Curriculum Review 2016-17
This
was our most challenging homeschool year thus far. In the span of 4 months, we had a baby,
moved, traveled to Georgia twice and started a deployment. On top of all of that, I was plagued with
chronic mastitis for 11 months. Throw in
a round of the flu, a stomach bug, a baby that didn’t want to sleep through the
night, a computer that died during the middle of the year and single parenting
in a place where I knew virtually no one…that is a recipe for a long school year. Despite all of that, we still had a great
year. Yes, it was challenging, but we
made the best of it, grew together and even had a little fun in the
process!
If
you have read any of my previous curriculum posts, you know that I don’t often
try new things and strive for “less is more.”
I do not want to overwhelm me or my kids with trying to do too
much. Especially in the early years, I
am a firm believer that they need to have plenty of time to be kids – to read,
play and explore. I also keep my kids on
grade level. I plan our year out so that we space their books throughout the
whole year. We don’t finish one subject
earlier than others.
Here’s
a roundup of what we used this year and how it worked for us:
Addison – 4th Grade
Bible, History, Literature, Geography & Writing – Tapestry of
Grace, Year 1, Upper Grammar
We started Tapestry of Grace last
year (no curriculum review last year for the reasons stated above!). It is a multi-year, multi-grade level
curriculum and we love it. Ok, I REALLY love
it and my kids enjoy it. Even early on,
I knew I wanted a curriculum that spanned grade levels once I had more than one
school aged kiddo. I had several friends
in NY that used Tapestry and I was excited to get started last year. I love the “buffet” approach with which it is
written – they give tons of options and you can mxi and match what will work
best for your family. I love that it
uses living books as opposed to text books.
I love the cyclical approach to history that allows for students to build
on their knowledge. It divides world
history into four year plans and incorporates history, literature, writing,
geography, bible, church history, and art – as well as government and
philosophy in high school.
We started last year with Year 4 so that
we were on the same cycle an online co-op that we hoped to join in the
future. I loved Year 4 (1900-present)
because it focused on a lot of areas I studied in college. I did NOT think I would like Year 1 nearly as
much because even as a history major, I never loved ancient history. I was pleasantly surprised how well we
enjoyed Year 1 this year. I loved the
focus on Biblical history. Addison
really enjoyed Greek and Roman mythology as well.
The one area I feel like I am
weakest in teaching Addison is writing.
Teaching and evaluating writing, I feel, is very time consuming and this
year time was just something I did not have in abundance. Next year, that is going to be a much greater
focus for her.
Tapestry has a lot of “add on”
programs – maps, lap books, tests. We
did not do any of those this year.
We did not have a separate Bible
curriculum this year because this Year of Tapestry had incredible Bible
material throughout.
Language Arts and Cursive - Abeka
I
am happy with Abeka for grammar. We do
not do the abeka writing assignments or spelling. The workbooks are not always Addison’s
favorite, but I feel like grammar is one of the subjects you just have to grind
it out.
Spelling – Learn that Word (online)
I am so happy spelling
online. The girls love it and it takes
10-15 minutes each day. If you
homeschool and want to join our classroom, just let me know! It is about $9/kid/year.
Math – Abeka
Every year I evaluate
Abeka’s math, but so far I have been happy with it. I have heard that Abeka Math is fine in the
early years, but then drops in quality.
I haven’t seen that transition yet.
I also think a huge part of math is the teacher, not necessarily the
curriculum. Manipulatives and extra
things have (so far) confused Addison more than helped, so Abeka works well for
us. One thing I have learned is to have
her do it early in the day. Math at 3:00PM
is a nightmare for everyone. I also do
not do the full written lesson with her each day. Normally twice a week I sit down with her and
go over the new concepts for the week. I
always keep in mind that Abeka is really written for a classroom. The full lessons (that are written out in
the teacher’s curriculum guide) each day would be incredibly painful for both
of us and needless repetition. Abeka is
renown for repetition, so I normally have her do every other problem in her
workbook, except for new skill problems, word problems or problems for a skill
that she has been struggling with. Even
though she says she doesn’t like math, she really never struggles with math
other than careless errors.
Science – Apologia Astronomy, with Notebooking Journal
I cannot say enough good
things about Apologia’s Elementary Science books. We love them.
This year Addison chose Astronomy.
It is so refreshing to study Astronomy from a Biblical perspective! The only project we did this year was to make
a solar system model. In August we are
going to work on journals because it is one of the best times of the year to
see comet activity.
Art – Kiwi Crates
It is no secret that I
am not a crafty mom, so art isn’t my favorite.
However, my kids often do not use their time wisely, which leaves little
time for “extras.” I know, I know. Art is important, I get it. At Christmas I discovered Kiwi Crates. It is
a monthly subscription of craft projects that have a variety of age
levels. For Christmas, each of my kids got
one and after, I continued one box each month.
It’s amazing. Box comes in the
mail. Girls open it, complete the
projects. Art – check!
Music – Piano and Guitar
Our piano teacher had a
baby in January, so I took over the lessons for the girls. It worked far better than I expected, but I
hope to NOT continue that trend this year!
Addison started guitar lessons this year as well. Our schedule second semester wouldn’t allow
for her previous lesson time, so she started using the app Yousician. It has worked well so far and we will
continue that!
PE – Homeschool PE Class with CYSS,
Gymnastics, Volleyball and Basketball
Mya – 1st Grade
Bible, History and Reading – Tapestry of
Grace, Year 1, Lower Grammar
Even
though Mya’s reading skills are excellent, we still read her Lower Grammar
History books together in order to review the history concepts. She read most of her literature books on her
own or with Addison.
Language Arts and Cursive – Abeka
Mya is an eager student and her
reading totally blossomed this year! She
was able to skip basically all of the phonics work in her books and plowed
through many chapter books this year!
Spelling – Learn that Word
Math – Abeka
Science – Apologia Astronomy, Junior
Notebooking Journal
Music – Piano Lessons
Art – Kiwi Crates
PE – Homeschool PE with CYSS, Gymnastics
and Soccer
Lucy – Preschool, Letter of the Week
Thankfully
she is little because school did not happen very often for her at all! Like
many things, it started off well in August and never really picked back up
after our six weeks battling the flu!
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