Curriculum Choices 2012 - 2013

We are excited about our new year!  We will be doing many literature-based unit studies with an emphasis on Charlotte Mason principles.  Our children still being homeschooled are ages 11, 10 and 8.  They all have some special needs and learning challenges.

MATH

All of the kids will be using Teaching Textbooks this year.  They love Teaching Textbooks and fuss over who gets to go first on the computer!  Two of them tell everyone their favorite subject is math.  I LOVE that.  We will also be using the Life of Fred series and other living books for focused math lessons.

LANGUAGE ARTS

My main focus this year is making improvements in the children's learning challenges in writing, reading and spelling.  Two of the kids have been diagnosed with dyslexia and vision issues.  Our son is also struggling with the writing process.  I am reading Overcoming Dyslexia and will be using the suggested games and techniques to help the children.  They will be expected to write in their journals, do a few workbook pages, do All About Spelling (with me), participate in a grammar lesson, and read each day.  We will be using the below books and programs:

• All About Spelling
• The Grammar Ace
• English for the Thoughtful Child
• Writing Strands
• Explode the Code

LITERATURE     

We will be reading many books this year as a family.  Some will be read as family read-aloud and some will have unit studies built around them.  I am aware that we will probably not make it through this whole list.  However, I am prepared for all of them and will be able to omit what doesn't fit at the time.

• Hour of the Olympics (homemade Unit Study)
• Davy Crockett
• Notes From the Dog
• The Long Winter (Prairie Primer Unit Study)
• On the Banks of Plum Creek ( Prairie Primer Unit Study)
• By The Shores of Silver Lake
• Tales From Shakespeare
• Sounder
• The Pushcart War
• The Christmas Doll
• Tree in the Trail (Beautiful Feet Unit Study)
• Paddle to the Sea (Beautiful Feet Unit Study)
• Thomas Edison Young Inventor (Beyond Five in a Row)
• George Carver Boy Scientist (Beyond Five in a Row)
• Rascal
• Stone Fox
• Around the World in 80 Days (homemade Unit Study)
• American Kids in History Victorian Days (Unit Study)
• Helen Keller (Beyond Five in a Row Unit Study)

We will also be rowing five or six Five in a Row books that complement the above chapter books.  We will be doing a poet each quarter.  I have selected Robert Frost, William Shakespeare, Carl Sandburg, and Langston Hughes.

HISTORY

Using the unit studies above as our base, we will be covering Western Indians, Reconstruction, the Santa Fe Trail, Pioneers, Victorian times, and getting a general understanding of what it was like to live in the different regions of the United States at the turn of the century.  I usually cover much more history in a year.  However, my priorities are on getting the children reading and writing much better this year, and something had to slow down to make room for more work in other areas.

SCIENCE

We will be maintaining a science table this year which will rotate subjects monthly.  Some of the topics will be as follows: microscope, geodes, robotics, botany, and electricity.  We will also be doing monthly chemistry lessons with a friend skilled in this topic.  In addition, there will be lots of science sprinkled throughout our unit studies.  We will also be doing weekly nature studies.

MUSIC

All of the children will continue with dance and drama lessons. They will all be in the two performances planned at their dance studio, The Nutcracker and Swan Lake.  One child will be in the homeschool choir this year.  We also will be learning about four composers ~ Tchaikovsky, Scott Joplin, Richard Wagner, and George Bizet.  In addition, we will be studying four musicals this year.

ART

We will study an artist each quarter in the style of Charlotte Mason.  Our artists will be Henri Matisse, N. C. Wythe, Pablo Picasso, and Frank Lloyd Wright.

GEOGRAPHY

We will be starting an Our 50 States book.  RoadTrip USA will be used along with Five in a Row books for our study.  We will also be exploring geography through our unit studies ~ Paddle to the Sea, Tree in the Trail, and Around the World in 80 Days .

EXTRAS

Our children will be doing vision therapy, physical therapy, and/or speech therapy in the home with me each day.  They will also be expected to become more proficient in typing.  We hope to do history and science related field trips every month.

It is going to be a full year!  Happy Learning!!

Blessings, Dawn