Embarking on a new school year is a time of year I enjoy because I can still hold on to hope that all my best-laid plans will be executed with near perfection, charity, diligence, and cheerfulness by all parties. Plans on paper are so very beautiful!
Plans on paper do not include sibling fights, a child staring out the window for half an hour instead of working, a diaper blow-up, vomit, bee stings, the bottle of Elmer's glue poured purposefully onto the carpet, tears, painting one's self with glitter glue, a husband traveling out of town, a baby who naps a total of forty-five minutes on a good day, and so forth. But that is what life is!
I aim for a goal (below), and if I achieve half to three-quarters of it, I think we're doing beautifully in our homeschool.
Go Mater Dei Catholic School!
Subjects by Grade
Kindergarten
- Morning Basket
- Religion
- Math
- Music
- Phonics/Reading
- Spelling
- Penmanship
Second Grade
- Morning Basket
- Religion
- Math
- Music
- Spelling
- Grammar
- Penmanship
- History
- Geography
- Science
- Literature
Fourth Grade
- Morning Basket
- Religion
- Math
- Music
- Spelling
- Grammar
- Penmanship
- Typing
- History
- Geography
- Science
- Literature
- Latin
- English Composition
Curricula Chosen for 2016-2017
Morning Basket
- Morning Basket content rotates, and currently contains:
- Baltimore Catechism No. 2;
- Child's Bible History;
- math skip counting;
- music theory flash cards;
- Animals in the Bible (science);
- Famous Paintings (art appreciation);
- Shakespeare memorization.
- When Catholic Classical Enrichment (CCE) begins in September, we will cut most studies from Morning Basket in order to cover CCE memory work.
Religion (see my recommendations here)
- Saint-of-the-Day, as well as independent readers reading saint biographies of their choice over the course of the year
- Seton Religion (2, 4) for daily worksheets, which uses the Baltimore Catechism
- CCE Memory Work (K, 2, 4)
- Goal for Kindergartener: "Chats with God's Little Ones" and "Leading Little Ones to Mary"
- Goal for all children over Advent or Lent: "My Path to Heaven"
- Goal for fourth grader: "How to Serve"
Math
- Right Start Math (K)
- Teaching Textbooks (2, 4)
- Math Facts Pro (2, 4)
- Life of Fred (2, 4)
- CCE Memory Work (K, 2, 4)
Music
- Piano (K, 2, 4)
- Violin (2)
- Music Theory: class, Snell workbooks, flash cards, Quizlet (K, 2, 4)
- Gregorian Chant at CCE (K, 2, 4)
Phonics
Spelling
- All About Spelling (K, 2, 4)
Latin
- Prima Latina (finishing) (4)
- First Form Latin (after completing Prima Latina) (4)
- CCE Memory Work (K, 2, 4)
Grammar
- IEW's Fix-It Grammar (2, 4)
- CCE Memory Work (K, 2, 4)
Penmanship and Typing
History
- Connecting with History (K, 2, 4)
- CCE Memory Work (K, 2, 4)
Geography
- Map Trek (in connection with Connecting with History) (K, 2, 4)
- Beautiful Feet Geography through Literature (K, 2, 4)--Pairs with the IEW Geography-Based Writing Lessons, using the same Holling C. Holling books, and syncing the American geography with what will be taught in CCE this year.
- World Geography Games online (2, 4)
- CCE Memory Work (K, 2, 4)
English Composition
- Institute for Excellence in Writing Geography-Based Writing Lessons (4, and 2d grader if she takes to it)
- biweekly presentation at CCE (K, 2, 4)
Science
- Seton Science (2, 4)
- Various science curriculum--Keeping this informal, probably through elementary grades. Children are assigned to read 15 minutes per day from something on our well-stocked science bookshelf.
- Watching DVD of Moody science series or Mr. Wizard
Literature
- Various classic literature books chosen by Mama . . . we will continue having our Socratic method conversations about what we're reading, in a mostly informal way in the rocking chair, at the breakfast table, and so forth. God willing, I will be studying this year "Teaching the Classics" (Center for Lit) to introduce more form to our conversations.
I enjoy seeing what other families use. Thanks for posting your plans! It looks like we use some of the same materials -- Seton, BFB, Mr. Wizard. It's silly, but as much as I appreciate the variety of homeschool options available, it's such a relief when our plans overlap with those of other families.
ReplyDeleteI would be interested in how your Morning Basket time goes. Do you do that as a family?
Alicia,
ReplyDeleteYes, there is some comfort in seeing that other seemingly good families have chosen the same curriculum!
Morning Basket . . . it varies a lot. I do it with the children and me, but not with my husband, who is working. Sometimes I outright send my 3-year-old away. Sometimes he stays and I bribe him with candy to stay quiet ('you stayed quiet for another read-aloud! You get one Skittle!'). Lately, I've tried to have all the kids start with us and I cover items briefly that even the little ones would benefit from. Then I send the 3-year-old away to play, the 5-year-old stays for another segment (e.g., music theory flash cards), then I send her away to play. Then the 7- and 9-year-olds stay till the end, hearing the rest of the read-aloud items. Where we do this varies often based on the needs of little people. Sometimes we have been in our screened-in sun room so the baby can creep around and I can send the littles to the back yard to play. Sometimes we have been drawing sidewalk in the driveway while I read aloud. Sometimes we're at the kitchen table and they're coloring. Sometimes we're in the school/play room so the youngest can be playing with quiet toys. I have to think on the fly. I feel like a Marine, improvising, adapting, and overcoming!
Thank you for your most recent posts (and all of your posts...I love each one!) I hope school goes really well for you and your family.
ReplyDeleteEmail comment from a friend: CC uses IEW, and this will be our first year with it. Fortunately, we spend three hours on it during our community days, with a tutor to instruct while we parents learn along side our children. Only Emma will be using it this year (Jamie isn't "there" yet)...we've used BJU Grammar for the past two years. We're also shifting from BJU Math to Saxon, again, because it's what CC uses/recommends, and once we enter what's called the "Challenge" years with CC, I want them to be familiar with it.
ReplyDelete