Curriculum 2013-2014

Here it is, our complete (I hope!) curriculum list-

The work they do together

R.E.A.L Science Odyssey Biology Level 1  The kids are loving all of the hands-on labs. Word to the wise- if you buy the ebook don't waste your money on the physical book, they are identical. For some reason I thought the ebook was just the workbook pages but it isn't. I'm not complaining, it was less I had to print out. We also supplement with The Magic School Bus Human Body Science Kit. We love the Magic School Bus books and the TV show as these kits are very exciting for us. I am hoping to work our way through all of the kits in the next couple of years. There are also a few weeks in our school year that we needed to find another program because the one we picked can be done in 24 weeks. We will be using Sonlight's Science B. We used this when Babalu was in first grade and it wasn't perfect but since we already own it and ran out of time when we used it the end will be fairly new. It also happens to be the section on the solar system that the boys are both interested in. It should be fun. Maybe... 

History Odyssey Middle Ages Level 1 Really loving this... We are looking forward to learning about a viking with the same name as Babalu and an Arthurian knight with the same name as Rookie.

Expedition Earth

Country Study Lapbook to help us make lapbooks for countries not included in Expedition Earth

Music Theory Haven't actually started it

Crafts from Preschool Corner that we have had for many years. We so these occasionally. Hopefully by the time Snuggle Puppy in 2nd or 3rd grade we will have gone through all of them.

I'm still searching for something artsy to do that is geared toward older kids but we might just to crafts and both free and guided painting/drawing (suggestions welcome!).

The work they do at their own grade level

Evan-Moor has the books we use for:

Daily Georgraphy
Daily 6-Trait Writing
Daily Spelling (Rookie doesn't do this)
Daily Language Review (Rookie also doesn't do this)
Daily Phonics

We also use Singapore for grammar and the Sentence to Paragraph book but we may stop soon. Babalu has a lot of work and I'm beginning to think it is too much and these are more review for him.

Here is the handwriting we use. It is very easy for the kids and doesn't take a lot of their time.

Rookie uses the Sonlight first grade Language Arts without the horrid "I Can Read" series. The stories are nonsense and can be hard to read, kind of like a tongue twister. We also skip anything religious because we aren't Christians.

Babalu uses Bring the Classics to Life readers and really enjoys them. We don't use them all of the time, maybe one a month, because they are short. Right now he is reading 20,000 Leagues under the Sea and is enjoying it. He finished The War of the Worlds in May and also enjoyed it.

For math we use Singapore and love it. We do skip the instructor's guides and find mental math sheets free from the internet because the instructor guides are very expensive compared to the textbook and workbook for each level. . We use the CA Standards editions. Erik is doing 3A and 3B and Tristan is doing 1A and 1B.

Classical Academic Press is where we find our Latin programs. Love these. I am excited to use the many of their other products when the boy's are older.

Since we have to do health we are using Horizon. Can't say that I'm thrilled with it but it is requited by the state we don't have too much of a choice.