I typically don't do school grades and everyone works on different levels of things but for the sake of you readers I will tell you what grades they are "supposed" to be in by public school standards. So we call them levels and when they finish one they "Level Up" they enjoy the video game terminology! As previously stated in other posts for the sole purpose of this blog I use nicknames for my kids that truly suit their personalities!
Also I should mention that some subjects we do all together and some the kids work on independently. It should be an interesting year as all of them will be doing some type of curriculum. (Pray for me!! LOL!) Someone asked me to describe myself as a homeschool mom and honestly I am not sure. I am a little bit of everything but with a stronger leaning towards traditional and Charlotte Mason all mixed into one!
Let's Dig In!
The Jedi Master - 6th Grade
Reading: This year I decided to leave Christian Light Publications just to take a break and focus on just reading books that are classics or meaningful stories. I made a small basket for him which has these books and he gets to pick what he wants to read next. Typically I have already read the book or will read the chapter so that we can discuss it together. Books in the basket so far are: Lion, Witch and the Wardrobe, Prince Caspian, Henry Muggins, The Tiger Rising, Basher Five-Two and Jonny Tremain just to name a few. We will see how this goes, I am hoping it works well for him. He is used to workbooks so this will definitely be different and more relaxed for him.
Language Arts: This year we are starting Writing Strands Beginning 2 from Masterbooks. I felt like he needed more practice with his writing and I think this will really help him out. I also love that the lessons are short which will give me time to work with the smaller ones. The text of the book is written as if the author is speaking to the user which is neat. I also love that Bible is incorporated into this curriculum. They rotate weeks so one week will be reading and the following week is writing. The reading pieces are from the Bible or the current book they happen to be reading.
Math: Sticking with CLE!! If you read my previous post you know the blunder I made and I will not be making that again. Despite all of that he was able to jump right into Level 6. The first book is usually a review of the previous year which we definitely needed! Hopefully he will be successful at it.
Spelling: Because we aren't doing a Reading program and the Language Arts that he is working on will not have a spelling list I thought it was important to incorporate that into his day. So I bought Spelling Workout Level F from Christian Book. These lessons are short and he can work on them independently.
The Gentle Ninja - 3rd Grade
strides!! Definitely has been a slower pace with him but I have learned so much and I have seen so much growth that it is truly exciting!
Reading: Because we are still working with phonics I knew I needed something a lot gentler for him. So after much research I decided to go with All About Reading Level 2. I think it will help him boost his confidence a lot more and get him to enjoy reading.
Language Arts: We are going to continue using Language Lessons for a Living Education from Masterbooks. This year he will work on Level 3. I have really enjoyed this program for him. It's very gentle and short. He doesn't have to sit there for long trying to complete a lesson. He enjoys it as well!
Math: We are definitely sticking with CLE however because of my blunder he will not be able to jump right into Level 4 as CLE Math is very advanced. By this level they are already doing multiplication and division and that is not something that the previous math really covered in depth. So we will be doing Math 3 this year from CLE and working our way through that! (Hence why I don't use grades in our house!)
The Cuddly Scientist - First Grade
Reading - Well we have begun our journey into learning how to read! And so he will continue using CLE which to me has the one of the best phonics programs out there. There is no fluff to it just straight up learning phonics which is what I like. He will continue with Learning to Read and move to Reading Level 1 when he is done with the phonics program.
Language Arts - I decided not to do the CLE Language Arts that I had done with my previous two boys and that correlates with the Learning to Read program. There is a simple explanation and that is I feel like it makes the days super long!! And learning from the experiences of my older boys I didn't want that for this little guy. So I bought the Masterbooks Language Lessons for a Living Education. However, I will not start this program until he is finished with all of his Reading program from CLE.
Math - You know what I am going to say! CLE all the way!! He will begin Math 1 and begin his journey in the CLE Math program.
The Firecracker - Kindergarten
Our Together Time
We are going to attempt to use Notgrass Uncle Sam and You for our History and I say attempt because it looks a bit dry and I am not sure how it will go over with the kids or me.
We will be doing US Geography this year and we are using Geo Matters for that. I sent the books to be printed and hopefully they will arrive in time!
Science we are going to be using Christian Kids Explore for Biology and I think it will be a good fit but I am never sure on Science. I also thought that for the little ones it would be great to incorporate some Nature Studies so I bout Exploring Nature with Children and I really hope we enjoy it!
Those are the plans for this year and I am sure things will change as nothing is ever set in stone but I will update you around March/April and see how things are going or maybe I'll just update you at the end of our school year... we will see!
Just so they are handy here are the websites for the curriculum choices we are using: ( I am in no way affiliated with the companies and I do not receive anything for sharing. I am an affiliate for Amazon and Christianbook)
If you have any questions whatsoever please don't hesitate to email me or leave me a comment!
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