Curriculum for 2013 - 2014 Homeschool Year

I ordered our curriculum for the new school year back in April and got it right away!  I don't care how many years you have been homeschooling, I think it never gets old when those boxes arrive!

We order from Sonlight and most everything I use comes from them.  We received 2 boxes this year, one with Katy's and one with Ava Marie's books.

Katy - 8th Grade:

CORE F - Eastern Hemisphere which includes the Language Arts and the Bible Study this year.
Science G - Geology, Physics & Origins
Math - Teaching Textbooks
I am also using Keys to Good Language 5

Ava Marie - Kindergarten:

CORE A - Intro to the World: Cultures which also includes the Language Arts and K Readers.
Ready, Set, Go for the Code
Math K Workbooks - I picked up several at Costco.
Reason for Handwriting K


Can I say how excited I am for this!!!  I pulled all of the books out to make sure we received everything, and we did!  I check them off of the list and make little piles on the table.  Then I pull out the binders we will use.  We buy new binders every year and I let the girls choose the colors.  This year Katy chose Teal and Ava Marie chose Pink!

Then I put all of the Instructor's guides into the binders for me, I get 2, one for each girl's core.  And then I use 2 binders for each girl's core for her.  I divide them up Week 1 - Week 18 and binder 2 is for Week 19 - Week 36.  This way they are not as heavy.  I put the Activity Guides in their binders along with any worksheets.  Each week has the Weekly Activity Guide for the Core, then the Guide for the Language Arts, then the Worksheets for the Language Arts, then the Guide for the Science, then the Worksheets for the Science.  At the end of the week we pull it out of the front of the binder and place it at the back of the binder.  On week 5, for example you will open the binder and the first tab you will see will be Week 5.  By the end of Week 18, the book will be back to how we started, but all of the worksheets will be completed.

This year will be a little crazy, because Ava Marie will be attending our local public school for the mornings.  I decided that since she is prone to a bit of mischief, it would be better for me to have her in public school for the first half of the day.  Then she will come home, have lunch with us and then do her homeschool work in the afternoons.  The twins should be asleep by that time and I will be able to give her my undivided attention so we can get her work done.

You may think this is too much school, but the reality is that in a half day kindergarten program at the public school there is a lot more play than school.  I am not saying they won't teach her things, but it will definitely be different than what I am teaching her, so...it's all good.

This way she will also have time to make friends in our neighborhood and since 2 of her sisters are there also, I know she is safe.

Can't wait to get started!  Only a couple more weeks left to go!!

Week 5 - Tuesday

We are enjoying great weather for the beginning of our school year, so most days you will find us outside in the morning. We are using the Sonlight Curriculum, Core 1 History of the World. I really like how everything is laid out for us. I just open the Instructors Guide (IG) and turn to the corresponding week and it lists everything we are to do daily. You can even choose from a 5-Day or 4-Day week. We are doing the 5-Day as it goes through more information in a quicker time frame. We are using Horizon Math, The Reason For Handwriting and additional reading books from the library, but otherwise everything is Sonlight.


Ava Marie is working on a workbook I picked up from Costco. We use these workbooks over the summer to keep the girls skills up and ready for the next school year. I am thinking we may do homeschool year round. It depends how we will work it out with the other two girls home. I tend to think it would work out well because it would give them some structure during the summer.

Mostly Ava Marie had reading books from Sonlight, not workbooks, but she insisted since her sister was using a workbook to write in.

Katy is usually done with all of her work before lunch. After lunch Ava and Aidan take naps and Katy reads or works on a project like sewing or scrapbooking. I work in my office and try to make phone calls or answer emails. As I said before, we are both really enjoying this, I just hope I am doing everything right. It seems like it is too fun to be school work!

Welcome

I have set up this blog to record our first year in homeschooling. I have 6 children right now, Randy is 25, Katy is 10, Mackenzie is 7, Madyson Claire is 5, Ava Marie is 2 and Aidan is 5 months. I have been blogging for a couple of years and I am excited to have this new blog along with my regular blog.

My daughter Katy just finished the 4th grade in public school. I am not unhappy about her education, and I really did love the school she was attending. In fact my other 2 school age children are still attending Arbor Creek Elementary and it is a wonderful school. I am going to start with Katy and also Ava Marie though she is only 2, but I have purchased a really good curriculum for her too, it is mostly reading. Mackenzie and Madyson will continue to go to the public school, for now.

The problem is that they have changed the range of grades at the school, it was Kindergarten through 6th Grade and now it will only go to 5th Grade. The 6th graders will go to the Middle School. I am not happy about Middle School. I don't think it is a safe place for my children. It is filled with mean girls, nasty boys and teachers who give them too much freedom and not enough structure.

Originally we were going to wait until Katy was in 6th grade to start our homeschool, but she was very excited and both of us decided we didn't want to wait any longer. So the plan is to homeschool Katy from 5th grade through 8th grade. I am not sure if she will go to a private high school or if I will continue to homeschool her through high school...we have 4 years to figure that out.

I will update this blog over the summer, but probably not on a daily basis. Then I will blog daily when we start school. At this time I have decided to start school on August 23rd. The other girls start school on the 18th and I want to wait until they are in school so I can concentrate on Katy!