Can someone tell me what to look for? Curriculum for K and 3

[golfcartmama]

Hello! I will have to work on next year's budget after Christmas (for big purchases, like curriculum) and need some help. I will have a 3rd grade and K'er. We like what we have now, which is: MM & Saxon Math, OPG, Pathway Readers, AAS, GWG, Write Source & WWE, SOTW (may add HO for next year with the activity guide, not sure yet), RSO Earth and Space. I want to add Atelier Art and Calvert Music as well.

 

My question is that I want to have a lot of crafts, hands on, etc for my K'er (and my 3rd grader would enjoy them too) so she gets that 'fun' stuff too. I've looked a FIAR, Moving Beyond the Page, OM, etc. but we like our math, language arts, science and history, so...I basically just want to add fun stuff linked to holidays, seasons and maybe like community helpers, etc. Bless you if you're still reading my rant and can offer suggestions on a book, unit study (light), specific lap books, etc! I am not super creative/crafty, so I need absolute instructions!

 

THANKS!!

Edited December 2, 2010 by golfcartmama
my horrible typing skills

[sbgrace]

Are you using the activity guide with SOTW for the crafts/hands on aspect? Personally, I would probaby (and do) use the hands on to make whatever we're studying in history (and bible here) or similar subjects engaging. What book of SOTW will you be using? Do you need something that has it all laid out or do you like to plan and search around? You're right that something like FIAR would give you some nice starts anyway. If you want something pretty easy to implement, The Mailbox materials http://www.theeducationcenter.com/tec/ might work well.

[Guest]

We are using Enchanted Learning for a lot of holiday stuff right now. :) I think there is a $20 annual subscription, but I totally think it's worth it! I am not crafty, either, but I still like my kids to do them and I find their stuff to be pretty simple.

[Guest mrsjamiesouth]

I get a lot of my Holiday things from Enchanted Learning and Currclick. Currclick often has free Holiday lapbooks or copywork.

[ChandlerMom]

You might also consider just getting a subscription to one of the family crafty magazines (or pick them up from the library). Sounds like you have a lot of curriculum-related hands on stuff, but a magazine might add some extra seasonal "just for fun" crafty stuff. There's also plenty of (free) websites with kiddo crafts. Maybe plan some time to browse those?

[golfcartmama]

Thank you for the links! I will check them out.

 

sbgrace--We do use the activity guide for SOTW right now and usually do 1-2 per chapter depending on if I have everything. We're in volume 3 which we will not finish this year, so it will carry and then begin 4. It's a heavy volume, but my ds is so excited to study the world wars and dd just likes the color pages and maps.

 

I did kind of want to stick with everything we have (saves $$ too!) and just add more fun, but I never seem to be able to find crafts I like just by googling, so I thought if I could find a book or something, etc. it might help me be more vigilant about making sure to incoporate them.

 

Does anyone have any bookmarked crafts that you love?

[walkermamaof4]

would the Homeschool in the Woods Time Travelers suffice? Hmm... actually they might not have ones to correspond to that history.