Wednesday, February 4, 2015

2013 Academics

Circle Time: I'm trying to post our weekly Circle Time plans on Mondays. Follow the link for information about the resources we use.

Math (Daily):  Mathematics Enhancement Programme M-girl is halfway through Year 2 and should work well into Year 3 this year.  N-boy is about 40 days behind her, so I expect will also get into Year 3 in 2013.  R-girl is a good way through Year 1 and might be able to get significantly into Year 2 during 2013.  We love this program.

Logic (Independent, Daily during math): Mindbenders, Critical Thinking Activities K-2, Prufrock Press Logic programs.

History (Monday & Wednesday): Story of the World II and hopefully a good portion of III. We use the Activity Guide and supplemental books.  The Jim Weiss audiobooks are a great addition, too.

Science (Tuesday & Friday): God's Design for Science Heaven & Earth.  We might get into Chemistry & Ecology too.  We'll probably continue reading, slowly, through Signs & Seasons as well.

Geography (2nd Thursdays): We finished A Child's Geography last week.  We're going to work on drawing the world a la Leigh Bortins' The Core. We're also going to work on Memoria Press' new States and Capitals curriculum (might add Logos School's State Facts Geography).  R-girl is working on Evan-Moor's Beginning Geography K-2, which I think is excellent as workbooks go.  The others asked to try Evan-Moor's The World Reference & Map Forms 3-6.

Writing (Daily): We're working to integrate Writing With Ease: Strong Fundamentals into our content areas at the appropriate level for each child.  I've used the workbooks the past couple of years and am excited by this new challenge.

Latin (Daily):  R-girl is using Prima Latina.  N-boy is also using Prima Latina, he got about half-way done last year.  M-girl is on lesson 5 of Latin For Children A.  Hoping to work this more consistently in 2013.

Grammar (Daily-ish):  We use Peace Hill Press' First Language Lessons.  R-girl is in Year 1, the others are in Year 3.  We'll work on this 3 days in a week.  On any extra "fourth day," we'll also use Michael Clay Thompson's Music of the Hemispheres; Memoria Press' Poetry for 3rd-6th; and possibly going to pull in some of Sentence Composing for Elementary School

Penmanship: Both R-girl and N-boy have Cursive First to complete.

Art and Music: We continue using Artistic Pursuits which I love.  The children take Piano Lessons.  I'm hoping to add more Artist Study and Composer Study a la SCM and/or Ambleside.

Gymnasium: We participate in community soccer and baseball/softball.  I'd like to do swim lessons.  We play.