2010/11 Curriculum

Posted by Cindy on July 12, 2010

I love planning and preparing for a new year!  And that’s one of the things I’ve been doing on our lazy (yeah, right!) days of summer break.  After much consideration, here’s the plan – but it comes with pinkies crossed.

Mahayla – 8th Grade

We’re jumping to Algebra 1 a little early.  I have Algebra 1/2 we can fall back on if this gets too tough.

Logic is a very important subject to me!  We’ll get an introduction to formal logic along with continuing logic puzzlers this year.

Our history program below will cover plenty of research & factual types of writing – this will fill in the creative writing gap.

I know the language arts section looks pretty slim.  We’re taking a break from grammar this year, while our history program will include tons of reading, writing and drama.

Other:

• NimbleFingers.com for typing
• Living math lessons
• Classics reading

Caleb – 5th Grade

Saxon – not much more to say!

Both of these are logic puzzlers – and fun!

This is a new-to-me curriculum this year and I’m in love!

I’m beginning with All About Spelling to reinforce some basic phonics rules, then we’ll jump into Spelling Workout.

Caleb worked through much of this last year.  We have about 1/3 of the book to go, then we’ll just use Spelling Workout as handwriting practice.

Other:

• High-interest, often history-related books for reading
• Living math lessons
• NimbleFingers.com for typing

Together

This is an amazing curriculum!!!  It will cover Bible, history, language arts, science, art, music, drama, and so much more!  I *think* most of our art and music studies this year will come only from this study.  (Gasp!)  If I feel like we aren’t diving into art and music enough, I’ll supplement.

Another gasp!  I’m using a full-blown traditional textbook for science this year!  What??  Let’s just say I’m giving this type of learning a shot this year.  If it works, awesome – I won’t have to keep planning my own lessons!  If it doesn’t work, no biggie – we’ll keep on keepin’ on the way we always have.  Caleb will be following along with us on many of these lessons, but I have separate reading and activity plans (following the same subject) on the days when this is information overload.

Well, of course!  A nature study author can’t leave out nature study!

I’m trying a new, informal approach to foreign language this year.  We’re using this program for 5-10 minutes a couple times a week as a fun game/flashcard drill time.

Other:

• Occasional Bible & devotional studies to accompany our Old Testament history program
• Games – board, card & online – for many subjects

Eli – Early PK

We’re going to have a fun time learning the alphabet this year with one letter per week as a theme.  I have each letter planned with fun crafts, activities, experiments and such that will make Eli beg for “school”.

It’s a do-it-yourself curriculum with hodgepodge ideas from every corner of the internet and my brain, so I can’t give you a specific link.  You can check out my preschool links, though, to find many of the sites I visited when planning.  A few of the major items I’ll be pulling from include:

I’ll post a tentative weekly schedule before long.