redirect Our Homeschool Curriculum Choices for 2014-15 (Pre-K, K, 1st)

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• Blue Manor: We will continue to use Blue Manor with my 3 year old. We reviewed this ebook-based curriculum last year and it has withstood my fickle nature. It is effective, easy to use, and the kids love it. Highly recommend!

• Kumon Mazes and More: I once bought a Kumon tracing book on a whim for one of my kids. It was such a hit and so good at teaching them fine motor skills and using a pencil accurately, I’ve begun using a set of Kumon books as “school” work for the youngers whenever they join us at the table. You can also get these great laminated books of preschool activities. They are more fun than those boring mega preschool workbooks! 

• Getty & Dubay Italic Handwriting Series: We are continuing with Getty & Dubay for my oldest two. I have been very happy with this handwriting curriculum, which starts with italic writing, and soon my oldest will be moving into the cursive books. 

• Copywork/Notebooking: The rest of our writing activities will be letters to pen pals, copywork through our Homeschool Copywork membership, and Bible Road Trip notebooking. 

• CLE Math: We ditched Horizons and Singapore for what I think will be a better fit for us: Christian Light Education Sunlight Edition Math. After a lot of research and looking at samples at a curriculum fair, their spiral approach with good review (but less review work than Saxon) seems like a great fit. 

• Mastery Worksheets: For areas where the kids need more focused practice, which has already happened once, we’ll download mastery-based worksheet units from Math Mammoth and Mathletics.  

• Life of Fred: We love Life of Fred and the kids are learning a lot! We read it often during mealtimes and then my oldest jots down the answers in a little notebook. Many families use it as their primary curriculum. 

Extra Fun

• Piano and Art: Another homeschool mom teaches our oldest piano using the Edna Mae Burnam Step by Step program. In exchange, I teach art. Right now we use a combination of ARTistic Pursuits, Draw Write Now, and Pinterest seasonal crafts. 

• History: Bible Road Trip year 1 is functioning as a lot of our history this year – Bible history! We will keep memorizing the basic CC timeline and have started be some introductory timeline lessons and the Timeline Trio products from Homeschool in the Woods (review to come). We’ll also do holiday-related history units throughout the year. 

• Science: Every time I ask the kids what they want to learn about this year, they ALL say “animals!” So we now have a zoo membership and a unit study Treasure Vault membership from Susan Evans. These two things and a smattering of other resources will keep us busy with a year-long study of specific animals, classification, habitats, etc. We’re excited about it!

• Foreign Language: Our local library has a free online version of Mango languages as well as some Little Pim videos. The oldest and I go through the Mango lessons and I’m making flash cards for us as we go. 

• Geography: Other than the CC memory work, we may try to fit in some KnowledgeQuest resources we already have such as A Child’s Geography and a map memorization tool.