Our Curriculum for 2011-2012

Ok.. so I am a planner... or I try to be. 

    So.. I FINALLY (to me) have our next years curriculum all set.   And I discovered something about myself  :)  I like curriculum that is multi-grade level...   I don't know if it has a specific name or not, but...you know...  those subjects that are not just "for 4th grade", but more like Tapestry of Grace, for instance.  Which brings us to our first one. 

HISTORY
We will once again do Tapestry of Grace for History,  I will get  some geography, and his missions, with a little of writing (see all-inclusive?) 

I LOVE Tapestry of Grace, we started with Year 3 - mostly just because that's the part of history I was interested in, and being a new program, I wanted an idea of what I was doing. 
There are different levels depending on the acedemic level of the child, for instance  Lower Grammar, Upper Grammer, Dialectic, and Rhetoric.   I, in all honesty, did a blend of some of these, based on what I wanted to do, and what he was especially interested in.
                                    Story:  We got to the part of slavery, and the Underground Railroad.  Now, I      KNOW Noah can be sensitive at times, but I had him watch about slavery on YouTube. I shouldn't have  Though, I was busy elsewhere,  after he was finished I came in and asked him what he learned and all.  He was so distraught, he DID NOT want to talk about it. I felt so bad.  So, needless to say, that was about all the slavery subject we did.  We will learned more when we come around to that part of history again -- in four years! 

There are field trip suggestions, links to the internet, project suggestions, and church history.  I currently don't go over the church history part, but we do read the missionary books given as suggestion!
Oh... and I don't really buy the books listed, unless I absolutely think I will need it, we have a great library system, and that works just fine. 


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MATH -

Again, we will stick with Christian Light.  I think it's great.  Just the right amount of work, and review for NOAH.  Not to much.   Not to little.  Though sometimes for incentives sake, I do allow him to work every other problem. 

...otherwise we would be on math FOREVER. This is just one of those things I don't get.  If he is calculating something in real life {read:  his money}  he does it quickly and correctly every time.  But, the minute that paper comes out, and he has to write them down....well..I think you know what I mean. 

Language Arts -

This will also be from Christian Light Publications.  We don't do the Penmandship part, or the Spelling.  I just use other curriculum for that. 

Spelling -

Spelling this year to say the least was a disaster.  He just doesn't get it. His week to week test look great, because he can memorize really well.  However, when it comes to the standarized test he gets a low spelling grade.   So... for next year I am going to try Spell to Write and Read.  From what I have read, it might be the key to what we need.  Hopefully.  Again, this one is an "all the way to 12th grade curriculum"  I like that, we can just start where we need to start and work our way from there. 

Vocabulary -

This is the first year I am going with a separate vocabualary program.  I have read some articles that said one of the most important things to know in the SAT's is vocab.  So.  I know, college?  But I told you I was a planner.  Besides, he likes vocabulary and words.  He seriously has his dictionary by his seat in the car, just to randomly read it.  Which can lead to some pretty funny conversations.  Trust me.  This is the book we are using... 

Reading -

Last year, we did reading with Christian Light, and it was very good.  But, this year I think we are going to try some more of the books listed in the Tapestry of Grace program.  I will just be buying a separate Reading Comprehension book, though he has no problem with comprehension.  We also have a book report book from Lakeshore Learning, he will fill in after he has read a book. (time limits imposed, of course!)

Geography -

I am going to be using some of the MANY resources that are on the internet, and we   he is going to make a Geography Notebook. 

Other Stuff We Do

Rosetta Stone Spanish 

Latin   - Visual Latin

He will be writing his own blog (his idea), to give him more writing skills (my idea)

For Handwriting we will do A Reason For Handwriting

Art -- Artistic Pursuits

So... that about covers our curriculum for next year....  It's going to be a great year!