With all of this glorious hot weather & these lazy pool days, I really don't want to start thinking about school. But C'est la vie. Think, I do & plan, I must soon.
So let's talk about what curriculum choices we will be using for the upcoming year.
Let's start with the obvious here. This will be our 4th year with Tapestry of Grace & Story of the World. Do you KNOW what that means? (come on history cycle users, help me out here...) I DON'T HAVE TO BUY HISTORY ANYMORE!!! **happy dance**
That's right TOG is on a 4 year cycle. So next year I start back with teaching year 2 (which I have already purchased!) Oh, don't worry, I'm sure I will find something to use that , um, extra money on.
We love using TOG. I even found the Pop Quiz CDs at The Homeschool Gathering Place while we were in Raleigh last week. WE have also been blessed to be able to get copies of SOTW on CD. This is a great alternative to me having to read everything!
We will continue memorizing important events in history with the timeline cards by Veritas Press. This is a fun way for the kids (& myself) to remember those events. And you WILL be amazed at how much they learn!
Since we are studying Ancient Rome, Ancient Egypt, & Bible Times, I picked up a few art books to go along with it. Draw and Write Through History is filled with art lessons, information, & copywork. They have 6 different books that cover the different eras through out history.
The next easy choice was science. We LOVE Apologia Science. It is one of the few Creationist curriculums out there. I let the kids choose between swimming creatures & land animals this year. They were both good choices, but swimming had my vote as well.
I don't personally use the notebooks. Austin hated it the first year & Makenzie really isn't old enough for it yet.
Hold up! Before you ask. Yes, this is the same Latin that we used last year. Unfortunately Latin wasn't a priority for us last year, so we didn't learn much. Oh well. Let's try it again.
Austin will continue using Teaching Textbooks this year. He still has some of 6 to complete, then he will start on 7. Makenzie will work on Horizons 2. We have never used Horizons before, so we will see how this goes.
We will go back to Easy Grammar with Austin. Learning Language Arts Through Literature just wasn't working for us. He will finish Daily Grams 5 because I didn't enough difference in the 5 & 6 books. Besides he still had plenty of lessons left in 5 to complete.
He will also complete the second half of Jump In by Apologia. This is meant to last over 2 years. I am sort of on the fence with this one. I haven't seen much improvement in his writing this year, but I hate to just give up. I am still praying about Institute for Excellence in Writing's Bible Based Lessons. We tried IEW a few years ago, but he resisted so much. It was our first year homeschooling & I was really trying to pick my battles. IEW was not one I chose to fight over, so we dropped it. I wonder now if he really disliked it, disliked writing in general, or was just pushing my buttons. I don't have a clear answer yet, but I can't get it out of my head, so don't be surprised if we switch to that.
He is also using Wordly Wise 300 again this year. Last year was the first time we used it and he didn't fight it much, so that's a good thing!
Makenzie will be using All About Spelling & All About Reading this year. These are both BRAND NEW to her & me too! (I'm scared! They look so intimidating!) She is still struggling to read, so pray for us both!!
Austin has used Explode the Code before & enjoyed it so I thought I would try it with her this year. They even have an online version that I need to look into.
I have a generic 2nd grade work book for her. She seems to like those. I also found an easy writing curriculum to introduce her to the concept.
So, there you have it in a nutshell.
