We are gearing up for an exciting year! We took it easy in Nov. and Dec., went on a vacation for Henry's birthday, visited family down south, and enjoyed Christmas in NJ. We overhauled our whole house, put away the cribs and got the kids into bunk beds, bought a tv for the first time ever, got three new bookshelves (you can never really have enough, right?), and are doing our best to organize the homeschool stuff.
Here are our curriculum choices for the near future:
Math: Rod and Staff 1, skipping parts that are too easy. This is sort of handwriting practice as well, since Henry will be forming the numbers for his answers. I am finally using this very basic, simple curriculum, after struggling with a much cooler, more expensive, and complicated one. I loved the fancy one, but it takes so much prep that we haven't kept up with it. Rod and Staff makes sense and I can open the book and teach every day.
Science: We are still using MFW K themes for science. We took a break from these to do some fun holiday theme stuff, but now we're back into it. Next up, reptiles!
Reading/Spelling: My goal for this year is to have Henry reading independently at the 2nd grade level. He can already read aloud at that level but his comprehension and attention span are still too young for chapter books on his own. I feel like this will probably be something that just occurs naturally, but my plan is to find good books at that level and start reading them to him, and stopping at interesting places to encourage him to pick it up on his own. This is how I taught myself to read as a child and it was honestly just so motivating to want to hear the end of the story. I am still researching more formal phonics/spelling instruction, and I'm considering First Language Lessons and All About Spelling/Reading. I actually bought just the student pages for All About Spelling Levels 3 &4 by mistake a while back, so I only need the teacher's manual and the tiles to make that work. We finished Classical Phonics last year and that plus casual practice has given him a great deal of literacy.
Writing/handwriting: We will use some cheap workbooks for handwriting, as well as lots of games for fine motor skills, coloring, crafts, etc. I am considering ordering a writing/narration program, either writeshop or writing with ease. I am planning on doing some writing projects based on our science/geography subjects.
Geography: Continent boxes, with a focus on one continent at a time.
