Our Curriculum

We always have a plan at the start of the school year, but we go with the flow.  If something isn't a good fit for us, we switch it up.  If someone is having trouble understanding a subject, we slow down.  If someone is really interested in a subject, and would like to push forward and work through the material faster, we do!  We keep our eye on the big picture, and take it day by day. 

"So don’t worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries. Today’s trouble is enough for today." Matthew 6:34

 

Our Curriculum 2012 - 2013

Family Work

1. Art

•   Plenty of time to "Free Draw" 
• Studying the works of Van Eyck 
• Studying the works of Ansel Adams

    2. Bible Time

• Read both straight from the bible and from One Year Bible for Children.  We follow the schedule according to the One Year Bible for Children.
• Read from Jon Courson's  Thru-the-Bible Commentary according to what we read in the One Year Bible for Children.

    3. Character Development

• Reading through Making Brothers and Sisters Best Friends

    4. Foreign Language - French and Latin

• First Step en Francais 
• Visual Latin

    5. Geography

• Map drills of the United States of America

    6. History - We use Truthquest.  We've studied these subjects so far this year:

• Trail of Tears
• Davy Crockett
• Kit Carson
• Erie Canal
• James Monroe
• Noah Webster

    7. Literature

• Night of the Twisters by Ivy Ruckman
• The Whipping Boy by Sid Fleischman
• Betsy-Tacy by Maud Hart-Lovelace
• 5 Little Peppers and How They Grew by Margaret Sidney

    8. Music Study

• Schubert

    9. Nature Study

• Time outdoors with their Nature Journals

   10.  Personal Development 

• Four-H

    11. Poetry

• Favorite Poems Old and New

    12. Science

• A Child's Geography

Nathaniel - 5th Grade

    1. Copywork

• Presidential Penmanship

    2. Grammar

• Emma Serl's Intermediate Language Lessons

    3. Life Skills

• Typing 

    4. Assigned Reading

• Jessica's Prayer by Hesba Stratton
• The Buffalo Knife by William O.Steele
• Lord of the Rings Trilogy by J.R.R. Tolkien
• The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien
• Captains Courageous by Rudyard Kipling 

    5. Math

• Ray's Intellectual Arithmetic
• Xtramath.org

    6. Music

• Guitar Lessons
• Piano Lessons

    7. Science

• Burgess' Book of Animals
• Wild Animals I Have Known by Ernest Thompson
•  Isaac Newton by John Hudson Tiner

    8. Spelling

• McGuffey's 2nd Reader
• McGuffey's 3rd Reader

Ainsley - 2nd Grade

     1.  Beginning Reading (I have her read easy books to me in order to work on her reading skills and speech) So far we've read...

•  Least of All by Carol Purdy
• Franklin's Baby Sister by Paulette Bourgeois
• The Fire Cat by Esther Averill
• Flicka, Ricka, and Dicka
• Flip by Wesley Dennis
• Franklin's Valentine Day by Paulette Bourgeois
• A First Little House Book: Prairie Day
• Harry the Dirty Dog by Gene Zion
• No Roses For Harry! by Gene Zion
• Harry by the Sea by Gene Zion
• The Owl Who Was Afraid of the Dark by Jill Tomlinson 
• Horton Hears a Who by Dr. Seuss
• Hole is to Dig by Ruth Krauss

    2. Copywork

• Copy the sentences in her McGuffy Reader

    3. Grammar

• Emma Serl's Primary Language Lessons

    4. Handicrafts

• Crocheting
• Hand Sewing

    5. Assigned Reading (At this point, I still read outloud to her.)

• More All of a Kind Family
• All of a Kind Family Uptown
• Ella of All of a Kind Family

    6. Math

• Ray's Primary Arithmetic
• Worked on Telling Time with worksheets
• Xtramath.org 
• Homemade version of Rapid Recall

    7.  Music

• Piano Lessons

    8. Physical Education

• Dance Class

    9. Spelling

• McGuffy's Pictorial Primer