It's been awhile since I did an update on our homeschooling and I've probably forgotten much of what we've already done. :) So I'll stray from the previous format to do an update based on the materials I currently am using.
Getting to know God: obviously this is not part of traditional curriculum, but it's the most important part for us :). We read a "Little Pilgrim's Progress" and looked up related Bible passages from Sept - Nov and then did an advent reading in Dec. This month, we've started reading a devotional book designed for 5-12 year olds and it happens to be about a fictional family with the same last name as us. Also, the kids have Sunday School and have started attending a Missionettes and Royal Rangers program at Tim & Lauren's church Wednesday evenings.
Spelling (Brianna): We're on our third spelling book already this year because attempts 1 and 2 were not working. Attempt one was with a Christian-based spelling program but I'm not sure the theology behind was all that sound so I scrapped it after week two. Then I tried doing spelling for free through superteacherworksheets.com but that was too time consuming. Thus, we've settle on Building Spelling Skills by Evan-Moore which is working well.
Grammar (Brianna): We're in the Grade 2 book of the Easy Grammar program. I love the format and Brie has gotten accustomed to it so I'll probably stick with this in the upcoming grades
Writing/Language Arts: I've piecemealed this part of our curriculum and recently purchased "Mini Lessons in Trait-based Writing" for grades 2-4. I've dabbled in it here and there, but think if I can actually commit myself to plotting out the lessons, we'll really like it. I've also used "Peak with Books" which is an excellent resource. Although it's geared more for K-1, I think it works fine for grade 2 as well
Reading: I love the McGuffey readers I purchased though I don't use these all the time. I also try to find level/interest appropriate material at the library but this has been a challenge. If you've ever looked at beginner reader books they usually come with a rating system of 1-4. However, it seems each publisher has their own idea as to what words are fit for level 1 so you really have to speed read through the selections to see if the book is a good fit for the reading level of your child. It's also been a challenge to find good reading material for Brie because she can handle a more complex story line but can be intimidated by the number (and length!) of the words that are on the page.
Math: Finishing up the Shiller Math curriculum with Brie and supplementing it with a couple daily workbooks. I tried Shiller with Reese but it didn't suit his learning style so I switched to Singapore Math. While this is an accelerate math program, he's almost through the K curriculum! So I found a couple workbooks to give him extra practice and am anticipating having to find grade one curriculum before we officially start grade one in September.
History: I did Canadian history and geography with the kids for the first couple months and was going to do Mexico for the second half of the year. However, the downside of planning your own curriculum is having to find the time and resources to pull it all together...and I was having a hard time finding the time! So I purchased the "Mystery of History" vol. 1 which I love because it integrates Biblical and secular history. It is a little textbooky for Brie and Reese but there are many activity suggestions and I can use this a launching point for our studies.
Science: We started out the school year with the plan of doing one topic a month and covered insects, trees and weather so far. I quickly discovered that I wanted to give at least two months to a topic because one month didn't allow us to go deep enough since we only do science 2-3 times per week.
And that's our curriculum in a nutshell!
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