Curriculum Choices 2014


This will be our second year starting our school calendar from January to December and I wanted to share the curriculum we will be using for 2014.  Of course as I get opportunities to review new products I we will be adding, supplementing or sometimes breaking from these for a period of time, but our main focus will be on the materials listed below.

Bible

God's Great Covenant: New Testament - We are going through this again now that Gess is older.  We got so overwhelmed our first year we ended up stopping this before we were even half way through.  However, since our adult Sunday School class is going through the gospels it seemed like it would be a perfect time to pick it back up with Gess.  We started it last fall so we will finish this at the end of the spring semester.


English/Language/Spelling/Speech

Logic of English - We started this last summer and it has been one of the best finds yet.  I particularly love how it helps us focus on speech and reading at the same time.  They also incorporate spelling so I don't need a separate program for that.

Math

A+ Interactive Math by Tutorsoft - Gess really does well with the way they explain the math problems here.  While I give her helps and tools that allow her to succeed, at least I know she has the concept even if she does struggle memorizing the facts.


Science 

Apologia Exploring Creation with Chemistry & Physics - We just started this near the end of the year so we have several chapters left to go.  While this won't take us through December we will have enough to fill our first semester!


Social Studies 

Homeschool Legacy - We The People: Getting to Know Your Constitution - While this is set up as a once a week unit study, since Gess has special needs we will do a little bit of this each day and it will probably take us longer than intended.  Still, this unit looks to be really engaging and lots of fun. 


Handwriting

Handwriting Without Tears: Cursive - We will probably move up to their Cursive Success workbook but I think I am going to start the year reviewing each letter first to see if she is ready.  While she likes writing that way, she still tends to fall back on printing.

Writing

Essentials in Writing - We loved this program for level 1 and I am planning on moving up to level 2 after we start the year by writing a couple of personal letters and paragraphs for review.

Computer Lessons

Time4Learning -  I am really enjoying have Time4Learning for our afternoon lessons.  This allows Gess to work on her own and I get to see how she does.  I pretty much assign her a lesson in Language Arts, Language Arts Extension, and Math as "homework."  She loves the program and also loves working independently.  If you have never used Time4Learning before you can get a Free 14 day trial by clicking on my affiliate link in the banner below.



Comments

As He Leads is Joy said…
Thank you so much for sharing what you are using. It helps me to see what you are using. Thank you for the recommendation on Logic of English. When do you think this should be started?
January 13, 2014 at 8:38 AM
Lori said…
I have had other people ask me questions like that so I wrote an entire blog about it. It really depends on where the child is, but they have other material too. See what I said here.
http://specialconnectionhomeschool.blogspot.com/2014/01/logic-of-english.html
January 13, 2014 at 9:44 AM
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