5 Days of Homeschool 101: Curriculum (Our 2016-2017 Curriculum Choices)

It is time for the annual Back to Homeschool Blog Hop from the Schoolhouse Review Crew.

It is that time of year when my fellow Crew Mates and I share our thoughts on different subjects related to homeschool. This year we will all be sharing on the following topics on the specified days:

• Monday: Curriculum
• Tuesday: Planning
• Wednesday: Home Management
• Thursday: Traditions
• Friday: Encouragement

As I was getting ready to write this post, I glanced back at last year's post on curriculum and was shocked that we didn't really follow the plan I set last year. There are two reasons for this. The first was lack of planning on my part, which I will touch on more tomorrow. The second was changes due to new review products coming our way thanks to the Schoolhouse Review Crew. 

There are some products we are going to be using this year, that were supposed to be used last year, plus new ones, plus ones that we are continuing with. A lot of these resources have come our way thanks to being on the Crew. 

Core Curriculum

As I stated last year, our core curriculum continues to be My Father's World, and I still see no change in the foreseeable future. I really do like this curriculum. We will be starting off the year by finishing up My Father's World Adventures. We are actually in the middle of our short summer school schedule which is helping us catch up a bit. 

We will then start the new level, Exploring Countries and Cultures (ECC), in October. 

I do not currently have the curriculum, so I can't really share a picture of everything that is included. We will be purchasing it closer to the time we are starting. However, we will be looking at world geography, studying different countries, learning about traditional foods and music, and making native crafts. Our science will revolve around the different ecosystems that we learn about as we travel around the world. We will also be learning about missionaries who serve in these countries we will be studying. I can't wait to get our curriculum to be able to really get a feel for it, and I will make sure to share it here on the blog of course. 

While we all move on with ECC, Harold will be taking over as the primary student using My Father's World Kindergarten. Last year, I wasn't sure whether we would be finishing K in one year or two. The way our schedule worked out, with trying to fit everything in, we ended up sticking to a 2-week-per-unit schedule, similar to what I did with the older girls. 

Hannah is ready to move on to My Father's World 1st Grade: Learning God's Story, so Harold will be using the Kindergarten worksheets.

Both Hannah and Harold do know all their letters and sounds. Both of them are actually reading, Hannah at a more advanced level, but Harold is quickly catching up with her.

While I want to make sure we complete the Kindergarten curriculum, as I love the topics and science and the Bible that go with it, I will also be moving ahead with some aspects of 1st grade with Hannah. Mainly, I'm going to be using the Bible Reader and the phonics workbook with her, though I still have to iron out the details.

For both Hannah and Harold, I will also be continuing on with Jolly Literacy's Phonics books. This will be in addition to the MFW lessons. Anyway. Jolly Literacy is a company we reviewed this summer.

I am using Book 1 with Harold and Book 2 with Hannah. I will be using the Grammar book with Hannah later on in the year. 

We will also be using the Can Do Cubes from Jolly Literacy:

Language Arts (for the older girls)

Last year I had every intention of using Logic of English Essentials for Tabitha for her spelling. However, we received Phonetic Zoo from the Institute for Excellence in Writing and used that for a while. Then spelling was sort of sporadic for a while. I plan on having her continue with Phonetic Zoo this year. 

Spelling was also sporadic for Amelia and we didn't get to finish her 2nd grade Horizons spelling curriculum as planned, so she will continue on with that this year. 

As we were using so many varied products for English last year, we also didn't finish the Language Lessons for Today books. They will both continue with those this year. 

We will all continue working on poetry memorization with Developing Linguistic Skills Through Poetry Memorization from the Institute for Excellence in Writing. 

Math

When I posted our curriculum choices last year, I had every intention of using Math Mammoth. We never did purchase it however. We ended up using A+ Interactive Math. However, the children are sort of tired of that online curriculum. They never did like it as much as I did. So for math this year, we are going to be using two different online curricula. 

We recently reviewed LearnBop and Tabitha is really enjoying it, so I am going to have her continue with it.

Amelia wasn't too fond of LearnBop, so she is going to continue with CTCMath. 

Hannah and Harold have also been using CTCMath, and I am going to allow them to continue with it as well. I will also be including more hands-on things for them as well. Hannah will also be using Math Mammoth as I still have 1st Grade from when I reviewed it a few years ago.

Tabitha uses some aspects of CTCMath, so she will be continuing with it, and have the option of doing the lessons if she so chooses. She will also be focusing on multiplication with Math-U-See Gamma

Science

As of right now, the plan is to do the science lessons that focus on the ecosystems that come with ECC in addition to Science Shepherd. Apologia Astronomy will be put aside for a future year. We LOVE the astronomy curriculum, but Science Shepherd will expire next spring, so I want to make sure to use it.

Music

Last year's music didn't go as planned either. We were supposed to learn how to play the recorder. We never found a way to fit this in to our schedule. So, we will try again this year.

Tabitha may also have a chance to learn how to play the guitar. A friend at church may be teaching her. 

In addition to learning how to play an instrument, we will be listening to music from the various countries we will be learning about in ECC. We will be using the Wee Sing Around the World CD that comes with the curriculum.

We will also do the Peter and the Wolf study we didn't get to do the first time we went through 1st grade with MFW. I lost the CD, so we never did the lessons. We decided to purchase the CD again so we can listen to it.

We will also be continuing with our music appreciation study of a couple of composers using Zeezok Publishing. Last year, during the review, we learned about Mozart. We have several more composers to choose from. The plan is to learn about 2 a year. I believe the vote was for Beethoven the last time I asked the children. 

Art

We will be continuing our art lessons with ArtAchieve.

And, as I mentioned above, we will also be making native crafts for the countries we are studying with ECC. 

Foreign Language

Amelia will continue to learn Latin with Olim, Once Upon a Time in Latin from Laurelwood Books.

And she will be learning Spanish with Middlebury Interactive Languages.

Tabitha will be learning French with Getting Started with French from Armfield Academic Press.

Bible

We will have weekly readings and memory verses from the book of Matthew with My Father's World ECC. We may do the Proverbs lessons that go with MFW 1st grade as well.

The children will also continue with Veritas Press. Tabitha is working on lessons from the Gospels and Amelia is working through the early books of the Bible.. 

Misc

Tabitha and Amelia will continue to use Essential Skills Advantage. Tabitha enjoys doing the reading and language arts activities, though I will let both girls choose the subjects they want to work on. 

And that is a look at our 2016-2017 curriculum. Of course, as we saw this past year, things could change as review opportunities arise. What are you using this year?

It's a blog hop!

Don't forget to stop by to visit my fellow Crew Mates. We are all sharing Back to Homeschool from our own perspective, so enjoy the varied subjects and views this week. You will be able to find the posts linked up to each day's linky.