Homeschool Curriculum 2013-2014

WOW!!! This is my first FULL year to homeschool my 3 babies!! YES, THREE!!!!  Sofia will be playing around with some sensory activities, using Explode the Code Workbooks (per her request! LOL) and sitting in with us during our Read Alouds, possibly with some of our MFW stuff as well as working on freebies from Confessions of a Homeschooler's Blog too.  She wants to do EVERYTHING the other two are doing of course so I *had* to set her up in our school room too.

I have so much to blog about but in my attempt to minimize my computer time for the next month, I'm just going to quickly post what we decided to go with this coming year.  Hoping to get back into blogging more this fall for sure.

So.....let's start with Math, my personal favorite!

Adrianna:

This is an area she was really struggling with when we pulled her out of Public School, but we made some big leaps last spring.  She did not like Math U See so we are trying Teaching Textbooks 4 this Fall.  She liked the sample lessons so we are BOTH excited to start and THAT is huge for her. 

Christopher:

We started the spring with Horizons 1 but he did not like sitting still to do worksheets so we started Math U See Alpha and it was a HIT with him.  He loved using the blocks and math seems to come very easily for him. We will be moving on with Math U See Beta this Fall as well!

Adrianna:

While we liked Easy Grammar last year and I feel like we did fill in some gaps, we are going to go with Learning Language Arts Through Literature for 5th grade.  After lots of research and help from friends, I feel really good about this decision!  I will be supplementing with daily cursive practice, Daily 6 Trait Writing,Spelling and Vocabulary as well.  This is an area I have never really "loved" but she does and THAT excites me!

Christopher:

We tried First Language Lessons for The Well Trained Mind last Spring and it bored the heck out of me.  It isn't my style teaching or a good fit for Christopher's learning style either.  We are switching to Growing with Grammar this year. He is a GREAT reader and loves to do so, therefore our focus will be more on reading, reading, reading and less on actual "handwriting" for now since that is an area he HATES!!  We will work on fine motor skills in other fun ways this fall and re-evaluate in Spring.

Bible, Geography, Science, Art, and Music

I am THRILLED to say we are using My Father's World Exploring Countries and Cultures this Fall!  I was able to buy most of it used from a friend and filled in the gaps with the consumable stuff at half the price of what the Deluxe package would have cost me! YES!!!

I have researched and researched and researched and JUST. CAN'T. WAIT. to begin!  I have friends that are also starting this fall and friends that have completed it already so support is something I definitely have moving into this school year.  YIPPEE!!!!!!!!!!

We will also continue with Adrianna's piano lessons this fall. Christopher will begin learning the basics as well, just haven't narrowed that down yet, LOL.  That is my final "To Do" for the fall school year.  

Adrianna loves to cycle and is starting to run too after doing summer track so I will continue to nurture that with her.  Christopher will be starting Swim Team next month too, that boy needs to get all of his energy out!  

The academic stuff was Priority Number One for me to have completed by the end of July and I'm happy to say I DID IT!!!!!!!!!!  I just purchased a new magnetic, dry erase calendar and received my new Planner too.....

TA-DA!!!!!

Let's the planning begin!!!  We are off to our Summer Beach Trip on Thursday and then it's down to business!  When are we starting?  I'm not sure yet.....but it will be soon!