Final plans for the 2009-2010 school year

I actually managed to attend the huge Homeschool Expo and stay focused and on budget. No major curriculum changes occurred...amazingly. As you can see from this "final" posting of plans, changes have taken place since my original curriculum post from a few months ago. I considered pulling a "1984" and deleting my original curriculum plan posts to keep from appearing too fickle. However, since I have decided that my planning history may be helpful to someone and since our country is skating to0 dangerously close to "1984" tactics, I decided to leave it.

Bible:

Instead of Rod and Staff's Bible Nurture and Reader Series, we will be using Walking with Jesus from the Noah Plan. I love the R&S series, but since Riley is able to (and wants to) read from the Bible on her own, I wanted to find a Bible curriculum that utilized the Bible as the primary reader. Walking with Jesus does just that. It is designed to be used with children a little older than Riley. However, I feel with some simple tweaking, I will not only be able to use it this year with her, but that I will also be able to use it over again in its entirety next year.

Math:

We're still planning to use Bob Jones Math 3. This is the one program that I haven't debated...we are very happy to be continuing it. We will also be doing Calculadder drills.

Language Arts:

Classical Writing Primers--I had originally planned to complete one quarter of this program over the summer to prepare for beginning Writing Tales this Fall. However, I have since decided that I will use this full program this year and put off Writing Tales till next year. CW Primers provide a very gentle introduction into writing and also have nature study and picture study along with some light grammar and spelling instruction. The program also provides memory work passages. It truly is a beautiful product.

Stories with a View: Narrative Inspirations--I will add a lesson each week for some creative writing fun.

Christian Light Education's Language Arts--At Riley's level, I did want to supplement the light grammar and spelling provided in the Primers. I finally decided on using this program to do so after previewing it at the Homeschool Expo. I will also be using How to Teach Spelling and the Spelling Rules cards from Spell to Write and Read to teach the rules of spelling.

History:

This was one of my more difficult decisions....I had originally settled on My Father's World Rome to Reformation. However, after looking through it further, I just wasn't certain it would be the best fit for us at this time. Also, I really wanted to teach American history. So, I researched my options and decided on the Time Traveler's Cds from Home School in the Woods. Each cd provides 25 lessons filled with notebooking ideas and crafts. I have added the readers from Sonlight 3 into the mix so that her assigned reading will also focus on American history. I have purchased many history readalouds to add to the mix: The Story of the Thirteen Colonies by Guerber, A First Book in American History by Eggleston, and the first three books in the American History series by Mara Pratt. I am very excited with this change and eager to start.

Classical Languages:

This was another source of frustration in my planning. I don't think we are quite ready to dive into a very intense Latin program yet, and I am also considering some online options for further down the road. Consequently, I was at a loss for what to do this year. I had thought of starting Greek and also a Latin word study program. Then I found a full Prima Latina set at a price I could not pass up. So, I have decided that we will be doing something rather unconventional...we will be doing both Latin and Greek this year. I don't foresee there being a problem with this since the Greek will be focusing only on learning the alphabet. After this year I will evaluate our choices, and we will decide which language to focus on next year.

Reading:

In addition to her History readers, Riley will be reading other Sonlight suggested readers for independent reading.

Electives:

Logic--MindBenders

HomeEc--Home Economics for Home Schoolers

Music--Themes to Remember

Art--Atelier and picture/artist studies