Our new school year is just around the corner! This coming year our oldest boys will be going into 6th and 5th grade, the older girls will be in 3rd and 2nd, and Snuggles will begin Kindergarten.
I have been busy working on creating our curriculum plans for this coming year, and making some changes, as usual… I was very happy with last year’s choices for Math, Spelling, Science, History, Geography, Religion, and Music, but we definitely needed to make some changes for Writing and Grammar. Even though we really enjoyed the first couple levels of Writing With Ease and First Language Lessons, the later levels just weren’t a good fit for us anymore. Since we have all been so happy with The Phonetic Zoo, we decided to take the plunge and try a few more of the products from Institute for Excellence in Writing. (They offer a 100% guarantee, so what did we have to lose?) I bought Teaching Writing with Structure and Style for me, the Student Writing Intensive, Level A and Fix It! Grammar for our oldest three, Primary Arts of Language: Writing for Chiquita, and Linguistic Development Though Poetry Memorization for everyone. We worked through a couple lessons during the summer and so far I have been very happy with everything!
Our History Study from this last year was a favorite! I had planned 6 units for the year, and we were only able to complete the first four: New World Explorers, Colonial Life, The American Revolution, and The Early 19th Century. This year we will complete the remaining two units on The Civil War and The Industrial Revolution through the Great Depression, as well as a unit on U.S. Presidents and the Election Study and a unit on World War II. The plan is to spend one semester on each unit, allowing plenty of time for our reading selections and activities.
With our new little guy this last year, we also weren’t able to finish our Holling C. Holling Map Study… So this year we plan on finally completing the 3rd and 4th Maps, based on the books Minn of the Mississippi
and Seabird
. I’m also hoping that we can wrap up our State-by-State Study this year… It should be fun!
One other addition to our lesson plans will be the formal study of Latin. I had purchased, and planned to use, Prima Latina a few years ago, but at that time (since we were focusing on correcting auditory processing challenges, and improving reading skills) it just wasn’t a priority and didn’t happen. This year the four oldest will be completing the course together. Looking though the Student Workbook, it is going to be really easy for my oldest two, but a gentle introduction will be perfect for them. They can move on to either Latina Christiana or First Form Latin next year.
I’m still working on Kindergarten plans for Snuggles… Last year we began the All About Reading’s Program (Pre-1), but after progressing through the first lessons I realized that Snuggles just wasn’t quite ready for formal reading instruction. We went back to just reading lots of pictures books and will pick up where we left off this year. He is very excited to get back to “his” school work!
Here is the breakdown for each of our students:
Captain :: 6th Grade
Math:
Teaching Textbooks 6
Times Tales
Language Arts:
Phonetic Zoo, finish Level A, start Level B
Student Writing Intensive, Level A
Handwriting 5 for Young Catholics
Fix It! (applied grammar)
English from the Roots Up (with flashcards)
Literature/Reading::
- The Hardy Boys Series by Franklin W. Dixon
- The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain
- 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne
- Swallows and Amazons by Arthur Ransome
- Various Historical Reading Selections
Latin:
Prima Latina
Science:
Exploring Creation With Zoology 2: Swimming Creatures of the 5th Day
Exploring Creation with Zoology 2 Notebooking Journal with Lab Kit
U.S. Presidents and Election Study
Civil War
Industrial Revolution through the Great Depression
World War II
Geography:
Maps Charts and Graphs, Level E and Level F
Continue/Complete State Scrapbook
Religion:
Saint Joseph Baltimore Catechism No. 2
Living in God’s Church (Living My Religion Series)
Continue Composer Study
Piano Lessons
Math:
Teaching Textbooks 5
Times Tales
Language Arts:
Literature/Reading:
- The Hardy Boys Series by Franklin W. Dixon
- Five Children and It by E. Nesbit
- The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis
- Various Historical Reading Selections
Latin:
Science:
Exploring Creation With Zoology 2: Swimming Creatures of the 5th Day
American History: (complete 1 unit per quarter)
U.S. Presidents and Election Study
Civil War
World War II
Geography:
Maps Charts and Graphs, Level E
Continue/Complete State Scrapbook
Religion:
Saint Joseph Baltimore Catechism No. 2
Living through God’s Gifts (Living My Religion Series)
Blue Knights – Year Three (continue)
Continue Composer Study
Piano Lessons
Twinkle Toes :: 3rd Grade
Math:
Teaching Textbooks 3 (complete and then move on to level 4)
Math Facts Drill & Practice
Student Writing Intensive, Level A
Italic Handwriting – Level C & D
Fix It! (applied grammar)
Wordly Wise, Book A and Book B
- The Gift of Summer Snow by Donna Alice Patton
- Happy Little Family by Rebecca Caudill
- Schoolhouse in the Woods by Rebecca Caudill
- Up and Down the River by Rebecca Caudill
- Schoolroom in the Parlor by Rebecca Caudill
- Various Historical Reading Selections
Science:
Exploring Creation With Zoology 2: Swimming Creatures of the 5th Day
Zoology 2 Notebooking Journal – Junior and/or
Corresponding Lapbooks for Lessons 1-5 and 6-13
American History: (complete 1 unit per quarter)
U.S. Presidents and Election Study – Marie-Grace & Cecile Unit Study (1853)
Geography:
Maps Charts and Graphs, Level C
Continue 50 States Study with Baking and Notebook Pages
Complete Holling C. Holling Geography Map Study
Religion:
The New Baltimore Catechism No. 1
Living through God’s Gifts
Catholic Tales for Boys and Girls
More Tales for Boys and Girls
Music:
Continue Composer Study
Piano Lessons
Homemaking & Hospitality:
Little Women Hospitality Program – Year 1 with Student Companion
Tea & Cake with the Saints
Mother’s Little Helper
Sewing With Saint Anne
Chiquita :: 2nd Grade
Language Arts:
All About Spelling – Level 1 (complete) and Level 2
Wordly Wise, Book A and Book B
Explode the Code 3
Italic Handwriting – Book A, B & C
Daily Reading (including aloud)
Science:
Exploring Creation With Zoology 2: Swimming Creatures of the 5th Day
Zoology 2 Notebooking Journal – Junior and/or
Corresponding Lapbooks for Lessons 1-5 and 6-13
American History: (complete 1 unit per quarter)
U.S. Presidents and Election Study – Marie-Grace & Cecile Unit Study (1853)
Maps Charts and Graphs, Level B
Continue 50 States Study with Baking and Notebook Pages
Complete Holling C. Holling Geography Map Study
Religion:
The New Baltimore Catechism No. 1
Music:
Continue Composer Study
Piano Lessons
Snuggles :: Kindergarten
Singapore Essential Math A & B
Language Arts:
Picture Books and Narration
* We will be doing a simplified version of Along the Alphabet Path, which the girls enjoyed so much a couple years ago – spending two weeks on each letter for reinforcing letter formation, picture books science, arts & crafts, and religion.
Celebrating the Liturgical Year (as always)
Saints for Young People for Every Day of the Year – Volume 1 and Volume 2 (Dad reads at dinner – we have the old hardcover versions)
Poetry:
An Introduction to the Classics – The Vox Music Masters Collection (Including The Story of Bach, The Story Of Handel, The Story of Beethoven, The Story of Mozart, and more…
Composers Lap Book
Various Books by Opal Wheeler
Test Preparation:
I also plan to have the tutor (who will be coming over once a week) work with the boys on test taking skills using Core Skills: Test Preparation Workbooks, as well as logic skills using Logic Countdown, Logic Liftoff, and Orbiting With Logic.




























































































































