Curriculum 2012-1013

I am very late getting our curriculum posted this year.  We won't be officially starting our new school year until October as we have family visiting and a big trip planned for September.  Fortunately we school year round so we can take this time off and not worry about being behind as the children have already begun working on some of our new curriculum this summer:)  We did well with most of our curriculum last year so there are only a few changes/additions this year.

With the kids only being 2 years apart (grades 3 and 5)  I have found we can work on many of the same things just adjusting the level for each of them, and this makes it easier for me:)


Language Arts
Hand writing Without Tears for printing and cursive writing at their own levels
Growing with Grammar books at their level
IEW  at their own level ( NEW for us and I have high expectations that it will help us overcome  writing anxiety)
All About Spelling at their level

Math

Math U See books at their level

Science

Real Science 4 Kids continuing where we left off from last year with Physics, also working on the Biology book this summer wanting to finish both books by January.  We have been working with another family on Science and if they wish to continue we will plan to continue after Jan with new topics. TBA

Geography

Continuing to study one country every 4 to 6 weeks.  Using books, Movies,  lap books, Notebook pages, and Little Passports (we didn't finish every country from Little passports last year so going to continue with that system and then we will see about switching to Top Secret Adventures  I do not use a prepared curriculum for this area preferring to put it together myself. I have also signed up for the Cultural Exchange swap and have had some good luck with those packages which we use in our studies.

History

In the three years we have been homeschooling we have worked our way thru the Eyptians, Greeks, and British/European history up to WWII.  Now are going back to look at some of the ancient civilizations and Ancient Asia.  I am still in the planning stages here:)  We will be working with books, lap books, Note booking pages, movies and going on lots of field trips for hands on experiences.  Again I don't use prepared curriculum for this area preferring to put it together myself.

 ***Any resources you can suggest would be appreciated***

Art

Meet the Masters-- continuing on from last year, my aim is to complete one new artist every 4 to 6 weeks, which is what we did last year.  Also I have a friend who is an art teacher who will be working with the children every other week on some art skills.  We also read books, visit museums, complete notebook pages on each artist we study.

Foreign Language--NEW

I admit here....I haven't cracked the code on trying to teach the kids Spanish.  This year we are going to try Rosetta Stone the home school addition.  When we go back to the states I will be looking for a tutor if we still aren't making gains in this area.  I have been unable to find a Latin Spanish tutor in England.

Typing

We are using Sponge Bob and Typing instructor.  Princess is beginning to email friends on her own and in addition is typing her own story on the computer

Music

Piano lessons with an instructor and exposure to different music thru concerts or CD's. Since the music teacher is including theory in her lessons I haven't gone any further.  If there is time we may try to learn about a few composers using lapbooks, notebook pages, books, CD's and movies.  I will aim for us to learn at least 3 this year:)

Character Skills--NEW

 Character First--I have been searching for a Character Training program for years and think I have finally stumble on one that might work for our family.  I hope to complete one trait every 4 to 6 weeks. 
     

Technology Skills

This is another area that we haven't been 100% successful at.  I really want my oldest child to learn power point and may be do book reports or other reports using this method.   This is my husband's area to teach but with his work schedule he has a hard time fitting it in.  So we work on it whenever we can.

Physical Education

Martial Arts lessons
Swim lessons
Horse riding lessons (for Princess)
There is a possibility of a Home Schooling PE group starting up at our local base so we may give that a try, if it gets off the ground, but it will depend on our schedule which is looking pretty packed

Extra Curricular Activities
Girl Scouts
Boy Scouts

On average we "school" about 4 hours a day, sometimes more sometimes less.  I keep a tentative schedule, but find I don't stick to it, as we will often get side tracked on an interesting topic.  I try not to stress if we fall behind.

Here is our tentative  school schedule:
 Language Arts and Math 4-5 days a week
 Piano is 5 days a week (one day with instructor)
Science and History is done 2-3 days a week.
Rotating Geography, Artist, and Character Training 2 days a week (rotating every 3-6 weeks)
That leaves Spelling, Foreign Language, and Typing to fit in somewhere:)  We do it at least 1-2 days a week