homeschool curriculum 2014-2015 for my early elementary girls

2014-2015

 I am homeschooling my early elementary girls as a team this year and it is a really exciting for the three of us! They are excited to learn together and we are ready to embark on a new year with a new plan.

Together these girls are quite a team, very different and unique, but each one does lift the other up. I will admit they their days are not without a bit of arguing and down right mean looks at times, but at the beginning and end of each day one thing remains the same, they are the truest of friends, so I know this will be an amazing opportunity for both of them to grow this year. Grow in learning, grow in faith and even grow together in ways they never knew possible.

This will be a full year for them. 

and I know they will cherish it for a long time to come.

 This year's curriculum is a combination of two literature based, Charlotte Mason style programs I feel very strongly about. To this I am adding core basics I feel are best suited for each child and our family and as much hands-on learning as we possibly can to round out our education this year.

I have chosen curriculum that will allow us to move as slowly (or quickly) as we desire to as we fully take in our journey through Early American History. I would not be surprised if we do not complete our journey for closer to a year and a half before we move on. And that is the blessing of home education. We can do more than sample what we are learning, we can feast on parts we truly are passionate about.

and we are planning a lot of feasting this year.

 The "Core" of our education this year is focused on Early American History. We have been blessed with these as gifts to these girls, either arriving to our door in a big brown truck or on lend (and just a few really wonderful second hand purchases) and I cannot say how thankful I am that there are people in my life that love these girls that much. Enough to care about their education and their hearts to grow this year, in knowledge and in wisdom. 

This collection is from the Adventures in US History Basic and Deluxe Packs from My Father's World. This full curriculum covers History, U.S. Geography, Bible, Science, and Music. We will not be using the art program that the deluxe package came with, as we have chosen other arts to use this year, which we will share as our weeks progress. We will also be using the science overview they instruct you to teach as an outline and changing it up a bit to better meet our need for community and once a week lessons. I will be sharing much more as the weeks continue on.

I am really looking forward to the books and activities in this package. I have enjoyed reading many of the read-alouds to my older children in the years past and look forward to sharing them with these littler ones. I am also thankful for the well planned out schedule MFW includes in the teacher manuals. I find them easy to use and helpful for keeping us on track, even if followed loosely.

 In edition to the "core" curriculum, I will definitely be using the following for both girls, minus spelling, which only my 3rd grader will be doing at this point.

Math

we are choosing to go very fun and easy to start this year with 

The Complete Book of Math

I know they could aim a bit higher, but sometimes it is not about how high you can aim, but how well you enjoy hitting the target and for now we need enjoy more than harder.

English/Grammer

We are using one of my favorite books, which has now gone through older children, too.

Primary Lesson Languages

This book really is a favorite around here, especially for the teacher. I love the gentle style of this book.

 Spelling 

Spelling this year is 

Spelling by Sound and Structure 

which is new to us, but I am looking forward to.

 Music

We will be combining the  MFW's Introduction to Tchaikovsky with both piano lessons and beginning recorder.

I will add more as we do, but that is our list for now and we are excited to learn and grow together!

I CANNOT express to you enough how hesitant I am to share our journey this year. All of my fears are centered around feelings, my feelings and yours. I want to remind you that you are doing perfectly in your journey as a mother, whether you home educate, or not…whether you do just the basics, or enjoy adding more to your learning rhythm. You were created to be your child (children)‘s mother and your teaching style is perfectly suited to their education needs. I can say with certainty I am nervous about how I have seen others being judged as they shared their journeys with educating and how that may come my way, as we truly dive into sharing everything from our schedule to our curriculum choices, to our home schooling space to our weekly accomplishments.  This has been long on my heart, but something I pushed aside as I let my fear grow. Today I am just taking the jump and letting God take care of the rest. This year I will be starting with sharing the younger elementary students and starting with the preschooler midyear, when I begin teaching him consistently. Next year, I may share my junior high and high school student’s schedules, curriculum, and accomplishments, after I see how this year’s blogging journey goes and how my heart is leading.

Thank you for taking the time to read along. You will find a lot of joy in the journey this year and even the hard honest truth in our valleys, but most of all I hope you find simple inspiration to love fully, light fires instead of filling buckets and cultivate a learning environment that leads little hearts to Jesus.  

Because no other goal is as worthy.