|
|
Shields & Swords Articles & Ideas How to Homeschool Our Curriculum Magazines Subjects: |
Our Curriculumas of 2006 It's so important to consider each of your children when choosing the type of curriculum materials you wish to use, but it is always helpful to hear what someone else is using, so I'll show you what we've used, what has worked for us and what hasn't. When I first wrote this, our children were 8, 6, 4, and 18-months-old. Now, they are 10, 8, 6, 3, and 10 months old. I thought that you might find it useful to see how things have changed in the meantime. One major change is that we have more of a college schedule now. Some subjects like math and spelling are each week day. Many others are 2-3 times per week.
Religion then- We use the Faith and Life Series, which is published by Ignatius Press, and the Baltimore Catechism as texts. I read the Faith and Life series to all of the children together at breakfast, and we discuss it. We've been using the 2nd grade book this year. We're alternating that by reading from the Children's Bible. I have them choose one story per week to narrate back to me. Ocasionally, I have my daughter , Elizabeth, write this herself, but most of the time I have John Paul and Elizabeth dictate their narrations to me, and I type them. Then, I print it out and they can add a picture to go with it at their discretion. We also read the Lives of the Saints on the feast days of saints of whom I am particularly fond. Religion now- We still use the Faith and Life Series. I'm now using the 4th grade book for Elizabeth and John Paul (ages 10 & 8) and the 1st grade book for Anthony and Mary (ages 6 & 3). More importantly, we attend daily Mass most of the time and say the rosary about half the time. Of course, I would like that to be all of the time, but we're working on that. Reading then- For learning to read, we have used the first half of Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons, and then switched to The Writing Road to Reading when 100 Easy Lessons ceased to be easy (somewhere between lessons 40 and 60, depending on the child). I know that many people have found this book to be really wonderful, but for our children, there hasn't much transferance between being able to read in this book and being able to read anything else. Therefore, I plan to use The Writing Road to Reading straight away with our third child, Anthony, next year. The system is wonderful, but the book took me three readings to really grasp. There are a couple of programs that have taken The Writing Road to Reading and broken the book down into daily lessons. One such program is called Sound Beginnings. I understand that it is quite good, but I had already invested a great deal of time figuring out The Writing Road to Reading. With our second child, John Paul, I'm also using Spectrum Phonics. So far, so good. We also use Bob Books a lot. The later Bob Books are on about the same level as the earlier Dr. Seuss books. Unlike some people, we don't continue the study of phonics once a child is reading well. I just expect them to read a lot. We do keep using the spelling list from The Writing Road to Reading, however. Reading now-At this point, Elizabeth and John Paul are voracious readers, though it took John Paul until about age 7 and 1/2 to be completely literate, and he is definitely a whole language reader, in spite of all of my efforts to the contrary. I have discovered the Explode the Code books and love them. Anthony is using them now and can read simple sentences. They are fun, repetitive (in a good way), and easy to use. We also pull out the Writing Road to Reading phonograms every once in a while for him and for Mary, but mostly they are in my head at this point and I can point out the rules as needed. I would love to be able to brag about a child of mine who started reading spontaneously at age 3 or 4, but it hasn't happened yet. I have to remind myself frequently that homeschooling isn't about impressing the neighbors, and so far they all become literate and love to read at some point. Writing & Grammar then- I like the Voyages in English series. I also like English for the Thoughtful Child. However, I have found that what works best for us is to have Elizabeth keep a journal in which she writes for 10 or 15 minutes per day on any day when she doesn't have a writing assignment from another subject.. This is not a diary--I get to read it. By helping her to rewrite her first draft, she learns spelling, grammar, and good writing techniques. She also practices these skills when we do narrations from the children's Bible and from literature. Writing & Grammar now - For spelling, we still use the list from Writing Road to Reading. For grammar, we have used simple grammar workbooks which the kid use a couple times each week, diagramming setence workbooks, and editing workbooks, all of which have been successful to a large extent with John Paul and to some extent with Elizabeth. For writing, I found that it was taking too long to come up with ideas for the journal, so I recently got The Write Stuff Adventure by Dean Rea. I love it. It has varied ideas for writing and assignments that aren't too daunting. Elizabeth, John Paul, and I sit down at the table together while the baby is napping and do the assignments (I do them too) in our own composition notebooks, and then we read them to each other. I think the fact that I'm doing it with them helps with enthusiasm. We do this 3 times per week. History then- Our family is part of a four-family co-op that meets once per week. History is one of the things we do together (along with science, literature, and drawing). I recommend studying history as a family so that everyone is studying the same period at the same time. We're doing a very hands-on course. Last year, we studied ancient Greek history This year, we're studying Old Testament history (and Egyptian as we read about the Exodus), and next year, we'll study ancient Roman history. We're blessed with some brilliant moms who have thus far taken the place of textbooks. If and when we need textbooks, I intend to use either the Bishop Furlong books or the new series from Ignatius press. The world history book for 6th graders is entitled, All Ye Lands. I intend to continue going in chronological order, which makes so much more sense to me than any other method, and I hope to take each of our children through the course of western civilization twice, going into more depth the second time around. History now-I really miss our co-op when it comes to history and science. However, we have had a good year nonetheless. We're studying medieval history. I've combined Famous Men of the Middle Ages with historical fiction. With Famous Men, I've had to do a bit of apologetics due to the authors' lack of understanding about monasticism, but overall it has been quite good. We're done with the book now, but we read one selection (or half if it was very long) during lunch each day interspersed with historical fiction such as Augustine Came to Kent, Son of Charlemagne, and Knight's Fee. In addition, we're going to be selling children's wooden swords and shields at a medieval festival at the end of the month. Math then- We use the Horizons Math books. This series is similar to Saxon in that it uses a spiral approach. However, I prefer it because it is colorful, the lessons are varied, and they introduce new concepts a bit earlier. This series only runs through 6th grade. After that, we will probably use Saxon. We used to use Math U See, but the lack of variety and the unusual order of introducing concepts was a problem for us. Math now - Well, except for a short stint switching to Saxon for Elizabeth, we have continued to use Horizons. Hurray-something that hasn't changed. However, loosely under math, I'd like to mention that Elizabeth, John Paul, and Anthony all do logic problems 1-2 times per week. They like them almost as much as I do. Foreign Language - I'm teaching our children Italian in an informal manner. They also enjoy listening to Italian Just for Kids, put out by Berlitz. It's filled with songs and fun situations. Foreign Language now- This has been the same, though we've been rather lax about doing Italian. In a couple more years, I intend to begin using the Ecce Romani series to teach the children Latin and learn it myself at the same time. Ah, the joys of homeschooling--I get to learn so much! Geography then - So far, this has been very informal. We do enjoy perusing maps together. When I think they are ready, we'll use Mapping the World by Heart. Geography now - Last year in our coop, we did European geography, and Anthony is a whiz at putting the US map puzzle together. Other than occasional map skills workbooks, we haven't done any geography this year except reference maps in our studies of the middle ages. Literature then - We're just finishing the Narnia series for the second time. We discuss it each week in our co-op class. All of us love it. We're going to read some folk tales for that group, and then move on to The Little House books. Later, I intend to choose family chapter books that coincide with our history reading. Meanwhile, Elizabeth is reading Black Beauty on her own. Literature now - Would you believe we're reading Narnia again now, most especially for Anthony's sake. As I mentioned Elizabeth and John Paul read a lot on their own. As long as it is morally acceptable and above the level of pablum, I let them choose. Most of what we're reading together this year is historical fiction. Science then- Science is also part of our weekly co-op. This year ,we're studying natural science, beginning with some basic astronomy. Last year, we studied biology. Here too, we've been blessed with a couple of brilliant moms who have largely taken the place of textbooks, but we have used the beautiful Usborne Astronomy book. These classes include lots of hands-on experiments. Not everyone has the opportunity to be in such a co-op. If we were not, science would probably still consist of numerous trips to the zoo (with nature notebooks for drawing what we see), along with questions answered and questions asked about the world around us. I tend to use the Socratic method a lot, allowing the children to draw their own conclusions while guiding them towards the correct answer. Science now - Alas, I admit for all to see that science hasn't really been part of our lives this year, except insofar as children are natural explorers. Art Then - Drawing is part of our weekly co-op, for which I am extremely grateful, as my limit is stick figures. We also frequent art museums, and the children spend a lot of time drawing on their own. Art Now - Last year, Elizabeth took an art tutorial with a favorite college student of ours. we hope to begin that again soon with all three of the older children. Music then- Last year, I ran a homeschool choir. I hope to do so again in the future, but it took too much time away from my little ones. Elizabeth is taking Suzuki violin lessons, and we try to have a family music night once per week where we sing and play songs together. We also listen to classical music a great deal. Music Now- John Paul and Anthony are taking piano lessons from a friend, and I think I can truly say that our children have embued our values regarding what makes music good and beautiful. Physical Education then - Elizabeth takes ballet and tap twice per week. We go to the park and run around several days each week, and the kids swim a lot during the summer. We're going to start playing tennis together soon. Physical Education Now - Elizabeth, John Paul, Anthony, and Mary all take gymnastics once a week. They also took swimming lessons last summer. In addition to that, there's lots of running around and bike riding that goes on. Sh! Don't tell them it's good for them. Everything Else - Never forget the importance of learning through playing, especially for young children. We try to finish formal homeschooling by noon, leaving the afternoon available for play. We avoid battery-powered toys like the plague. They do the playing for the child! If you looked in our house, you'd find a Brio-type train set, a marble maze, a doll house with dolls, board games like Chess, Mancala, and Monopoly Junior, lots of puzzles, a small toy kitchen, a few dress up clothes, big legos, small legos, some toy cars, wooden blocks, and copious quantities of paper and craft supplies. Naturally, there are also lots of books. All of these items get a fair amount of use, but I think what we don't have is perhaps more important than what we do have. By limiting the toys to those that require some imagination, we have taken a step towards making our children doers and thinkers rather than observers of life. More than any of the items above, my children spend their free time creating and playing out scenarios ranging from Narnia to space travel. I am happy to report that my children rarely complain of being bored. |
How to Order BooksIn order to provide you with great discounts, we sell our books through Amazon.com, which means that most books are discounted by 10 to 30%. In order for Aquinas to get proper credit your purchases, we ask that you do the following: 1. As soon as you click on a book link, please put it in your shopping cart on the Amazon site. You can always remove any item from your shopping cart if you change your mind. 2. If you want to continue shopping after you've selected a book, please use the Back button on your browser to return here so that each subsequent book comes from Aquinas as well. 3. The items in your shopping cart will remain there until you've made your final selections, at which point you can check out.
|
|
|
