Newbie - critique my curriculum?

[warneral]

I know I'm overdoing it. I want my kids to love homeschooling and I'm also afraid I'm overwhelming myself!

 

Brian is 9 and going into 3rd grade (we waited a year sending him to school). He is strong in math and quite good in LA, loves thinking analytically. Ruby is 7 going into 2nd grade, she is a great reader, pretty good in math and loves to read.

 

Here is what I have for curriculum. I think I'm afraid I won't cover enough. When I step back, my big goal is for them to love learning.

 

Sonlight. I have Core B but ended up buying many of the books to Core C so that we can do 1 year of World History and move to US History next year. I plan to pick and choose from the curriculum and do what we can. I'd like to get through all of CHOW. I can already tell (from peoples of the world) that the Usborne cartoon World History book is very distracting to all of us so I purchased the Internet Linked Encyclopedia History of the World with real photos and less busy-ness. I figure if we read 2-3 chapters of CHOW per week and supplement with the Encyclopedia as well as the various read alouds - it should work OK.

 

Math - math mammoth. I bought the full Light Blue series. Originally I was going to do Teaching Textbooks but was worried about some of the reviews I found about it. They have been doing Spiral "new new math" in Public School. I hope it works. I was also considering adding in Miquon Math for extra practice. My ds loves math and my dd could use more help with reasoning.

 

Science - I originally bought Elemental Science. I'm afraid this is too much reading and not enough "meat". I found Mr. Q's Classic Live Science and printed the first half of the student and teacher manuals. I like that this has vocab (though am afraid it might be over dd's head) and that it is a broader look at science. I also wanted to cover some earth science this year but don't know how I would do that since Mr. Q's is 3 days a week for 36 weeks. We have Sonlight B science (I purchased from a friend), so perhaps I'll just throw in some odd topics from time to time to broaden the scope.

 

Reason for Handwriting Transition - I want to work on Manuscript with DD this year and then help my DS transition to Cursive.

 

LA:

 

 

• How to teach Spelling - I've been all over the board with this. I had Spelling Workout and sent it back. My dd is a natural speller but my ds is the type who studies all week on his spelling lists, does pretty good on the test and then forgets the proper spelling. I thought AAS seems expensive & busy so thought we'd try learning the rules with HTTS.
  
• Vocab - my children could use work in vocab. I thought we'd give Wordly Wise (L2 and L3) a try.
  
• Growing with Grammar - this doesn't seem like it has as much repetition as what they had in public school last year FWIW.
  
• Winning with Writing - I like the looks of this. I think it will help beef up what might be lacking in GWG. I'm afraid it is too rigorous! It has a schedule of 5 days a week, 36 weeks per year. I was hoping to have a year round schedule and 4 days per week - taking off weeks when we wish. I don't want to make them do LA this summer :) Would writing strands be a bit more gentle?
  

 

So - any suggestions? This is terribly wordy so I appreciate anyone who got to the end of my essay.

[*~Tina~*]

I know I'm overdoing it. I want my kids to love homeschooling and I'm also afraid I'm overwhelming myself!

 

Brian is 9 and going into 3rd grade (we waited a year sending him to school). He is strong in math and quite good in LA, loves thinking analytically. Ruby is 7 going into 2nd grade, she is a great reader, pretty good in math and loves to read.

 

Here is what I have for curriculum. I think I'm afraid I won't cover enough. When I step back, my big goal is for them to love learning.

 

Sonlight. I have Core B but ended up buying many of the books to Core C so that we can do 1 year of World History and move to US History next year. I plan to pick and choose from the curriculum and do what we can. I'd like to get through all of CHOW. I can already tell (from peoples of the world) that the Usborne cartoon World History book is very distracting to all of us so I purchased the Internet Linked Encyclopedia History of the World with real photos and less busy-ness. I figure if we read 2-3 chapters of CHOW per week and supplement with the Encyclopedia as well as the various read alouds - it should work OK.

 

Math - math mammoth. I bought the full Light Blue series. Originally I was going to do Teaching Textbooks but was worried about some of the reviews I found about it. They have been doing Spiral "new new math" in Public School. I hope it works. I was also considering adding in Miquon Math for extra practice. My ds loves math and my dd could use more help with reasoning.

 

Science - I originally bought Elemental Science. I'm afraid this is too much reading and not enough "meat". I found Mr. Q's Classic Live Science and printed the first half of the student and teacher manuals. I like that this has vocab (though am afraid it might be over dd's head) and that it is a broader look at science. I also wanted to cover some earth science this year but don't know how I would do that since Mr. Q's is 3 days a week for 36 weeks. We have Sonlight B science (I purchased from a friend), so perhaps I'll just throw in some odd topics from time to time to broaden the scope.

 

Reason for Handwriting Transition - I want to work on Manuscript with DD this year and then help my DS transition to Cursive.

 

LA:

 

 

• How to teach Spelling - I've been all over the board with this. I had Spelling Workout and sent it back. My dd is a natural speller but my ds is the type who studies all week on his spelling lists, does pretty good on the test and then forgets the proper spelling. I thought AAS seems expensive & busy so thought we'd try learning the rules with HTTS.

• Vocab - my children could use work in vocab. I thought we'd give Wordly Wise (L2 and L3) a try.

• Growing with Grammar - this doesn't seem like it has as much repetition as what they had in public school last year FWIW.

• Winning with Writing - I like the looks of this. I think it will help beef up what might be lacking in GWG. I'm afraid it is too rigorous! It has a schedule of 5 days a week, 36 weeks per year. I was hoping to have a year round schedule and 4 days per week - taking off weeks when we wish. I don't want to make them do LA this summer :) Would writing strands be a bit more gentle?

So - any suggestions? This is terribly wordy so I appreciate anyone who got to the end of my essay.

 

What stands out to me is the frequency of the words "afraid" and "worried". My suggestion is to take a deep breath, focus on your goal - LOVE OF LEARNING - read something inspirational like Educating the Wholehearted Child and then give your choices a second look with your fresh new vision. :D

[warneral]

yes fear has its grip on me! I've spent too much time planning and not enough time meditating and trusting in the Lord.

 

I'm also thinking that I just need to step back and try it out (waiting til August to implement the full schedule) and try to enjoy the summer with the kiddos...

[kristinannie]

I don't think that you are going to overdo it. I think things look really good. I agree that you just need to take a deep breath and get started! This is really going to be a positive change for your family. A friend of mine advised me to write myself a letter about why I chose to homeschool my family and tuck it away. That way, whenever you get really stressed or have any kind of issue, you can pull it out and read it. There are so many great programs out there that you really can't go wrong. If something doesn't work for your DC, you can just adjust. I had to get a new handwriting program because my son used to literally cry when I got the book out. This morning, I said, "Get your handwriting book." He answered, "YAY!" You will get through this transition and your family will be so much happier! Congrats on making this decision and best of luck!

 

:party:

[Satori]

Aw, I just typed out a huge 3-paragraph response and lost it all.

 

Feel free to keep everything light and fun this summer! Is this your first time homeschooling? You can adjust the schedules to fit your needs. Do WWW only 4 days a week, it doesn't have to be 5. The lessons aren't overwhelming themselves, they're broken up into easy chunks. Today our WWW lesson took just 1 minute 46 seconds! We went on to the next lesson until our timer hit 10 minutes.

 

Have fun!

[Mom0012]

yes fear has its grip on me! I've spent too much time planning and not enough time meditating and trusting in the Lord.

 

I'm also thinking that I just need to step back and try it out (waiting til August to implement the full schedule) and try to enjoy the summer with the kiddos...

 

 

It will be okay. It's going to likely take some trial and error to find out what works out well for you and your kids. You may start the year and find out you want to make some changes. Don't beat yourself up if you have to do that. Many people make lots of changes in the first year or two of homeschooliing.

 

You do seem to have put a lot of thought into what you would like to use and it looks like you have all your bases covered.

 

Lisa

[warneral]

Thanks ladies!

 

This will be our first HS experience. A letter to myself will be good. Thanks for the suggestion.

 

Angela, thanks for the encouragement about WWW. I'm sure we can make it work and possibly we could squeeze 2 days into one or cram the fifth in on Fri, Sat, Sun if we want to complete it in the 36 weeks!

[Jean in CA]

If at some point you feel the need to drop something... I would skip the vocabulary - WTM doesn't recommend this until 5th grade or up. Also, if you have your children read a lot, they will learn to enjoy reading, which generally improves spelling and vocab, and writing. About SWO, I was not impressed with the lower levels either... and we dropped it for a bit. We picked up the upper levels, however, and I've been impressed with them! I also own HTTS.... it's a great program... but also much more time comsuming for mom. See, how it goes... you might save time if they children can test each other.

 

SL instructor guide contains vocab... if you plan to use it.

 

The other things I would drop is science... many people find it hard to get around to this, and if that is your situation, know you are not the only one.

 

I've decided to do delight-directed science until jr. high, and then begin a more systematic study at that age. We've also used Sonlight Science and found it enjoyable... although the worksheets can be a bit too much at times. :)

Edited June 14, 2011 by Jean in CA

[warneral]

Thanks - I have heard mixed reviews on whether Vocab even works. We aren't a very verbose family so I was feeling like we "should" do vocab ;) I have been working on vocab via sonlight but are finding some of the words that we are unfamiliar with are not found in the dictionary! Oy!

 

I forgot to add that I do have bible curriculum planned out a little differently than Sonlight. We're planning to do Leading Little Ones to God - 1 lesson per day, a bible story from a NIV bible story book. Once I get done with that I will start the new Telling God's Story - I think the activity pages look great.

[amo_mea_filiis.]

Thanks - I have heard mixed reviews on whether Vocab even works. We aren't a very verbose family so I was feeling like we "should" do vocab ;) I have been working on vocab via sonlight but are finding some of the words that we are unfamiliar with are not found in the dictionary! Oy!

 

 

Mine are still in PS (last day tomorrow :001_smile:) so my research may not even work out in the end. What I found through lots of research is that studying Latin and Greek root words adds a lot more to vocab knowledge than studying vocab.

 

My plan with my dd is using Rockin Roots (honestly only got because it looked fun) this summer while slowly going through song school latin. Next year we will continue SSL and other root books while I figure out which latin and possibly greek curriculum I want to use.

[Jean in CA]

Mine are still in PS (last day tomorrow :001_smile:) so my research may not even work out in the end. What I found through lots of research is that studying Latin and Greek root words adds a lot more to vocab knowledge than studying vocab.

 

.

 

I am trying something similar... kids are not old enough yet to know it will work! We are using Vocabulary Vine for a roots study (7th grade), before using traditional vocab workbooks, if at all.

 

Another roots study series that looks interesting is Word Roots by Critical Thinking. It's a newer program, but I might look into it.

[Leimarie]

Just wanted to say HI! Allison (I recognize your username from HC). We just completed our first year of homeschooling and are gearing up for a very different year 2. ;) Only advice I'll give is to stay flexible. The transition from school to home can be a bit of an adventure and may take some time.