We loved Adventures in My Father’s World. We loved, loved, loved MFW Exploring Countries and Cultures. So it only makes sense that we will . . . NOT be using MFW for ancient history! It was a hard decision for sure, but in the end simplicity won out. I already own all four volumes of The Story of the World, activity guides for the first three years, and all four sets of CDs. Plus, we really enjoyed the years we used SOTW. I just couldn’t justify the expense of switching to My Father’s World, especially when there would still be things I’d skip. So, it’s a bittersweet good-bye to MFW, but perhaps we’ll be back in the future.
If this is your first time visiting my blog, let me give some brief background information. I homeschool my two younger kids (Ryne - almost 12 and Grace - 8), while my 13 year-old (Anna) attends a Christian classical school three days a week. She studies at home the other two days, so it still feels a little like when she was a homeschooler too. My son has autism, which greatly influences the choices I make in homeschooling materials. We follow a classical model, with some Charlotte Mason influences.
Here's what we have planned for the 2011 – 2012 school year:
HISTORY/GEOGRAPHY
The Story of the World Volume 1: Ancient Times with Activity Guide and extra literature selectionsVeritas Press History Cards
HISTORY/GEOGRAPHY
The Story of the World Volume 1: Ancient Times with Activity Guide and extra literature selectionsVeritas Press History Cards
Map Skills for Today 3 (Grace)
The Child's Story Bible - by using the reading schedule found at Paula's Archives I can tie our Bible reading into our history studies
Continued memorization of Colossians as a family
Continued memorization of Colossians as a family
Bible Sound-Off (Ryne) -- a collection of NT verses and facts compiled by Anna's 6th grade teacher
Sunday School lessons and memorization
Sunday School lessons and memorization
I'm still eyeing the series God's Great Covenant, but am worried that with Sunday School lessons it would be too much.
LANGUAGE ARTS
First Language Lessons 3 (Grace)
Adventures in Phonics C (Grace)
Rod and Staff English (Ryne - continuing with grade 5)
Oral reading with Christian Liberty Press Nature Readers
MATH
We continue math through the summer, so I think Grace will finish her current book and Ryne will be close to finishing his book. Therefore, these are just guesses of what books we will use this year.
Math U See Gamma (Grace)
Math U See Delta and Epsilon (Ryne)
Challenging Word Problems (Grace)
Occasional activities from Family Math or other resources
SCIENCE
Exploring Creation Zoology series -- we're working on Flying Creatures this summer and if that goes well, we might just save science for summer next year too.
FOREIGN LANGUAGE
ART
Still trying to decide . . .
Possibilities include Artistic Pursuits and the Drawing with Children Nature Style lessons
MUSIC
Piano lessons
Music flashcards
At least two musical events such as the symphony or a musical - a BHA tradition!
Singing Made Easy (although I still haven't found the lost CD!)
MEMORY
Review past memory work
I'm considering using the Classical Conversations Memory Cycle 1, but I'm trying to figure out how to make it work with the memory work we've already done. I may come up with my own plan.
OTHER
Typing
Extracurricular activities such as swim and ballet
There you have it! I'm excited about the new year, but right now I'm enjoying our summer break. I'll spend June wrapping up details from last year (putting together notebooks with samples of their school work, cleaning out files, etc.). In July I will start with the heavy-duty planning, buying Anna's books for school (and any last-minute supplies for us), and setting up our filing system for the year. We won't be taking a family vacation in August this year, so I'm tentatively thinking about starting school in mid-August.
This post is linked to The Great Curriculum Reveal 2011 co-hosted by Dawn at Olive Plants and Heather at Kingdom Arrows. Dawn is celebrating the event with a great give-away, and Heather is hosting the link-up, so be sure to visit them both this week.
oohh- Drawing with Children-Nature style!! It gives you a whole semester:)
ReplyDeleteGreat plan! Thanks for participating.
ReplyDeleteSimilar story for us with SOTW. I really, really like Hist Revealed, but it requires more time than we have to devote to it.
So nice to get back to your blog - I haven't even had time to read any in a few MONTHS! :-(
ReplyDeleteLooks likeyou are using a few of the same things we are. I love SOTW but am using it only as a part of our Sonlight history (just couldn't give up SL this year as we head back into the Ancients). We had fun with Artistic Pursuits (goodness don't I wish I had time to blog their work!) and look forward to using it this year as well! We are starting Mind Benders and Latin for Children A (this one terrifies me for some reason - I am clueless!). We are also using the Zoology 1 Flying Creatures - the kids are excited about the Notebooking Journal) ad we are starting on piano lessons!
Question for you: We are starting with IEW Student Writing Intensive Level B (for both 3rd & 5th grader) this year. I have never used IEW before. What is the difference btwn this SWI and the Ancient Histor Based Writing Lessons? I'd love to be teaching writing that corresponds w/ their ancient history lessons...
We will be starting July25th since I want to be finished by May next spring. What a busy year ahead! But I agree - the planning is the best part!
Andrea