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School Year 2007-2008

updated 01/08/08 -- We've welcomed a new baby into our home last August, plus our fourth child started "kindergarten" this year.  So four kids in school!  What an adventure!  (They are in 6th, 3rd, 2nd, and K.  We also have a 3-year-old daughter.)  Below is a typical day...

Bible

We felt that it was very important for our children to know God's Word intimately.  This included a thorough knowledge of both the Old and New Testaments, as well as character qualities and doctrine.  We also wished to be able to combine our children's studies in this area so that our family could be growing spiritually together.  That's why we've written our very own Bible curriculum.  We've now gone through the entire Bible as a family and are back in the Old Testament this year.  Click here for more information.

Language Arts

One of our favorite authors is Ruth Beechick.  After reading her books, we have developed extensive, literature-based language arts curriculum recommendations, with many components available free right here online!  (In order to view and print PDF documents, you must have Adobe® Acrobat® Reader 5.0 or higher.)

• Teaching a young child to read (recommended:  Kindergarten)

• Reading for all ages and grades

• Spelling

• Vocabulary

• Handwriting

• Teaching Grammar

• Creative Writing

In our own family, we have found that A Beka's Language program (including phonic, spelling and vocabulary, poetry and literature, grammar, creative writing, and handwriting) has very closely followed Ruth Beechick's suggestions.  However, as a busy mom, I don't have to reinvent the curriculum wheel with each of my children.  We've been very pleased with the results, as well as pleased with not having to create our own curriculum each year.  We do suggest being sure to purchase the visual aids and the teacher's manuals, in addition to the student books.  It's not as expensive as it sounds.  We highly recommend it!

Our oldest two children (grades 6 and 3) will also be analyzing a sentence each week to reinforce their grammar instruction.  We use KISS grammar for this.

Our kindergarten-daughter is using A Beka's phonics program to learn to read and write.  We're not moving as quickly as the curriculum suggests.  Sometimes we'll spend several days on one lesson, until she's got it good.

Math

Our family uses A Beka's Arithmetic program.  Elementary workbooks are currently $12.10 each.  We consider these essentials!  We highly recommend that you also purchase speed drill and test booklets, flashcards, and detailed curriculum guides for teachers. I get a teacher's answer key for the older grades, so I don't have to work all the problems myself.  You can view A Beka's catalog here.  

We purchased our flashcards for addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division (from A Beka).  You can find these at your local Wal-mart or teacher supply store, or you can make them yourself!  We recommend purchasing cards with a problem on the front and an answer on the back so that cards can be easily sorted into number "families."

Finally, we strongly recommend purchasing Ruth Beechick's book, An Easy Start in Arithmetic (very inexpensive).  Using workbooks or prepackaged curriculum without adapting them to your child's specific needs can be a recipe for disaster.  Ruth Beechick will help you discover how to teach your child, not teach a workbook.

History and Science

We use and recommend Sonlight Curriculum for history.  We love it!  On the good side, it instills a love of learning, it uses "living books," and it teaches a love for God and people.  On the down side, it does take more time to teach than a traditional textbook approach.  This year, we're solving this problem by using Alpha Omega LifePac's 5th grade history program as a "spine" for our 6th grader's history program, and then using Sonlight's corresponding readers and read-alouds as wonderful complements.  We assign the readers as individual homework for the 3rd and 6th graders, and we read slowly through the read-aloud books together as a family each day.  We'll all be doing U.S. History (Core 3 in Sonlight) together this year.

Some time back, we discovered Apologia's elementary science books.  They use a living books approach, encourage notebooking, ask for narration, and are just wonderful.  They are written by author Jeannie Fulbright.  

My 6th grader will be using Apologia's Exploring Creation with General Science.  I'm impressed with the thoroughness of this text and how it speaks directly to him as a student.  I love the emphasis on creation and the glory of God revealed through science.  

Other Subjects

• Physical Education -- Click here to read more about our very own, mom-friendly curriculum!  I also recommend Praise Moves DVDs, which come in very handy on days when I'm too tired to join in.

• Piano -- We like two piano "methods":  (1) Faber & Faber's Piano Adventures (nice music, colorful, easy to understand -- even for non-musical moms; however, cost is approximately $40-50 per year for two complete levels); (2) John Thompson's old-fashioned Teaching Little Fingers to Play and Modern Graded Course for the Piano (thorough and proven, moves faster than more recent books, inexpensive at $5-10 per year; however, may be more difficult for mom to teach to her own children).  Need help teaching piano to your own children?  Write me!

• Chores, Life Skills, Health, Safety and Manners -- Our favorite book is What Every Child Should Know Along the Way, by Gail Martin (when clicking on this link, scroll down to "Other Resources").  We've developed a way to implement her ideas in our family.  See our free information on how to get started.

• Art -- We're enjoying Alpha Omega's art course written by Thomas Kinkade.  We supplement this by joining another homeschooling family in our town for occasional arts & crafts projects.  

Our family is also compiling curriculum for the following subject:

• Music Appreciation (whoo-boy!  it's on the very backest, back burner right now)

Next Year

• I'm making plans for Fall '08, and it looks like we're going to branch out for the first time into a little bit of Christian Classical homeschooling!  I'm looking forward to telling you more about it, but for now, you can learn how I did, at this website.

Thank you for visiting our website!  If we can assist you in any way, please let us know!

Having trouble juggling it all?  Anne's book may be just what you need.

Questions about homeschooling?  We'd love to help!  You can contact us here.

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