With summer almost half over, I’m getting that feeling that I should have already been working diligently on next year’s plan of attack! So, after about 4 weeks of total procrastination I think I’ve finally got a working plan. Here’s our list of curriculum choices for the upcoming 2010-2011 school year:
Preschool: Since I”m not ready to launch my 4 year old into Kindergarten, we’re going to repeat our Letter of the Week curriculum, but this year we’ll be “kicking-up-a-notch”, think Emeril BAM! Of course I’ll post the printables as we go. My preschooler will also participate in the art, geography and science along with the other kiddos.
Art: We’re doing a Geography based year so we’ll be using Global Art by MaryAnn F. Kohl. I’ll also finish up with last year’s I Can Do All Things and How to Teach Art to Children if we have time.
Bible: I’m planning on continuing on with our Abeka Bible Series along with Nest Family Videos. Our children LOVE these videos and I have to say it’s been one of the more successful Bible programs we’ve tried. The videos are a tad pricey, {check your local library before buying} but they come with all kinds of worksheets for various age levels and each video ends with a quiz that your children do right on the TV using the remote. They really LOVE this series, if you can try one out I’d suggest it!
Geography: I’m putting together my own Geography based curriculum this year, {please pray for me!} so this is proving to be my hardest area to organize. I’m planning to combine a few different resources along with my own brilliant ideas (LOL). This deserves a post all it’s own, so I’ll do that once I’ve got things solidified, I have lots swirling around in my mind. Things like “Why do I do this to myself?”and “What was I thinking?”. Edited: Click here for my completed Expedition Earth Geography Curriculum!
Handwriting: I am excited to try A Reason For Handwriting this year. We’re going to do the transition from manuscript to cursive for my 2nd grader and they have a wonderful a manuscript to cursive Transition book. I LOVE that they use Bible Verses to practice handwriting. For my 1st grader I’m sticking with Abeka Handwriting just because I have it already, but if I didn’t I think I’d go with A Reason For Handwriting for him as well.
History: I’ll be using Abeka for this, but also plan on including what I can that correlates with our Geography plan. You can see I have my work cut out for me here…
Language/Grammar/Phonics: I’m sticking with Abeka for this. I really do like their language and phonics curriculum, it’s just solid in my opinion.
Math: We’re going to use Math U See in combination with Abeka for 1st and 2nd grade. I like the concept behind Math U See and my kiddos like the colorful worksheets from Abeka, so we combine them by using the MUS Blocks to do the Abeka work. I will probably have my 2nd grader do some of the MUS worksheets and videos as I really do love their approach to math.
Reading: I’m sticking with Abeka for this as well, my kiddos love their readers and I like that the stories include reading comprehension questions at the end of each story. We’ll also be doing some reading that goes along with our Geography Lessons.
Science: We’re taking it easy on science this year, I incorporated our Science with our Geography curriculum. For example when we’re studying Brazil, we’ll learn about Rain Forests, etc. I also added in the animal unit study and we learn about animals from each region as well as classify them as we go.
Spanish: I’m continuing on with PowerSpeak Spanish for now, we are really loving this program! For a review of PowerSpeak click here!
Spelling: We started using All About Spelling this year, and I am so excited! We absolutely LOVE this program, and if you haven’t tried it, go see for yourself. It’s a multisensory phonics and spelling curriculum that is super easy to use and the kids are loving it!
P.E.: The kids have requested to do Gymnastics this year, so we’ve signed up for that. We may also cover this via a co-op but that’s still up in the air. My husband feels strongly about this subject so I’ve recruited him to come up with some weekly activities we can do at home. I’ll post those once he get’s his plan completed {ahem, husband, that’s your call to action} !
I’ll be posting as we go of course, and possibly updating this post if anything changes, but for now that’s our plan!
great list! thanks for posting.we will be using your letter of the week curriculum along with (I hope) Tapestry of Grace. Among other things. I'm still putting my list together.
yay that you are doing GTG this year – I can't wait to see your ideas as we are going through it too! And THANKS for the art mention. I got ARTistic Pursuits but think it's going to be too confusing with GTG so I'm definitely going to get this book and save ARTistic Pursuits for next year! 🙂 Thank you! 🙂
Can't wait to see the beefed up Preschool activities!! I hope some of them get up before we go through the letter so we can use them!!!
I'm so excited that you are going to be doing GTG this year because we are too! When I get my plan finalized, I'll share what I have with you. Be sure to join the GTG Yahoo group – I have found a lot of great ideas there.
Looking forward to seeing your Letter of the Week add ons and your geography fun.
Oh, wow! I can feel your sense of accomplishment getting that done. Planning for the next school year is my favorite part of the summer. It's like a fresh start after not having completed everything I wanted to the previous year. 🙂 This will be our 11th yr. (including K) using Math-U-See, great choice. Been following your blog and wanted to say thanks for sharing all your wonderful ideas!!!
Thank you so much for posting your plans. It is always fun (and beneficial) to see what others are doing. I can't say enough great things about Math-U-See and A Reason for Handwriting. We've been using both of them for the past five years and LOVE them!I really appreciate your blog also!~Diane
I just discovered your blog~LOVE it! We are beginning our 4th year of homeschooling and I love finding great sources of encouragement such as your blog. I enjoyed reading your curriculum list for this year. I have just gotten the last of my curriculum in and am SO excited about the new year:) We also use Galloping the Globe and I wanted to tell you that Jolanthe at Homeschool Creations has some great downloads to go along with that book. She's on your blog friends list so you may already know, but I thought I'd pass that along.
Hi,I am interested in your opinions of the Abeka Bible series and the Nest family videos. Right now I'm not sure which one to go with since it would be waaayyy to much to buy both. Do you recommend one over the other? Also which collection of the Nest family videos do you own? Thank You so much, you truly have been a blessing since we're just starting our HS journey. Thank You for sharing your experience with us newbies 🙂 Melanie
Melanie: I think if I were to do just one, I'd probably pick the Abeka series just because it seems more like an actual lesson, but my kids would probably prefer the Nest Videos :o) They really like them You may want to check your local Library, or if you have Direct TV I hear they are on one of the channels for that.