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Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Our Curricula Overview


If you wish to see it full size, click the picture.

Our mapped out curricula/subjects, some things are to be decided.
The curriculum does not dictate our homeschool, these are the tools we're using to accomplish our goals.
Which means just because we use the curriculum, it doesn't mean we're using it exactly the way the curricula creators intended. For example, we tailor Tapestry of Grace for us. Yes, I'm a tweaker.

About the curricula:

Our K-8 Science, see post here

Horizons Preschool: A complete preschool program that incorporates Bible, Math, Phonics, Handwriting, Social Studies, Science, Language Arts, arts and crafts, music, story times, field trips, and other exciting learning activities.
This complete curriculum contains 180 lessons within two Student Books, two Teacher's Guides, a Sing Along Music CD, and a Resource Packet, which contains basic flashcards and other manipulatives. See my post about Horizons Preschool
We've used this informally since Danny is attending a Montessori preschool.

The Harp and Laurel Wreath by Laura Berquist
Poetry and Dictation for the Classical Curriculum
This book contains poetry by Robert Louis Stevenson, Henry Wadsworth, Longfellow, Robert Browning, William Shakespeare, G.K. Chesterton, William Butler Yeats, Robert Frost and many others. The poems are divided by stages, Early Years, Grammar Stage, Logic Stage and Rhetoric Stage. Dictation exercises for Grammar through Rhetoric are included as well as addition memorization selections. In the Rhetoric stage poetry discussion questions are included with each poem (answers provided). This is an amazing resource for K-12 in regards to poetry.

Leading Little Ones to God by Marian Schooland
This classic devotional book covers all the bases for establishing a strong Christian foundation for your young ones.
Leading Little Ones to God uses simple, conversational language to discuss such matters as the nature of God, sin, salvation, the Christian life, the church, prayer and the Second Coming. This book contains eighty-six sections, each followed by discussion questions, a suggested reading, a hymn, and a prayer. We read the hymn as a poem but Sonlight aligns Sing the Word- A New Commandment CD, I think reading the hymn is enough.

We will follow this up by using Kenneth Taylor's books: The Right Choices; Big Thoughts for Little People.


Galloping the Globe by Loree' Pettit and Dari Mullins, Geography Matters
Word searches, mazes, maps and more…clues, puzzles, and animals galore! What an enchanting way to learn geography – a unit study/discovery learning resource entitled Galloping The Globe. This geography based curriculum is geared towards the K – 4th grade children. It can be used from 1 – 3 years and covers all 7 continents. Incorporating the student notebook approach, Galloping The Globe integrates 8 categories of learning activities: Basic Geography, People/History, Literature, Science, Activities, Internet Sources, and Bible. See more at Geography Matters.

Themes to Remember by Marjorie Persons
I have already posted about this, please read it here.

Sing, Spell, Read & Write
To come when we have the curriculum, possible 2009-2010 school year.

French Songs & Games
Our favorites are Lingua Fun French, Twin Sisters French, French for Children, Hop, Skip & Learn French, Bonjour Les Amis DVDs, and classic children's games using french words like Memory, Candyland and Chutes and Ladders.

Picture Study
This consists of using various children's art books that have the child look at a painting and either do a find/seek for items within the painting or offers questions that make a child look closer at a piece of work. We also have the game Art Memo (from RainbowResource.com) which is the game Memory but with art.

Fables, Fairy Tales and Folklore
Danny's kindergarten year will be filled with stories and we'll read through a few titles throughout the year and possibly into first grade:
  1. The Complete Fairy Tales of Charles Perrault
  2. Favorite Fairy Tales Told Around the World
  3. The Stories of Hans Christian Andersen: A New Translation from the Danish
and other books we have on folklore, American and otherwise.

Dinosaurs
In kindergarten, we'll learn about dinosaurs as Danny's interest takes us. We already have a lot of books, games and activities about dinosaurs that we'll use from a summer study Camille and I did.

Explorer's Bible Study
This is a non-denominational, yet thorough Bible study product, I've written about it here in more detail.

Language Lessons for the Very Young by Sandi Queen
This delightful introduction to the language arts is the answer to what our Charlotte Mason style customers have been asking for! Introduces a student who has mastered the art of learning to read to the skills of picture study, narration, copywork, poetry, grammar, capitalization, punctuation, and more - all with a gentle, twaddle free approach. Full-color fine art throughout makes this consumable book for ages 5-9 a delight for the eyes as well as the ears. A varied approach gives the student something different each day, alleviating the boredom that often comes with those repetitive, dry grammar books you'll find elsewhere. Perfect-bound paperback workbook offers 180 daily lessons - one for each day of the schoolyear. See it at Queen Homeschool Supplies *We are not using this as consumable and I am changing some of the exercises to better suit us. The only reason I'm using this is because it is the only product on the market like this for first grade that I know of that fits what I want for my kids.

more curricula information to come...



 

11 comments:

G said...

I love how simple and complete it looks mapped out that way! And that you make a point to say that this is a guide for you, not the be-all and end-all of your homeschooling journey.

Anonymous said...

Today must be the day for this, well in a way. I just put my grade 2 and PreK plan up today. I am glad to have it done! One less thing to think about all summer. ;)

Of course, because of my bad 'hopping' habit, we'll be school thru summer. sigh

Celly B said...

Jessica,
We will be homeschooling dd, 4 (she'll be 5 in September), and ds, 2, next year. It is awesome to see your curricula laid out! Thanks for sharing what you do!

Andrea said...

Oooo - I so love spreadsheets! They make me feel like everything is mapped out and a course is set! Nice work - you do such a great job considering all the course of action that is best for your kids!
Andrea

Kimberly Lottman said...

Jessica,
I always enjoy your blog, you are so inspiring!

Like you, I am on a journey to simplify our learning, return to Charlotte Mason's methods and a gentler way of life. I too am studying many of the books that you have mentioned, to guide me as I pray and plan for our little homeschool (1 dd, 8). You can follow along with me if you like, perhaps we could encourage one another. I have several blogs actually, but the two that chronicle this journey most are

The Child's Schoolroom
http://www.thechildsschoolroom.blogspot.com

and

In Beauty and in Grace
http://www.inbeautyandingrace.blogspot.com


Enjoy the journey,
Kim

Chris said...

Hi Jessica,
Looks like a plan! Good for you.
I did have one tiny suggestion--
I have a "thing" about art vs. craft for littles. Have you seen the little paperback book called Creative Art for the Developing Child? It is not a curriculum book, per se, but gives info in how to make an art program (creative, process-oriented art, not art history or crafts) for littles.Anyway, might be worth a look for Danny.
Just a suggestion!! You are fine!!!
Chris in VA

my5wolfcubs said...

I am working on the same thing! It is a process, isn't it? :)
Lee

Renee said...

As a new homeschooler, I have one question. I will understand if you don't have time to answer! I love Galloping the Globe. I was going to start it next year (my boys will be 1st and 3rd). But I see you only have it for one year in kindergarten. Is it really approp. for older kids? And can you cover the entire book in one year? Thanks! I'm a list-maker and visionary type of person, too. I love your chart!

Jessica said...

Yes! Galloping the Globe can be used for older children, we won't be using all of GtG in K, just what will be useful for Danny at the stage he'll be in.

There are 28 countries covered and 10 more in a Christmas Around the World section that covers the countries briefly so if you spent 1 week on each country and 1 week on the Christmas section, that would be 29 weeks of lessons. That could easily be extended by exploring a country more, gotta love wiggle room!

I think using GtG with an older child really makes the program shine but I wanted a world geography approach for K that would include books, recipes, maps and animals and GtG is perfect for that as well.

Galloping the Globe is for K-4th grade and Camille, who will be in 4th next year will probably want to do the lessons too. :)

Hope this helps!
Jessica

Visionary...yes, that's the PERFECT word, not loony or controlling, lol. Visionary. I like it. :)

argsmommy said...

Hi! I've been following your blog for a few weeks and I've already added it to my favorites. Last night I was working on some planning items, and was wishing for some help with poetry suggestions. I've never heard of The Harp and Laurel Wreath, but it seems to be exactly what I've been looking for. Thank you!

Kellie

Renee said...

Thanks for responding to my comment. I will take a long look at GTG next time I am at the Homeschool Bookstore. Again, I really appreciate your response!