Welcome to TwoCowgirls, the blog about our crazy life in Downtown Saint Paul!

Monday, August 1, 2011

Not Back To School: Curriculum Hop

This is my first year homeschooling, so everything I've selected for this year is purely based on my research. It's my trial and error year :)  I'm excited to learn along with Millie this year as she enters second grade!



Here is it:

We'll start out our day with a morning meeting where Millie will do her copy work for the day, discuss what the weather is going to be like, decide what we're going to do for recess/PE, and do a daily devotional.

Reading - I made up my own reading program.  She'll read one book at her level per week, answer comprehension questions, enter it into a reading log book, and do activities from her Think-Tac-Toe.  Millie loves to read, so she'll read more than one book per week in her free time.  I'm just custom picking one based on what she's learning about in history, the time of year, etc. 

Grammar - This is the one I'm really nervous about!  I'm using English 2 from BJU Press.  It seems to be very complete, very thorough, and attractive.  The part that I'm nervous about is trying to fit everything into 1 year.  Since we're doing a 4 day schedule, I have a feeling that she'll still be working on English 2 in 3rd grade.  I don't want her to fall behind...

Spelling - She'll have 10 spelling words per week.  She'll start out with a pretest on Monday, and then every day work on an activity with her spelling words, including: copying the words she gets wrong, writing stories using the words, cutting letters out of magazines to make up the words, word finds, word scrambles, etc. 

History/Geography - I'm teaching her about the ancient world this year.  The curriculum I'm using is loosely based on the curriculum at http://www.guesthollow.com/ .  She'll learn about dinosaurs, ancient people, Egyptians, Greeks, medieval times, and more.  I'm basing her geography on this, as well. 

Math - Saxon math. 

Science - I purchased Sonlight science C.  I think I'm regretting my purchase :(  I'll use some of the ideas and books, and make up my own curriculum.

Spanish - I'm going to teach her Spanish using Muzzy.  I have to save up for it, so it probably won't be until later in the school year.

I've got some really great unit studies planned, art, phy ed activities, and more!  I'm excited to make this a very memorable, educational, and fun year for both of us!

9 comments:

  1. Sounds like great choices! I'm new at this too, and it is hard to know how long lessons are going to take and how easy to understand, etc. I guess it's always adjustable and re-evaluatable. Good luck, and happy schooling!

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  2. We loved using muzzy a few years ago.
    Blessings,
    Dawn

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  3. It all looks fun to me. We love unit studies as well. I can Never find a Science program I like. I finally went back to what th publis school uses and will add my own spin. Have a good year!

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  4. Sounds like a good plan! Good luck on your first year!

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  5. I see you're set and on your way! You said you were nervous about it back in June. You'll do fine.

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  6. Oh, and science? We love Apologia. My husband was a little nervous about studying one subject all year, but after seeing all our son learned with Astronomy he was hooked. I throw in a few other things my son is interested in for good measure.

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  7. It seems overwhelming when you map everything out--just remember that you don't have to do it all. Use your books and don't let them use you.
    :)

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  8. Looks like you're going to do great! This is our first year also, and picking curriculum was the hardest part for me. I didn't buy a reading curriculum either and my oldest will be a 2nd grader too! Thanks for stopping by my blog and leaving a comment.

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  9. There is always some trial and error when you are just starting out, and even for families who have homeschooled for years!

    And what works great for one kid may not be best for another...it's so nice to have the flexibility to change course when needed. (You can always sell or pass along curriculum that didn't work for you. My local group has a yearly used curriculum sale--yours might, too.)

    Don't be too nervous about grammar, especially for 2nd grade! Since your daughter loves to read, you can always point out parts of speech, punctuation, etc. while she's reading.

    Sounds like you have a great year ahead of you! Have lots of fun learning together!

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