Archive:
*2020-2021 School Curriculum
*2019-2020 School Curriculum and Review
*2018-2019 School Curriculum and Review
*2017-2018 School Curriculum and Review
*2016-2017 School Curriculum and Review
*2015-2016 School Curriculum and Review
*2014-2015 School Curriculum
*2013-2014 Review
Anna – 7th Grade
Writing – Institute for Excellence in Writing, level B We all liked this! The only con (and it’s significant if you don’t have much time) is that it was challenging to figure out what to do on each day. The program is not set up with the teacher manual, student guide, and DVD all easy to sync and follow each schoolday. HOWEVER, this was the best writing program and it was worth the price tag. We followed the program (with hiccups due to the problem mentioned above) and Anna’s writing TOOK OFF. By mid-year, my hesitant writer was writing multi-page responses where only 3 paragraphs were required and had launched into a novel that she actually finished! (It’s not formatted or edited, but it’s incredibly long and it’s interesting and engaging to boot.) We didn’t finish the program, because we made time for her novel. Next year, I’m going to have her go through it again, with a focus on improving and controlling what she’s learned. That is, I told her she has to also learn how to write short things. Anyway, I’m pleased with it and proud of her.
History – Sonlight D (American History 1 of 2) Because of the failure last year, I spent a few hours during the summer and made a chart lining up all of the parent reading, student reading, historical fiction, and my other supplemental materials so that Anna could follow the schedule and do her history independently. It was successful! Some valuable adds were season one of How the States got their Shapes and Liberty Kids.
Math – Teaching Textbooks 7 We still like Teaching Textbooks. It’s not math that will inspire excitement, but if a child bogs down while using this program… they’re probably not ready for the material. Anna started this program last year and she is finishing it without stress this year.
Social Studies – Christian Light Education level 5 (American History) This was a great program to combine with the Sonlight American History. It covers more modern years, but Anna has learned so much. She knows more than me about our history and geography now!
Science – Christian Light Education 6 This went over great with Anna. She has enjoyed most of the subjects and has learned a lot of great foundational science facts and vocabulary. We did not do hardly any experiments… if any… so that’s something she’ll need in the future, but I think they were in the books… we just didn’t do them, because I was unavailable as a guide and experiments are way better with a knowledgeable helper. I have some ideas for next year.
Spelling – N/A
Occupational Education – Cooking, Housekeeping, Babysitting, Money Management and Budgeting, Dog training Cooking, housekeeping, babysitting, and money management went GREAT! Dog training and budgeting could use some work. It’d help if she had more expenses worth budgeting.
Language – N/A
Health & PE – Ballet, English Country Dancing, It’s Not the Stork, It’s Perfectly Normal: Changing Bodies, Growing Up, Sex, and Sexual Health Went fine.
Reading – N/A
Art & Music Appreciation – Art class & homework Went great!
Bible – Experiencing God, Youth (9 weeks) and Priceless: Who I Am When I Feel… Anna liked Priceless a lot. She was not a fan of the tone of Experiencing God. It did provide good discussion opportunities, though.
Maggie – 4th Grade
Writing – Institute for Excellence in Writing, level A See above for cons. This was a good fit for Maggie. Having the material given to her to absorb and re-write in her own words overcame many of her personal writing hurdles. Mr. Pudewa, despite his appearance and the sterile environment he teaches in… is funny and engaging and likeable. So glad we found this program as it took a struggling, reluctant writer and gave her some tools. We got about halfway through and will go back and redo it next year and I think she’ll be ready to master it much more.
History – Sonlight D (American History 1 of 2) See above.
Math – Teaching Textbooks 5 See above… good program and we’re sticking with it.
Social Studies – N/A
Science – Unit Studies by choice (Reptiles, pets, birds, ferns forests, knots, etc. Read/Watch/Projects/Observe/Report) This started great and then kind of fell flat. I really need a structure of prepared material to lean on.
Spelling – N/A
Occupational Education – Cooking, Housekeeping – I liked this cookbook! Maggie made several things and she is growing in skill and confidence in the kitchen.
Language – Growing with Grammar 2 Anything that makes grammar seem like an easy subject, without actually dumbing down the material is golden in my book!
Health & PE – It’s Not the Stork, The Care and Keeping of You , Tae Kwon Do – Success
Reading – N/A
Art & Music – Art class and homework – Success
Bible – The Purpose Driven Life Devotional Easy daily devotional that wasn’t a waste of time either.
Carrie – 1st Grade
Writing – Penmanship (my choice) and Cursive (her choice) I liked this penmanship book! The little facts that went with each page engaged and interested Carrie and made boring penmanship practice more bearable. They weren’t too long, too hard or too easy or short.
History – Sonlight D (partial) We dropped this for her, except for reading some of the historical fiction.
Math – Singapore Math 2A and 2B – This was much harder than expected, especially once she got into 2B. It includes multiplication, division and introductions to algebra! In second grade! She won’t quite finish it, because she’s had to go somewhat slow, but surprisingly… she’s continuing to move forward and understand it! She’s 95% self instructing with math and is learning loads of great conceptual math. She’s switching to Teaching Textbooks next year for the improved instruction and I think she’ll be overprepared.
Social Studies – Christian Light Education 2 I liked this! A little easy for her, but longer reading stretched her attention span and the questions forced her to learn how to look back at the reading and find the answers to the questions. I love both the format and the content for preparing her for higher education.
Science – Unit Studies (Doctor-related books, kits, shows, etc.) Didn’t get into much.
Spelling – N/A
Occupational Education – Cooking, Housekeeping – Carrie is also improving in the kitchen, but did the least formal cooking practice.
Language – N/A
Health & PE – Tae Kwon Do – Doing great!
Reading – Christian Light Education 2 This is a great curriculum for learning a little grammar, a little spelling, and a lot of reading to yourself and out loud and answering questions from the reading. The stories are relevant to moral dilemmas of kids her age and are engaging and show sweet family interactions. I find it a safe and wholesome reader and it doesn’t bore Carrie for it’s homeyness.
Art & Music – Art class and homework – Success!
Bible – Christian Light Education 2 – She liked this, because it was so easy. I wish it had more actual questions, but it’s one page of reading followed by a word find or coloring page or other age-appropriate busy work.
Jordan – 5th grade w/ IEP
ABA 20 hours/week at home – this has been GREAT for Jordan! He’s learning how to use PECS to request a snack and is practicing a couple basic signs.
Daniel – 1st Grade w/ IEP
By mid-year, Daniel showed signs of being ready for instruction, but we didn’t do any formal learning. Next year. He’s learned how to spell some words, can count to 100, is learning to draw simple pictures of cats, people…. and especially CLOCKS. With cords. He’s so funny.