Sunday, May 14, 2006

Our Curriculum

I don't tend to think of my blog as a "homeschooling" blog, but it is a blog about my and my family's life and, let's face it, homeschooling is a big part of it now. I see questions all the time about what curriculum is being used for what grade, so I thought I would include that information here. I'm also including how I think it's working for us. If you're a homeschooler, I hope you find it helpful. If you're not, and your eyes are glazing over at the thought of reading this, you have my permission to skip this and return another day.

We've only been homeschooling since January. I started out following the Well-Trained Mind approach to classical education. It was very helpful as a newbie to have something to follow. While I love the classical approach, I feel that with more experience I will follow the guidelines of that book less strictly. However, I strongly recommend it to anyone who is just starting out.

Items used for both children


3rd grade

  • Math - A Beka 3 - There are too many colors and distractions on the page for my son. We are switching to Saxon next year.
  • Grammar - Rod & Staff English 3 - I really love this program, but my children prefer workbooks, so I may change it. I really do love it, though, and they've done fine.
  • Music - viola lessons and practice
  • Handwriting - Handwriting Without Tears Printing Power - This program has really helped my son's handwriting.
2nd grade

  • Math - Abeka 2 - Ruth really likes this. We will be sticking with it for at least another year.
  • Grammar - We started with First Language Lessons, but it is heavily oral and Ruth hated it, so we switched to Rod & Staff English 2 (see above comment about this program).
  • Music - cello lessons and practice
  • Handwriting - Bob Jones University Handwriting 2 I chose this because I think it's a very pretty handwriting style, but not too difficult. It's slightly different than what you would consider traditional school script.

1 comment:

Sprittibee said...

Glad someone knows what they're doing. ;) Sorry we got mixed up at the end of the book fair. Kev came up to say Goodbye, so I had to leave for a while. When you called, I was listening to Sally Clarkson talk. She's great, isn't she?! Give me a call! Let's talk about this week.