Curriculum Update for 2014-2015

So last time I posted about curriculum choices, it was our initial 2014-2015 line up. I blogged about it here. Now that we have been homeschooling for about 7 months, we are learning our strengths and weaknesses when it comes to teaching and learning styles so that has resulted in several changes. I'm not 100% happy with everything but it is much better and will see us through to the end of the year. Here are the changes we have made:

Math. We originally planned to use the math in MFW and supplement if needed. I guess I'm not quite as Charlotte Mason as I'd hoped when it comes to teaching certain subjects because I just wasn't satisfied with how integrated/scattered throughout the curriculum math was. After a few more duds, we finally gave Horizons a try and are not looking back. We love it! It gives me the structure I was lacking and helps me feel like I'm doing things right. It is simple and straightforward and the worksheets are laid out nicely without being overkill on the color/pictures like some programs. I also really like the spiral method at this age. Kids learn so many things at so many different paces so I love the little bit of review in each lesson. I like knowing that even if they didn't grasp everything 100% the first time, they'll be exposed to it again and be able to get it on their own pace while still being able to move forward in other areas. And Selah (4) is actually able to keep up with the worksheets as well which is really nice. I'm sure I'll have to slow her down at some point, but for now it's nice to be able to do math with them together. We still do the math worksheets from MFW but I don't teach it from there at all.

 

 

Phonics. We started out using LA K and My Father's World to teach Solomon to read. As a newbie, LA K was confusing for me so we dropped that. And then just like with the math, we weren't loving the phonics approach. Solomon was ready to go but it seemed that the blend ladder was confusing him it felt kind of scattered like the math did. So I picked up The Reading Lesson and within a week he was blending. We have since thrown in some Bob books and flash cards and he is doing great. I also started using it with Selah recently, not expecting much, and to my surprise she is moving right along! I couldn't believe it when she started blending!

 

 

 

 

Handwriting. We gave Handwriting Without Tears a try and both kids struggled with it. They really prefer the lines over the boxes, and I like the more straightforward approach (clearly I've narrowed down my teaching style!) that we have found in A Reason for Handwriting. Both kids do these workbooks as well and enjoy them.

 

 

 

 

As for everything else, we have dropped the IG for SL P 4/5 and many of the books. It just wasn't getting done and it felt a bit disjointed. That being said, I still love Sonlight and still plan on using it next year! Despite dropping the phonics and math instruction, we still use MFW K for the bible, the science topic, and student sheets. The kids LOVE those student sheets!

 

Our long term plans have changed a bit too. I had originally planned to stretch this year out over 18 months but we will finish this summer and move on in the Fall. More on that later.

 

We have made a lot of changes but we are finally finding our groove and hopefully things will continue working for a long time to come. Feel free to ask any questions if you want to know more about the choices we have made!



 

 

 

How We Organize My Father's World Kindergarten: Part 1

I find myself often floating between being something of an over-achiever and just plain impatient. When I am excited about something I have a hard time not going after it. So even though we still have months before we are ready to start our new curriculum, and are hopefully God-willing moving to North Carolina between now and then, I couldn't help but get going on some of our curriculum organization. I got my ideas from blogs off Pinterest so hopefully they are tried and true :) I know I would have been completely lost with that big stack of student sheets without seeing it organized online already. So here is what we did.

I got a hanging file crate to hang files for each unit in (and then realized the new pack I bought was the wrong size so we are still in production here until I get the right size!). I then printed out slot labels for each unit, Creation to Yy-Yellow. In each file, I am putting all of the work sheets for each unit into each file, as well as any coordinating worksheets from our Sonlight, math, and handwriting programs. So in total we will actually have 36 files for units. I also plan on adding a file for extra sheets, such as the bingo cards, blend latter chart, 100 chart, etc.

 

Obviously this will be much more full with files when I'm done, but hopefully behind the files I'll have space for large items, such as the Lauri letters, Teacher's Guide, etc.

 

 

I also got to try out my new laminator yesterday! I have never used one before but I am SO glad I got one. So far I have laminated the blend ladder chart, bingo cards, vowel song cards, alphabet game cards, and the number and letter reference charts. I wasn't sure what else to do at this point, I guess I'll have to wait and see once we get going.

 

 

 

Selah working on her bingo! (In her Frozen dress as usual)

 

 

 

That's what I have so far. I'm sure it will grow and change as we get going in the lessons but I will definitely post what we do and what works!

 





 

 

Products we used: 

 

 

Box Day #1: My Father's World Kindergarten

We had our first official box day today! I don't know about you but for our family, there aren't many things better in life than big boxes of books coming in the mail. So we were super excited! Poor Selah fell asleep on the way home from running errands though and Solomon and I were too eager to wait, so she missed out. We got the deluxe package, the literature package, and a few extras. Everything is pictured except the teacher manual and A-Z cards!

I am so happy with everything we got and am definitely happy with my decision to get the literature package, especially thanks to a sweet mama on a swap page who sold me a like-new set for a great price! We can't wait to get started. Solomon is already diving into the dinosaur books! Now I'm just ready to start organizing everything.

                                                                

 

                                                                
                                                                Literature Package

 

 

                        

 

 

Curriculum 2014-2015

This is our first official year of homeschooling, yay! I plan on starting sometime this summer, at the latest in September. Solomon will be 5 and Selah will be 3 1/2. So we are technically doing Solomon's Kindergarten year and Selah's Pre-K year. Since they are only 16 months apart, I want to combine them as much as possible.

So I have seriously been researching curricula for years now and finally narrowed it down to 2 main ones that I really like, My Father's World and Sonlight. I decided on using Sonlight for the most part and definitely wanted to do their Pre-K program for 4 and 5 year olds, adding in K math and language arts for Solomon and then seeing if Selah could keep up with that or if she would need something else. But that beautiful My Father's World Kindergarten set just kept calling my name. So after much deliberation and prayer, I have decided to use both! I think it will work out really nicely because I want to wait until Selah is 5 to start Core A from Sonlight, so if we start this summer, we have 18 months to fill with schooling. Doing both will help stretch us out and hopefully give them a nice gentle Pre-K/K year (and a half!). And maybe it will allow me to not only solidify my decision to use one or the other (or make it harder choose!), but also give me multiple tools to figure out their learning styles.

So here is the line up (for now...things could still change, except I do already have a few things ready to go).

Bible/History/Social Studies/Science: Mix of MFW & SL
Math: Starting with the integrated math in MFW and adding in Singapore Early Bird if we feel we need more
Phonics/Language Arts: MFW, SL Language Arts K
Handwriting: Handwriting Without Tears Pre-K and K
Spanish: adding in Spanish alphabet and vocab to go with MFW units

I realize that seems like a lot, but this is for 2 children over 18 months...more if we need it. I'm guessing we'll have some trial and error but hopefully this will give us a solid start and help us figure out what works and what doesn't. I am so excited to get started!

Here is what we are getting with Sonlight's P4/5. Love all the great books!

This is what we'll be getting with MFW, including the literature package. We are going to have a crazy amount of books, but I'm somewhat of a book addict and there is so much value in reading to your children. Plus, we'll be able to save these books for Esther and any future children!