Officially we’re halfway through our school year and we’ve had a bit of rearranging going on ~ some over the last 8 weeks and a few new pieces added to start this semester. You can see our full 2011-2012 homeschool curriculum list in the post I wrote earlier this past fall. Here’s a look at the areas we made changes.

I do love the fact that we have the flexibility to tweak things in our schedule that are {or are not} working for us so that our family gets the most out of what we are doing. Sometimes it’s a bit frustrating, but when something ‘clicks’ ~ that is just a wonderful feeling!

History

The biggest switch has been with our history. At the beginning of November we began using Mystery of History Vol. 1 from Bright Ideas Press. We have several of the go-along digital pieces {reproducible tests/quizzes, folderbook, notebooking pages, and coloring pages} and are slowly working in some other things such as the Read Aloud Guides and Family Study Guides that are a part of Illuminations. Can I just tell you how much we are all enjoying history?? Very much! :)

Language/Grammar

The girls both switched over to Easy Grammar in early December and that change too has been such a great switch. It came highly recommended to me from Kris at Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers.

Our prior program just was causing more frustration and tears than learning, and Easy Grammar has made a world of difference. We are also using Daily Grams to go along with the Easy Grammar and the girls {and I} like the layout of the program. We also now have separate levels for the girls {we are using levels 4 and 5}.

Writing

Zachary is moving into Write Shop Primary B and the girls are starting Write Shop Junior Book D that just released at the end of 2011.

Math

Laurianna wrapped up Teaching Textbooks Level 5 and has now started Teaching Textbooks 6. We’ve also added in Life of Fred: Fractions for her to work on on Tuesdays/Thursday in addition to her TT lesson. She loves the simple format and giggles through many of the questions. :)

Reading

Kaleb has finished up All About Reading Level Pre-1 and is now working through All About Reading Level 1 and we are having much fun. He asks to work on it every day {even days we don’t have school}. You have to love that enthusiasm!

McKenna will also be working on her reading comprehension using Beyond the Code 4.

That’s it on this end. Have you made any recent tweaks or changes to your curriculum?

This year our oldest three {Zachary ~ 2nd, McKenna ~ 4th, and Laurianna ~ 5th grade} will be working together and focusing on 19th Century {or thereabouts}. Here’s my list of what we have in place for each subject for the 2011-2012 school year along with the how often we’ll be working on that subject during the week.

Preschool/Kindergarten

For the bulk of our year we will be focusing on Before Five in a Row along with various Preschool Packs. Any added subject/curricula will be listed below.

Language {Daily}

Preschool ~ Language Lessons for Little Ones as well as our studies with Before Five in a Row

2nd Grade ~ Zachary will be continuing with First Language Lessons Year 2. We both love the scripted lessons and the depth that they cover {making it easier for me!}. If you are using First Language Lessons Years 1 & 2 don’t forget the poem printables I made to go along with the memorization.

4th and 5th Grade ~ Both girls will be working through Analytical Grammar. This is a company that I found at homeschool convention and sat down to chat with the creators for quite a bit. VERY excited to start using this with the girls and it will segway great from First Language Lessons.

Update: The girls both switched over to Easy Grammar in early December and that change too has been such a great switch. It came highly recommended to me from Kris at Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers.We are also using Daily Grams to go along with the Easy Grammar and the girls {and I} like the layout of the program. We also now have separate levels for the girls {we are using levels 4 and 5}.

Vocabulary {Daily}

2nd – 5th ~ We will be using Dynamic Literacy’s Word Build Foundations throughout the year. We started this during the summer months and it’s a 15 minute a day program that I’m really excited to continue using with the kids. I’m not putting huge pressure on Zachary for this one, but we’ll work through it with him at his pace.

Math {Daily}

Preschool/Kindergarten~ ABeka Arithmetic K

2nd Grade ~ Zachary will be using ABeka Arithmetic 2 until he is ready to move into Teaching Textbooks.

4th and 5th Grade ~ Both girls will be using Teaching Textbooks. McKenna will use Teaching Textbooks Level 4, moving into Level 5 and Laurianna will use Teaching Textbooks Level 5 and move into Teaching Textbooks 6 when she is ready.

Update: We’ve also added in Life of Fred: Fractions for Laurianna to work on on Tuesdays/Thursday in addition to her TT lesson. She loves the simple format and giggles through many of the questions. :)

History {Daily}

Our ‘core’ focus this year will be from American Revolution to the Late 19th Century. We’ll be using Homeschool in the Woods Time Traveler’s units for part of the year {and making the units longer than 6 weeks} and also the Prairie Primer to mix things up a little. I have a feeling there are two girls who are going to love the latter part!

Updated: At the beginning of November we began using Mystery of History Vol. 1 from Bright Ideas Press. We have several of the go-along digital pieces {reproducible tests/quizzes, folderbook, notebooking pages, and coloring pages} and are slowly working in some other things such as the Read Aloud Guides and Family Study Guides that are a part of Illuminations. Can I just tell you how much we are all enjoying history?? Very much!

Science {Daily}

We loved science this past year and this year we’ll be using Nancy Larson Science 2. Science 2 can cover between ages 7 to 9, so we will all use this together. During the year, we’ll be focusing on Life Science {bug, trees, human body and more}. The Science 2 Homeschool kit comes with everything I’ll need to use for the entire year…so I don’t have to go searching for things to do our projects and lessons!

Laurianna will be writing some additional ‘reports’ to go along with the topics that we’re studying to give her a little extra meat. She is thrilled at the chance to do a little internet searching. :) In addition, we’ll be doing weekly science experiments using the book How to Do Science Experiments with Children.

Spelling {Bi-Weekly}

It shouldn’t be a surprise that we will be using All About Spelling this year. We’re working on Level 2 with Zachary and Level 4 with the girls. As they progress through the level, we’ll move onto the next one. We’re also going to be using All About Homophones with everyone during the year where appropriate.

Handwriting {Daily}

A Reason for Handwriting has been a great fit for our family and the kids enjoy it as well. Kaleb will begin with Level K. The girls will be continuing with cursive with Levels D & E. Zachary will be working on printing with Level B and will also continue to use ABeka K4 cursive to work on his cursive writing.

Bible {Daily}

New to us this year will be Grapevine Studies Stick Figuring Through the Bible! I’ve heard some wonderful things about the program and am looking forward to using it with the kids! We will also be reading through the Bible using our Hands-On Bible.

All four kids will be attending Awana, so we’ll be learning the verses that go along with their books and using our Awana printables {and I’ll be making the ones that we need to go along for this year}.

Writing {Daily}

2nd Grade ~ We will finish up WriteShop Primary A and then continue on to use Primary B with Zachary. We switched to this program at the end of last year and LOVE it. Writing has become so much more enjoyable for all of us!

4th and 5th Grade ~ The girls will be using WriteShop Primary C and then WriteShop Junior Book D when it becomes available. I have the teacher’s guides in spiral bound format and we’ll use the ebook format for the kid’s workbooks.

Independent Reading ~ {Daily}

Preschool/Kindergarten ~ Kaleb will continue with All About Reading Level Pre-1 and then move on to All About Reading Level 1 when it is released.

2nd Grade ~ Zachary will be reading books that I pick for him {some are the All About Reading books} as well as other grade-level books

4th and 5th Grade ~ The girls will be reading books at their level to go along with the studies that we are doing as well as books for fun! They will be keeping track of their books on their Reading Log and writing reports for me using our Book Report Form.

We will also have read-alouds for the whole family during the week and I’m working on that list. The bulk of the books will go along with our studies, but we want to include some other fun books to read during the year too.

Update: McKenna will also be working on her reading comprehension using Beyond the Code 4.

Spanish {Bi-Weekly}

All three kids will work on Rosetta Stone Latin America Level 1 {Homeschool version}. When we switched to a new laptop for the kids, I managed to somehow delete the files from our old laptop, so they had to start over again {ahem}. Needless to say, they should be well-grounded in level 1 when all is said and done!

Art {Once a Week}

Once a week we’ll be doing an artist study using some new printables that I’m putting together with a friend. Part of our study will also use the book Discovering Great Artists by MaryAnn Kohl to try our hand at some different art techniques.

Greek Mythology {Once a Week}

Somehow I managed to get talked into this to do along with a friend. I wasn’t too sure about it, but when the book showed up, the kids immediately grabbed it and asked when we’re going to start learning…go figure! We’ll be using D’Aulaire’s Book of Greek Myths along with Greek Myths Teacher’s Guide from Memoria Press.

Additional Resources:

If you are unfamiliar with some of the curriculum choices/names above, you can follow the links below to learn about a few of the products that I’ve previously written reviews for.

• All About Spelling
• Teaching Textbooks
• All About Reading
• Rosetta Stone Homeschool
• Nancy Larson Homeschool
• WriteShop Primary

Phew! I think that’s it, but I have this feeling I’ve forgotten something! It’s looking like it’s going to be a full year!