Our Curriculum

1. To learn Who God is and our relationship to Him.
2. To learn to love Him through our thoughts, words, and deeds, including learning prayers.
3. To learn good manners.
   
4. To learn shapes and colors and numbers and letter sounds.
5. To fill the imagination with stories of beauty and heroism.
   
6. To provide beautiful music and teach the children to see good songs in order to create an appreciation for beauty in music.
7. To surround the children with beautiful art as well as opportunities to experience the beauty of God's creation in nature.
8. To learn to read.
9. To learn basic arithmetic skills, including multiplication tables.
   
10. To gain some familiarity with the major points of history, always going chronologically.
11. To learn to write in terms of handwriting.
    
12. At the end of the grammar stage, strange though it may sound, we start studying grammar.
13. To have fun with science, mostly through experiments.
14. To learn to spell.
15. To learn to narrate (tell back) stories, starting from pictures in books before the child can read.
16. To take the skill of narrating and turn it into the ability to write.

Grammar Stage Best-Loved Materials by Subject and Grade

	Early Grammar Stage (Birth through about 2nd Grade)	Late Grammar Stage (About 3rd through 5th Grade)
Art	Goal:  To gain dexterity and enjoy the creative process. Materials: Crayons, colored pencils, clay, water colors, scissors, gobs of paper, and a place where it's okay to make a mess! Draw Write Now, Book 1: On the Farm-Kids and Critters-Storybook Characters (Draw-Write-Now)	Goal:  For the child to become capable of drawing what he sees with a fair degree of accuracy. Materials: All of the above plus blendable colored pencils or Cray-pas, and some real paints. Art lessons from someone who can draw or paint if possible or... Drawing with Children
Art History	Goal:  To appreciate beauty. Materials: Trips to art museums with a focus on realism in its various forms as well as impressionism. Child Size Masterpieces of Steps 1, 2, 3 - Matching, Pairing, and Sorting - Level 1 Easy	Goal:  To appreciate beauty and gain a sense of the progress of art through history. Materials: Continue with trips to art museums, but focus on the same time period as history being studied. Seek famous works of art that coincide with the period of history being studied. Continue with Child Size Masterpieces of Steps 1, 2, 3 - Matching, Pairing, and Sorting - Level 1 Easy
Geography	Goal:  Learn continents. Materials:  Have a world map on the wall and a globe too if possible.  When discussing history or current events, find them. We used a little ditty called "Show Me the Continents" and a map.  It goes like this: Show me the continents, Show me the continents, Show me the continents if you can. North America, South America, Europe, Asia, Africa. Don't forget Australia. Don't forget Antarctica. Show me the continents, Show me the continents, Show me the continents if you can.	Goal:  If you have older children, then late grammar is old enough to begin really learning where the countries are and where the states are if you live in America.  This too can go with history. Materials: Mapping the World by Heart: An Innovative Approach to Learning Geography (Book & Video Cassette).  I recommend
Grammar	Goal:  To learn to speak using proper grammar and use this skill in writing as well. Materials:  You!  Just speak in a way that is grammatically correct and use an adult vocabulary.  This may be more important than any formal study of grammar.	Goal:  To learn the parts of speech and how they work together. Materials:  Junior Analytical Grammar from Analytical Grammar.  They recommend 4th or 5th grade for this.  It's challenging but really worthwhile.
Handwriting	Goal:  To print neatly and fluently. Materials:  Printing Power	Goal:  To write neatly and fluently in cursive. Materials:  Cursive Handwriting - Contracted Edition
History	Goal:  To gain a knowledge of the major events of history. Materials:  Honestly, I don't start history this early except insofar as my younger children listen in to history read aloud with the older children.	Goal:  To gain a knowledge of the major events of history and a sense of chronology.   From now on, history is the "heart" of our curriculum with literature, art history, and geography all oriented around the historical period being studied. Materials:  A timeline.  You can buy these, but I prefer to make one out of heavy butcher paper and add to it whenever there's a new date.  Make it as long as your house can handle! We use textbooks, but as a jumping-off point for biographies and good historical fiction to flesh out the period.  I read the history textbook aloud to everyone, and we discuss it as we go.  I think it's okay to take more than one year to go through each one, giving the children the opportunity to have history really come alive with the biographies they read on their own along with this.  We are really enjoying the new series from the Catholic Textbook project.  They are from a distinctly Catholic perspective and are very even-handed, showing both sides of a conflict with justice.
Literature	Goal:  To learn the cadence of books and to develop a taste for good literature. Materials:  A good supply of good books at home and frequent trips to the library for more.  Avoid "twaddle" as Charlotte Mason would say.  Every picture book you bring into your home should reflect what is good, true, and beautiful.  Include a good dose of poetry and fables as well as great modern fiction picture books.  Now is a good time to read Little House and Narnia and The Hobbit and Sarah, Plain and Tall and all the favorites from your own childhood to the children.  In our home, bedtime stories are sacrosanct.  It's always better to stop just before their attention drifts.  That way, they learn the habit of good attention.  When we're feeling worn down or burned out, an occasional "reading day" can be a welcome diversion.	Goal:  To gain a broader perspective on the world and the nature of man. Materials:  Don't stop reading to them, but do make time for them to read a great privilege.  You may choose to assign books that go with the period of history being studied, but make sure they also the opportunity to read just for the joy of it.  Remember, though, that reading in itself is not a virtuous act.  Reading good books can be, though.  In other words, I recommend keeping twaddly or morally objectionable books out of your home and your child's imagination.  Whether your child chooses to read great works of literature or romance novels as an adult is related to the tastes he gains under your tutelage.
Math	Goal:  Basic counting, adding, subtracting, etc. Materials:  Our favorite is Horizons Math.  It's appealing, uses a spiral approach, colorful, thorough, and pleasant.	Same deal.
Music & Music History	Goal:  Wide exposure to beautiful music and learning songs to sing. Materials:  CDs of classical music, and songs you sing with them.	Goal:  The same plus familiarity with composers and music from the historical period being studied.  Also, this is a good time to begin learning to read music and learning a musical instrument.  The piano (or keyboard) is hard to beat since learning music theory is part and parcel of learning to play piano. Materials:  All-in-One Course for Children: Lesson, Theory, Solo, Book 1 (Alfred's Basic Piano Library) CDs, trips to symphonies, operas (check the plot first), choral concerts, and singing together while you do the dishes.
Reading & Spelling	Goal:  To become an independent reader, and thus an independent learner, and then to learn to spell well. Materials:  My favorite introduction to reading is Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons It's solid, and the child experiences the joy of reading quite quickly. After completing 100 Easy Lessons, I recommend moving to something based on the method from The Writing Road to Reading.  We love All about Spelling.  It's the first program that has really helped one of my sons to spell, and it's more than just spelling, really. Last but not least, make sure the child has the opportunity to read both aloud and silently as he becomes a fluent reader.  Little brothers and sisters make a great reason to read aloud!	Goal:  To continue to become a fluent reader and to do so a lot.  Also, continue with spelling. Materials: Lots of good books (see literature). All about Spelling.
Religion	Goal:  To learn to "Know, love, and serve God in this world" in order to "be happy with Him in the next." Materials: Time for family prayer, including the possibility of daily Mass if at all feasible.  It may sound impossible or insane, but the fruits are amazing! Our Heavenly Father (Faith and Life).  I really think this series can't be beat for combining Scripture and doctrine in a clear, beautiful way.  Until the child can read, I read this to them and have them narrate it back to me.  After they can read, they read it and then come tell me what they read, and we discuss it.  There are workbooks, but we don't use them. Live the liturgical cycle, learning about saints as their feast days comes up.	Same goals and same materials.
Science	Goal:  To learn how creation works. Materials:  A keen sense of curiosity to pass on to your children.  Take advantage of the place where you live.  Ask questions.  Find answers together.  A chemistry set and/or weather set and/or microscope can be great investments.  I don't bother with science books until later.	Goal:  More of the same. Materials:  When your child is a good reader, consider getting the Prentice Hall Science Explorer books.  They are intended for middle school students, but I think that many 4th or 5th graders can handle them, and they have the advantage of focusing on one area of science each, so you start with whatever is most interesting with a goal of finishing the series by the end of 8th grade.  Here's the Astronomy Book:  Astronomy (Prentice Hall Science Explorer)
Writing	Goal:  To write in complete sentences. Materials:  At this point, I would focus mostly on copy work.  Just make sure whatever you choose to use is worth copying, like Scripture, poetry, etc.  Start with just a sentence or two and go forward.  Also, be available to be your child's scribe for stories he makes up but isn't up to writing out yet.	Goal:  To write clearly and accurately. Materials:  Once your child is a good reader, I recommend the Institute for Excellence in Writing.  If you have only young children, start with Student Writing Intensive A.  If you have a mix of ages, start with Intensive B.  This is quite an investment, but it's a wonderful program.