Homeschool

Hi everyone! It’s that time of the year again! You know the one…when you realize that summer’s almost over and you barely remember it starting.


The one where you think “Yikes! I better order my curriculum so it’s here in time!”

Yep…that one.

I’ve had lots of emails asking about our curriculum choices for this year already, so I know you all are planning away out there too! Of course I’m happy to share our choices with you, but I also want you to stand firm in your own choices and not beat yourself up thinking you should’ve done something else just because I or any other blogger recommends it! Each family is different, and I know you’ve prayed over your choices, just as I have, so we can take comfort in knowing that we’re being obedient to our calling!

So here it is, our choices for the 2011-2012 school year! (Wow, I had a hard time typing 2012…I remember back when even the thought of the year 2000 was like back to the future hover-cars and stuff. But I digress…

Anyway, we’re starting something new this year. I’m tired of referring to my children as “my 2nd grader”, “my preschooler” blah blah, so I’ve come up with some fun names for them! Plus it just seems more personal while at the same time protecting their anonymity somewhat!

We’re branching out and trying some new things this year, I’m a little nervous, but I have the flexibility to change if need be, so I’m keeping an open mind.

So I’ll now introduce the players: BTW, they all (with the exception of The Teeny Tot), picked their own aliases. Teeny Tot was kind of already locked in.

 

First up we have “The Teeny Tot”. IMG_2844(Tot School)

You all know and love her already. She’s the only one with a pre-existing alias, which incidentally has become a nickname around here too. I know she’ll eventually out grow it, but I still love it!

The Teeny Tot is going to be doing some official Tot School Stuff this year. More to come on that ;o)….

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Next in line is “Tinker Bell”: IMG_2829(Kindergarten)

You know her previously as the sweet little preschooler who modeled all of my Letter of the Week and K4 Curriculum for you! This year she’ll be your tour guide through Kindergarten!

 

 

 

Then we have “Turbo”: IMG_2821(2nd Grade)

He’s the sole boy in this crowd of girls poor dude, but he is all guy. I find his choice of aliases ironic considering he’s rarely in a hurry to do anything! He’s going to lead you through 2nd grade this year.

 

Finally is my firstborn, “Strawberry Shortcake”: IMG_2838(3rd Grade)

(She’s very tall for her age, but Strawberry Tall-cake just didn’t sound as good.) She’s a mini-me for the most part, very helpful and leader of the pack. She’s going to be your host for 3rd grade this year.

More awesome curriculum available on my website:

Letter of the Week:

LOTW_AD

K4 Curriculum:

K4_AD

Road Trip USA:

RT_AD

Expedition Earth World Geography:

EE_AD

Expedition Earth World Animals:

EEA_AD

World’s Greatest Artists Vol. 1

ART_AD

What is your curriculum line-up for next year? I’d love to hear what others are doing! And I hope you all have a wonderful homeschooling journey!

82 Comments

  1. I would love to hear your take on Family Time Fitness.
    I went to their site, but couldn’t even find an example video (without signing up for the week free trial).
    Have you used this before with your children?
    I’d love to hear!

    Thanks for your time.
    B

    Becca
    Reply

  2. Thank you so much Erica for everything! I was wondering if and how you would fit Road Trip and AAS into Workboxes. I hope we can follow you along your journey across the USA!

    DeAnn Lee
    Reply

    1. Hi DeAnn,
      Yes, I’ll be posting our Road Trip USA adventures as we go along this year. I’m not certain I’ll put it in the workboxes though. Last year I just put core stuff in there, then we just did Geography together in the afternoon, so i didn’t put it into workboxes.

      For the AAS: I put the teacher’s manual, a white board, dry erase marker, and eraser in their workbox. When they get there, they let me know and I take out the TM and we go through the lesson together. Sometimes they use their Nintendo DS, sometimes the whiteboard, sometimes the letter tiles from AAS. We mix it up. But I just keep it all in their box so it’s not floating around my school room :o)

      erica
      Reply

  3. Thank you so much for this! I did my own thing for preschool but now that we are heading into Kindergarten I am overwhelmed with all of the options. I originially wanted a ready to go box curriculum just to make it easier for me but I haven’t found one I like so I am trying to pick stuff and all I can say is ack!!! I am looking into some of the stuff you are using and slowly I am seeing things come together. Still looking into Saxon for Math. Can you help this rookie understand what you mean by “Core”? Thanks! Oh my 3 year old will be using LOTW.

    Amy
    Reply

    1. By core for kindergarten, they basically do language, phonics, math and reading. I’m substituting math with Saxon, and really AAS for spelling. But we’ll do BJU for all the other subjects. The curriculum comes all together you don’t buy subjects separate for Kindergarten.

      erica
      Reply

    2. I was so overwhelmed, too, by all the choices out there. Thanks for your encouragement and confidence in our ability to know our own kids. I finally decided on Heart of Dakota (little hearts for his glory) for my darling son. He starts Kindergarten next month – hooray! I am going back through the LOTW curriculum with my sweet 3yr old son. We’ve been having so much fun! Thanks, Erica!!

      Lisa
      Reply

  4. Thank you for sharing! Always find something I use when I visit your site. Do you plan on posting a daily schedule? Do you go through all subjects daily?
    We are working through your world geo curriculum. We’ve taken it slow but has proven to be fun grabbing a new country every other week in the summer and exploring it. Thanks for all you put into it!

    Anne
    Reply

  5. Thank you for sharing!! I love the way you introduced each one as tour guides!!! REALLY CUTE!!! Thank you for all you do…. WE have using your LOTW for the past year and I will be using it again with my soon to be 4 year old. Oh and love the K4 Extention!!

    Monica

    Monica
    Reply

    1. Tina, Yes, I’ve used Abeka for our core subjects for the last 5 years! I do like them, though they’re kind of boring and heavy on the worksheets. I like All About Spelling for the phonics and spelling better than Abeka, the rules seemed to sink in better with AAS, sl last year I supplemented in AAS to my Abeka.

      I think BJU is fairly similar to Abeka in that they’re both very traditional style of curriculum. I like how the BJU Teacher’s Manuals are set up, and I also LOVE how all the subjects are really tied together via a common theme for each unit. The main reason I haven’t switched prior to this year was we kept finding Abeka for really cheap, and one year even free from a friend. Can’t beat that!

      This year, I found BJU at a used fair for half price, so that was enough for me to give it a try! I’ll keep you all posted on how it goes, I’m excited to try it, but you never know until you actually get down into the trenches with something if it’s going to work or not!

      erica
      Reply

      1. thank you for your response! I have all of the optional flashcards,etc for abeka so I am thinking that I will stick with it for awhile for my core, but please let us know once you get down in those trenches. lol
        For my kindergartener, I am also using AAS, Math U See, Roadtrip USA )yah!!) and the 2nd half of AAR (we did the first half last spring). Also gonna mix in A Reason for Handwriting. I get bored and love mixing things in!
        My 3 yr old wil use Abeka Prek3 and LOTW. She will also join in for Roadtrip USA.

        Tina C
        Reply

  7. Thanks for sharing!! Such great ideas!! Erica…do you all participate in any homeschool groups, co-ops etc? I am always thinking of ways I can allow my kids more opportunity to build friendships etc. and my husband and I are bouncing between a co-op or not…he is worried with our boys they need more interaction beyond church stuff…would LOVE to hear your thoughts!!

    Lisa H.
    Reply

    1. Hi Lisa,
      Yes, we do a local homeschool group which has mom’s nights for encouragement, support, and ideas. They also do monthly things like presentation days, field trips, geography and science fairs, spelling bee’s and play dates. Then this year we’re going to do a public school co-op that is held for homeschoolers at a local church. I’m not sure how that’s going to work, so its a trial run for us. They will go once a week for a day of basically elective courses such as art, PE, music, science, robotics, Spanish and things like that.

      We have a lot of friends participating, so they wanted to try it. I’ll see how it goes with our schedule. We also do sports and that type of activities, so I think we’re covered socially speaking ;o)

      The thing to remember is not to worry about it! Really you get out enough, if you’re concerned schedule play-dates, or do sports. I think as new homeschoolers we can try to over-socialize to compensate for some stereo-type that isn’t really even true. Do what feels best for your family and take each season as it comes. Sometimes we have time for extra-curricular things, sometimes we just don’t and that’s okay :o)

      erica
      Reply

  8. Hi Erica,
    Thank you for sharing your curriculum plans for this year! I really like the grapevine studies. Is the teacher’s manual really needed or can I get away with just the student workbook? I’m trying to fit as much into our budget as possible:).

    Maria
    Reply

    1. Hi Maria, for the Grapevine Studies, I really think you need the Teacher’s Manual. The student Workbook is just a set of pages for them to do their work on, but nothing really explanatory.

      erica
      Reply

    1. Hi Dawn,
      I actually like the layout of BJU’s Teacher’s Manuals better, and also how the subjects all tie in together through a common theme. I never tried it before this year, because we kept getting Abeka for REALLY CHEAP or even free from friends! This year I found BJU at a used fair for really cheap, and coudln’t pass it up! I’m really excited to try it.
      One main diff i can see so far is that Abeka uses beginning blends to teach reading and BJU uses word families. I’m not sure I’m crazy about the word families but since we did blends last year with my K4 curriculum, I figure it can’t hurt to give BJU a try. I really like their reading and English lessons so we’re starting there, if all goes well I may add in Bible and History next year…we’ll see :o)

      erica
      Reply

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