Curriculum choices

So this year as we are doing 2nd, 3rd, and 4th grade work
Here is a run down of our curriculum plan....along with whats listed we are using a lot of books from the library, online resources, and lots of "living books"

Geography-
Montessori materials
A Child's Geography- Volume 1
Evan Moor- Beginning Geography, k-2nd grade

History-
The Story of the World- volume 1
The Story of the World activity book- volume1

Science-
No real curriculum here. We are using Evan Moor Daily science- 3rd grade, lots of experiments, montessori activities, and other resources. Science is one of her favorites so its not hard to spark her interest here.

Math-
For math we are not really using a curriculum because she is all over the place. I am going back and hitting a few things to make sure she has a really strong back ground such as making sure that she has math facts memorized etc., since she can do fairly advanced math in her head, but I want her to have that strong backbone. She is currently doing multi-digit addition with carrying, multi-digit subtraction, and basic multiplication and division, has started to adding fractions, etc. So as I said, no math curriculum, but we are using manipulative and some montessori materials, although really just hand her paper and pencil and a 5 sec. explanations and she gets it. Amazing to me. I think we will continue on this way until it gets beyond elementary level and then switch to Stanford EPGY. I am thinking we have maybe another 2 years before it is beyond my ability LOL.

Reading- Really we are going for comprehension here. I tested her reading level today and she is according to the test high 6th grade-low 7th. The test only tests up to 7.0, so it was unable to say with accuracy exact level. Her fluency level, the level of reading she can do without hesitation is 5th grade 1st month. We are using the Abeca books that I have been able to score in the library giveaway room. Mainly I like them because the passages are short, only a few pages, which she can then narrate to me. A likes them because they have great moral stories, and as she said to me after explaining how we are like sheep, "God is our Shepherd. He forgives us and takes care of us.", she said "I love talking about God mama."
We are also studying Aesop fables, fairy tales, and lots of poetry.

Copywork- just working on handwriting still by copy sentences I write. I hope to progress later this year to copying from books she is reading.

Literature- For literature we are working our way through the classics. I read a chapter a day to her during school and she narrates. Other times during the day I may read these to her as well, but she does not have to practice narration during this time. And I have to say we read a lot here LOL. And well, A reads alot. She always has her head in a book, so this is just a little time at the end of our school day, before lunch, that we can snuggle together and enjoy each other.

So that's pretty much it. Our curriculum for this year in a nutshell....all subject to change of course LOL

Comments

Joyful Learner said…
I wish you lived nearby so we can homeschool together. While I don't have a definitive curriculum set, I am planning to use a lot of the resources you've mentioned. I'm saving EPGY for when it's beyond my level too. Some people use it to advance their kids early on but I prefer to spend as much time needed to get a solid foundation in math. I don't want K to just learn the procedure but know the whys and also do it mentally. I'm thinking abacus might help but I need to learn it first. They offer classes around here so we may sign up and learn together.

K loves to talk about God too. It's amazing how she's able to make connections. She immediately knew Aslan in the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe was an archetype of Jesus. She understood what sacrifice meant and how they both gave up their lives. She made the connections herself. We recently talked about how soldiers were traumatized by the war (Little House in the Big Woods). She said she felt the same. I did not understand at first because obviously, she's never been to war. Then she explained how her pet mouse died and how her heart broke, much like the soldiers. Recently, I asked my husband if he forgot to feed our mouse and K jumped in and said, "Don't blame daddy. Blame homelessness." And these are just ordinary conversations we have daily. You must have so many moments where you get shocked or stunned by the things Ansley says. It began early for us and I'm still amazed at her level of insight and understanding. But I'd better stop before I sound like I'm bragging. :)

Love your curriculum choices! I've been meaning to evaluate K's reading level again. The last time we checked, her fluency level was 5th grade but it's hard to know where she is at now. It might be nice to know her comprehension level. I had her answer some comprehension questions from a first grade workbook and it proved to be too easy. I'm planning to just do short narrations for now.

Currently, I wrote her letters on a white board and she corrects my mistakes. That has helped with going over grammar rules. She seems to pick up spelling from reading and asking me if she doesn't know.

Sorry for the super long comment!