Like a shock of cold water, my 11th year of homeschooling (12th, if you count preschool) has awakened some renewed excitement in my bones. We're trying a few new things this year and returning to a few very old things. Like a 1990s DJ wearing neon colored Zuba pants, I'll be mixin' it up come fall. (Only without the neon colored Zuba pants because let's face it, those weren't flattering on the 13-year-old me, let alone the 38-year-old me.)
My decision to change a few things has very little to do with my unhappiness with certain curriculums, but everything to do with my own personality. As I've mentioned before, I'm a Jeremy and am naturally attracted to the new-and-different.
"If it's not broke, don't fix it," is a war cry that works for some moms. But to me, when I start to feel fragile in my homeschooling and sense that my emotional plumb line is slightly off-center, I know it's time for a change. Making a wide turn in curriculum choices is often the quick-fix needed to help me sturdy up and keep going.
Admittedly, sometimes my changes end up misfiring. When that happens, I return to whatever materials I abandoned in my haste towards different. But usually, I end up loving the direction our new curriculum ends up taking us.
All that to say, here is a look at the content-rich subjects/curriculums I have chosen for the 2018-2019 school year. We will do all of these together. Core (skill-oriented) subjects like languages arts and math will be done individually according to grade level. (I will be sure to share those in the coming days.) Technically, I don't homeschool with grade levels, so the following group subjects (with the exception of science) can easily be adjusted to meet the needs of a wide range of learners.
Since we only homeschool 4-days a week, you can assume that these resources will only be used 4 times a week unless otherwise indicated.
Morning Time- everyday
Our morning time is a non-negotiable in the schedule--an immovable anchor that helps create calm in the daily chaos. While some moms pack their Morning Time full and overflowing, I like to keep it simple. I only include the things that will build our faith and our relationships with God and each other. I figure if I can start our day peacefully with this short but very intentional benchmark, I can count the entire day as a success -- even if the rest of it gets derailed.
Some of the items in our morning basket will be done daily this year, while others will be done in a "loop" (similar to my housework loop).
To be done daily
- Call to worship- I'll use Spotify and play the entire audio of Reckless Love by Cory Asbury
- Practice the verse of the week from our Fighter Verse pack and review previously learned ones from the Fighter Verse list
- Learn a new hymn each month
- Sing two songs from our homemade praise/worship songbook
- Go over one manner from the 100 Manners to Teach Your Kids Before They Turn 18 list
- Read the Scripture passages that our Rethink Church group has selected for the week (Our House Church is not officially affiliated with Chan's Rethink Church, but worships with a similar model.)
To be placed in a "loop"
Theology/Christian Living
Missionary story
John Wesley: The World His Parish- 1x a week for the 1st semester
William Booth: Soup, Soap, and Salvation- 1x a week for the 2nd semester
John Wesley: The World His Parish- 1x a week for the 1st semester
William Booth: Soup, Soap, and Salvation- 1x a week for the 2nd semester
Science
For the third year in a row, my house will be divided for science. My daughter will be taking a Biology Distance Learning course from BJU Press (4x a week) and my boys and I will be working our way through Biology 2 from Logos Press (2x a week). That way, the entire family can be learning similar topics but at age-appropriate levels. We used some materials from the Logos Press Noeo science series once before and were really impressed with its Charlotte Mason-approach to learning.
History- 2x a week
History should never be studied using a dry-as-dust textbook, in my opinion. It should always be learned through living literature, field trips, videos, and conversations with the real, flesh-and-bone people who lived it. As always, this year, I'll be using my trusty Truth Quest guides to create homespun history units for our look at The Age of Revolution. We'll all read most of the books together, but my daughter and oldest son will be assigned some additional books at their own age level.
We will also use the following resources:
- Notebook Pages- This is an absolutely excellent resource for Charlotte Mason notebooking. I highly recommend purchasing the lifetime membership!
- our homemade history notebooks- These are notebooks that we've been adding to since we began studying Ancient Egypt five years ago.
- our family timeline
Extracurricular Subjects
Following our afternoon read aloud time each day (which generally happens right after lunch clean-up), we'll do one of three extracurricular activities together. I'll leave that time slot empty on Fridays so that we can finish up any project that didn't get done on its assigned day.
Watercolor- Monday
Instead of doing random art projects throughout the year, we will be doing a deep dive into watercolor. Practice doesn't make perfect, but it always makes progress. So, I'm hoping that by spending a full year focusing on watercolor, my kids can begin to master some basic skills. I plan to borrow the following three resources from the library and then purchase the one that we end up referencing the most.
The Dance of Watercolor- This is a video tutorial for watercolor beginners. It teaches basic watercolor terminology, tools, and techniques.
Creative Writing- Tuesday
Story Starters- This is a book filled with half-finished short stories and illustrations. Each one leaves off at a cliff-hanger, allowing a child to complete the story arch in his/her own words.
Logic/Reasoning- Wednesday
The Fallacy Detective- Since my daughter read through this book a few years ago, she will not be doing logic with us each week.
Cooperative Learning
All good things must come to an end. Sadly, the co-op that we've enjoyed being a part of for the last twelve years has decided to disband. Each family's homeschooling needs have changed. And while we, moms, would love to get the band back together, for no other reason than our own friendships with each other, we know it would not be in the best interest of our kids.
So, my family will be joining a new co-op this year. We've narrowed our search down to two different groups in our area. Both co-ops have pros and cons, so it will be difficult to choose one over the other. To be continued...
2018-2019 Curriculum by grade level
Here's a look at the curriculum that I've chosen for the core-subjects for the following grades:
Thank you so much. I have a large family of eight children and we also are a homeschooling family. I have been searching for resources online for all ages because the children are getting older and require simulation. You literally have simplified my task. Is it okay if I borrow some of the resources or not? My children range in age from 17 to 2 years old.
ReplyDeleteMy youngest two children are twins. I have another question- how do you effectively homeschool twins that small? I want them to participate in lessons like their older brothers and sisters. Off to take a look at your blog now. How do you teach things like geography and science to auditory learners without getting frustrated?
While I have absolutely no experience with twins, I have many years' worth of experience teaching with toddlers in tow. My secret sauce is to have handwork for them to do during teaching time. Enter "Handwork" in the search bar of my blog and you'll get all my best ideas. Also search "Tot School."
DeleteLiving literature style curriculum is great for auditory learners because most of the learning comes by way of reading great books. That's how I've always taught all my content-oriented subjects like geography and science. I throw in some hands-on projects here and there, but most of the learning comes through reading aloud to the group.