Month: January 2019

My oldest daughter will start high school this fall!!  Cue the record keeping, transcripts, credits, and so forth.  I think we’ve got a good start lined up for ninth grade.  I’ve pulled from Heart of Dakota and other curriculums and curated what I think will work best for us.  New this year, Lucy will be taking an online class through Saint Raphael School.  Having discussions with other Orthodox kids and the teacher will be good for her, especially since she isn’t working alongside Julia as much.

*I wrote this in the spring as I worked on planning.  A few things changed along the way and as we got started I changed a bit more.  Added those changes today (October).*

9th grade – Lucy

History and Literature – St Raphael Orthodox School online (2 credits)

Science – PAC Integrated Physics and Chemistry (1 credit)

Math – Teaching Textbooks Algebra 1 (1 credit) – switched to Unlock Math

Grammar – Fix It Grammar

Spelling – Rod and Staff 8

Writing – Institute for Excellence in Writing Student Writing Intensive C, using Help for Highschool from Bravewriter instead

Spanish – Lifepac Spanish 1 (1 credit)

Piano – (1 fine arts credit) 

Ballet – (1 physical education credit)

Art – Sketchbox combined with some lessons online (1/2 credit)

Logic – The Art of Argument (1/2 credit) took this out for now, it was too much for her.  Not sure if we’ll add the business course in the Spring or not:

Intro to Business – Whatever Happened to Penny Candy, Usborne Understanding Business, Common Sense Business for Kids (second semester, 1/2 credit)

Over the spring/summer we plan to listen to audio CDs of Story of the World 4 because we’ve just never gotten to much modern history.  Lucy also just started typing lessons online and will continue those over the summer.  (We didn’t get this done!  Lucy did request that I buy Mystery of History book 4 because she enjoyed reading book 3 last year.  She’s reading through it on her own.)

 

7th grade – Julia has been paired up with Lucy for much of her schooling so far.  With Lucy headed into high school, Julia will be working with Esther on a few things.  I’m excited about their IEW writing course, I think they will both enjoy that.  They’ll also be working together on history and science this coming year.

History – Around the World 2 – Beautiful Feet Books

Science – Apologia Zoology

Math – Teaching Textbooks 7

Reading – Reading Detective A1

Grammar – Fix It Grammar

Writing – IEW Fables, Myths, and Fairy Tales Bravewriter

Spelling – Rod and Staff 6

Piano

Art – Sketchbox combined with some lessons online

Byzantine Chant 101

Gymnastics

Spanish – Duolingo, Spanish for Children Primer A from CAP

 

4th grade – Esther  We’ve loved our Beautiful Feet Around the World studies.  We’re starting Part 2 in the next month or so and will continue on in the fall.  After Part 2, we’ll choose another Beautiful Feet program to work through together (Julia, Esther, and Isaac).

History – Around the World 2

Science – Apologia Zoology

Math – Math Mammoth 4

Reading – Reading Detective Beginning

Grammar – Fix It Grammar

Writing – IEW Fables, Myths, and Fairy Tales Bravewriter

Spelling – Rod and Staff 4

Piano

Art – Sketchbox combined with some lessons online

Gymnastics

Spanish – Duolingo, Spanish for Children Primer A from CAP

Lego education kit – gears, wheels, levers, etc

 

2nd grade – Isaac 

History – Around the World 2

Science – Apologia Zoology

Math – Math Mammoth 2

Reading – Sonlight readers with comprehension questions

Phonics – Rod and Staff Phonics 2

Spelling – Rod and Staff Spelling 2

Grammar – Fix It Grammar (he does the fixes in the book but not the copywork)

Cooking – Raddish Kids

Lego education kit – gears, wheels, levers, etc

Handwriting – Zaner-Bloser Handwriting 2M  What was I thinking?  Writing spelling words, writing in his phonics book, and writing in math is all this guy can handle.  🙂

 

Kindergarten!  We’ll have a kindergartener this fall!  Colin will use My Father’s World Kindergarten, modified slightly.  We’ll use the learn to read, math, and handwriting worksheets but skip the science/ unit studies portion.  I’ll also pull activities from A Year of Playing Skillfully, my favorite preschool program.

 

I don’t have Bible listed as a subject above because its something we do together in the mornings (or aim to!).  We meet first thing in the morning for prayers together, reading a saint story, and reading through some catachesis type books.

That’s my plan for now!  Any thoughts?  Care to share what you’re planning or working on?  Feel free to leave a comment.  🙂

Its that time again!  Mid-year I enjoy evaluating our curriculum and making a plan for the coming year.  When spring arrives, I’m ready to shelve the books and get outside, so January is a good time to make my plans for the next year.  I’ll start with a quick review of what we’ve been doing and post again soon with my plans for the next year.  Here is my blog post with what we’re currently using: Curriculum Fall 2018.

Lucy (8th grade) – Heart of Dakota has been going well for her.  She’s learning some good skills that will prepare her for high school; the IEW writing course has been great.  Apologia astronomy was a neat book – now I want to use other Apologia elementary books with the younger kids.  Overall, Heart of Dakota is… a lot.  A lot of history, a lot of extra work, a little too much that I want to tweak.  I’ve pulled heavily from their recommendations for next year, but our direction has changed just a bit.  We’ll complete this year and then move on to other things.  Teaching Textbooks is still working well for math for both her and Julia.

Julia (6th grade) – Heart of Dakota ended up being a bit much for Julia and what she can handle this year.  We’re in the middle of some health challenges with her and have needed to lighten her load.  She is doing some basic things – math, copywork, reading, Spanish on the ipad, piano.  As Lucy heads into high school, Julia will work more with Esther and Isaac on history, science, and a few other things.  I love that with homeschooling we can adapt as we go and meet her where she is right now.

Esther and Isaac (3rd and 1st) are working through Around the World and loving it.  The short units work wonderfully for us- we can pause when sick or needing a break for whatever reason and easily pick things up again without feeling behind.  We never used the Evan Moor science that I purchased for them, we’ve had plenty to study in Around the World.  The only other change is that Isaac has been copying down words from Zelda instead of using his handwriting curriculum book.  Hey, he’s happy and we’re rolling with it!   Math, phonics, spelling, everything else is right on level for both of them and working well.  This is the first time we’ve used Cheerful Cursive and I really like it.  Esther is doing well with cursive.

Next year starts high school and keeping a transcript for Lucy!  I think I’ve got a good plan down and some exciting things lines up.  I’ll post the full plan for everyone soon.