Not Back-to-School Blog Hop: Curriculum Week

I am joining the Not Back-To School Blog Hop at Life With My 3 Boybarians. Here is the schedule for the Month.

This is Curriculum Week. This is what Darcy said about this weeks challenge.

"After hours and hours of research, consultation, lists and that big ol’ investment… what did you finally decide for your curriculum? Please share your choices – by age (or grade) if possible. There is no wrong or right way to share your curriculum! Photos, lists, links… whatever goes."

We have done a week of school already. For those who regularly read my blog some of this is a repeat of part of a post that I did last week, but I expanded the curriculum part for this challenge.

I am currently homeschooling my two boys Christopher age 12 and in 7th grade and Nathan age 15 and in 10th grade.

So here we go:

Subjects we do together
For Bible this year we are using Grapevine Studies O.T. Overview level 4. This is one of the TOS Crew Review products we got to review this year. The boys love it and want to do the whole thing. It is set up as a full year curriculum. They also want to do the New Testament next year. I will do a detailed review of this next week so watch for my review.

Our History subject this year is the Renaissance/Reformation/Explorers. We will be using Mystery of History Vol. 3, Story of the Renaissance and Reformation, Story of the Thirteen Colonies, and Famous Men of the Renaissance & Reformation as a base with timelines, maps, lapbooks, biographies, historical fiction, other history books, and videos added in. I make my own unit study planner. I add lots of resources we like from our library as well as recommended resources from various web sites, friends, things I have collected over the years. I have books like All Through the Ages that I use for finding historical fiction. I also like the recommendations at Greenleaf Press. They put together whole packages for each time period, they have great resources.

For Science we will be doing Chemistry. We will be using Christian Kids Explore Chemistry, Discovering Atoms, Molecules, and Matter, 150 Captivating Chemistry Experiments Using Household Substances, Chemistry for Every Kid: 101 Experiments, Cohesion/Adhesion Task Card Lessons, Oxidation Task Card Lessons, and Solutions Task Card Lessons, and Foundations for Chemistry HOAC Lapbook. I make my own unit study planner for science to. Combining the above resources by topic to make one big unit. Maybe year long, maybe not.

Our first artist for our Artist Study is Fra Angelico (click his name for a link to wikipedia where I got prints of his paintings). After that we will do other Renaissance artists. I usually follow the Ambleside Artist Study schedule but this year since we have not covered some of the artists of the Renaissance that Ambleside has done and we are doing that time period we will be covering them. I am not sure which ones I will pick yet. Watch my blog for further news of that in the coming months.

Our first composer for our Composer Study is Martin Luther author of A Mighty Fortress is our God and Away in a Manger as well as others. One Resource we will be using for this study is Color the Classics - Hymn Writers (Rainbow only sells it as a set but you may be able to find it elsewhere separately if you wish).

Subjects the boys do seperately
For Language the boys will be doing different work on their own level.
Wordsmith Apprentice and Daily Grams Grade 7 for Christopher, Wordsmith and more of Easy Grammar Plus for Nathan (he started the book last year), and Personal Reading. I also want the boys to do a Literature Book Report Lapbook on at least one book they are reading this year for their personal reading. The boys are also trying to read 100 books in a year. I am using the file I got for free from the Notebooking 2 Learn yahoo group. The files are in the file section, Language Arts. The file is called 100 Book Challenge and there is a pdf with bookmarks for the kids to keep track of the books they read and there is a pdf of a certificate you can give them if they succeed. The boys have to read 100 different books in one calendar year (not one school year) and I told them if they succeed I will take them out for a special lunch also.

For Math first Christopher was doing Hands-On Equations, we love this program and it is a great hands on way to prepare students forAlgebra. All 3 of my other kids did this and enjoyed it and now it is Christophers turn. He just loves it and is anxious to do it every day. Because of us being part of the TOS Crew Review this year we have to, sometimes, put aside our plans and use new products when they come. Christopher was doing a one month test of ALEKS math along with his Hands-On Equations and was loving it. (look for that review in early Sept) But along came another product to review, Barnum Software-Quarter Mile Math. So Christopher will be working with these two programs for a month or so and then we will be back to Hands-On Equations. After he finishes Hands-On Equations 24 or so lessons he will begin Saxon Algebra ½ Home Study Kit (3rd Edition). Nathan will be doing the ALEKS math review also and Teaching Textbook Algebra 2.

Ok, that is our basic curriculum for the year. It will be accented by and added to and interrupted by the products we will be testing for the TOS Review Crew as I said above for Christopher's Math. Some of these the boys may like well and if it is a full year curriculum we will either add it to what we are doing, substitute it for something we had planned, or save the rest for next year. So the name of the game for school this year is FLEXIBILITY!!!

I hope you enjoyed this peek into what we are using for curriculum this year and will join us in this Blog Hop. You have all week to get a post done on this topic and get your link in the Mr. Linky. Here is the link again so you can read the other posts and/or participate: Not Back-to-School Blog Hop: Curriculum Week

Have a great week and stop by tomorow and do my Blast From The Past Meme. I would love you have you join me. Rules are minimal and you can find the rules and previous posts by clicking on Blast From The Past in the list of Labels at the bottom of the left hand column.

Debbie