Is there a survival guide for choosing curriculum? I know... one size does NOT fit all! As I mentioned in part 1, I've been researching and compiling for months. And yet, I still have so far to go! Since I'm WAITING.. to hear about charter school, (patience Tiff!) And, the homeschool convention I'm attending, isn't till June (can't wait to get my hands and eyeballs on some stuff!) I will continue this series, with what I DO have. I plan on reading, at least 4 classic books (outloud) this next year. We will be using confessionsofahomeschooler 's Literature unit studies for: Black Beauty, Charlottes Web, Little House In The Big Woods, and Alice In Wonderland. (She also has a great Scientists and Inventors series. Good stuff, people!)
In addition to literature, we will be doing confessions' Greatist Artists(1) and Composers studies. I am currently using her Letter Of The Week and K4 curriculum(s.) And will continue using them for Obi Wans PreK. A side note on the PreK & K4 curriculum: They are FULL curriculums, with lesson plans, etc. I go through and JUST print what we will use or need to save on printing. (Here is a SMALL sample) *UPDATE ON GEOGRAPHY* since the last post, I was so thrilled to see that Little Passports came out with a USA edition!!! And so, yes! We will be traveling this fine country, with Sam and Sofia as well. YAY!
For Health: I printed a few unit studies, and I also got Human Body Detectives.
H.B.D. is recommended for first grade up, but we'll probably still use it as an intro. 'Licious loves stories! The audio c.d.'s and workbook's are great! There are stickers and mazes, word searches, etc. Well, my friday is slipping away. More to come! Tiffany (taffygrinch)
Wow! There are so many curriculum options! I've been pouring over information for months, trying to make the best choices for us. I don't want to make the rookie mistake of overdoing it, but I also don't want to miss anything! I'm planning on attending a homeschool convention in June, (so excited!) I've noticed kindergarten, seems to be an easy going grade. But, it's also when you lay the ground work for the years ahead. We are on a waiting list for a public, charter school...seems to be the best fit for us financially. Go through the local school district, have them pay for curriculum, teach at home ..win/win! (Not so much, with the waiting though!) However, I still find, I will need to supplement here and there. For Bible, I'll be completely on my own. Still haven't picked a specific curriculum. Any suggestions for preK/kindergarten level? I do have a "Bible Doodles" book, (gives scripture and story, and a start for "doodles", and your kids fill in the picture acording to the story!) A veggie tales story Bible, and devo book. (We will use this with the dvds and or netflix to re-enforce the stories.) I also have an alphabetical, memory verse flip ring that I printed and laminated from homeschoolcreations.net And a great set of character trait cards with scripture verses! (From a link on 1plus1plus1equals1.net in the calendar section.)
For handwriting, I purchased "A Reason For Handwriting," and plan on using it for both Lalalicious (K) and Obi Wan (pre-K). What I like about this system, is, it's Biblically based...and the teachers guidebook covers K-6th. So, in the future, I will just get the workbooks by grade level. Reading through the teachers guide, it's very thorough, and has lots of great ideas! I also purchased "A to Z Letter Formation Practice Pages" by Scholastic, to go with the "Alpha Tales" phonetic story books, we already had.
History and Geography seem to be woven together for us. I opted to go with U.S. history and geography this year, since I will have a kindergartener again, the following year. This way, we can do World History and Geography the next year, TOGETHER! I got "Road Trip U.S.A." by confessionsofahomeschooler, as well as a subscription to "Which Way USA" by Highlights for geography. A lot of the books suggested to go with this study, tie into the history of the U.S. I had already ordered! "Pleased to meet ya', America!" is a unit study offered by Steward Ship. They will work together quite nicely! In addition to these studies, we will be doing a simple continent study to get a "world scope." I highly recommend homeschoolcreations for OH SO MANY things, but specifically geography. She has very detailed *FREE* printables, by continent and recommendations for lesson plans. For this year, I only printed a few sheets from each; flag coloring pages, basic info, maps, etc. I also printed fun coloring pages and crafts from activityvilliage.co.uk (so much fun stuff!) Well, I guess I'll wrap up part one here. Coming soon: N.T.C.M. part 2! Tiffany (taffygrinch)
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In addition to literature, we will be doing confessions' Greatist Artists(1) and Composers studies. I am currently using her Letter Of The Week and K4 curriculum(s.) And will continue using them for Obi Wans PreK. A side note on the PreK & K4 curriculum: They are FULL curriculums, with lesson plans, etc. I go through and JUST print what we will use or need to save on printing. (Here is a SMALL sample) 
*UPDATE ON GEOGRAPHY* since the last post, I was so thrilled to see that Little Passports came out with a USA edition!!! And so, yes! We will be traveling this fine country, with Sam and Sofia as well. YAY!
For Health: I printed a few unit studies, and I also got Human Body Detectives.
H.B.D. is recommended for first grade up, but we'll probably still use it as an intro. 'Licious loves stories! The audio c.d.'s and workbook's are great! There are stickers and mazes, word searches, etc. Well, my friday is slipping away. More to come! Tiffany (taffygrinch)
