Curriculum We Are Using

I know that I have not done a good job in updating this blog. Things have been crazy at our house.

One of my goals for this coming year is to update each of my blogs once a week, I figure that would be consistent enough for the reader and not so much pressure for me.

On the right hand side of the blog you can see a list of curriculum that we are using this year, when you click on them it will take you to the web page. Please note that a few are available on Amazon and I made note of that so please click on the amazon link under the curriculum links so we get credit for the clicks. Thanks!

I thought that I would say something about each of the curriculum that we have used so you can have an idea why we use it and why we like it. That being said, here goes:

American Girl Kirsten, I love the American Girls series and read them all when I was younger. I love to read them with my girls! The reason we started with Kirsten is because we had all her books--that's all the logic behind the choice! Anyway, if you click on the next link it will take you to a page where they have most of the American Girls series lapbooks. We are making the lapbook as we go. We have read book one and are almost done with book two. There are six books in the series with a couple mini books that they have come out with later. After we read that day we fill out a part of the lapbook.

A quick side note about lapbooks for those who are not familiar. Lapbooks are a great tool that I am trying to utilize more in my homeschool. A lapbook is a fun way for the child to organize the ideas they have learned--it's also a great thing to show grandparents, my husband, and other friends and family members to give them a quick overview of what we have been doing. They can then ask questions about the things on the lapbook and the child can "teach" them what they have learned. You use file folders for the base. To learn more about lapbooking check out homeschoolshare.

We used Exploration Education's Elementary Physical Science this year, and the girls loved it. We actually finished it the first semester because the girls were so excited, so we are now supplementing this second semester with other science activities. I really liked this curriculum as it was easy enough for the girls to do on their own. They start on the computer where they are introduced to the next science concept, they learn the definition and what it means. They then do a simple experiment to illustrate the concept, they computer program guides them step by step through this process. And then they do a worksheet to reinforce the concept. And one of the best things about this curriculum is that it comes with everything you need for each experiment, with the exception of scissors, pencils, crayons, etc--we kept a set of these in the box with the curriculum so it was easy to find.

We are using the Handwriting Without Tears for our manuscript practice as well as learning cursive. This program is good for those just starting and I wish I would have used this way back when my girls were first learning to write, the beginning is a bit simplistic for the girls and they got bored easily. This was easily fixed by not doing all the repetition. I got the manuscript as a way for them to practice and make their printing neater, so we only do a page or so. And I wanted something that would streamline into cursive which this seems to do nicely.

Magic School Bus A Journey Into The human Body, is our first supplemental science curriculum that we are using. I had bought these a year or so ago and they got lost on our shelves and they were rediscovered as I was packing for our move. We have just barely started this but the girls love it so far and are excited about continuing to use this set. This comes with a lot of the things you need but there is quite a list of more items that you will need to find to complete all the tasks.

Math U See, what can I say about Math U See I think that just saying "I LOVE IT" does not fully cover how much I love this curriculum. I always have struggled with Math and thus it was my hated subject growing up. But with this curriculum it has become so clear to me and I often tell Erik, my husband "Why didn't anyone teach it to me that way? It make perfect sense, now!" It is easy to learn and there are enough practice sheets that you can practice until you truly do get the concept or skip past all the practice if you get the concept. The girls sped through the second year curriculum and finished Beta the first semester. We are now moving onto Gamma the second semester. The whole concept of Math U See is to build it, say it and write it. Thus covering all the ways people learn, making sure that the technique you learn best is there and reinforcing it with the others. I would so recommend this curriculum to anyone who is having trouble with math.

Since we live in Southern California and part of our extended family speaks Spanish we decided to learn Spanish. And let me tell you Rosetta Stone is the best curriculum for learning a new language. I was really sceptical about how it would work especially since it costs so much but we are so pl;eased with it. The girls are learning Spanish at their speed and Erik and I are learning Spanish as well! I took four years of French in high school and I remember next to nothing but I am retaining the Spanish! Definitely try Rosetta Stone if you want to learn another language!

We love Signing Time! We were first introduced to it on PBS and we started recording the episodes on DVD but there was always a few we missed and it was such work to try and get them all and forget about getting them in order! So we jumped at the chance to buy the DVD set with the CDs that have all the songs on them. It is such a well done program that Erik and I are learning from it along with our girls, and we don't feel like it has been dumbed down for their benefit. We all now know a bunch of sign language and have gone on to but a sign language textbook to help with the signs that are not covered on the DVDs.

Spell to Write and Read, i did a post about this curriculum last year. I love this curriculum because after the initial investment you are ready to go for years to come! This has really helped the girls in spelling new words as well as sounding out new words they come across when reading.

This year I wanted to get History curriculum instead of trying to make my own. I just don't have enough hours in the day to do everything I want. So, I asked around and Story Of The World was one of the curriculum that came highly recommended. And now I see why. The text is written in a fun and easy to understand way, making this a great resource for my girls. It keeps their attention and they are not bored while reading the text. I remember to well the boring history texts that I had to read as a kid in school and how little I paid attention because my daydreams were much more exciting and because of that I can't tell you much about History. But this curriculum keeps my attention too and I find myself going "That really happened? I never knew that!" There are also great activities that go along with each section that the girls get to do as well as the worksheets and tests.

I think that I got most everything we are using. What curriculum are you using?