Mommy Brain

We’re not actually finished with our school year - won’t be until Friday, June 6th - but things are starting to slow down as various curricula gets finished or heads into review mode for the last few weeks. In most ways, it’s been a very good year. The only disappointment has been that we won’t finish history on time, and we didn’t do as much art as I’d liked. But we added a more intensive grammar program and Latin, so it all balances out, I suppose.

This year, I taught four grades: Natalie - 5th; Noah - 3rd; Jonathan - 2nd; and Josiah - K. So, here’s what we used for curriculum this year:

(Feel free to check out if you’re not a homeschooler, or hate curriculum posts. )

Math:

We used Saxon Math again this year. Natalie did Saxon Math 6/5, Noah did 3, Jon did 2, and Josiah did Math 1. I know he’s in kindergarten, but he actually did all 1st grade work this year. I only call him kindergartener for the sake of the homeschooling extension program we’re using. I’ll continue to advance him a grade every year, but this way if we ever need to slow down, he won’t be expected to advance.

I love Saxon Math. It may not be the most colorful program, but it works. All of the kids tested either right at or above grade level in math this year.

Language Arts:

Shurley English was a new addition this year. Last year, we had separate books for vocabulary, writing, and grammar - and it was a pain. So after hearing Michelle rave about Shurley, and looking through her books, I decided to take the plunge. It is a much more intense Language Arts program than we were used to, and that took some adjustment.

Shurley English uses jingles to teach grammar rules and the parts of speech. It includes vocabulary with every lesson, and every Friday there is a writing assignment. Students start with writing sentences, then paragraphs, then essays. I did not have Jonathan do the writing assignments, since he is only in 2nd grade and I think it’s a little much to expect a 2nd-grader (especially a squirrelly boy 2nd-grader) to write expository essays. Noah is in 3rd grade, and he did just about every other writing assignment. Natalie did most of them, although on the weeks that asked for two essays, I only required one. Shurley does not have a kindergarten program, so I used Abeka Phonics K5 for Josiah, and then threw it out halfway through the year when he began reading at a much-higher-than-kindergarten level.

Shurley doesn’t include spelling, so we used Spelling Workout.

History:

We are using The Story of the World: History for the Classical Child, Volume 2: The Middle Ages: From the Fall of Rome to the Rise of the Renaissance by Susan Wise Bauer, both the textbook and the activity book. We are not finished, and will continue with history through the summer so that we’ll be ready to start The Story of the World: History for the Classical Child, Volume 3: Early Modern Times in the fall. One of the reasons it has taken so long is that we took a long detour on Vikings and then on knights and castles, because we all were enjoying these topics.

The kids also each do a Map Skills book, according to their grade.

Science:

This is our second year of using Living Learning Books Science, and I love it. Last year we did Life Science, this year it has been Astronomy and Earth Science. Living Learning Books is basically a unit study program, but she has done the work of putting together projects, coloring pages, and vocabulary for each of the topics, as well as a list of recommended resources. The main texts for the Earth Science and Astronomy units are The Usborne First Encyclopedia of Space, The Usborne First Encyclopedia of Seas and Oceans, and The Usborne Internet-Linked Encyclopedia Of World Geography with Complete World Atlas. We then pulled in other books and movies from the library. The author has also compiled a list of internet links for more audio-visuals and project ideas.

Latin:

We used Prima Latina for Latin, and there are a few more lessons left than there are weeks left in the school year, so we will finish up sometime this summer. I have really enjoyed Latin this year. When we finish the book, we will have learned four complete Latin prayers: The Sanctus, The Gloria Patri, The Table Blessing, and The Lord’s Prayer. We will also have a couple dozen practical Latin words or phrases, and a couple dozen vocabulary words, as well as the noun endings, the to-be verb, and the I-can verb memorized.

Art:

We have Book 1 of Artistic Pursuits sitting on our shelf. We haven’t taken it off the shelf. We did, however, do several of the projects that went with Story of the World. We also took in live performances of The Little Mermaid: A Musical (not the Disney version) and Annie. Noah and Jonathan both took up the penny whistle, and I started teaching Nan piano. We’ve also been enjoying Beethoven’s Wig: Sing-Along Symphonies. Does that count as Classical Music Studies?

That about covers it! This was the first year when I felt like we got everything right. We won’t be changing any curriculum next year. We’ll do SOTW 3 for history, Living Learning Books 3: Chemistry for science, and continue on with Saxon Math, Shurley English, Map Skills, and Spelling Workout. Jonathan and Josiah will take a break from Latin - other than reviewing vocab - while Nan, Noah, and I move up to Latina Christiana I. I even promised the kids I’d do the workbook, too.