Monday, January 13, 2014

New Year: New Curriculum

No, we have not dropped our core curriculum. We are still using Heart of Dakota's Little Hearts for His Glory and Little Hands to Heaven. We are very happy with these choices. We just needed to stir things up a bit and make it fit our family's needs. I thought I would give a nice synopsis of how we are doing things now.

I will start out with science. Heart of Dakota LHGHG does include 2 days of science each week. The science lessons are connected to the history readings. We are still doing these days of science, but my oldest is a science nut and just can't get enough. After doing tons of research, I decided to use one of Elemental Science's preschool series. It is listed to be used for preschool and Kindergarten, so I thought it would be perfect.


 
 
We have completed two weeks of this science curriculum so far and the girls have loved it. It includes both a 2 day a week and 5 day a week schedule. We are doing the 5 day schedule and it is working beautifully without making our day too lengthy. I will do a dedicated post for this science curriculum by the end of this week. I would like to blog all the way through it.
 
Brina has now moved on to AAR Level 2. This reading program is phenomenal. I really can't say better things about it. She is on Lesson 24 of Level 2. I expect she will complete it before the end of the school year. If she does, we will finish out the year with reading through HOD's emerging reader book list. Then, we will start Level 3 in the fall.
 

 
On top of the changes I have already mentioned, we have also added in the beginning spelling lists for Beyond Little Hearts for His Glory. Brina is doing well with these words and also enjoys spelling. We have also moved on to Singapore 1A. I am still not sure if we will stick with Singapore at this point. I will reevaluate at the end of the school year.
 
Siri is also doing well with school. We have now started doing Little Hands to Heaven at double speed. We are completing two units each week. This will cause us to finish sometime in March. I am not sure if we will move on to our new curriculum at that point or wait until the fall. I suppose we will decide at that point.
 
I'm sorry it has been so long since I have updated on the school year. I will do my best to keep the blogging up!


Field Trip to see the Da Vinci Exhibit

I have really let this blog fall to the wayside. I need to get back on this! We are now halfway through Kindergarten and preschool. The year has been wonderful so far. The girls are both learning so much. Thanks to co-op, Brina and I have made some wonderful friends. During an awful cold spell, we decided to head out to our local Space and Rocket Center for a day out with those friends. I thought I would share some pictures from our fun day.









We had a great time playing with the models of his inventions. It was definitely nice to get out as our heat was acting up and the temperature was a high of 20 degrees F that day. Hope you enjoy the pictures!