When we first decided we were going to homeschool I spent hours, weeks, months on the internet, in the library, and in the bookstore researching. I, of course, found dozens of methods, and even more curriculums and products. The Man and I decided that we would not include religious studies in our school, and by the way, we will not be discussing religion on this blog. I believe religion is deeply personal and I want the focus of this blog to be about our homeschool, and maybe a little family stuff. Anyway, I kept being drawn to the classical method, so I focused my research in that area. I really wanted my girls to have a good solid education, but I still wanted room to include “modern” ideas and subjects. I read The Well Trained Mind by Susan Wise Bauer and was convinced that was the way to go. I mostly follow her recommendations, with just a few modifications. Our first year, 1st grade, we used her book The Story of the World Ancient Times for History.While I found the book to be interesting and easy to follow, Scout did not. She was bored and uninterested. For 2nd grade we used Tapestry of Grace. This is a wonderful curriculum and I love the idea that you buy it once and use it over and over for the duration of the school years. However, I am not good at getting books back to the library, and even when I was, there apparently is a large ToG community in my area, so the books were hard to come by. So now we are in 3rd grade. We are using Sonlight this year, and I hope this is a good solution to my previous problems with History curriculum.
So here is the curriculum we are using:
Scout, 3rd Grade
History & Readers – Sonlight Core C
Math – Finish up Saxon 3 then Saxon 5/4
Science – Elemental Science Earth Science & Astronomy
Writing – Writing With Ease Level 3 (I am using the “guide” book and taking passages from her readers vs. using the workbooks, although I may convert to workbooks when SWB has her Writing With Style curriculum published.)
Grammer – First Language Lessons Level 3
Spelling/Vocabulary/Word Study – Megawords (epsbooks.com This is our first year with Megawords, not sure if I’m sold. I may add in Wordly Wise later.)
Handwriting – Writing Without Tears
Enrichment Classes – We belong to a LARGE local homeschool group. Within that group there is an organized enrichment class day, we call Master’s Lyceum. Scout is thinking about taking Beginning Sketching, Our States, and Beginning Spanish.
P.E. – Our YMCA offers a plethora of classes to fulfill our P.E. needs. We have taken Gymnastics, Swimming, Soccer, and Cheerleeding in the past. We are not sure what we are doing here yet, it really depends on scheduling.
Ladybug, Kindergarten
History - Sonlight Core C tag along status
Math – Saxon 1
Science – Elemental Science Earth Science & Astronomy tag along status & Making an animal classification poster with her BFIAR books.
Handwriting – Handwriting Without Tears
Phonics – Primary Phonics (epsbooks.com I LOVE this phonics program, it comes with readers that correlate with what they are learning in the lessons)
Enrichment Classes – She will probably take Ballet, Five in a Row (this mom does a wonderful job of presenting 1 lesson per book) , and Curious George
P.E. – Our YMCA offers a plethora of classes to fulfill our P.E. needs. We have taken Gymnastics, Swimming, Soccer, and Cheerleeding in the past. We are not sure what we are doing here yet, it really depends on scheduling.
