Monday, August 31, 2015

Back to School, 2015-2016 Curriculum

It's official, today was the first day of the 2015-2016 school year here at Drywood Creek.  It went fairly well.  I can see there are a few things that will need to be adjusted in our Circle Time.  The reading was just too long....but, I'll save that for another post.  Without further ado, here are our 2015-2016 curriculum choices....

Circle Time (Family Study)

History
Beautiful Feet Modern American & World History (3 days/week)
TruthQuest History for Young Americans II & III (supplement)

Bible Study
TruthQuest History - Beginnings (4 days/week)
Herein is Love, Genesis, A Commentary for Children by Nancy Ganz (3/4 days/week)

Church History
Peril & Peace, Volume 1: Chronicles of the Ancient Church by Mindy and Brandon Withrow (supplement)
Trial & Triumph by Richard M. Hannula (2 days/week)

Missionary Study
Hero Tales & YWAM missionary books by Benge (1 day/week)

Composer Study - Johannes Brahms (1st term - 1 day/week)
The Young Brahms by Sybil Deucher

Science
Beautiful Feet History of Science (2 days/week)

Natural History
Wild Animals I Have Known by Seton (1st term - 1 day/week)

Geography
Beautiful Feet Geography (finish from last year - 1st term - Minn of the Mississippi by Holling C. Holling - 1 day/week)

Plutarch
Timoleon (finish from last year - 1st term - 1 day/week)

Picture Study
Health
Nature Study

RileyAnn Year 6 

Story of the World 4 by Susan Wise Bauer
Carry a Big Stick: The Uncommon Heroism of Theodore Roosevelt by George Grant (Term 1)
A Passion for the Impossible: The Life of Lilias Trotter by Miriam Huffness Rockman (Term 2)
Never Give In: The Extraordinary Character of Winston Churchill by Stephen Mansfield (Term 3)
The Story of Mankind by Van Loon
Alexander Graham Bell Invents the Telephone by Katherine Shippen (Term 1)
George Washington Carver by David Collins (Term 2)
Albert Einstein by Cwiklik (Term 3)
Apologia Land Animals of the Sixth Day
Captains Courageous by Kipling (Term 1)
Literature ?? (Term 2)
Literature ?? (Term 3)
Poetry for Young People - Robert Frost (Term 1)
Poetry for Young People - Carl Sandburg (Term 2)
Alfred Noyes (Term 3)
Michael Clay Thompson Voyage Level - We opted to hold off on this for the year.  I'm still trying to figure out what else to plug in.  I just may have her focus on written narration.
All About Spelling (finish Level 4 & begin Level 5)
Simply Charlotte Mason Business Math - Pet Store
Life of Fred

Ruben Year 5

Story of the World 4 by Susan Wise Bauer (audio)
Variety of living books and audio books
Using Language Well & Spelling Wisdom by Simply Charlotte Mason
All About Spelling Level 1
Poetry for Young People - Walt Whitman (Term 1)
Childhood Poems by Eugene Field (Term 2)
Poetry for Young People - Emily Dickinson (Term 3)
ST Math
Life of Fred
Tutoring at the Children's Dyslexia Center (2 days/week)

In addition, I have also started a Socratic Book Club for 5th/6th graders in our area.  We will meet monthly to discuss great literature, including...

September - Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame
October – The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain
November – A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
January – The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien
February – Miracles on Maple Hill by Virginia Sorensen
March – Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe
April – The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett

These books will be our bedtime read alouds for the year.  The kids will also participate in our local homeschool choir and art classes.  

Have you kicked off your 2015-2016 school year?  Feel free to leave links in the comments section regarding your curriculum choices for the year.  

1 comment:

  1. Great question Kimberly! Our kiddos are dyslexic so I originally started with All About Spelling. My dd is in her 5th year of this program, finishing up Level 4. I have not done any formal spelling with our son up to this point because he receives tutoring two days a week at our local Children's Dyslexia Center and it covers some spelling as well as reading. I didn't want to start a separate program with him for fear of confusion. With that said, I did want to start grammar with him so last year, we tried Easy Grammar and it didn't work. This year, in keeping with Charlotte's methods, I thought I'd try SCM's new Using Language Well program, which utilizes Spelling Wisdom. If you've read some of our other posts, you'll notice that I started Michael Clay Thompson LA last year with our dd and am taking a break from it this year for maturity. In the interim, since I had the components of SCM English program, I thought I'd try it with her as well. In summary, I use AAS as our main spelling program. Then I use ULW for English/grammar, which happens to use Spelling Wisdom. I do not dictate the entire passage of SW to my kiddos since they are not natural spellers and it wouldn't make sense to them. So, I use the SW passages as copy work, which consequently may help to improve their spelling.

    Does this make sense? You will find more information on how I've adapted the Charlotte Mason method for our dyslexic kiddos in a post titled "Charlotte Mason and Dyslexia". The spelling part of language arts is probably the biggest change I make given the fact that my kids learn best through a multi-sensory approach.

    Thanks for your inquiry,
    Melissa

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