Sunday, July 11, 2010

Done

I'm finally done ordering curriculum for next year.  I've hemmed and hawed(oh gosh..I don't even know if I've spelled that right and I have to teach spelling and grammar..ahhh!!!!) for months on what to do next year.  We were all bored to tears with my grammar selection for the last two years(It was Rod and Staff).  While I love the Mennonite culture and customs found in this curriculum, the boys would cry out of boredom when we did this grammar. Their is absolutely nothing wrong with this curriculum-it's effective and does it's job but it is boring.  Also, I think I was really sick of it after two years and ready for a change.  So, we're on to Shurley grammar.  With it's jingles and practice Cd's and lots of hands on/interactive things, I hope it's better this year.
 
We are also switching from Well trained mind suggestions(gasp!) and heading over to the Sonlight bandwagon.  I've thought about it for years and figured we'd do the 2 year American History study and if it doesn't fit us after that..well, we tried and I'm sure we'll learn alot through the process.  After that(if we want to change) well be back on the appropriate 4 year history cycle and all will be well in the world.

Reading will co relate with history and I've ordered all those books as well and have a reading comprehension guide with Sonlight.  I also ordered Shurley grammar's Literature selection book because it looked interesting and introduced them to words like stanza and metaphor..so that looked pretty cool.

Math-we switched to Saxon math late in second grade when we finished up Math U See for the year.  I switched because I love that Saxon has online help in the form of DVDs and CD-Roms.  I believe this will be a tremendous help as the boys advance into harder math.
 
Science is online..yeah!!!! I signed the boys up for a Chemistry class using the Real Science 4 Kids curriculum.  So, I'm so stoked that's off my to do list.

Also, I've been compiling a list of Nova, PBS, and various other documentaries on Netflix regarding weather, scientists, church history, etc.  We will watch one a week together and discuss.

Hmmm..what else..Oh! I bought Prima Latina with the DVDs.  So, we will be diving into Latin this year.  I took 2 years of Latin in high school but don't remember anything so this will be new for me too.
 
Art is a DVD based program called Atelier art.  It has great reviews and I purchased the artist study as well.  The boys seem to enjoy learning about artist's lives and really remember alot(mostly gory details..but still)...

I ordered a ton of logic/analogy books so I'll sneak a couple of those in weekly as well.

We using Spelling Power for spelling and actually will be starting that soon.  I don't want to start everything new at once, it will make my head explode.

Bible-well...that's still up in the air.  I've ordered the Bible selections from Sonlight and I'm sure we will do that plus the Bible memorization.  I'm not sure about the Native American prayer book though..I'll have to preview that one first...  But, I may do a Saint's study as well...maybe..possibly...

Also, the boys, along with Darryl, will be learning some basic car mechanics like changing the oil, fluids, etc. as well as they will be helping with several building projects.

They will continue piano and baseball.  We are also going to sign up for 4H.  It seems like a wonderful program and you can't beat free scholarship money and free curriculum!

So, that's it...a huge weight is off my shoulders.  Now, the fun begins with lesson planning....

I'm alot poorer now but it looks to be a fun year!

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