Our Homeschool Curriculum for 2011-2012

A big part of what kept me off the blog this week was the Southeast Homeschool Expo, and a big part of making the most of the Expo was finalizing our curriculum and getting materials.

The last couple years though we were not "officially" homeschooling we've been following a very unstructured daily learning routine for C and J which has actually put them ahead of where they would be in our local Pre-K and Kindergarten programs on several concepts (especially math for C) so this year our curriculum will be more Pre-K and reinforcing basic skills for J while seeing how far C can take some Kindergarten materials while getting her reading on her own, along with the majority of 1st grade level Math.

Through lots of research and discussion this week these are the materials Daddy and I decided on and purchased (though a couple are being mailed later this week). After using these for a Semester I will review them as programs as well as for each of my kids using them (since C and J already learn in very different ways) and depending on how this year goes will see if we continue with them in the future.

Because C and J are only a year apart we will be doing lots of overlapping Unit Studies for both of them and letting C have some extra practice on the material she's already comfortable with to build proficiency while J is still just getting into and getting familiar with it.

We are using:

Handwriting Without Tears: Both C and J can write their upper and lower case letters but when J gets tired he starts flipping letters. While C loves drawing (as does E) J has always been one who would rather build, preferring the tactile learning experience so this program seems like a great tool to get him the rest of the way while letting C continue to refine her current writing skills.

Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Lessons: We've started this and put it down due to Vacations and general distractions a couple times but will be continuing it for C and restarting it for J on August 1st

Math in Focus the Singapore Approach along with some of the older Primary Mathematics Textbooks: 1st grade level Math with lots of visuals as well as using manipulatives to add to the tactile elements. We also chose this program because it explains skip counting but relies on mental math more in comparison to some other programs that continue the skip counting throughout their entire series. This will be newer material for J and more review for C at first and depending on how they do and pace themselves we'll see if we need to advance the material before the end of the year.

Story of the World: Volume 1: We will begin this as bedtime stories and then add in the daily activities. This is our main intro to history at this point and several of the activities included will connect to science and art activities.

We also have several Science books for both text units and experiments since that will be more of our own curriculum at this early level, and Geography books to add on to the magazines and maps we've already been using. I'll update with those specific titles later tonight. Depending on the kids' interest and time spent on Science and Geography we may add in the Houghton Mifflin Science textbook and Cantoring the Country or Expedition Earth.

Literature studies will not be per a specific purchased plan but based on classics novels and children's books in our own at home library as well as our local branches. I may try and update with a brief overview of those lessons here as we get into them next week and over the next few months.

I'm excited, as are the kids, to get started on our new goodies Monday. Wish us luck! And I'll keep yall updated on progress as we go :)