It’s been a great summer for our family!
Swimming with daddy. The girls had their first sleep over … 8 girlies!
My girls turned 6 and 8 years old! We also had lots of play dates with friends!
….On with our curriculum choices for 1st and 3rd grade!
The new school year is just around the corner so I thought it would be a great time to let you know what curriculum we will be using this year.
Bible, Geography, Science, Read-Alouds, Art and Music
We will be using MFW Exploring Countries and Cultures this year. It is a unit study designed for students grades 3-8th. It includes lessons for Bible, history, geography, science, read alouds, art, cooking, nature study, and music!
Why do I love MFW?
- The lessons plans are created for me and I have all the resources I need except a few library books to add to our reading.
- My girls work together on all their subjects except math, language arts and reading … so I only have to teach the subjects just once.
- It’s economical especially since I will reuse the same curriculum again in 5 years but at a more advanced level of study.
- It is easy to do with a co-op group. We have 5 families in our ECC co-op this year!
- Just plain fun. My kids loved doing their MFW science and history last year!
What we will be studying in MFW ECC this year?
Check out their website Exploring Countries and Cultures with MFW
How often are we planning to do each ECC subjects?
Bible ~ daily; Geography ~ 2x/ week; Science ~ 2x/ week; Art ~ 2x/ week; Reading ~ daily; Music ~ 2x/ week; Nature Walk ~ 1x/ week
Our co-op will meet each Thursday morning for 3 hours during which time we will complete ECC projects like crafts, cooking, geography games, missionary/ character lessons, memory verse games, hands-on science projects, and/ or a nature walk lesson. The goal of our ECC co-op is to complete projects and lessons assigned in our ECC curriculum lesson plans.
I will also be adding a few supplements to our year:
- Expedition Earth Curriculum from Confessions of a Homeschooler
- Heaven’s Heroes by Shibley
- Children Just Like Me by Kindersley
- 10 Girls / 10 Boys Who Changed The World by Howat
Math
Math U See has been our best choice for math curriculum. It teaches mastery without the busy work. The girls are working on MUS Alpha and Beta.
The girls will do math lessons and drill 4 times a week.
Language Arts
In January, I starting using the Barton Reading and Spelling program with my older daughter. It is my third and final curriculum purchase to teach her how to read. It has been the BEST program EVER for teaching a dyslexic child how to learn to read. It is an Orton-Gillingham based program so it’s multi-sensory. She will be finishing level 3 soon!
The Barton program teaches: reading, spelling, dictation, fluency, games and phonics. It is expensive and worth every penny. The re-sale value is high!
If you have a child you suspect with dyslexia or reading delay listen to Susan Barton’s webinars for more details! Click the Bright Solutions link above or email me @ m_wharton@yahoo.com
My younger daughter, Marissa, will be using Learning Language Arts through Literature Blue, All About Spelling Level 1, and the Explode the Code workbooks.
Both girls will be doing Language Arts 4 times a week. Spelling will be 2-3 times a week. Reading will be daily.
Foreign Language
My girls loved the program so much that I plan to complete it this school year. Read my review here
More details on my homeschool planning for the year to come soon! It will be similar to what I did last year with a few updates – click here!
Check our what others are doing this year at Weird Unsocialized Homeschoolers blog.
Also join me for a blog hop @ Heart of the Matter – Curriculum choices week one
Hey Monica,
ReplyDeletejust wanted to let you know we love the Children Just Like Me book and there are three others by DK that relate to it you might enjoy:
A School Like Mine
Celebrations: Children Just Like Me
A Life Like Mine
Looks like you'll have a fun year!
Tristan from last year's Crew
www.ourbusyhomeschool.blogspot.com
I am loving Confessions of a Homeschooler's ecurriculum - I picked up Road Trip USA!! Best of luck to a great school year !!!
ReplyDeleteLooks like you're all ready for the coming school year! I love receiving my books each summer and getting ready for school to start! This year (due mostly to finances) I've put off ordering everything and am not as prepared as I like to be by this time. I'm planning to make my final decisions today. :)
ReplyDeleteI also love this time of year! I am so happy that we are doing ECC together this year. I am behind on my planning because the homeschool expo we are going to is at the end of this month. Thank you so much for the recommendations on the supplements you are using- I am going to try and find those too now. When are you planning to start?
ReplyDeleteLooks like you are all ready to go. May you and your precious ones have a blessed year:)
ReplyDeleteLooks like you have a great year planned, I can't wait to hear more about your co-op. We are doing an Adventures Co-op this year, but it will only be once a month.
ReplyDeleteMy kids are 7 and 8 and we are doing Adventures this year. I am glad I found you on that blog hop a few months ago. It helped me to see what you have been doing. This will be my first year homeschooling and like you I never thought I would be doing this. :)
ReplyDeleteAt any rate, I was also thinking about picking up COH's Road Trip USA to go with the MFW notebook and pages for the states. Not sure if it will be too much but I thought well, I guess it can't hurt to see.
We LOVED ECC last year. It is a GREAT curriculum and made for a fantastic school year! You won't be disappointed!
ReplyDeletei love the idea of combined subjects!!! it's so much easier with multiples!
ReplyDeleteWe'll be using Song School Latin this year as well. It looks really cute.
ReplyDeleteHave a great school year. I am a new follower to your blog.
Expedition Earth? I shouldn't look at these curriculum posts! LOL My list gets too long! Stopping by to wish you and your family a great school year!
ReplyDeleteWe're using MFW 1850-Modern Times this year. I too love that the lesson plans are done for me:)Song School Latin was a hit for us too last year. Have a great year!
ReplyDeleteohh! we love Math-U-See. my children really enjoy it!
ReplyDeleteI loved the year we did MFW ECC - it's so nice to have those lesson plans! Enjoy.
ReplyDeleteSOunds like a great year. I am so jealous about the Song School Latin.
ReplyDeleteWe're planning to begin Song School Latin this year. Thanks for stopping by my blog!
ReplyDeleteYou, my dear, are going to ROcK. THiS. YeaR!!!! Have a blast!!
ReplyDeleteGreat plans! You are going to have a fantasitc school year!
ReplyDeleteMichele
http://koreamom.blogspot.com