MFW ECC: Additional Resources

 

I am using MFW Exploring Countries and Cultures curriculum this year.  The lesson plans are done for me so I don’t really need to add anything to our year.   But what fun is that !  So, I thought I’d list a few resources I am adding to our year:

 

1. Expedition Earth curriculum – lapbooks, coloring pages, and more
2. Children Just Like Me
3. Around The World in 80 Tales
4. 10 Boys and 10 Girls Who Changed The World          
5. Heaven’s Heroes
6. Count Your Way series

Animal Studies to Lap’n Scrap

I am going to steal my sister’s idea… yup .... Animal Lap’n Scrap books! 

Kattie and I used to host monthly scrapbooking events before we began homeschooling our girls.  Well now the many, many scrapbooking supplies are collecting dust.  So…. Kattie came up with this idea of combining hands-on crafting through scrapbooking, Science and fun with her daughter! 

Kattie said the toughest hurdle she had to overcome was letting her daughter pick expensive cardstock paper, brads and embellishments that she had once intended to use for scrapping photos.  She said the greatest joy of it all is the ‘one on one’ time she has with her daughter!   

Head on over to 2 Ladybugs and A Lizard blog and check out Kattie’s Lap’n Scrap books!

I had my girls pick two animals from each continent.

I then jumped on the website Homeschool Share and searched for their animals of interest.  Many of the lapbooks on Homeschool Share site go along with a great picture book you can get from your library.

Here is an example of a lapbook for a North American animal:

Look to the North – Gray Wolf lapbook

I got the book Look To The North from the library and a few other books about wolves.

I am going to focus a little more on animals this year in ECC rather than the biomes.  I am not saying we will not look at the biomes but I do plan to have the girls enjoy animal studies more. 

The great thing about ECC is that we will be doing it again in 5 year but on a deeper level!

 

More resources for our Animal Lap’n Scrap books:

1. Zoo Books magazine
2. Homeschool Share lapbooks
3. Baby Animals in the ____________ Habitat series
4. Draw Write Now series – for drawing animals in their habitat

Have you seen the Animal / Habitat workbooks from Rod & Staff? 

Their G-H-I series has fun PreK and K workbook pages.  Even though my girls are older, they enjoy cutting, gluing and coloring in these inexpensive “fun” pages ~$2.80 each! 

There are habitat coloring pages that can be set up 3 dimensionally in each of the books too!

1. Going On Eagerly – Polar regions  
2. Hearing and Helping – Rainforest
3. Inside and Outside – Woodlands

 

Nature Study

Check out our Nature Studies from last school year!

1. One Small Square series – includes nature walk projects
2. Nature Studies from Barb @ Handbook of Nature Study blog

I plan to just glean from the Nature Study suggestions in the ECC Teacher’s Manuel.  I will be using more of Barb’s suggestions each month (Handbook of Nature Study blog).  Have you checked out her newsletter from this month?  I love using her studies.  She does the busy work for me! 

Our ECC kids co-op will do a nature study each week, whether during class time or as homework, to share in class.

Outdoor Hour Challenge newsletter

 

 Bible Memory Verses and Character pages

Matthew Printables and Copywork pages for our memory verses

Character Quality Copywork from Hero Tales

 

Sketching for fun!

 

Check out what we did last school year with Sketch Tuesday here

1. Sketch Tuesdays from Harmony Art Mom’s blog
2. I Can Do All Things art book – we did not finish this from MFW Adventures

Leave a comment and let me know if you have more suggestions I can add to our year traveling the world !

 

 

 

MFW Printables: Mama Jenn’s Blog

 

Are you using My Father’s World homeschool curriculum?  If so, head on over to my friend’s blog Mama Jenn.  She has some wonderful memory verse and copy work pages for MFW ~ K, 1st Grade, Adventures, and Exploring Countries and Cultures. 

Here’s a link to all of her wonderful printables ~ Mama Jenn's Printables

Here’s a link to her latest copywork pages for MFW ECC Matthew Memory Verses

Check out our year using MFW Adventures !

Hope you enjoy your year!

Curriculum Choices: 2011-2012

 

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

Last year was our first year using My Father’s World.  It was our best year.  MFW does the lesson planning for me!

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? 

1. 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. 
2. My girls work together on all their subjects except math, language arts and reading … so I only have to teach the subjects just once. 
3. It’s economical especially since I will reuse the same curriculum again in 5 years but at a more advanced level of study.
4. It is easy to do with a co-op group.  We have 5 families in our ECC co-op this year! 
5. 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:

 

1. Expedition Earth Curriculum from Confessions of a Homeschooler
2. Heaven’s Heroes by Shibley
3. Children Just Like Me by Kindersley
4. 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.

For math drill, we will be using a program I reviewed (and the girls enjoyed) called Mad Dog Math. Check out my review here

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!

Check out Susan Barton’s Reading and Spelling programs here:

Barton reading

Bright Solutions For Dyslexia

 

 

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

I reviewed a product called Song School Latin as part of This Old Schoolhouse CREW last year. 

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

 

 

 

Not-Back-To-School Blog Hop: Week 1 – Curriculum Choices

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Are you ready for the Blog Hop?

This weeks line up is curriculum choices.  I wrote, in detail, my choices for this year in an earlier post, see link below.

Check out my curriculum choices here!

See what others are doing in the Blog Hop at Heart of the Matter HOP week 1.

Join me next week for views of our school room!

Homeschool Curriculum Choices: 2010-2011

This year the girls are starting Kindergarten and Second Grade.  Below is a list of my curriculum choices for the year by subject and how often we will be doing them each week.

One change I made this year was to purchase the My Father’s World – Adventures program with the lessons plans designed for me! (can I scream YEA!)  My other big change was to join a co-op on Monday mornings. (How do I get out the door at 8 on Mondays?)

Bible: NiRV Discoverer’s Bible for Young Readers: We are going to study the names of Jesus throughout the year; The Bread of Life, The Lamb of God, and more! ~ daily

History & Geography: We are going to enjoy U.S. History this year along with a brief trip around the 50 states. We will be creating a U.S. Notebook which will include: our state study, handwriting, art, and geography lessons. ~ 3 to 4x/wk

Science:  Our science experiments will be so fun for the girls using the Usborne books Science in the Kitchen and Science with Air. Our Nature studies and walks each week will include lessons from Birds, Nests and Eggs. We are also completing our studies with Apologia’s Flying Creatures of the Fifth Day as well. ~ 3x/wk

Art: The girls (and I) will develop our art skills – drawing, colored pencils,  colored markers, and beginning painting – using I Can Do All Things. We are also going to continue to use the Draw Write Now series for copy work and art. ~ 3 to 4x/wk

Spelling: The girls will continue in their program All About Spelling - Level 1. ~ 5x/wk

Handwriting: New this year for us is A Reason for Handwriting B for Arianna.  Marissa will begin the year with a product I am reviewing called Peterson Directed Handwriting K. ~ 5x/wk

Language Arts: I found this great program from Christian Light Education at a convention in April called Learning to Read.  I am starting it with Marissa, who is in kindergarten.  Arianna is completing it soon, along with their LA program and next level reading called I Wonder.  Arianna will also be ready to begin a new program this year called Learning Language Arts Through Literature – Red book series… should be a fun program! ~ 5x/wk

Math: I can’t say enough good things about MathUSee!  The girls love the manipulative blocks and brief lessons.  Marissa is completing MUS Primer.  Arianna will be completing both Alpha and Beta this year. ~ 5x/wk

Writing: Arianna is completing her lessons in First Language Lessons of the Well Trained Mind - Level 1 then she will start the LLATL – Red book.  Both girls will also do copy work with their Bible verse of the week and from the Draw Write Now Book series.  We get our copy work verses from the Homeschool Creations blog!

Independent Reading: Marissa is reading from BOB Books and other easy readers from programs like Sing, Spell, Read and Write, Rigby Sails series and LLATL Blue book.  Arianna is enjoying reading Junie B. books with mom.

P.E. and Music: We are joining a co-op this fall which will offer the girls classes in music, dance and gym! (I still want to know your ideas for getting out the door at 8 am on Mondays – eek)

If you would like more information on a curriculum, I have included links to most of the programs or just send me an email. 

Comment on your curriculum choices this year ….or link your blog post in a comment!