2019-2020 Curriculum Recap

Here's what we used in our homeschool this year:

Nora: 4K
God's Creation from A to Z, by My Father's World
I have used this curriculum for 4K with Annie, Jacob, and Sophie, too. It is a sweet little program and we don't do all of the suggestions, but it gives us some structure and Nora feels like she is doing "real school."

Sophie: 1st Grade
Ordinary Parent's Guide to Teaching Reading
I love this book. It is very easy to use and comprehensive, and she generally enjoyed it (I got very few complaints about not wanting to read). We started it last year with kindergarten, and she's almost finished with it. She is reading on a fourth grade level. I used a different program with Annie and Jacob and they did learn to read, but they did not enjoy that program and they were slower to learn. However, every child learns to read at their own pace and that is okay.

All About Spelling, level A
Makes learning to spell easy. Love this program. Check out the companion program, All About Reading, if the Ordinary Parent's Guide is not a good fit for your child.

First Language Lessons, level 1
Short oral lessons for an early intro to grammar.

Zaner-Bloser Handwriting, first grade
Easy to follow books, she does this mostly independently.

Right Start Mathematics, level B
I love Right Start. It is hands on and gets kids thinking about how and why math works, instead of memorizing formulas to solve problems.

My First Piano Adventure, books B and C
We did book A last year. I used these three books with Annie and Jacob, and when they started "real" piano lessons their teacher said "whoever taught them the basics did a really good job." All I did was work through these books with them, it wasn't hard. ;)

Annie and Jacob: 3rd grade
All About Spelling, levels A and B
Spelling was where I put my focus for the big kids this year. Our previous spelling program was not clicking and they were really awful spellers. This program makes so much sense and Annie and Jacob have improved so much this year!

First Language Lessons, level 3
Comprehensive grammar program. It isn't flashy or super-fun, but the lessons only take 10-15 minutes a day. Annie and Jacob have learned a lot about how our language works.

Zaner-Bloser Handwriting, third grade
This is year two of covering cursive writing, and they're realizing how much easier and faster it is to write in cursive. Woohoo. Also, Jacob's cursive is more legible than his manuscript!

Right Start Mathematics, level D
We continued on with Right Start this year. Awesome program, though it is very hands-on for the teacher until level G.

Piano lessons with a music teacher

Prima Latina
Introduction to Latin. We only do Latin 1-2 times per week, so we are spreading this book over two years. You could easily do it in one, but this is just an extra for us--a small dose of a foreign language.

Subjects we all do together:
Story of the World, volume 3
We love the Story of the World series! I will definitely repeat these with the younger children, they are some of our favorites.

Chemistry for Every Kid
We do 2-5 experiments a week and talk about them, then type up a report for their science notebook. We supplemented with books about chemistry from the library.

Drawing with Children
This was our art program this year. We all--Mama, too--learned a little about drawing this year. It really clicked with some kids, and we all had fun with it.

Also, here are some things we have done during Wonder Hour/Morning Basket:
Lots and lots of picture books
Life of Fred
Mad Libs
A Child's First Book of American History
The Story of the Orchestra
DK: The Arts, a Visual Encyclopedia

Annie, Jacob, and Sophie do copywork, dictation, and narration for their writing. We all do memory work together. I'll do a separate post on that sometime. Annie and Jacob also do a good bit of independent reading, and they--along with Sophie--still read aloud to me often so I can check in on them. We do our literature read-alouds together before rest time. I'll post a list of books we're reading this year later.

Whew! It looks like a lot but it really isn't. Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday we generally do school from 9-noon. Thursday is our activity day (dance, piano, horseback riding, library) so we usually only do math and reading. Friday we do math and language arts (grammar, spelling, reading, handwriting) and anything else we need to catch up on.