Fall Curriculum

So after much thought and deliberation I have come up with our curriculum, at least for awhile. We will continue (and actually start over ) our math with ShillerMath, Book 1. I anticipate that Julia will fly through the first 100 lessons or so that we have done previously, but it should be a good review for her. Next we will continue with Explode the Code for phonics. She has done some of this in the past, and we will probably just talk about what she has already done and then go from there. We are starting with Book 1 (although she is reading beyond this level now, so it should go quickly). After Book 1 we will continue with Book 1 1/2 (review of Book 1) and Books 2 and 2 1/2. I'm not sure how long this will take. I think the work is not too hard for her, but she has resisted phonics instruction in the past (she just wants to do it, i.e. READ.....but only when SHE wants to). We will also continue using Handwriting Without Tears. For some reason we did all but a few of the capital letters last year so we will review those and then start in on lowercase. Julia really enjoys writing, she does not, however, enjoy holding her pencil the correct way. We will also begin an art program called Artisitic Pursuits. It is part art instruction, part art appreciation, and part hands-on art fun. I expect that this will be her favorite lesson of the week. As far as lapbooks go we plan to do about one per month. She is currently doing one on Charlotte's Web. Those in the works include Spiders (she is obsessed with Charlotte these days), The Girl in the Ragcoat (based on a children's book with a similar title), Turkey Time, and a fun Christmas one.

Karley is currently working on an Ants Go Marching lapbook, with Wheels on the Bus, 5 Little Pumpkins, Turkey Time, and Christmas on the way.

My plan is that after we get all of this worked into our daily lives then we will start adding in Science and some History too. Whew!