this:
Ok, maybe not. I set up a book and curriculum swap for next week and I'll hopefully get rid of some stuff. I don't see the point in holding on to so many books. It would be different if I had children in between Dancer and Gymnast, but I don't. With an 11 year gap, it's really hard to see that I'll possibly use the same curriculum. I say that, knowing I'm using the exact kindergarten and 1st grade curriculum I used with my oldest. I mean, the exact. Not that I sold it and repurchased. These are the manuals I used with Dancer. I even have student sheets to go with them.
But, never fear. There are plenty of books that I purchased and never used with Dancer because I didn't like them, and those are the first to go. I may actually be able to free enough shelf space to put the other five boxes of books on them.
Not that I've committed the highest level of book sacrilege, I'm going to bed.
DANCER
This will be her senior year, and she is so ready for school to be over. OVER. She will do half dual enrollment and half at home, more or less. Her schedule will look something like this:
Year-long, at home
American history with Fundafunda
American literature through VHG (which I'm teaching) using Excellence in Literature
Personal finance through VHG using Dave Ramsey's Foundations in Personal Finance
She is also still finishing up economics from last semester using Notgrass Exploring Economics
Fall, at the community college:
Culinary Fundamentals I (goes toward an associate's)
First year student success (required for certificates and degrees)
Pastry presentation and display - last class for Certificate in Patisserie
She should finish the certificate by December- if we can ever catch the head of the department so he can sign off on her petition to graduate. The deadline is already past, but we're hoping she can slide in.
In the spring, she'll continue her at-home courses and maybe take the Business Math at the college. We'll see when we get there.
GYMNAST
Then, we have Gymnast. I always imagine our homeschool days would look like that picture, open a book and magic pours out. Unfortunately, I have a child who for some reason creates conflict where there really is none. I've decided not to fall for it. I succeed sometimes.
I have a curriculum line-up, sort of. I mostly have resources, and I pull what I like from them as they fit our needs.
That lovely imaginative book image above looks like this in reality:
Note the SERIOUSLY? expression on the child's face. That's Gymnast. But, give her numbers, and she's all:
In my ideal, I would create a curriculum based on numbers and science (there's research on that, by the way), and integrate writing in it. The reality is, I will probably use what I have and pull from it. (Hoping above all hope that it really works...)
What I have
Language Arts:
The Reading Lesson
All About Spelling 1- I have through level 4 from working with Dancer, so...
My Father's World 1st grade - I like the reading and phonics integrated into the Bible reading. This may actually motivate her more to want to read. She loves picking up Bibles and other large books and trying to read them. I love the Bible notebook to start writing. I used this with Dancer at this age and we both liked it and it worked well, which probably means that Gymnast will not like it, and it won't work. But, we'll give it the old college try, right?
Math:
Math Lessons for a Living Education 1 - it's what gets done here. I'm all for that. When she finishes 1 (she started in the spring), we'll move on to 2.
MEP - done for fun. My vision is a math lab once a week that will be a mix of MEP "puzzles," Singapore, and other math games. As I was going through my boxes of books, I found Games for Math!
Spanish:
La Pata Pita
Juguemos a Leer - I found it free! I've had the workbook forever, but I may or may not use it.
Cultures and Languages, er, social studies?:
This is a home-grown course using Children Just Like Me and other resources around the house and the library. I actually wrote a plan and everything! Gymnast is really interested in different people and is always trying to pick up languages or making up her own. We have fun pretending we are speaking other languages to one another. I'll continue to try to integrate German with her though, but we will learn simple phrases and greetings in some of the languages of the countries we study.
Science:
Interest-led, home-grown units I pull together with stuff I have on my shelves and the liberal use of the library. I like finding or making picture word cards of the topics so she can have little word walls. Maybe, one day, she'll use them to write.
Space, planets
Plants
Human body
Bible: Explorer's Bible Study
Character Study: A Hive of Busy Bees - Dancer even remembers this and likes it. I make a little beehive bulletin board and make bees with the attributes on them. It's pretty fun.
Art: Drawing with Children, and lots of creative materials available all the time.
Music: Music for Little Mozarts - I think she'll have fun with it. (Dancer did.) I have the stuff for level 1. Thank you MyBlessings4!
I keep saying I'll use things off my shelves. That's because my shelves (er, house) look something like this:
Ok, maybe not. I set up a book and curriculum swap for next week and I'll hopefully get rid of some stuff. I don't see the point in holding on to so many books. It would be different if I had children in between Dancer and Gymnast, but I don't. With an 11 year gap, it's really hard to see that I'll possibly use the same curriculum. I say that, knowing I'm using the exact kindergarten and 1st grade curriculum I used with my oldest. I mean, the exact. Not that I sold it and repurchased. These are the manuals I used with Dancer. I even have student sheets to go with them.
But, never fear. There are plenty of books that I purchased and never used with Dancer because I didn't like them, and those are the first to go. I may actually be able to free enough shelf space to put the other five boxes of books on them.
Not that I've committed the highest level of book sacrilege, I'm going to bed.
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