Mid-Year Curriculum Changes and Tweaks

Overall, our school year has been going very smoothly. We haven’t deviated much from our 2013-2014 homeschool curriculum list.  However, our 12 year old daughter decided she wanted to complete her 7th grade material early and work ahead.

We’ve gone back and forth on bumping her up a grade, and for the time being she will still officially be a 7th grader, but working on subjects/courses that are more challenging, including ones that will begin earning her high school credit.

I’ll be honest and tell you the whole thought of high school is making me feel old and scaring me.  Not because I don’t think we can do it, but it definitely brings an entirely new level of accountability to the table when you consider credits, transcripts, and the looming thought of college. It also means my babies are growing up – but that is an entirely different can of worms!

Our Curriculum Tweaks and Changes

Here’s a quick peek at what we’ve changed, added, and found for the remainder of the school year.

Geography

With high school credits looming in our future (gah!), one of the subjects that we added in for credit is geography. We are beginning North Star Geography, a brand-new program from Bright Ideas Press. We’re using it along with WonderMaps.

This is something we’ll be sharing more about with you in the upcoming months (so excited!!). In the meantime, be sure to check out the Google Hangout with Bright Ideas Press on “How to Add Geography to Your Homeschool”.

Spanish

In the early fall we took the plunge and bought the TELL ME MORE Spanish Homeschool programs (we purchased the cd-rom edition) since it allowed unlimited users and the full curriculum. Laurianna has worked through the intro program and started on year one – this has been one of her favorite subjects now!

Bible

McKenna is starting  Who Am I?, the second book in Apologia’s worldview series, and Laurianna is working on the fourth book, What on Earth Can I Do?  The girls also use the notebooking journals to go along with the textbooks.

Math

Laurianna has wrapped up Teaching Textbooks 7 and also Pre-Algebra, so she’ll be moving on to the Teaching Textbooks Algebra 1 program shortly. This is another that she can officially earn high school credit on.

Language Arts & Writing

We’ve added in Growing with Grammar 8 to each day now. The younger kids use the Easy Grammar series and this was our first year with this program and Laurianna has enjoyed it – similar in some ways, but not a huge adjustment overall.

Laurianna has been working FULL speed ahead on the WriteShop Basic Set for Jr. High. She will be starting the second half of the program (for 8th grade) this week. Writing is one of her passions, so it’s one that she dives into with gusto!

Science

We are loving the Rainbow program from Beginning Publishing {a two year Jr. High science program}. Laurianna has finished the first half and is moving through the second part (chemistry based) now.

Have you made any adjustments to your homeschool year?

What programs have you fallen in love with this year?

Helps on Homeschool Curriculum and Organization

 

If you are new to homeschooling and aren’t sure where to begin in choosing homeschool curriculum, here are a few posts that you might find helpful as you discover what is best for your family. Be sure to check out the entire Homeschool Basics series for answers to more frequently asked homeschool questions.

Curriculum Choices from Years Past…

If you’d like to see what curriculum we’ve used in years past, click on one of the posts below. Grade levels taught each year are listed with the posts.

• 2013-2014 Curriculum Choices – grades 1, 4, 6, and 7
• 2012-2013 Curriculum Choices – grades K, 3, 5, and 6
• 2011 Curriculum Changes
• 2011-2012 Curriculum Choices – grades PreK, 2, 4, and 5
• 2010-2011 Curriculum Choices – grades PreK, 1, 3, and 4
• 2009-2010 Curriculum Choices – grades K, 2, and 3