Curriculum Decisions for School Year 2013-2014

I love researching curriculum-I mean, I absolutely love it! I probably spend way too much time reading and searching the internet to find the perfect curriculum for my kids. That's how I am though. Once I decide to do something, it's all or nothing. I put my whole heart and soul into it. What better way to spend my time than devoting it to my childrens' educations? In light of this, I don't spend too much time at all researching. :)

Once my husband and I decided to homeschool our children, I began researching about different philosophies of education. I can't say that I wholly identify with only one philosophy, but the one that I most closely identify with is Charlotte Mason. I love the idea of having short structured lessons to help keep the child engaged. I can't stand to listen to a long lecture. What would make me think my children would have the ability to stay completely engaged in a long lecture? In order for children to get the most out of a lesson, it needs to be done in a manner that allows them to stay interested. Once the brain is checked out, there is no reason to continue. I also love the Charlotte Mason's method uses living books as the primary source of book learning. Do you know how much you can learn from even a picture book? The possibilities really are endless!

During my search, I also found that I agree with the Classical education method. I am still researching this particular one though. I will update more on it at another time.

Once I found the method of homeschooling that I hoped to execute, I began researching curriculum. My Father's World was the first curriculum to catch my eye. Soon after, Heart of Dakota also fell into my lap. About a year ago, I tried out Heart of Dakota's preschool program-Little Hands to Heaven. At the time, it ended up being too easy for my 4 year old. She already knew her letters and sounds and was very ready for more. We switched gears and started My Father's World Kindergarten in August 2012. We are just about done with this program now. I knew that I wanted something more challenging but not a lot heavier on handwriting than this year's work. This is how we landed with Heart of Dakota's Little Hearts for His Glory. We will be using this as our spine for the 2013-2014 school year. It covers, Bible, History, Science and art. It also schedules in math, handwriting, and phonics. I have been pouring over the manual lately and I am extremely happy with what I see. It seems very open and go and I am ready to start it now. We will, however, hold off until July. For math, we are using Singapore Essentials K A&B. We will likely move through these quickly. I just prefer not to push her ahead to 1A quite yet. For handwriting, we are going to use Handwriting Without Tears K and A Reason For Handwriting K simultaneously. Brina needs a bit of fine motor skill work.

Our last option being added is our phonics. We are about to start All About Reading Level 1. It is very possible we will be close to starting level 2 by the time we begin our school year in July. We are just going to advance as needed. I am completely excited about starting this program! Our box should be here any day now!

Our three year old will continue in Heart of Dakota's Little Hands to Heaven. We will probably add in Handwriting Without Tears pre-k in the fall. She has great motor skills and is more than ready for it. I am unsure of what to do once she completes Rod & Staff's About Three Series. She is on the last book. I am thinking that we will either go up to the pre-k Rod & Staff books and maybe add in some Kumon books as well. Siriana would sit and do workbooks all day if I would let her.

As you can see, we are excited about the upcoming new year. I can't wait to have everything planned out and ready to go. Once we complete our currently K4 curriculum in a few weeks, we will take a break until July. During that time, we will be overhauling our school room. I want it all DONE by the time July rolls around. I want a space to do our work and just leave it there.

I hope everyone is having fun with school and planning for next year!

Wonderful Weekend: Botanical Gardens

Our little family had an absolutely wonderful weekend. We were itching to get outside to enjoy the beautiful weather, so we racked our brains for the perfect plan. We decided to visit the Botanical Gardens in Huntsville, AL. We ended up purchasing a membership, so we get to enjoy the fun all year long.
I thought I would share some pictures of our fun day with the blogging community. Hope you enjoy!

MFW K: Rr Rock

We finished our work in Rr Rock today. We still need to do our book activity and go outside to collect some rocks. It has rained all week until now, so we are excited to get outside. I'll post some pictures sometime this weekend of us collecting rocks. This week we learned a very valuable lesson relating to rocks. Our words to remember this week:

I listen and obey; I build my life on the Rock. 

Of course, the Rock that our words are referring to is of Jesus Christ. If we build our lives with Jesus Christ being our foundation, then our houses, or lives, will stand strong and firm. We also talked about doing things God's way instead of our own way this week. Bob the tomato and Larry the cucumber helped me out with this lesson.

Now, on to some pictures! Don't mind the pajamas. We woke up late and just went ahead with school.

I decided to let the girls get creative with dot paint today. I just printed the letter they were each working on and let them decorate away. Brina is obsessed with rainbows, so she decided to decorate her R and make it a rainbow! How perfect! I love it!

I had to throw some pictures in of this little cutie. Siri is studying the letter B this week. She's our little artist and loved this activity. 

Brina is proud of her artwork!

Practicing cutting with some of our friend's printable at Mama of Monkeys. Please check out her blog. There is a button on my sidebar. 

 Blend ladder and a silly face!

Concentrating!

Proud of her letter sort!

Working on counting by tens on a Math U See Primer worksheet

Brina still has quite a few issues with cutting. We are slowly getting there. Her motor skills have always been a tad behind, but she is catching up quite beautifully.

All in all, we have had a great week of school. Brina is reading better as each day goes by. She can easily read CVC, CCVC, and CVCC words. I am very proud of her. I can't wait to see what each week of homeschooling brings. We will more than likely be doing two units each week from here on out. We only have 7 units left, so we will see how it goes!