Curriculum Choices for 2014-2015

Well our 2014-2015 homeschool year is off to a great start. We "officially" began Monday morning and have been plugging away since. Next week we will add in our Classical Conversations community that we will attend once a week on Monday mornings. And the week after we will add in our weekly homeschool P.E. class on Thursdays. It has been nice to kind of ease in to school adding more each week.

My cute students hard at work!

I have been meaning to do a curriculum post to share what we are using this year. I love reading these posts from other homeschool moms because it gives me ideas to keep in the back of my head in case something isn't working. Hands down one of the greatest benefits of homeschooling is the ability to change things up if something just isn't working and try something new. And we are doing that a bit this year with some changes to what we have used in the past! So, without further ado, here is our curriculum line up for this year...

Max (2nd Grade)
Phonics- A Beka Letters and Sounds 2
Language/Grammar- First Language Lessons for the Well Trained Mind 1 (finishing up from last year) and then starting level 2
Spelling- Grade 2 Rod and Staff Spelling
Reading- Various books, they do about 30 minutes of quiet reading time everyday
Math- A Beka Arithmetic 2

Sophie (1st Grade)
Phonics- A Beka Letters and Sounds 1
Language/Grammar- First Language Lessons 1
Reading- Various books, they do about 30 minutes of quiet reading time everyday
Math- A Beka Arithmetic 1


Subjects we do together
History- Classical Conversations and we will use Story of the World (Vol. 3 and 4) and books from the library to go along with our weekly history and timeline sentences
Science- Classical Conversations and books from the library to go along with science memory work. We are also using this Magic School Bus Science Kit since it also goes along with a lot of what we are learning in CC this year.
Art- Art With a Purpose Artpac 1
P.E.- homeschool co-op class, swimming lessons, and monthly homeschool gymnastics class (and ballet once a week for Sophie)
Music- Classical Conversations and piano lesson once a week

My biggest surprise this year was using A Beka for phonics AND MATH! We have been using Saxon math and have had no issues with it. However, Sophie used A Beka phonics last year at their co-op and they were both begging to do the worksheets. After looking at A Beka math at a friend's house I knew it would be a great fit for my kiddos. I had stayed away from A Beka initially because honestly I had only gotten negative reviews on it from other homeschool moms. But, the style of it just appeals to my kids and really works for our family so I am excited to give it a try this year!

I am also going to be doing some preschool work with Jack this year but I definitely am not going to push it and we will just work at his pace. I got him some little Rod and Staff workbooks and he has enjoyed working through those a bit and being like the big kids. 

I am really looking forward to this year and growing and learning with my very favorite people. I do not take for granted the opportunity to educate my children and be with them all day everyday!