It’s that time of year again!
This will be our 15th year of home education, but I still enjoy looking through the catalogs to see what’s offered to homeschool parents. You would think that after all this time and home educating our eldest from birth to graduation (Dec 2010), I would have it all figured out. Nope! There’s always room for improvement. There is also always time to revamp and re-do our choices.
Some items are a mainstay in our home education. We began our home education journey with Rod and Staff curriculum completely. I wanted to be sure I gave Rebecca a well-rounded and full education, so we ordered everything Rod and Staff offered for 1st grade (they do not have a kindergarten curriculum per se, but do have a wonderful set of workbooks to prepare your 4-5 year old for formal education). Once Thomas joined our home education program, I quickly saw that all the workbook sheets were too much for him. He’s my only son, with three sisters, but he still dislikes writing. I well remember one day when he was in 1st grade, his asking me if he “had to write his whole name too?” It was simply too much writing for him, so we made some changes.
We spent three wonderful years with Laura Ingalls and her family using the Prairie Primer. Rebecca, Thomas, and I were all sad to say good-bye to the Ingalls family. The unit study approach was our new favorite! I remember telling my Honey one evening while we were talking about our day that, “This is what homeschooling should always be like.” We all really learned a lot following all of the “bunny trails” with the Primer.
We went back to our book approach when we completed the Prairie Primer as we were in the middle of a huge move from SW Florida to Tennessee. Mama needed something a bit less labor-intensive as there were so many other things pulling me in different directions. We tried Switched on Schoolhouse and were very disappointed in the quality of education and information from it. Some really like that approach, it just wasn’t for us. Rebecca commented to me one day during a History lesson that she had learned more from reading her American Girl books than the short 3 days’ worth of lessons in SOS History. Needless to say, we quickly got rid of SOS!
For the 2012-2013 school year, I will have Natalie in 9th grade and Mary in 5th grade. For the most part, I have decided what we will be using. However, I have not planned out our full year yet, so I may make some last minute changes.
A portion of our schoolbooks for the upcoming year.
Here are the courses where we have made definite choices:
Natalie’s 9th grade choices:
Math U See Algebra I
Beautiful Feet Guide Ancient History Through Literature (English and History)
Exploring Tennessee (Notgrass) (Natalie is doing this study along with Mary as we did not complete this earlier in her school career)
Rod and Staff Bible 9
Mary’s 5th grade choices:
Apologia Exploring Creation Through Anatomy & Physiology (using lapbook journal as well)
Rod and Staff Reading- A Time to Plant
Rod and Staff 5th Grade Spelling
Easy Grammar Plus (second half of book)
Exploring Tennessee (Notgrass)
Rod and Staff 5th Grade English
All six of us are planning to use Rosetta Stone Latin American Spanish, including Daddy who has wanted to learn Spanish for some time so he can communicate with the cleaning lady at work who speaks Spanish and little English. (They have been teaching each other a word per week of their respective languages!)
Our curriculum choices are still a bit of a work in progress. Quite honestly, August has snuck up on me and I’m not completely prepared yet. We did not complete the last school year until the end of June, so we are still enjoying our {busy} summer break!
Of course, one of the best parts of back to school time is school supply shopping! I love school supplies about as much as I do office supplies. There’s nothing like new pens, pencils, notebooks, crayons, etc. 🙂
How about you? Have you finalized your plans? What grades are you teaching this school year?
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Oh, I’ve wanted to looking into the Prairie Primer, but was a little afraid it wouldn’t cover everything. What age would you recommend starting that one?
I would start the Primer around 3rd grade. It’s a wonderful resource. Do let me know if you decide to use it! 🙂
I agree, our homeschool shifts a little bit each school year to meet where the kids are at. I’ll be working with 6th, 2nd, 1st, K, PreK, and two little ones this year. You can see our plans here if you want to swing by: http://ourbusyhomeschool.blogspot.com/2012/08/curriculum-for-seven-kids-2012-2013.html My 6th grader is finishing the last tests in MUS Delta this week -yay!
Isn’t it neat to see how they learn? And to be able to tailor our teaching methods to their needs? Congratulations to your 6th grader! 🙂
I just hit Office Max and Staples yesterday and snagged some deals.
If you are interested in connecting with other Apologia users, check out the Apologia Blog Roll that I host here:
http://myjoy-filledlife.blogspot.com/2012/07/apologia-blog-role-2012-2013.html
Blessings!
I could wander the aisles of Office Max and Staples all day long…. 😉
Thank you for sharing your Apologia Blog Roll link! I just may stop by! 🙂
We are newbies! I didn’t know you had a 5th and 9th grader. I do as well! I am in the Co-Op this year too. My daughter is in 9th and son is in 5th.
For 9th we are doing:
Abeka Grammar & Comp.
Apologia Biology
Abeka World History (10)
Phil4 Algebra 1
as well as Dance,Piano,Community Theatre
Bible and Penmanship
For 5th we are doing all Abeka
I plan to change around next year, but since I am new, I wanted to take the advice of friends and do what they recommended this year until I can get used to everything.
PS I love school supplies too!
Hi, Michelle!
I look forward to getting to know you at Co-Op this year! It’s our first year to participate.
Sounds like you have your year all planned out. Isn’t it fun to get all of that done?! 🙂
Like you, we use some Beautiful Feet Materials in our homeschooling. We also tried to find something less labor intensive ad are still doing eclectic learning here. Thanks for sharing your ideas!
Popped by from the “Not-Back-to-School” Blog Hop: Curriculum Week!
Hope that you have a happy homeschool year! Happy planning for 2012-2013!
Hope that you will pop by to say hello over at my blog and my Pinterest boards too!
Colleen a.k.a. Pinterest Mama
http://pinterest.com/f5th/
Sunrise Learning Lab
http://sunriselearninglab.blogspot.com/2012/08/new-school-year-right-around-corner.html
Hi, Colleen!
I discovered Beautiful Feet Guides a couple of years ago. Aren’t they wonderful?
Thanks for stopping by during the “Not-Back-to-School” Blog Hop!
I’m headed to your blog now! Thanks for sharing your link!