Up until this point, I have been pretty tight lipped about our schooling for this coming year. Let me tell you, this was the hardest year, as far as choosing curriculum goes. It seems that I am not the only one who had trouble choosing this year. Many homeschooling families around my neck of the woods had trouble choosing their materials and some even chose not to homeschool anymore, but that is another post altogether.
We have used all kinds of materials over the past five years including My Father’s World, Winter Promise, Sonlight, Story of the World, and Noeo Science to name just a few. Let me just clarify here, that these are all excellent programs, but for one reason another, they just did not fit our family. Keep in mind that our family has Autism, ADHD, and some learning issues and challenges thrown into the mix, not to mention 2 year old twins!
I prayed long and hard about what materials we would be using this year. I also spent a solid week looking at samples and reading scope and sequences for 3 kids and roughly 21 different subjects! Oh boy! That was a lot of work and tons to keep straight in my brain. I have not even begun to plan for the twins yet (that will be another post).
We made the plunge to have a year that was mostly workbooks and textbooks. You know what, I am really excited. I was opening the boxes last night and looking through all the teacher’s manuals and I had flashbacks to when I was a little girl teaching my teddy bears using old textbooks from garage sales.
I am really excited about the materials that we have chosen and so far, from reading through the teacher’s manuals and looking at the student books, I think I made some great choices. Elisha had a chance to look through his materials today and was absolutely thrilled with his new books.
Everything is here now, except English 5 and Science 2, both of which should arrive in the middle of August.
Here is what we chose for this year:
Elisha – grade 5
- Bible 5 – BJU Press
- Math 7 – BJU Press
- English 5 – BJU Press
- The One Year Adventure Novel
- Spelling 6 – BJU Press
- Apologia General Science
- Mystery of History 1 (as a family)
- Mapping the World by Heart
- French (Maybe – The Easy French Jr – if I can find it)
Moses – grade 4
- Bible 4 – BJU Press
- Math 3 – BJU Press
- English 3 – BJU Press
- Reading 3 – BJU Press
- Spelling 3 – BJU Press
- Science 3 – BJU Press
- Mystery of History 1 (as a family)
Malachi – grade 2
- Bible 1 – BJU Press
- Math 1 – BJU Press
- English and Phonics 1 – BJU Press
- Reading 1 – BJU Press
- Spelling 1 – BJU Press
- Science 2 – BJU Press
- Mystery of History 1 (as a family)
Zion and Hosanna – preschool
- I am working on it, more to come soon.
What are you doing for school this year?
Twitter: the160acrewoods
July 17, 2010 at 12:28 am #
i’ve got a lot of this and a little of that LOL.. this will be our first year with the bigger kids and i’m starting to feel overwhelmed with it all.. but it’s coming slowly.
amydeanne recently posted..starlighter
Twitter: sunflowermommie
July 19, 2010 at 5:01 pm #
Hi Amydeanne,
We have done a little of this and a little of that too. I remember feeling totally overwhelmed our first couple of years.
We are going into our fifth year and I am a little nervous about the bigger kid (officially 5th grade). I am really thankful that I will have Teacher’s manuals for his numerous questions.
Blessings
Honey
Blessings
Honey
Well, I must say that I really do admire how you’re feeding your children so much wonderful material. Finding something that ‘fits’ is never easy, so bits of this and that is usually necessary.
Those hours researching is a LOT OF WORK, so well done!! I hope this year works out for you and the children grow from what you learn together.
alecat recently posted..A lovely surprise
Twitter: sunflowermommie
July 19, 2010 at 5:04 pm #
Hi Alecat,
Thank you for the kind words. That week of research was enough to make my head spin.
It is really hard to find something that fits, especially when each child is so different.
Blessings
Honey
Twitter: HSLifeSituation
July 17, 2010 at 7:40 am #
Looks like you have a well thought out plan. It is hard finding curriculum that fits your family. There are so many good resources out today.
Karen recently posted..Homeschool Unit Study
Twitter: sunflowermommie
July 19, 2010 at 5:16 pm #
Hi Karen,
It is very hard weeding through the catalogs and looking at reviews and on-line samples. There is so much good stuff.
Blessings
Honey
good for you, finding something. what a blessing for your kids to have someone who loves them as their teacher.
Twitter: sunflowermommie
July 19, 2010 at 5:22 pm #
Hi aj,
Thank you for visiting. Thank you for your kind words.
Blessings
Honey
Looks GOOD!!! HANG IN THERE!! I would love to hear how you use Mystery Of History and how that goes.
Kelly recently posted..Planning For The Year
Twitter: sunflowermommie
July 20, 2010 at 10:58 am #
Hi Kelly,
I am really excited about Mystery of History. I can’t wait until we get started (August 1 is our goal). All of our materials for this year look really amazing and everyone is anticipating school again.
Blessings
Honey
Twitter: MommaKnows
July 23, 2010 at 7:45 am #
Honey: You know that OYAN is a full year of high school English credit… why are you using BJU English 5 ALSO? tsk tsk tsk
Dawn recently posted..Teen Drug Use
Twitter: sunflowermommie
July 24, 2010 at 11:16 am #
Hi Dawn,
We are using the OYAN in place of BJU Reading 5. We still need to do English (I think). We are going to go back to BJU Reading 6 for next year in preparation for Literature 7.
Blessings
Honey
Twitter: MommaKnows
July 23, 2010 at 7:46 am #
Oh! But the rest looks great! I know you worked really hard to sort it all out.
Dawn recently posted..Teen Drug Use
Twitter: sunflowermommie
July 24, 2010 at 11:19 am #
Hi Dawn,
You know I worked really hard because you were my sounding board for half of it. I think we made really good choices this year. The materials look awesome!
Blessings
Honey
We both have 5 kids with about the same age spread! My oldest is 16 and my two youngest are (almost) 11 (twins). Your list looks great. Thanks for taking the time to share.
missmoe recently posted..Declare Your Curriculum!
Twitter: sunflowermommie
August 4, 2010 at 12:32 pm #
Hi,
Thank you for visiting and taking the time to comment. That is cool that we have those things in common. Your curriculum looks amazing.
Blessings
Honey
We’re only just starting with K and Pre-K, but are doing Weaver Interlock and loving it so far. I’ve read a lot about the Apologia Science and think I’ll maybe start adding that in next year. Can’t wait to hear what you think of the Apologia – is this your first year doing it?
Twitter: sunflowermommie
August 17, 2010 at 7:19 pm #
Hi Jennifer,
I had weaver interlock about seven years ago when my youngest was preschool. It is awesome. As for Apologia, we are using the General Science this year, but we have used Astronomy and loved it. I really want to use the new Human Body book. Definitely check it out.
Blessings
Honey