2010 - 2011 Curriculum Choices

I finally have all my books for this coming school year in hand or on the way.  Thank you Lord!   Here is what I am planning on using this coming school year:

These are the subjects that we do together as a family:
Bible/History
This will be our 3rd year with My Father's World (MFW).  Bible and History are pretty much woven  together.  We are doing Creation to Greeks this year, which means that we are going to be starting the actual history part of MFW's 5 Year Cycle (last year we did Exploring Countries and Cultures). I am very excited about this because I LOVE HISTORY!  Unfortunately, I did not have this same enthusiasm when I was in school, otherwise I would probably not have spent most of my summer in summer school studying US History.   Aren't you just so thankful for the ways God grows us.  Ok, moving right along....We will be studying the Old Testament, using our Bible and Victor Journey Through the Bible.  We will also be using Ancient World and Streams of Civilization: Volume I for our history resources.  MFW also gives a WONDERFUL list of books to read each week to go along with our weekly topic  They suggest that you allow the kids to read these alone, BUT I have to admit I kinda get my little feelings hurt when they read them with out me.  I really enjoy reading these with them! 

Keys for Kids is little devotional that the kids and I have been enjoying for a few months, I think we will continue this even if we just listen to the audio version during lunch time. 

We are also going to be trying out Mystery of History I - Creation to Christ and the 1st Quarter Folder book that goes with it. 

MFW & MOH are both stand alone curriculum for history, but I am hoping to kinda of intertwine the two.

Science
MFW has us studying creation and the pyramids for science.  We will be using Genesis for Kids for experiments, Dinosaurs of Eden for creation studies, Pyramids to study the science aspects of the pyramids and Archimedes and the Door of Science for ancient Greek sciences.

  

Health
For Health we are going to be reading Prudence with the Miller and working thru the workbook that goes with it.  We are also going to be reading thru a great set of Health readers called How Your Body Works,  Gareth Stevens Publishing.

Music
We will be studying music from Vivaldi, Bach, and Handel. 

Learning hymns and Lord willing, Lil Chef, Computer Girl, and Alpha Boy will all be joining the children's choir at church this year.

PE
This is very non stress for us.  When it is nice out, the kids go run play, jump on the trampoline, ride bikes, race, play tag, etc.  When it is too cold or just not nice outside  I have a few exercise videos they do like
Denise Austin's Fit Kids, Walk the Walk and we even have a really old Tae Bo by Billy Blanks

We also have a Smart Fitness CD by Kimbo that the kids really enjoy.  You will be hearing more about this soon as a review.

Foreign Language
You may remember that we reviewed Olivita Oink's Bilingual Barnyard, well the kids really can't get enough of this SO we are going to be working on this again this year.

We are also going to be starting English from the Roots Up along with MFW.

Art
For art the kids each have a workbook from Abeka, because they really like them. 

I also am going to have the girls work thru Draw & Write Through History. They will be drawing for art and making their own pictures for their history notebooks.

We will of course be doing lots of other fun artsie crafty things too!

Family Read alouds
This could probably be a post all by its little self.  I love books, possibly more than I love crock pots!  I have a weakness for them to be honest.  I have "planned" several books for us to read this coming year, hopefully we will get thru them.  Here they are:

• Treasures of the Snow by Patricia St. John
• Star of Light by Patricia St. John
• The Tanglewoods' Secret by Patricia St. John
• Summer with the Moody's by Sarah Maxwell - this the 1st in the series,  we are currently reading it.  the kids LOVE it!
• Autumn with the Moody's by Sarah Maxwell
• Winter with the Moody's by Sarah Maxwell
• Spring with the Moody's by Sarah Maxwell
• Grandpa's Box by Starr Meade
• Pearables Vol 1-3
• Hero Tales Vol 2 by Dave and Neta Jackson - we read Vol 1 last year and really liked so I hope to read Vol  2 this year.

These are things that the kids do separately from each other:
Math
Still thinking and praying about Lil Chef's math this year.  We have Math U See's Delta program which focuses on division and we have Mathematical Reasoning Level E from the Critical Thinking Company that we have been reviewing.  Not sure which we will stick with this coming year.  I think I am leaning towards the Critical Thinking math book

Computer Girl is going to be doing Arithmetic 2 and Math Drills from Abeka. 

I will be having the girls using different things to practice their math facts like, Hot Dots Flash Cards, Learning Wrap Ups, Time Tales and online math games.

Language, Phonics & Spelling
The Lil' Chef is going to be using Language B from Abeka, which I found at a used curriculum fair for only $2!!!  I was super excited about this one!  She is continuing with Abeka Spelling for grade 5.

Computer Girl will be using Letter & Sounds 2, Spelling 2 and Language 2 all from Abeka.

I know that alot of people dislike Abeka BUT I feel Abeka has a very strong Language Arts program and produces excellent readers.  I do not however do everything in the teacher manuals, we generally just use the workbooks and sound charts.

Handwriting
Normally, I use Abeka for handwriting but I am reviewing Peterson Directed Handwriting for Cursive for the TOS Crew so we may stick with that.

Reading
I go back and forth  with reading.  Sometimes we do the Abeka readers and sometimes I let the girls pick books that interest them.  This year I am going to do the same.  I really want Lil Chef to read the Noah Webster reader from Abeka and Wisdom and the Millers but other than that I plan to be flexible. 

For Computer girl, she will work in the 2nd grade Abeka readers plus she is going to work on these Bible Phonetic Readers that I ordered her.

Pre K Stuff
Last but not least Alpha Boy, he is going to be working on Hot Dots Jr Cards, Letter of the Week from Confessions of a Homeschooler and ABC & 123 from Abeka.  I am really just going to focus on our letter sounds this year.  He will also follow along for Bible, PE, Music and Art.  He also hangs a bit with us for Science and History. 

Workboxes
We are definitely sticking with our workboxes this year.  They have really helped us to stay on top of things and be more orderly.  We do it a little differently than the Workbox System book.  She has lots of great ideas in the book but we pretty much just work thru our boxes 1-10.