Our Curriculum

There are so many options out there when homeschooling nowadays! It is so easy to get overwhelmed by what to buy. It is also easy to spend A LOT of money on curriculum. Here is what we use for our homeschooling:

Math:
Saxon Math.

I used Saxon when teaching 3rd grade in public school and like the way the lessons are laid out. Both Gabe and Selah seem to like it, too.

Handwriting:

This is new for us this year. We are using Handwriting Without Tears. I like the way this teaches each letter starting with a "Magic C" and then building each letter off of it.

Spelling:

Natural Speller. This is also new for us this year. This book has lists for 1st grade all the way to 8th grade. The lists are grouped together by spelling sound and sight patterns. I then go over to Spelling City (a free online program) and plug each kid's list in, print their lists from Spelling City and they play spelling games.

Grammar:

First Language Lessons for the Well-Trained Mind. I have now gone through 3 of these levels and really, really like them. The kids are committing grammar rules to memory, writing a lot and memorizing poetry. I have added Writing With Ease by the same author and am very happy with this pair!

Reading:
We read books together as units. This year we plan on reading Black Beauty, The Secret Garden and Little Women. I use Ambleside Online as a resource for choosing books. We also use Kumon's Reading workbooks for comprehension exercises.

History:

I LOVE the Mystery of History series. It is taking us through History and can be used on three different levels. There are fun activities for each lesson and is so interesting. I have learned so much from these books!! We are doing Volume III this year.

Science:

I found the Christian Kids Explore series last year and we really enjoyed it. This year we are doing Chemistry together.

Spanish:

For Spanish we watch one free episode of Salsa each week. We love Salsa. They are sweet little puppet movies (think Sesame Street) that are completely in Spanish. The best part - they are FREE!!!!

http://www.gpb.org/salsa/term/episode

We also have access to Mango Languages through our library and we do that once a week as well. Check your local library to see if they offer Mango for free - so good!!

I do Confession of a Homeschooler's Letter of the Week program with Mig.

And that wraps up our curriculum choices for this year! We are enjoying homeschooling so far!!