It has been a fun process choosing curriculum for Cael's first year of school. I find I am having to rein myself in! There are so many wonderful options out there. Who knew this would be so fun?
Bible- Daily Devotions & Bible Memorization
Devotions- We have two devotional books we are using right now.
Growing with Jesus by Andy Holmes takes a verse, discusses it and gives a very simple daily application for the topic.
My Bible Pals Storyboook tells a Bible story and gets the children involved by having them make hand motions or answer questions that go along with the story. It contains a couple discussion questions, verse and prayer with each Bible story. I love how concise, but lively the stories are.
These two books are great for our family considering our oldest is 5.
We are also doing "character studies." I knew I wanted to pick something along the lines of obedience and character to work on, but wasn't sure exactly how I wanted to go about it. You can see how Erica does it over on her blog. Unfortunately for us her character studies are a bit too advanced for my young children, but I am hoping to come up with our own simple version.
Memory- We memorize one verse a week. Bible Forget-Me-Nots has been a fun way to get started memorizing. The boys love listening to the CD that goes with the verses.
We also memorize verses they are working on in Sunday School or anything else we think would be valuable for their age.
Poetry- IEW Linguistic Development Through Poetry Memorization (Book & CD)
I absolutely LOVE this program. The boys have so much fun listening to the CD and memorizing the poems. To be honest I didn't know what the point of memorizing poetry was, but it seemed like a good idea. :-D But as we have begun to memorize the poetry I see how we are working on our vocabulary, annunciation, attention to detail, and public speaking skills (every stray person that comes to our home is another opportunity to practice our new skills!). And we love, LOVE Andrew Pudewa's voice, the boys are always asking to listen to the CD when we get in the car. I cannot say enough good things about this program.
Phonics/Reading- The Ordinary Parent's Guide to Teaching Reading by Jessie Wise
One of things I really love about this particular reading program is that it is scripted. This is my first time teaching a child to read; I want to know exactly what to do and then I can build from there. It contains 231 lessons beginning with the alphabet sounds and ending with sounding out words such as "extraterrestrial." I can use this book for Kipp to start learning the sounds of the letters and for Cael who is beginning to read. We will be getting plenty of use out of this book, let me tell you! I like that I don't have to juggle several books.
Our beginning reader books- BOB Books & Playful Pals by Nora Gaydos
Today Playful Pals came in the mail and we have already read the first book 3 times, this is the same boy that would rather take a nap than read (he hates naps)! He loves it! It is very colorful, yet doesn't contain too many sight words.
Math- Right Start Math
I was able to purchase this previously owned, but unused. Cael loves it, I.... ugh... it is a ton of work. We are going to TRY to do it this year, with Sean's help. There are just so many little parts. It just doesn't seem realistic for us, but Cael enjoys it so much I want to at least attempt it for a bit longer.
Handwriting- Zaner-Bloser
Our writing curriculum is currently en route! Cael's letters look nice, but we need to really get started with proper technique I really believe we should have started this a year ago with him. I chose Zaner-Bloser because it is what The Well-Trained Mind (WTM) recommends and after looking at it online I liked it. I am excited to see how it works for us.
Latin- Song School Latin
We have just started using this and love it! I have been very apprehensive about teaching Latin since I DON'T KNOW Latin, but with this program I can see it going very well. Our first lessons have gone great and are tons of fun.
Classical Conversations- I am VERY happy to announce we are beginning Classical Conversation (CC). This is the first year for the program in our area and I am so happy we are able to participate. We will be covering the following subjects with CC.
Subjects
History
Latin
Science
Geography
English
Math
Activities
Hands on Science
Fine Arts
Every week they also give a presentation in front of their class. This week's recommended topic is "Tell a Bible Story" Cael will be telling Jonah and the Big Fish. I love it!
I am still working on making Classical Conversations flow with what we are already doing. The hard part is figuring out how to make CC work for us. Eventually I want it to be our spine, but to be honest it may not happen this year. It may work best for us to concentrate on phonics, handwriting & math with CC filling in for the other subjects. This seems a bit bare bones, but with this being Kindergarten, our first year homeschooling and our first year in CC I am okay with that. :-) Once I have a better grasp of CC I know it will all flow well. I am looking forward to a fun year!
Additional info on Classical Conversations:
Half-a-Hundred Acre Wood
Mt. Hope Chronicles: Classical Conversations In Detail: Part I
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