New Curriculum!
It's that time of year, when all the homeschool parents are looking at next year. Everybody has probably made some changes during the year ~ I know we have! ~ and are now spending hours upon hours hunting down the steals and deals on curriculum for next year.
I've done all my ordering and have started receiving our books for next year. That always makes it harder to stay focused on this year and finish strong (at least for me!). Now that my items have arrived, I feel I can now share what we've decided to do for next year (7th grade folks - it's a biggie!).
History, Geography, and Language Arts:
We opted for Winter Promise American Crossing for history and geography. I chose this particular program for a variety of reasons. First, it includes a state study (yes, my son recently asked if Connecticut was a state or a country - it's time for a state study!), it was easy to remove the Bible portion and still have solid reading and other activities, and most importantly, the Language Arts is sold separately. We are doing Digging into Paragraphs, which is 5th grade LA. My son still has so much trouble writing a good paragraph that I know he couldn't do the 7th grade language arts. I love having the option to choose up or down with Winter Promise. The shipping has been slow, but what I've received so far looks really fun and put together well, so I'm looking forward to starting this adventure. This will be the first time we've tried WP and I've seen mixed reviews, but I've learned that everyone is different and this particular choice seemed to fit us perfectly for next year.
Math:
Sticking with Teaching Textbooks. This is another curriculum that gets mixed reviews, but it works well for us so we aren't going to fix it if it isn't broken. We will finish Math 7 the first half of the year and start Pre-Algebra after Christmas. We did the whole switch up mid year from Horizons to TT which is why we are a little off.
Spanish:
We used Monarch Elementary Spanish this year (Alpha Omega) and Zach did well. He's very interested in continuing Spanish, but not on the computer. Since I don't speak Spanish this left me in a weird place - the computer was the teacher. After a ton of research I decided on Lifepac Spanish I (with the CD's - also from Alpha Omega). He is familiar with the Lifepac format and comfortable with it plus if he's listening to the CD's I might actually pick up some Spanish too, which would be helpful. I was a little worried because this is a high school level course, but if it takes longer than one year, I'm ok with that.
Science:
We stuck with Alpha Omega on this one too. I also let Zach choose. He really loves science and he really is at an age where he should have some say. We chose the Lifepac Select this time. For the first semester we'll be doing Astronomy and for the second we will be doing Geology.
Other Activities:
My son is a Boy Scout, so we will be working on Merit Badges and rank requirements throughout the year. I know that he should earn Astronomy and Geology plus we will work on Citizenship in the Nation as we work our way through early American history. Who knows what else we'll discover to do. We also live in a state with lots of Revolutionary War sites (civil war too - but that's next year!), so I know we will be doing a lot of exploring locally and within the state.
Clicking on any of the links will take you to the websites for the products. I earn nothing if you click and choose to purchase, but AOP is having their huge spring sale now (20% off everything) so it's a good time to buy if you're so inclined. The links are there purely for your amusement and/or curiosity.
I've done all my ordering and have started receiving our books for next year. That always makes it harder to stay focused on this year and finish strong (at least for me!). Now that my items have arrived, I feel I can now share what we've decided to do for next year (7th grade folks - it's a biggie!).
History, Geography, and Language Arts:
We opted for Winter Promise American Crossing for history and geography. I chose this particular program for a variety of reasons. First, it includes a state study (yes, my son recently asked if Connecticut was a state or a country - it's time for a state study!), it was easy to remove the Bible portion and still have solid reading and other activities, and most importantly, the Language Arts is sold separately. We are doing Digging into Paragraphs, which is 5th grade LA. My son still has so much trouble writing a good paragraph that I know he couldn't do the 7th grade language arts. I love having the option to choose up or down with Winter Promise. The shipping has been slow, but what I've received so far looks really fun and put together well, so I'm looking forward to starting this adventure. This will be the first time we've tried WP and I've seen mixed reviews, but I've learned that everyone is different and this particular choice seemed to fit us perfectly for next year.
Math:
Sticking with Teaching Textbooks. This is another curriculum that gets mixed reviews, but it works well for us so we aren't going to fix it if it isn't broken. We will finish Math 7 the first half of the year and start Pre-Algebra after Christmas. We did the whole switch up mid year from Horizons to TT which is why we are a little off.
Spanish:
We used Monarch Elementary Spanish this year (Alpha Omega) and Zach did well. He's very interested in continuing Spanish, but not on the computer. Since I don't speak Spanish this left me in a weird place - the computer was the teacher. After a ton of research I decided on Lifepac Spanish I (with the CD's - also from Alpha Omega). He is familiar with the Lifepac format and comfortable with it plus if he's listening to the CD's I might actually pick up some Spanish too, which would be helpful. I was a little worried because this is a high school level course, but if it takes longer than one year, I'm ok with that.
Science:
We stuck with Alpha Omega on this one too. I also let Zach choose. He really loves science and he really is at an age where he should have some say. We chose the Lifepac Select this time. For the first semester we'll be doing Astronomy and for the second we will be doing Geology.
Other Activities:
My son is a Boy Scout, so we will be working on Merit Badges and rank requirements throughout the year. I know that he should earn Astronomy and Geology plus we will work on Citizenship in the Nation as we work our way through early American history. Who knows what else we'll discover to do. We also live in a state with lots of Revolutionary War sites (civil war too - but that's next year!), so I know we will be doing a lot of exploring locally and within the state.
Clicking on any of the links will take you to the websites for the products. I earn nothing if you click and choose to purchase, but AOP is having their huge spring sale now (20% off everything) so it's a good time to buy if you're so inclined. The links are there purely for your amusement and/or curiosity.
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