Home Learning Choices for 2008-09

Everyone always asks what curriculum other people use. Here is what we plan to use for the 2008-09 school year.

BIBLE
All of the kids together will be doing Bible study. We will continue to use the Bible Study Guide for All Ages. We have made it to the fourth and final volume. This is an accomplishment since I believe I started Volume 1 when David was in KINDERGARTEN. lol I do plan to go back through all 4 volumes before David graduates.

We will also begin Volume 2 of Character Building for Families, alternating the units with the units in the BSGFAA (above).

We will continue with learning a monthly hymn and a monthly praise chorus. (I have not chosen them yet - SUGGESTIONS??)

We have recently reintroduced Bible memory - one long passage per month. We will work on that too. (Again, suggestions?)

Family prayer and devotions will also be included. I plan for this Bible Hour to be the cornerstone of our day.

DAVID will be in 8th grade and will turn 14 during the school year. He will be doing a lot of work separately for the first time, as well as doing it mainly independently.

He will be using Math-U-See Algebra I. (Once he finishes Pre-Algebra. That may occur before fall or it may not.)

A return to Sonlight is in the plans for David next year; this is History and Literature. We did Sonlight K and 1 when he was very young and I had hopes of returning to it for high school. We'll see how we like it. Sonlight Core 100 is what I've chosen and it includes lots of historical fiction, American history, and good literature. He will also be doing the Bible component in addition to our family Bible time. We will pick and choose the books, rather than do everything, as I think that will be overwhelming to David and be way too much work! lol He will be able to listen to some of the books on audio, which he will like.

Apologia's Exploring Creation with Physical Science will be his science course. It will be a more structured study than David has ever done, but that will be good for him.

Language Arts will be similar to what we have done in the past - Spelling Power, Literature Journals, English from the Roots Up, Communication Journals. We will redouble our efforts to complete IEW's Student Writing Intensive Course.

This year I am adding Easy Grammar Plus for David. (I didn't like Sonlight's Grammar Ace much at all and we only completed about half of it this year.) I am ready for him to have his grammar intensive, probably over two years.

David won't be playing soccer next year but he will take the soccer referee class and be available to ref some of the little kids' games. He also may help me coach a team. He also wants to concentrate on his skateboarding. He will take PE at co-op as well, I think.

EMILY will be in the 6th grade and will turn 12 near the end of the school year. TWELVE! Yikes!

She will be finishing Math-U-See Gamma soon and will complete Delta within the year, hopefully moving on to Epsilon before the beginning of her 7th grade year. I am hoping for a very good math foundation for her rather than moving her along and never gaining a good understanding.

Emily, along with her two younger siblings, will probably be doing Apologia's Exploring Creation with Zoology 1: Flying Creatures of the Fifth Day. I may even put her in charge of this study. We'll see.

Emily, James, and Suzy will all be studying World History through Mystery of History Volume 2: The Early Church and The Middle Ages. (Actually David will be sitting in on this as well for the information and any projects he cares to participate in.)

Emily's Language Arts will be very similar to David's, except she will be reading literature chosen by me instead of by Sonlight. She may do the Easy Grammar or she may not. I need to see how the workload is for her compared to David's. I also want her to focus on neater and correctly formed handwriting.

Emily won't be playing soccer either next year and I am looking for an idea of a physical activity to replace it - preferably one that will focus on coordination and grace. Ballet? Hopefully she can take PE at co-op.

I am thinking about piano lessons for Emily again.

JAMES will continue in the 3rd grade and he will turn NINE during the school year.

He's doing Math-U-See Gamma now and will continue that into the year, probably moving to Delta somewhere around the halfway point.

He will do the Flying Creatures book with his sisters and Mystery of History as well.

James' Language Arts will continue much the same, with an increase in difficulty as needed - Explode the Code, mom-chosen books to read aloud and silently, Literature Journal, Communication Journal. He will also begin Spelling Power at some point during the year and will learn cursive.

James WILL be playing soccer. It will be his 5th year and he will move up to the U10 League.

SUZANNE will be in 1st grade and will be six for most of the year.

Suzy has already started Math-U-See Alpha and will likely transition into Beta at some point during the year.

She will finish Alphabet Island Phonics and continue working on Explode the Code. She will read Bob Books and other appropriate readers.

She will listen in on History and Science and complete some fun projects.

Soccer next year will be Suzy's 3rd year and she will move up to the U8 league. (This is the one I would coach - Hey, now, I would get a big discount!)

I'm sure I've forgotten some important things, but that gives you a good idea.

Oh yeah, foreign language and art. I am going to forego foreign language this year again.

Art - The 3 older kids will do art with Mr. West, James for the first time.

I think I will be buying Creativity Express from Timberdoodle.

So, there you have it.