21013-14 Curriculum in detail

It is time for the iHomeschool Network "NOT back to school blog hop" and after seeing others do it for a few years I've decided to join in this year as well.  So, I'm going to start with a quick welcome to the blog hoppers and a brief introduction to my family so that you can see what we work with.

This is me, Cat, and my husband, Scott.  This was taken 2 years ago, but we look pretty much the same.  We've been together for 11 years now, and married 9 1/2 years.  Don't let the picture fool you, he's a head taller than me.

This is the reason I pray to God every day for strength.  My 5 ADHD kidlets.  In order from left to right is Jordan (almost 6), Kimberly (7 1/2), Lydia (9 1/2), Melissa (10 1/2), and Scott Jr. (almost 18 months).  The little dude goes by his middle name, Preston, just to make my life a little easier.  This fall we are teaching grades 5, 4, 2, and 1 while managing a VERY active toddler.

Our philosophy

We don't homeshool for religious reasons or anything like that.  They did well in public school last year for the first half of the year before we withdrew them again in January.  There are learning disabilities and medical concerns present, but not to the degree that they are non-functional.  The reason we homeschool is because my husband works 12+ hour shifts at an optical manufacturing facility in northern Columbus (this is about an hour from our home) and we don't have the luxury of having dad home in the evenings like most families do.  He leaves for work before 6am daily, and is home after 7pm.  When the girls in school, there were many times they wouldn't see their dad at all until Friday night when they were allowed to stay up past 8pm.

We have a fairly eclectic style.  I do use unit studies on occasion with the kids, but I'm a big fan of keeping it simple.  This is our 6th year of homeschool, with the exception of that one semester last school year.  I've had a few years of trial and figuring out how to work schooling into our very busy days that are traditionally packed with learning through life experiences.  I am an unschooler in belief, but in practice we are just short of true unschooling.

The plan for this year

We do most subjects as a family, which makes my life simpler.  I gear lessons mainly at the younger kids and then encourage the older ones to dig deeper within each topic.  Obviously some things must be taught individually, such as math, but for the most part we learn together.  Here is my plan for the school year.

History- We will be studying the middle ages using Story of the World (SOTW) volume 2 as a family.  My oldest girls will be encouraged (and expected) to dig deeper into topics as we learn together.  I am taking a VERY hands-on approach that has a lot of crafts and activities, some of which are from the activity guide for SOTW.  This subject is how I'm also meeting *most* of our requirements for art and music as we will include studying art and music from this time period on top of doing crafts and projects constantly to reinforce and make learning more fun.

Geography- one day each week we are going to be doing map assignments tied to our history lessons, but also we are going to be working on being to identify and locate countries, continents, oceans, seas, landmarks, and other such things on the world and US maps (which I still have to buy these maps for the wall, I could print off free ones online but I'd prefer the markable map sold by Sonlight).

Literature- we are going to do a unit study each month on a book or type of literature (tall tales, poetry, short stories).  We will study authors within the monthly study.  This may or may not include lapbooks and other projects as we go.

Science- we will be studying animal science this year, using Apologia elementary zoology 3 as our starting point.  I have a child who wishes to be a veterinarian when she grows up, and that was what influenced my decision this year.  If we finish our science book before the end of the year, I plan to purchase the Winter Promise Equine Science curriculum (if we don't finish early, then we'll do equine science next school year).  We will be notebooking through the curriculum, as well as doing all the experiments as we study land animals.

Math- this is one that we do individually for the most part.  Our curriculum of choice is Math-U-See.  This year Melissa is finishing Gamma and then will do Delta, Lydia is doing Gamma, and Kimberly is finishing up Alpha and then going into Beta.  Melissa will also be doing the Key To Measurement series to work in her US measurement skills, as she struggles with this a lot still and needs these skills for her future as a chef.  Jordan will NOT be doing Math-U-See right off.  She did k12 last school year while her sisters were in public school, so this year she will be finishing up her k12 math book and then I'll likely place her in Beta (or possibly just teach her what she needs still as she'll place about midway through Beta and go straight into Gamma).  I will also supplement a little with Math Mammoth to make sure they score well on their spring testing.  Just a bit of a reassurance that I am covering all my bases really, our main curriculum by itself is more than adequate even for my dyslexic child.

Language arts- I found online for free some complete curriculum for grades 1-6 to cover grammar and spelling, so the girls will be doing the Treasures workbooks (I downloaded them to the computer and each week print off what I need).  In penmanship I will teach Melissa cursive while I teach printing to Lydia (who has motor delays and needs the remediation) and Jordan.  Kimberly will be given bible verses, poetry, etc. to use as copywork to practice her handwriting as she writes beautifully already.  Jordan will also continue through k12 PhonicsWorks to learn to read, and her sisters will be expected to pick one book each month and do a project (craft or written) to present to the family.  There are no rules for the monthly reading, it is all about them enjoying the book and showing why they enjoyed it.

Electives- Melissa wants to learn to sew, so I plan to teach that.  I'm also teaching the girls 1:1 how to knit and/or crochet so that they can make a few things.  They will also be my kitchen helpers for all meal preparation.  I have assigned one day to each girl for cooking and their involvement will depend on the child.  For example, Melissa will be cooking meals while Jordan will be helping mix, measure, and learn to chop.  I'm also considering karate classes for the girls, and Scott is going to teach them to shoot a bow and arrow hopefully in spring.

As you can see, we definitely embrace hands-on learning and being actively involved in life and learning.  I rarely have a clean home because we almost always have at least one project happening, and learning is a never-ending process.  My bookshelves are being filled now with books that relate to our science and history topics, internet bookmarks are being revised to give quick access for things that we pre-approve for free web browsing, and all kinds of great things.  This weekend I go to hopefully fill the craft bins with supplies to last us at least the first few months of the school year, and I pray that I can get even half of my plans accomplished this year.

The 1 year old, well he will learn how to play quietly while we work (heck who am I kidding? he'll be a distraction and in the middle of everything we do).  I haven't worked with a toddler since Melissa was in kindergarten, so I am going to be learning as we go with this juggle.