Curriculum 2012-2013

Sweetling's possible courses for 2012-2013

•  One Year Adventure Novel
(Sweetling found this one herself at the convention and is excited about it. We bought it, so this is a "for sure" for next year.)

• Formal Logic

(For Sweetling's high school years, I want to incorporate some elements of classical education. Sweetling spoke to the author of this book at the convention and is excited about doing logic next year. We're going to hang out on the waterbed and read this book together.)

• Japanese
(another awesome Sweetling find at the convention.)
• The World of the Bible: Matthew-Acts (This is a subject will do as a family. It comes with separate assignments for both Sweetling and Toa and it incorporates geography and history of the Roman world. This is what we'll start our school day with. I like having at least one subject we are learning together.)
• American Literature (found a great study guide for *free* at the CHEC used curriculum sale. Badda Bing, Badda Boom, baby!)
• American History (led by the Jedi. He has a box of great titles for her to read and the two of them to discuss.)
• German (with the Jedi using his high school Vie Gehts text book. You don't need to tell me how much I just butchered that title. I'm not the teacher for this subject.)
• Shakespeare (at co-op)
• General Science (at co-op)
• Spanish 3 (at co-op)
• American Sign Language 1 (at co-op) 
• Drawing (at co-op)
• Vocabulary from Classical Roots (We need to get back to this. I think I'll do this course with her, so we can try to use the words in our regular speech more often. I bought two copies of the workbook, one for her and one for me. Another happy school time hanging out on the waterbed together.)
• Algebra 2 (If I weren't so lazy, I'd go upstairs and see who the publisher is for out Algebra 2 book. I'm going to have to do that eventually to put together my letter of intent. It's not Abeka, and it's not Holt-McDougal. But it was a reasonable price at the CHEC book sale and it came with a solution guide. Solution guides are important because they keep me from having to beg the Facebook community for help with math.)

Sound like a lot for a Sweetling? Maybe. But some of these won't take much time per day or even much time per week. I think she can handle it and we'll scale back if need be. The important part of this curriculum is that she picked out most of it herself. She loves languages, and is so quick to pick them up, so I'm letting her run with it!

Toa of Boy's possible courses for 2012-2013

• Logic of English 

(I bought a course which includes spelling, handwriting, grammar, light vocabulary, simple composition....with exercises and directions geared toward the kinesthetic learner. The presenter sold me when she was incorporating relay races, scavenger hunts, and nerf guns into spelling lessons. )

 

America the Beautiful

 (This is designed as a one year history/geography curriculum....but I looked at it and we're going to do it over two years to give us time to read historical fiction and do cool hands-on projects. I like how each small unit includes a lesson overviewing that particular period of history, a lesson on a natural landmark, a lesson on daily life at the time, a brief biography of a noteworthy American, and a lesson on a man-made landmark. Each unit also has a hands on art, cooking, or building project as well as mapping and timeline activities.)

• The World of the Bible: Matthew-Acts
(Sweetling, Toa, and I will be doing this together.) 

•   Everyday Mathematics Grade 5 (I was going to go bookless for math because I couldn't find an elementary math book that wasn't boring, redundant, or way too much like busy workbook stuff. But creating an entire math curriculum from scratch was just going to be WAY too much planning every single week. A friend recommended this, and its the math curriculum that isn't a sit and copy now do these problems approach. I'm supplementing it with a book on logic puzzles from MindWare and Scholastic's Mega Card Math Games.)


• Reading (Toa of Boy wants the opportunity to throw a pie in my face if he reads a certain number of books during the school year. Lovely.)



• Anatomy and Physiology: Toa of Boy really wants to learn all about what goes on inside the body. I love Apologia because each subsection of the chapter has a hands on "Try This" activity. We are all about hands on when it comes to Toa's learning.  

• Art by Deep Space Sparkle. (I just love this site. I want to be a bit more intentional about Toa's art, because he is so gifted. I found a great curriculum at the convention, but it was a bit pricey...and I think that I'm going to wait one more year before going more 'formal' with Toa's art instruction. Meanwhile, Deep Space Sparkle has lots of terrific lessons which showcase important 'building blocks' of good art.)
• Chess (at co-op)
• General Art (at co-op)
• Travel USA (at co-op)
• Phys Ed (at co-op)
• Lego Creation (at co-op)

 Looks good, doesn't it?

And finally, for the mom...(that's me, by the way)...I found a really interesting planning site at PlanBook.com. Now, if only I could find myself a robot, fairy, or brownie that would do most of the housework for me, I'd be set to go!