Overcoming Busy

Homeschool Curriculum Planning for 2011-2012 School Year

June 17, 2011 by Marci

Since we have been homeschooling, I have noticed that the schooling/learning really never ends. It just slows down in the summer. We don’t have an official schedule, but there is always something we are working on. The summer does give me the time to nail down our curriculum for the official start of the 2011-2012 school year.

How do I choose curriculum?

I get asked that all the time – mostly by folks who don’t homeschool. The most frequent question I get is:

“So, do you just call the school or state and they just send you a box of lessons for the school year?”

Huh??

If you have asked me that, just know it cracks me up!! First of all, the schools and states don’t do that. They can barely handle getting the lessons to the students who show up everyday. Secondly, avoiding the state mandated curriculum is a major reason we do homeschool! I’m really not inclined to ask them for any help.

When I chose curriculum our first year of homeschooling, I consulted a few veteran homeschoolers who were close friends and who know my daughter very well. They were a wealth of knowledge! They made the process so much easier. Their experience and wisdom in not just choosing curriculum, but in areas of homeschooling I had never thought about were essential to the success of that first year – and in keeping us going now!

This is our 3rd year homeschooling by daughter, who will be in 5th grade this fall. We choose curriculum based on what we liked and didn’t like from last year. We wanted more of this and less of that. We, also, made a list of what my daughter was interested in learning about. Then, we looked for the appropriate curriculum.

When choosing new curriculum, we consulted friends and homeschooling blogs to learn about the practical application of the different books and lessons. We have it all nailed down for next year, except for writing. I’m still on the fence…

Math – Singapore Math - My daughter LOVES Singapore Math!! She was wilting under the pressure of the “drill and kill” of other curricula. The concrete, hands-on, practical application approach of Singapore has her excited about math. She likes to do it first thing in the morning because she enjoys it so much!

Grammar- Easy Grammar - It’s easy. Enough said.

Reading – We always do our reading along with our history, science or holiday. The library is our greatest resource!

Science – We are doing Apologia Zoology with friends this summer. In the fall, I teach Apologia General Science and Biology to a group of jr high and high school homeschool students once a week. They do their reading and questions during the week and then they do their experiments and labs with me. My daughter will get to participate in the labs and she is welcome to read the text if she wants, though the bio might be a bit over her head – maybe not! We tend to do lots of hands-on science just for the heck of it. I write about our hands-on science adventures over at The Homeschool Village.

History – Mystery Of History – History has always been so much fun for us. We used Story of the World one year and loosely used Abeka to study American history another. We have always used the hands-on approach. This year, we are using Mystery Of History because of the activities included and because of the way biblical and secular history are taught together, not separate.

Writing – Still up in the air. Suggestions??

Music – piano lessons

Art – Usborne Art Treasury – We didn’t finish this from last year. My daughter loved learning about the different artists, but most of all she loved creating her own art in the technique and style of each artist.

We will probably add some Unit Studies in when we get a little bored or want to dive deeper into a subject. We tend to veer off on our own frequently, especially in history and science.

I’m linking up to the “Show Off Your Curriculum Link Up” at Educating Layton today. Hop on over and see what other homeschoolers are choosing for their curriculum.