You’re going to think I’m nuts with this one. But those who already know me have come to expect this sort of thing.
So, a few disclaimers:
- I want to spend less time on the computer and more time with my family, so I’ve decided to use more books and less computer. My list of links will probably sit on the sidelines most of this year. But it’s there in case I decide to use it.
- This is a plan. Though my plans are ideal, reality is not.
- Core work for us includes: Bible, Math, Language Arts, and Memory Work. All else is secondary, which means we may not even get around to it.
- Don’t let this overwhelm you. I like to have way too much available so that I am never lacking ideas. And please know this: We do not do something out of all of these resources every day. I pick and choose. These are the resources we are planning to use over the course of the ENTIRE year. And… my plans may change before we even get started.
- This is a “curriculum choices” post, so I haven’t included all of the things we do to spend time together and play together outside of our curriculum choices. But, for those who may think otherwise, enjoying our time together as a family is of supreme importance. We play together. We take spontaneous field trips and nature walks. We travel the 50 states when we have the opportunity. And sometimes that’s the reason our plans change. Sometimes our plans change because I get overwhelmed while my husband is 10,000 miles away. Having said that, I absolutely love learning new things with our children, so books are a fun part of our home. (Not that the boys start clapping and shouting for joy when we get out the math books…)
- Although I have plans beyond Language Arts and Math, we will just go back to Language Arts and Math if at any point we need to cut back.
- The following list of resources is in addition to the Classical Conversations resources.
- PLEASE READ this wonderful article by Michael Farris! I printed it out and put it on my nightstand to refer back to over and over again.
Our Main Resources
Bible
- Book of John with the Picture Smart Bible
- We Choose Virtues (One card per week)
History
- Story of the World Volumes 1-4 (Reading) and Story of the World Activity Book Volumes 1-4 (one activity per week unless we are working on a lapbook)
- Some lapbooks
Science 1st Semester
- Classical Science Elementary Life Science Curriculum: Unit 3, Unit 4, Unit 8 (Freebie! Be sure to download both the student and teacher copies!)
- Some lapbooks
Science 2nd Semester
Geography
- Trace/Draw maps
- Audio Memory Geography Songs
Literature, Language Arts, & Math – 4th Grade
- Chronicles of Narnia Series (Click here for free audio recordings.)
- G.A. Henty Books (Click here for free e-books; Click here for free audio recordings)
- Essentials of the English Language
- IEW – Ancient History Writing Assignments
Spelling: Phonics Road to Reading Level 1 through… however far we can make it - Handwriting Without Tears Cursive Success
- Christian Light Publications – Grade 4
Literature, Language Arts & Math – 1st Grade
- Picture books on prepositions and other parts of speech, math concepts, science, and history/geography topics.
- Phonics Road to Reading Level 1 (Yep, we’re trying it again! But this time we’re using stuff like Play-Doh.)
- A Beka Writing with Phonics
- Christian Light Publications – Grade 1
Literature, Language Arts & Math – K3
- Whatever he wants me to read to him
- All About Reading Pre-1
- Handwriting without Tears My First School Book
- Math U See Primer. If he’s not ready, we’ll just use tracing workbooks – because he keeps asking to do school with his older brothers.
Our memory work is practiced by singing songs in the car, mostly.
Lagniappe (The Extra Stuff)
This is a list of stuff we will choose from should we have extra time and want to pursue these.
Bible
- Seeds Family Worship Songs
- Spring: Rod & Staff Paul’s Missionary Journeys (requested by our 4th grader)
Timeline
History: Reading
History: Activities
- If we do not do SOTW activity book, we may choose a project from the Veritas Press Teacher’s Manuals
Science – 1st Semester
- Handbook of Nature Study by Anna Botsford Comstock (Freebie!)
- Activities from my List of Links (Freebies!)
Science – 2nd Semester
- Activities from my List of Links (Freebies!)
Drawing
4th Grade Math
- Selections from Bridges Grade 4 Practice Book (Freebie! Other supplemental sheets and practice books for other grades are available at Math Learning Center.)
- Xtramath.org
- Life of Fred
1st Grade Math
- Selections from Bridges Grade 1 Practice Book (Freebie)
- Xtramath.org
- Life of Fred
What I will be putting into my weekly folders:
- The chapters we plan to finish from our science curriculum for that week.
- History or science activities/print-outs we plan to use. When we are working on a lapbook, we will probably not have another activity for that week.
Here’s the shocking truth: We plan to do one history activity per week and one science chapter per week. (I have to cut back here to give us more time for language arts.)
We plan to meet with a friend of ours who is gifted in clay modeling and other crafty works. Together, our families will work on a science project once per week.
We have already finished Story of the World Volume 1 and hope to finish Volume 2 before we start our normal school routines again. Speaking of which, our normal school routine looks a bit like this:
- Bible
- Math
- Handwriting
- Spelling/Phonics
- Reading & Language Arts
- Current Memory Work & Maps
- Memory Work Review
- Monday: History, Timeline
- Tuesday: Math, Latin
- Wednesday: Timeline, English Grammar
- Thursday: Geography, Latin & Bible
- Friday: Timeline, Science
- History or Science Afternoon Projects