Who's already planning for next year? - Page 4

[mangopassion]

I already have all the curriculum that we will be using... now I'm just trying to plan it out.

CherryPie:

Language Arts
Latin for Children – Primer 1
Michael Clay Thompson Island Series
Handwriting Without Tears Can Do Cursive
All About Spelling – Level 2 and 3

Math
Life of Fred
Living Math (games, hands on activities, and LOTS of living books)
Singapore Math
Hands-On Equations
Family Math I; II; and The Middle School Years

Science
Building Foundations of Scientific Understanding
Living Science Books (lots of ‘em!)
Kingfisher’s Encyclopedia of Science

Nature Studies
Burgess Bird Book for Children
Handbook of Nature Study – using the blog for guidance
Keep a nature journal (including moon phases, weather, plants, etc.)

History
History Odyssey
Story of the World
A History of US
Kingfisher’s Encyclopedia of History
Living History Books (lots of ‘em!)
Usborne Internet Linked Encyclopedia of History

Art
Mark Kistler’s Drawing Books and online Imagination Station
Various art lessons and crafts from resources on the ‘net
*We also have Artistic Pursuits, but I don't think I'll be using it



KiwiBoy:

Language Arts
Song School Latin
First Language Lessons for the Well Trained Mind
Handwriting Without Tears 1st Grade Printing
All About Spelling Level 1

Math
Miquon Math
Singapore Math
Family Math I and II
Living Math (games, hands on activities, and LOTS of living books)

Science
Building Foundations of Scientific Understanding
Living Science Books (lots of ‘em!)
Kingfisher’s Encyclopedia of Science

Nature Studies
Burgess Bird Book for Children
Handbook of Nature Study – using the blog for guidance
Keep a nature journal (including moon phases, weather, plants, etc.)

History
History Odyssey
Story of the World
A History of US
Kingfisher’s Encyclopedia of History
Living History Books (lots of ‘em!)
Usborne Internet Linked Encyclopedia of History

Art
Mark Kistler’s Drawing Books and online Imagination Station
Various art lessons and crafts from resources on the ‘net
*We also have Artistic Pursuits, but I don't think I'll be using it

Also, I am currently going through BFSU to figure out all the recommended books and required materials so we'll be prepared in the fall to start using it.

We have Rosetta Stone Italian, but I haven't dug into that yet, either. I am hoping to have a good grasp of Latin before delving into Italian.

[MJB]

My oldest son, who was home for K and has been in public school for 1st, is going to homeschool again this fall for 2nd.
Language Arts:
First Language Lessons for the Well Trained Mind
The Complete Writer Level 2
Spelling Workout Level B
daily reading, both of his choosing and mine
Handwriting without Tears and perhaps Cursive First
Math
Singapore Math 2A and 2B
History
Story of the World Ancient Times text and activity book
Usborne Internet-Linked Encyclopedia of World History
Foreign Language
Rosetta Stone Spanish
Arts
studio classes, music lessons, an art show mid-year or at the end of the year at my friend's gallery
PE
He'll probably swim, play soccer and basketball, and do gymnastics if we can find a good boys' team after we move.
Life skills
I want him to learn to cook well this year. And do laundry. He'll also get hands-on baby care experience.

My littler son will be in all-day kindergarten.

[LemonPie]

I'm jumping in this fall with a K and a 2nd My K-er will probably be mostly 'unschooled' and tag along for big brother's stuff, though I think I am going to jump into some formal math with her because she seems ready. We'll also work on handwriting. My 2nd Grader will be doing:

Science: Elemental Science, Biology
Language Arts: Phonics Road
Handwriting: Something to learn cursive (early, but he's shown persistent interest)
History: History Odyssey, Ancients
Math: I think Saxon. He's been doing really well with it in PS.
Art/Music: Where I can fit them in. Nothing formal. We may just play around with some different art media and listen to some good music.

And we'll read lots and lots of literature. He's enamored with Harry Potter at the moment. We're on book 2 and I'm not sure how much further we'll let him get into the series since he's only 7.

[meetoo]

I will have K and 2nd grades next year. I still not even 100% sure on what we are using. This is what I have so far.

Both kids:
FIAR vol 1,2,3, This is definite

Ker
HOP and/or Time4learning.com for reading
singapore 1a along with tons of manipulative use
Handwriting????

2nd
Math
Singapore 1b to start the year. If Singapore is a hit we will continue with 2a, if not we will go with Mcruffy second grade color math.


LA right now I'm thinking either:

Time4learning.com 2nd LA and write source. If I need to add spelling to this then AAS.
or
CLE LA, using write source hand book when it calls for creative writing, and HOP Master reader...
or
???
oh and add something to learn cursive with any option.

Right now I have Write source, HOP master reader, AAS level 1 guide (none of the extras), and a subscription to T4L.com....
Still very undecided on this one......

[shoefairy3]

Me, but we go year round so I am constantly looking and trying new things.

We have been doing Ambleside Online, but the kids weren't enjoying some of the readings, so we cut a few different things.

For math we are using Jump Math

My oldest (5th grade) is working through a spelling book we snagged at the thrift store and just ordered Language Mechanic: Tuning Up English With Logic because he thought it sounded fun.

my younger 2 (3rd and 1st grade) are working through the Progressive Phonics books. Something they seem to enjoy quite a bit.

I just got them a free 5-day trial to BrainPop. My 1st grader is loving it so far (Brain pop jr) so I am sure I am going to subscribe to that, and I am still thinking about the regular BrainPop. I hate to pay for something they wont use.

Oh and we all are doing Classic Science, Elementary Life Science

I have been looking at getting Galloping the Globe and doing it on the slower side. Mostly for the book lists and the worksheets (my 5th grader and my 1st grader have a strange love for worksheets) Plus it seems to have some fun activities. My 3rd grader only gets interested in activities, otherwise he balks at me.

We are reading a whole bunch of books right now. Alice in Wonderland, Charlotte's Web, Farmer Boy, Classic Winnie-the-Pooh

[keyley1090]

We're starting to plan too.

My youngest DD will be in fifth so I will probably continue making my own lessons for her.

My oldest DD will be starting 8th so we are leaning towards a flexible curriculum we can buy online so we can get her used to the high school years since we will be keeping records.

For my DS, he is only 4 so we just get him little workbooks from Walmart.

If anyone has any good ideas for the curriculum for my oldest DD, greatly appreciated. We don't want a fully laid out and structured curriculum. We want something that guides us along and tells us what goals we should meet, but we don't want it to tell us how to meet those goals. We also want to be able to fill in our own lessons so something flexible enough.

[zjande]

I'm so glad this thread is back.

I love this time of year- I love curriculum analyzing & shopping & dreaming about & obsessing over. LOL

I have lists & piles & piles of lists, ha, but no perfected plan at all yet. I'm excited about a few of the new curricula I ordered for my 7th grader next year: Jump In for writing, Joy Hakim's Story of Science, Evolution, the Grand Experiment, and we're also going with MegaWords for spelling next year.

I still have sooooo much to organize & decide on. I love reading other's plans. And then getting sucked into reading about their chosen curricula. Even if I don't even have a kid in the same age range of theirs. hahaha.

[mama_ani]

I will only be homeschooling my son this fall so it's going to be low key since he's only four. I bought him a Brain Quest workbook that does letters, numbers, shapes, colours etc and we'll work on that. I also have a list of about 500 books I want to read with him & I'll come up with activities based on the book.
I mostly want to do hands-on, unschooling stuff for JK so I hope that it's stress free this fall!

[lmonter]

I'm still in the overwhelmed-and-trying-to-decide-because-it's-a-chunk-of-money paralysis. But.

I think we're going to go with Sonlight K as a good jumping off point (I'm hazarding a guess I'm only going to use the IG as backup when I want a little guidance, but use it mostly as a paperweight - but grandmas won't feel like the kids' brains are wasting away), I already have HWoT, a bunch of backup fun/info/research books from MIL's attempt at homeschooling SIL (it was school-at-home, it didn't end well for either), will probably get my hands on the Building Foundations for Science book to play around with, and am still trying to figure out a hands-on math something or other for my 6.5yo who detests worksheets of any kind. So far we've just been winging it/unschooling, and I need a little more oomph/slight planning this year what with the new babe and packing/moving shortly. Might start slowly this summer, the older two may be closer in abilities at that point, who knows.

[craft_media_hero]

Originally Posted by zjande

I'm so glad this thread is back.

Me too!

I can't wait to be done with this year, but I'm really excited to start the next

We just have met our goals for this year, I think, and we're ready to take a long-ish break and move on to the next stuff.

I was scoping out some of the pages that will be in the next Miquon book (Blue) and am pretty excited! I know my girl is really going to dig into it.

Some stuff we just started, and I'm kinda bummed that we're just catching the tail-end of 1st grade with it; like we just started filling in our own blank books for Classic Languages and Penmanship. She took over the other blank book immediately and has been filling it in comic-book style and with other drawings. We have one more blank book that I'm deciding what to do with . . . so I wish we had started doing those at the beginning of the year.


Also feel even more strongly about wanting to include All About Spelling--we haven't done any formal spelling, and there is a big gap btwn what she can read and what she can express in writing, and I think that a little intentional practice will really help her feel more comfortable writing.

Thinking that we need a voice recorder for next year--her story-telling skills are awesome! And her writing has not yet caught up.

But for now we mostly need a long break . . .

[kgianforti]

I'm finally settled on math!! Singapore and Horizons for right now. I also bought the Japanese Math to check out and I think I like it. I made my final math order yesterday for Singapore 1B!!

[elizawill]

Originally Posted by craft_media_hero

...Also feel even more strongly about wanting to include All About Spelling--we haven't done any formal spelling, and there is a big gap btwn what she can read and what she can express in writing, and I think that a little intentional practice will really help her feel more comfortable writing.

I bought AAS too.

My little guy hasn't had any spelling (aside from what's covered in HOP phonics). My little girl does spelling daily. She is coming a long with it okay, but I think she will do much better with a program that explains things & isn't just memorizing words. I had already purchased another program but was able to sell it and recover my money completely. I sold a couple of other things too and rearranged our plans a tiny bit. I purchased AAS Levels 1 & 2 for my two children. I really hope we like it. If not, I figure the resale will be very good.

I also decided to try CLE language arts for my dd. We use their math already and love it - so hopefully we'll love the LA too. Lastly, I purchased Writing Strands for my daughter & to go-along with history, we bought the American Tales reader.

[elizawill]

zjande (or others),

with megawords - did you buy the TM too? Is that really necessary? i always read how popular megawords is, but I'm trying to figure it out still. thanks!

[gothnurse3]

Ordered Sat. night. We are using Catholic Heritage as a starting point. I am brand new to this so like the idea of having a "recipe" to follow until I get my HS'ing legs. Am prepared to adjust being that I have heard the curriculum is soft. Oldest DD struggled with math in K so a re-teach is in order here. If either DC is more advanced then DS will inherit them. I really wanted a Catholic backbone. Seton sounded to rigid. We'll see. I'm excited...the books should be here by the end of the week.

[Marimami]

I don't really think of things in terms of traditional school years, but I guess technically we're at the end of K. We only recently started using any curriculum at all and it was really at her request. But, we are extremely laid back, child-directed, and we just plan on going year round, taking breaks whenever.

We're using Ordinary Parents Guide to Reading and All About Spelling together right now and it's working really well. They complement each other well, and my DD loves learning the rules. I have no doubt we will stick with All About Spelling for all the levels. For some reason, she is far more confident and experimental with her writing than her reading... not sure why! Lots of books, games, etc.

For math we are using a mix of living math, Singapore 1A/1B, Miquon, and Critical Thinking Company--whatever she wants to do really. Lots of manipulatives and games.

For science we are using R.E.A.L. science earth and life plus a ton of other living science things..experiments, kits, books, etc.

I am awaiting some new materials for Spanish learning that I hope will help me focus a bit more.

Nothing organized or formal with social studies/history/geography... just whatever sparks her interest and we go from there.

We've spent a good chunk of the last year learning all about birthing--all kinds of animals, etc. It's been incredibly fascinating for us all! So, I have no idea what she will be focusing on next.

Holli