If you want to join in on this meme, head over to The Homeschool Chick for The Homeschool Mother's Journey. She's provided some fun questions to answer each week! And she's even doing a Summer Edition now!!
In our homeschool
I honestly feel sorry for the people that had to counsel me during my curriculum research. My personality type tends to be more towards the "let's jump on the first train riding by" rather than "let's wait awhile and make sure it's the right train first." As soon as I was certain homeschooling was for our family, I wanted everything done; the books bought, the schoolroom put together, the lesson plan in order. It took a lot of prayer and a lot of guidance from some experienced homeschooling mommies to calm me down and rethink the train our family would be boarding. I definitely rode a few on the way though...the Seton train, the Well-Trained Mind train, the Mother of Divine Grace train, the Catholic Heritage Curricula train, the Mater Amabilis train.
And here is where these trains finally dropped us off..
*This is only for Zep, who will be entering first grade. Bright Eyes will be in 4K, so he will mostly be just hanging out with us and/or Sunshine.
Language Arts
- Literature (Tales/Fables/Classics/Poetry) - We'll be following the Mater Amabilis lesson plan.
- Writing - Writing With Ease Level 1
- Grammar - First Language Lessons Level 1 & Language of God Level A
- Phonics - Little Angel Readers B,C, & D
- Handwriting - Handwriting 1 for Young Catholics
- Read aloud and silent reading - First Grade Faith and Freedom Readers & Scholastic Level 1 & & 2 books.
History
Religion
- We'll be following the Mater Amabilis lesson plan for religion.
- Hubby is going to teach the kids an extra amount of catechism in the evening after dinner from The New Saint Joseph First Communion Catechism.
Geography
Art Appreciation
Music
- Piano lessons given by the famous pianist, ME! Yeah right, I'm just hoping I can teach him to read music!!
- 36 Traditional Catholic Hymns and several other classical pieces that we'll listen to before bed each night.
And that's it folks!!! After months and months of struggling with what to do next year...this is it! Am I expecting it to go as wonderfully as my mind is dreaming it...absolutely not!! I'm pretty sure we'll be doing a lot of shifting as the year goes on. I'm not a teacher, but I love my children. And maybe, just maybe we'll learn to love to learn together!!!
5 comments:
Do you plan on using the Story of the World activity book as well? I also have a 1st grade boy. He'll be doing Hooked on Phonic: Learn to Read, First Language Lessons Level 1, Apologia Astronomy, Draw-Write-Now Sea-to-Shining Sea, and an art program I found. I'm just undecided about American History. (He could do it with his sister, but he's not one to sit for long. LOL) Stopping by from THMJ!
Jessy
Hi Jessy!
Yep, we're doing the whole shabang! I have a couple friends who do history 3-4 days a week. One day they'll read the chapter or one of the sections. Another day, they'll do the activities (blacklines or workpages) while listening to the Jim Weiss cd of what the read earlier in the week. And the last days they read books from the library or incorporate one of the projects. This will be our first year, so we'll see how it goes!!!
We decided to hold off on American History and focus on a chronological history approach. It took me a long time to feel comfortable with this method, so we'll see if it sticks. I may add in American History next year.
You could always do it through literature and good books! Make it his bed time stories. Then you're not adding more work to his school day. Just a thought!
Thanks for stopping by!
Looks like fun! We also skipped American History in first grade, but I'm adding it in next year for second. You can see what we're doing next year on my 2011-2012 resources page, but a lot of it is similar to what you've chosen (only for second grade). Except I'm pretty sure we're going to do Level 1 of Writing with Ease. Oh, how I love planning! I have no problems changing the plans, though, once we get going. That's part of the glory of homeschooling!
Great blog! I too decided to homeschool next yr using M. A. My triplets finished 1st grade and my youngest pre-k and "graduation" was tough-some sadness of leaving the local parish school, but Thrilled to be embarking on thus calling. Thx for your awesome blog-glad to be in good company! May I ask why the 2 language programs?? Interested in your thoughts. Peace, Cynthia in TX
Cynthia! Thanks for reading! You should start up a blog. We can share our first year struggles together, hee hee!
It's not actually two language programs. It was recommended to me to use a workbook with the Well-Trained-Mind language lessons. The CHC workbook is where I was directed. We'll see how it pans out. I'm stepping on new ground over here!
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