Curriculum picks ~ City Mom

To quote one of my BFF's Tammie: "Next year is going to be the year when everything is going to come together in our homeschool and all will be right."

Is that what is going on with me? For crying out loud~it's April! I haven't gone to a homeschool convention, I haven't finished this year's studies with the kids, but I have a PLAN for next year. And it is AWESOME. I can't wait to implement it! Woo hoo!!!

This is actually the eve before my very first homeschooling convention, so before I share my picks, I want to share a link up to some cautions from one of my favorite homeschool mom/grandma's out there in the blogosphere. Check it out! the bestest ever

JuBe will be in 3rd grade. I can't BELIEVE it! I remember when she was 3 or 4 and didn't want to be homeschooled. I told her we'd pray about it and she agreed. One day I went to Target to buy some tag board and markers and she said, "does this mean God wants us to homeschool?" I told her "yes." She sighed and said, "alright then, if that's what He wants." I'm happy to say that she wouldn't have it any other way now!

This past year we did "My Father's World" the "adventures" year. A lovely gracious mom I met at a homeschool showing of "Annie" loaned it to us for the year. We have enjoyed our intro to the states and early U.S./colonial history. That said, we won't be diving into the MFW cycle this next Fall like I had previously planned. It's still an option for the future, but right now there are a few reasons we'll be passing.
1. It is $350+ for basically history and Bible. I love the thematic nature of the beast...but that's a lot of cash flow for something I could do for almost nothing, if I utilize the library, pinterest, and my own creativity.
2. It gives a nice structure, but I'm not sure I *want* that kind of structure. I kind of felt tied to going back to the MFW "schedule" and then trying to implement my own stuff and back and forth and back and forth until I just went with theirs. I don't really enjoy that, so for now, we are moving on.

So...drum roll please...here is my Rough-Draft of the 2012-2013 school year:
This first section will outline what we will all do together.

Science: A Child's Geography by Ann Voskamp (a holy experience mom). This looks to me more like an "earth science" book than Geography. But, my goal for this year is to give the kids a picture of the Great World that is beyond our door step and country. I think it will fit in nicely to what I am hoping to introduce to them. We will do this book 1x a week. Looks like there are some awesome activities in it. We'll also be doing some experiments that I found on pinterest.

Geography: I was a little extravagant this year and decided to purchase Little Passports. I was introduced to this cute little "tour of the world" a couple of years ago from Jolanthe over at homeschool creations. I've wanted to do it ever since and decided this has to be the year. JuBe will still think it's fun. I didn't want to miss that window. They love getting mail, so that aspect is very exciting. I realize it won't be a complete geography study however, so I've been compiling some different lapbooks on my pinterest page. Then, I came across: Expedition Earth by Erica over at Confessions of a Homeschooler. For $15 she's already done all of the work and it looks like FUN. So, we'll probably be adding that choice to our "daily" routine.

Bible: I've had this wonderful book: Children's Story Bible by Catherine Vos for several years now, since Country Mom told me it was a must-have. We read it 3 years ago when my Bigs were tiny and even though there are virtually no pictures and the stories are long, they used to beg me to read it to them. During that time, Peebs had a light-bulb moment and completely embraced the gospel. I have seen fruit of repentance and belief in his life ever since. I really have a fondness for this book. So, I've decided that we are going to re-visit the New Testament portion of it. We're simply going to read it daily and discuss. I may add coloring pages from time-to-time that go with the theme of what we are reading, or a fun activity, but this is simply what we're doing for "Bible" this year. We will be doing a scripture memory routine that we always do (we put scripture verses on cards and also on a cute chalk board by our table) and learn them as a family. Here's the cute chalkboard:  

The writing on it is from the Clarkson's http://www.wholeheart.org/ "24 Family Ways." We will be continuing to learn and talk about the 24 family ways & scripture passages which accompany them next Fall.We'll be doing this during Calendar Time however instead of meal time which is what we currently do. (I'll cover our new Calendar Time in another post some day.)

Art: This will be a compilation of "Drawing Lessons" with Barry Stebbing, "How Great Thou Art" and simply areas of interest from books we're reading, holiday themes, and pinterest ideas. Gotta love pinterest. 

Physical Eduation: We'll be doing Swimming Lessons and I have a plan to take them to a HomeSchool swim two times monthly. I have some other ideas planned for teaching them some gross motor skills, but this isn't fully developed yet. 

Read alouds: We do at least two Read Aloud chunks of time a day. Usually right after lunch, and right after afternoon pick up (right before Dad gets home). Often we'll read a chapter or two at bed time as well. We'll start these this summer most likely. We like to sit on our nasty old swing on the front porch and read together as we wind down from a day of playing outside. 

Isn't it horrible ugly? It is comfy though. And a sweet neighbor walked it down to our house, 2 blocks away just to bless us. It's hard to get rid of it. It folds into a bed. We utilize it all the time. The kids can eat and drink on it. It is not "House Beautiful" but it is loved. I am often tempted to go out and purchase cute front porch furniture, but can never really give up this ugly, old piece!

These are the books on our list for the coming year: Indian in the Cupboard, Mouse & the Motorcycle, Mr. Popper's Penguin's (In honor of Nana's favorite childhood book), Betsy~Tacy Go Over the Big Hill, James and the Giant Peach, Mrs. Frisby & the Rats of Nimh, The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane, Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs. Honestly, this list excites me more than anything else in my stuffed little planner. City Dad has his own reading list which he reads to the kids. He's looking forward to the "10 girls/boys that Changed the World" series.

Individual kiddos...

JuBe... 

language picks are here: All About Spelling (2x weekly), Primary Language Lessons Volume 2 (2 x weekly). My friend Tammie told me about this workbook option. I'm excited about this! We have used the book this year, but it's been slightly unmotivating to do it without a workbook, so next year hopefully this inexpensive little fix will help us stay focused. A Reason For Handwriting, we've loved this and we'll be moving into cursive this year. The little Bible verses at the end of the week are a treasure. She'll be doing this daily. She'll be practicing writing in our Geography and Science units. Also, my 4th grade teacher, Mr. Reinsmoen (who was the best teacher I ever had), would read aloud to us every day and then have us "journal" on our own afterward. She'll be practicing writing skills this way as well.

Math: ugh! I haven't decided on this one for absolute certain but am leaning toward sticking with Christian Light Math. I love that it's a spiral approach and she has her math facts solid (even if she does hate it!). I've considered "MathUSee" and "Teaching Textbooks." I think MUS is ruled out, based on the "mastery" approach and from a conversation with my friend Jean and reading some reviews. I don't like that you just work on one skill all through the level. That would make my kids and I both nuts. I'll talk to the Teaching Textbooks people at the convention tomorrow and will still consider this shift. My one caution is the finances and the idea that she would be doing ALL of her work on the computer. I'd miss being her "math teacher." I know we'll move to this system at some point, but I'm not sure if *I* am ready for that yet.

Peebs: 

Language: we'll be doing All About Reading. We've loved Ziggy and are excited to move forward. We have tried different reading approaches and haven't loved anything until we came across AAR. I wanted to include Odes during these lessons but that had Peebs in tears as he wants his "alone" time with me and doesn't want Odes shouting out the answers. So, we'll see how he feels about that in the Fall. Odes is a language pro, so I understand Peebs objections. He'll also be doing A Reason for Handwriting this Fall.

Math: We'll stick with Christian Light. Peebs is a math whiz and will zoom right through his lessons. He is excited!

The Littles (Odes and JoJo)...

We'll be doing All About Reading with Ziggy again next year. They LOVE LOVE LOVE it. Probably 2 times a week. We'll also be doing Before Five in a Row. I have most of the books and did it with the older two. Precious! I plan on doing this 1 to 2 times a week. I just hope I don't skimp out on this. These are sweet days with those little two, and I don't want to forget that and get bogged down in life, schooling, housework, my own job, etc. and forget to invest and pour into them on their own level!

Well, that's it! If you made it this far, you are amazing! I'd have to say this post was good for my own processing...and maybe I'm the only one who cares about it, and that's OK! If you did read and have some thoughts...feel free to chime in. I love hearing opinions on this stuff! What are you thinking about for your family's curriculum next Fall???