Strength

     Curriculum Review 2018-19

We moved to another country in the middle of our school year and we all survived.  Our school books tagged along in six countries over nine months, which felt frazzled at times, but I was so thankful for the opportunity to say yes to trips knowing that school could come with us! 

Here’s a roundup of what we used this past year and how it worked for us:

Addison – 6th Grade

Bible - Apologia What We Believe Series - Who Is God 

History, Literature, Geography and Writing – Tapestry of Grace, Year 3, Dialectic 

       Our 2nd year of Co-op was much smoother than our first!  Addison adjusted more to the longer reading assignments and I relaxed my expectations about reading assignments and learned to let some things go.  Year 3 covers the 1800's, which includes favorites like the Civil War and the Gilded Age.  

Language Arts  - Abeka     

         We used Abeka again this year for Language Arts.  While I do love the strong focus on mechanics, on top of her grammar work in the Co-op writing class, this program was probably too much.  Alone it would have been fine, but by the end of the year, death by grammar exercises was in full swing.  

Spelling – Learn that Word (online)

         I am so happy spelling online.  The girls love it and it takes 10-15 minutes each day, with each kid on different grade levels.  If you homeschool and want to join our classroom, just let me know!  It is about $9/kid/year.  

Math – Abeka 

          We knew going in this would be Addison's last year with Abeka math.  I thought about switching to a different curriculum, but with everything else in our life being in an upheaval with moving to Spain, I decided to keep her with Abeka one more year.  By the end of the year, we were both glad to be done.  It is a lot of problems and repetition, even if you only do odd/even problems.  For a kid that loves math, it definitely gives plenty of practice, but for a kid that tolerates math, like Addison, after seven years, she was ready to move on to something different.

Subjects Together
Bible - Apologia What We Believe Series - Who Is God 
Science – Apologia Zoology Land Animals, with Notebooking Journal

        We rounded out the Apologia Zoology series this year with Land Animals.  Again, with moving, we needed to keep things simple.  Plug with Lucy coming in as a Kindergartener, I wanted a fun, engaging subject matter that she would enjoy.  

Art – Kiwi Crates, ScrawlrBox and Drama Class

           Lucy continued to received Kiwi Crates this year.  She enjoyed the projects, especially when her older sisters did them with her!  Addison found another subscription service called ScrawlrBox.  It delivers art supplies every month and features a small original work by a member artist.  It has included things like gel pens, brush-tip markers, smudge erasers, and quality colored pencils. Every month they also include a new drawing pencil.  It is her favorite day of the month when it arrives in the mail. 
        Addison and Mya also participated in a drama class.  Those two have never met a stage they didn't like and they jumped right in.

Music – Piano 

           Moving around often requires finding new piano teachers every 1-2 years.  While sometimes that is good to shake the girls out of their routine, sometimes it is hit or miss.  This year we found what I think will be a long-term solution.  Chad's cousin Rachel is a piano teacher and she offered to do FaceTime lessons with the kids.  It has worked out well for us.  I love the consistency it will provide in the future and I love not having to wrestle Jake somewhere outside our house while waiting on the girls to finish lessons.  The girls even got to participate in the recital via FaceTime!  

PE –  Gymnastics
          Artistic gymnastics isn't as popular in Spain as it is in the United States, which made finding a gym difficult.  We settled on a acrobatic gymnastic gym.  It was completely different in style and in the fact that all the coaches and gymnastics spoke Spanish!  While it was a good year, with good teachers, it will probably be our last year with gymnastics, at least for the older girls.  They are ready to try new things! 

Mya – 2nd Grade 

Bible - Apologia What We Believe Series - Who Is God 
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.  During the height of my writing, she read even more on her own!

Language Arts and Cursive – Abeka 

        Abeka still reviews phonics concepts in 2nd grade.  I assigned very little of those pages to her and would probably skip the phonics book entirely for her if I did it again.  I am striving to be more consistent with writing and journaling assignments than I was with Addison at this 

Spelling – Learn that Word

Math – Abeka

Science – Apologia Zoology Swimming Creatures, with Junior Notebooking Journal

Music – Piano Lessons

Art – Kiwi Crates

PE – Homeschool PE with CYSS, Gymnastics and Dance

Lucy – Preschool, Letter of the Week and K-4

            We kept school at Lucy's pace this year.  Somedays she was excited to do the work in her folder and some days she wasn't.  I am far enough in this journey to know that she's not going to be little forever and just to roll with the attention span.  

Art – Kiwi Crates

PE – Homeschool PE with CYSS, Gymnastics and Dance