Some thoughts on our curriculum

I'm seeing some things in our curriculum that will need to be addressed soon.  Joshua is doing cursive using A Reason for Handwriting.  He's not learning how to connect the cursive letters very well.  I'm going to have to do something else for him I think.  Any ideas are appreciated.  I am thinking of BJU simply because BJU was the the first curriculum that we used with Joshua and he's kept with the basic idea of their "font".  I also like that BJU has wonderful teacher's manuals.

We also have not been doing history this semester.  I have been looking over several curriculums trying to decide what to use.  I have let Joshua be involved in this process and we really like History Revealed by Diana Waring.  After all the research I remembered that HOD uses Diana's What in the World cd's. 

Ok let me back up and give you some history.  I have loved HOD since I found it a few years back.  I have used it in the past but sold it and bought it and sold it and bought it :o)  I just couldn't make it work for Joshua in the past.  BUT here I am again finding that HOD is using yet another book or curriculum that I am choosing on my own.  I honestly wish I would have known about HOD when Joshua was at the right ages to start it from the beginning.  I will be using HOD for history at a minimum for Jacob when he gets old enough to start it.  So let me just say again that I love, love, love HOD.

I'm starting to understand that I just need to do HOD and get over it.  The biggest decision now is what level to start with for Joshua.  Decisions. Decisions.  Oh if only all our decisions were really this easy.

Latest update on homeschool curriculum changes.

Final decisions have been made so I thought I should update anyone who is interested. I really like Teaching Textbooks for math but the level my son needed isn't being released until Feb. 2010. I really like CQLA but I know we needed more phonics instruction to help Joshua's reading along even more. I was in our local homeschool store last week and happen upon Saxon Phonics and Math. I was really impressed with their Phonics so I researched it a bit more at home. I also gave him the placement test for Saxon math. So last week I bought the Saxon Phonics and Math and we started them last week. Saxon has computer CD's that are very similar to Teaching Textbooks starting in 54 so that is covered if I feel like I need it. I have decided to wait on CQLA and see where we are at the end of this year for that. At a bare minimum I see myself using Meaningful Composision in the future. Then again I might just go back to CQLA. I just feel like we might need a bit more formal grammar than CQLA gives but that is easy enough to rememdy with CLE or ACE English. I am very pleased with the Saxon at this point. I was somewhat of an anti Saxon person so this was a pleasant surprise for me. I'll try to start doing a weekly update and give my opinion of the Saxon Phonics (and Math too).

We are using Heart of Dakota for our history and science. I love HOD so this is working out great for us. I am looking into using BJU science in addition to HOD's though. I think HOD's science is fine but Joshua is science minded so I think using a formal science might be a good idea for him in case he ends up in a science career down the road.

We are also starting Notgrass's Celebrate Thanksgiving unit study this week. This is super fun and we are looking forward to doing this over this month. We will also do their Celebrate the Savior study over December. I will post our Advent plans very soon since it starts here in a few weeks.

My computer's hard drive is dying so I am borrowing my neighbors laptop to update here. I hope to have a new hard drive put in my laptop soon so I can get back to business.

Next Year's School Plans

Well I think I am pretty set on most of next year's curriculum choices for my oldest son. We will continue with Heart of Dakota's Bigger Hearts for His Glory until we finish it. We will also continue with All About Spelling. We are currently in Level 1 but I expect to finish that by the end of summer and move into Level 2. We will also continue using BJU English & Writing. I am really liking this because of the alternating focus that BJU takes with this course. It's one chapter of grammar and then one chapter of writing starting in 2nd grade.

Right now we are using Singapore math and using the lesson plans that Heart of Dakota has written in their manuals to coincide with the Singapore workbooks. I really like Singapore for it's mental math component and Joshua is doing fine with it. I keep thinking don't change something that's working but I really am considering putting him back in BJU math. We did BJU before Singapore and he did fine with that too. I am waiting to see what BJU does with their online classes because I want to use the distance learning classes for English, Math and Handwriting from BJU but right now you can only buy full grade kits at $1000 a pop to get those classes. So no classes for us right now. I am teaching the English class myself and it only take about 15 to 20 minutes for us to do. If they offer an acceptable plan for the online classes then I will use those classes for English and also move him back into BJU for math. At least with the distance learning classes I know that the basics will get done if for some reason I am unable to teach one day.

With Bible I am thinking of going with the Summit's Building on the Rock World View/Bible Survey curriculum. We currently use Grapevine Bible in addition to HOD's Bible and we really like Grapevine but I am drawn to the age appropriate study that Building on the Rock offers. I just might have to try it out to see how it goes. BotR is somewhat expensive to get started so I haven't made up my mind for sure yet but I am strongly leaning that way.

I am also looking into adding Evan Moor's A Word a Day books for vocabulary. Thanks to Dana for that idea.

Soooo I am fairly set except for concrete decisions on Math and Bible yet. We will be working through summer since we didn't get very far at all into Bigger Hearts. I know it will be a great summer with HOD though so I am really looking forward to watching Joshua grow in his reading ability while doing Bigger Hearts. We will be going through HOD's emerging reader set over summer and into next year to help give Joshua some practice and confidence in his reading.

How about you? What are your plans for your homeschool next year? Any new things? Keepers? Tossing? My top keepers are for sure Heart of Dakota and All About Spelling.