Tomorrow we will be beginning our school year. And this is a whole new adventure for us! In the past we’ve stayed within the comforts of one curriculum. It began with A.C.E. and then went onto Abeka. Both are stellar curriculums. But I was feeling left out. We weren’t as hands on as other homeschoolers I knew were. We were ready to cut through our safety net and try something new! So tomorrow, with lots of prayer and a fun filled, jam packed schedule, I present our new curriculums!
Math
This was the easiest subject to choose. My girls begged to continue using Abeka for math. They have enjoyed the storyproblems and just the way they are taught in general. It is workbook based so not a whole lot of hands on, worldly experience there. However, they love it and they are learning! So I couldn’t argue with them on this one. Abeka it is!
Writing
This one I had never heard of but when I came across it online it looked like a lot of fun and had high reviews – WriteShop. Very hands on and lots of creativity needed on this. With the stories my girls are constantly coming us with WriteShop seemed like a great use of all those creative buds that are just waiting to be nurtured.
Reading
This was definitely more difficult to find. The last subject I finally chose for. After lots of online review comparisons and speaking with fellow homeschoolers we decided to try Rod & Staff for their reading curriculum. Honestly, I don’t have much to say about this one just yet since I have yet to really dive into it, but the reviews were glowing!
History
This subject I was most scared to do. But after choosing it it’s one that I’m very excited to watch the girls learn from. We chose World-Changers of American History. I had some of these books growing up and never considered they could be used as the basis of a history curriculum. We will be reading and giving reports on all the famous Americans this next year.
Science
Ok, this is hands down, the one I am most excited for! We chose Botany from Apologia. I was blessed to hear the beautiful Jeannie Fulbright speak at the Teach Them Diligently conference this past spring and my kids instantly caught on to the idea of notebooking. This curriculum is extremely hands on! Being an artist and a musician I never had an interest in science. However, Mrs. Fulbright has even gotten my stubborn attention with how beautifully and engaging this curriculum is. {I can’t wait to post more about this throughout the year!}
Foreign Languages
We couldn’t just pick one. I took four years of sign language and, although, I could teach my children ASL I really wanted them to know spanish in case we choose to go on a family mission trip. So we chose Rosetta Stone. We were contemplating doing Latin through Rosetta Stone as well but heard better reviews for English from the Roots Up. So this year we will be diving into spanish and latin as a family.
Bible
I hesitate to put Bible as a subject in school only because we will be learning from the Bible all day long. At breakfast we will be teaching Character Qualities. One a month. And encouraging the family to take action on what they’ve learned.
At lunch we will be grabbing our notebooks and notebooking using the Abeka Bible flashcards.
At dinner we plan on listening to a sermon while we all help each other to clean the dining and kitchen areas.
And at bedtime we will be using our Jesus Storybook Bible or our Ruth Graham’s Step Into the Bible devotional.
So there you go! We are so excited for our first day of school! I tried to give these sweet youngin’s a month of summer vacation but all they wanted to do was learn the entire time. They taught themselves ASL and the piano. Speaking of, there will be music lessons this year also. Taught by mom for now. They were begging me to start a couple weeks ago but as you can imagine a detailed schedule had to be made up. What I just showed you here is only for two of the children. One of them will be doing A.C.E. this year. The others are still busy learning how to talk and their colors and letters.
Have a great time preparing for your new school year! Whether that means buying a new curriculum or meeting teachers or buying that brand new box of crayons! It’s time for a new season!
Blessings!
