Books, Books, Books!

Somehow in my sick, twisted, raised-in-the-80s-and-cut-my-musical-teeth-on-hair-bands mind, I imagine the above title to be sung to the tune of “Girls, Girls, Girls” by Motley Crue.  But you don’t have to do that to read this entry.  As a matter of fact, you’re probably better off NOT doing that at all.

The above blog is hosting a back-to-school blog carnival of sorts, with this week being curriculum choices for this school year.  So, in the spirit of homeschool camraderie, I’m sharin’!

Bible:

Annaleigh is using the following…

It is a part of Sonlight’s Core 100, which I’ll talk more about in a minute.  Good grief….I think I need to probably do this Bible curriculum too.

Harrison will be using this…

His also came with Sonlight’s stuff, Core 3.  We’re studying American History this year, so the Indian prayer guide is a good tie-in, and I think I will read it aloud to both of them.

Math:

Annaleigh is taking math at her tutorial this year (Hallelujah!), and this is what they are using in this class…

Harrison, who is taking math with me ($#@&*@#!!!), will be using this…

He will be using the DIVE cd that goes with this edition, however, for the actual lessons.  So Lucky Me only has to grade his work.  And Lucky Him too.

History:

Like I stated earlier, we use Sonlightfor history, and this year we’re starting a two-year study of American History.  Annaleigh will be using the first half of Core 100…

Sonlight uses mainly good literature instead of textbooks to teach various subjects, with a strong emphasis on chronological history.  We’ve used it since Annaleigh was in 2nd grade, and it is fantastic!  Core 100 is actually meant to be a year curriculum, but we’re dividing it into to two, simply because Harrison’s studies (core 3 and 4) take two years, and I like to keep them together for history as much as possible.  I’m just adding in extra stuff as I come across it for Annaleigh, which is easy with American history.

I’m very exctied to be able to use these with both kids for the next two years…

I found some cool study guides for these at Rainbow Resource that I’m going to use for Annaleigh as well.

Harrison is going to be using Core 3…

We read most of these several years ago when Annaleigh went through this core, and I can’t wait to read them again….very good selections!

And then here are some extras that I’ve picked up here and there…

Science:

Annaleigh also takes science at her  tutorial.  Here is what she’s using…

She took the General Science course from Apologialast year as well, and these courses are highly recommended.  Annaleigh loved the course and claims she learned so much.  But perhaps that’s because I’m no longer teaching her for this subject….hmmmm.

Harrison and I are going to use this…

Normally, I use Sonlight for science as well, but I decided to take a break this year.  This curriculum goes through the seven days of creation, teaching scientific facts as you go along.  It also encourages notebooking, which I really love to do with the kids.

Language Arts:

Here’s a look at Annaleigh’s material….

She will do two lessons a day from the Easy Grammar, completing it in the first semester, and then we will spend the second half of the year going through the research paper book.  In addition, she gets a healthy dose of literature from her history curriculum that I’ve already covered.

Harrison will use these…

This will be the second year I’ve usedShurley English with him, and I like that it is all-inclusive.  It covers grammar, writing and vocabulary.  And….bonus….he really likes the program!

I use this for spelling for both of them…

Every year I always get them a new record book, which I think makes the program so much easier.  You don’t have to photocopy all of the forms from the book.  I also have the activity box, where your students can choose practice activities like writing their words in sidewalk chalk on the drive or singing them into a microphone.

Art:

Annaleigh will be using the one on the right and Harrison the other.  I have used various Barry Stebbing books before, andI have found them very user-friendly and thorough.

And I think that about does it!  Harrison will be using a transition handwriting book, which reinforces good printing skills the first half of the year, andthen covers beginning cursive in the second half.  Annaleigh also has a home ec program that she’s working through.  Both will continue foreign language studies:  Annaleigh in French using Rosetta Stone and Harrison in Spanish using Power-Glide.  PE will include TaeKwonDo and baseball.  Annaleigh also takes a drama class at tutorial.

I don’t have a music curriculum yet, and as you can tell by how I started this entry, I sorely need one.  Any suggestions?

Here is the calendar for this back-to-school carnival, in case you want to join in….