Wednesday, February 25, 2015

A Really Late Post About our Curriculum

Now that its almost March I thought it would be a good time to share our curriculum for the year.  Yeah, nothing like being a little behind!  Anyway this year we are teaching 4th grade and 1st grade, also with a tag along 3 year old.

Before I get started though, I want to mention that I provided links to the different things we are using only to help you find out more about them.  I am writing this post for fun, and I am not affiliated with these companies.  I simply enjoy sharing what we like and use.  Enjoy!

For our 4th grade curriculum we are using My Fathers World Exploring Countries and Cultures.  That includes Bible, Geography, Science, Music and Art.  In Bible we have been reading through Window on the World and Hero Tales.  Geography is a country based study including mapping, cultures, and people.  We have been "traveling" to different countries including, the United States, Canada, South America, Africa, Europe, and Asia, just to name a few.  In Science, we have been learning about the different ecosystems around the world.  Music and Art have included music and crafts from around the world.

We are using Abeka Language A and All About Spelling Levels 4 and 5 for our Language Arts.  We began the year using the suggested Language arts by My Fathers World but they did not work for us.  So we switched in November to Abeka, it fits our learning style a bit better.  We just finished up All About Spelling Level 4 and began Level 5 a few weeks ago.

For our math we are using Math U See, he just finished Gamma and we have moved onto Delta.  We will plan to get about half way through Delta this year and finish it up next year.  I am still trying to decide if we will stick with Math U See or move onto Teaching Textbooks for a more independent study.


 

Before the year began I had planned on giving Elijah an independent reading list of books I wanted him to read this year, but he got interested in reading The Lord of the Rings.  So that is what he has been reading this year.  He has read The Hobbit, and is now almost finished with The Fellowship of the Ring.  We are also reading Christian Heroes: Then and Now for our read aloud time.  We have read Cameron Townsend, George Muller, Nate Saint, and David Livingstone so far, currently we are reading Amy Carmichael.

                 


Our 1st grade year has been interesting to say the least!  Noah is a total opposite learner from Elijah.  So what worked for Elijah is not working for Noah.  Which is a challenge, but nothing that we haven't been able to work through.  Noah is using My Fathers World 1st Grade, Learning God's Story.  It includes, Bible/History, Reading, Math, Art and Music.  For Bible/History we have been learning the books of the Bible, and making a timeline of Old Testament history beginning at Creation.  I started the year using the reading program in the curriculum along with All About Reading but it was too much and moved pretty quickly, in my opinion.  So we dropped it and just stuck with All About Reading.  In Math we have been working through the Complete Book of Math, learning counting, patterns, and simple adding and subtracting.  Although just this week we began Math U See Alpha as well.  Art has been picture study from famous artists, they also use Drawing with Children, which I hope to use as some point but haven't found the time to really dig into.  Music has been learning about the orchestra and listening to Peter and the Wolf.



We began the first few lessons in All About Reading Level 1 at the end of last year, I really wish we had started it sooner.  We have been moving pretty slowly through it, but as of the past few lessons I can tell its really working!  Noah is really picking up on the concepts and is actually reading!  We are a little over half way through and I am hopeful that we will finish it up this year and move to Level 2 next year.


As a foreign language study we have been using Song School Latin Level 1, we began it last year but it kind of got put off about half way through the year.  So we picked it up again, starting at the beginning because I couldn't remember where we left off!  We are just using the DVD, I had bought the workbook, and teachers manual, but found that it just added too much for my guys to handle.  We just finished up the level 1 DVD and this week began Level 2.  My boys really enjoy it, although I think it has more to do with the monkey story than actually learning Latin!


And now for our little 3 year old, Zach.  Back in August, I began to think about preschool for our little guy, he is just such a distraction for my older boys.  As much as I would try to occupy him he would always find ways to get into trouble!  With our move in October, though, we put it off and didn't sign him up for preschool at that time.  In November I began again think that it would be a good idea.  So we got him signed up and he began preschool in January.  It has been such a great thing for everyone.  He goes two mornings a week, from 9-11:30.  So on those mornings the older boys and I get some good time to work on school work and do some science experiments that we might not have done with a three year old at home.  Its also been good for Zach, its teaching him to be more independent.  He has always been pretty clingy and needy, as far as not wanting to go the bathroom by himself, or not wanting to do anything for himself.  Just in the last month I have seen a huge change in him.  I am really happy that we made that decision.

This got to be really long!  Sorry!  I hope you enjoyed learning about what we are using this year for school.  If you have any questions about anything we are using just ask!  I would be happy to answer them!

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