It’s here! Our newly-updated curriculum page for the 2012-2013 school year. I may be updating as we go throughout the year, so check back often.
High School
Writing
This year, Brianna is going to be using WriteShop II. She’ll be working on skills such as: descriptive narration, point of view, and essays, including timed essays, which will help her on college entrance exams.
History
Brianna has had a strong interest in World War II for several years now. Although she has had world history, it’s not gone into enough depth for her. So, this year, her history focus will be the “Uncle Eric” World War I and World War II books. She’ll be using the Bluestocking study guides with them and we’ll be adding in relevant fiction and non-fiction books and biographies to round out the subject and tie in literature.
Math
Brianna will be back to Teaching Textbooks this year for Algebra II. Of all the things she’s tried, she said that Teaching Textbooks was the easiest for her to understand. She gets a little reprieve, though – the newly updated version with automatic grading doesn’t come out until the third week in August.
Automatic grading? Um, yeah, we’ll wait.
Science
I wasn’t even sure what to get for science this year since the high school level Apologia books proved so challenging for Brianna. I was really considering options other than chemistry when a vendor at our local curriculum fair suggested Real Kids 4 Science Chemistry Level II…and she wasn’t even selling it.
She told me that many families she knew had successfully used it for a high school level chemistry that wasn’t so algebra-heavy for students who had struggled with other science courses. She said that her husband and son, who are both in the science field, had looked it over and were very impressed with it, saying that it covered all the chemistry basics very thoroughly.
The link above is the the general site for Real Kids 4 Science, since the book that we bought has been discontinued in lieu of a new book that is being developed specifically for high school. From what I understand, it will be essentially the same as the book we’ve got, but with 10-12 more chapters.
I’m hoping to get my hands on a copy of that when it’s available, but it wasn’t at the time we attended the curriculum fair and we’d already started school, so we went ahead and got started with the current book.
Foreign Language
{sigh} The jury is still out here. Any good suggestions for French?
Elementary/Middle School
We have absolutely loved using Trail Guide to Learning since January of 2012. We will most definitely continue using it this year. We’ll finish Paths of Settlement before Christmas break and pick up with Paths of Progress when we resume school in January.
Trail Guide is a history-based, all-in-one curriculum that covers everything except math. Each level covers a range of three grade levels and can be adapted for slightly younger or older students.
It’s an easy-to-use, literature based, hands-on curriculum based directly on Dr. Ruth Beechick’s philosophy of education, which also complements the Charlotte Mason style.
Trail Guide offers a a consistent pattern that flows through each day, week, and unit, which allows both the parent and the kids to have a predictable flow to the school day. Each unit is six weeks long, with the last week being a built-in review and wrap-up week. The units are just long enough to really delve into a topic, but move on before it becomes tedious.
The textbooks are written to the student (though I typically read them to the kids), but the margins are filled with notes to the teachers: tips, encouragement, and a materials list for each unit).
Trail Guide also comes with a CD-Rom that contains all the printable student pages and teacher checklists. My planning consists of hitting the print button three times, hole punching some pages, and making sure that I have all the materials needed for the hands-on activities for the week. I love it!
I invite you to read my in-depth review of Trail Guide to Learning.
Writing
I have decided to use WriteShop for the younger two kids, as well, because both of them could use more direct instruction. I think many of the writing topics in Trail Guide are going to mesh nicely with WriteShop, though.
Megan is going to be using WriteShop Junior, Book D. I chose Book D for my little creative writer (she’s already working on her own novel). It will have her covering things like: folktales, poems, historical fiction, adventure, and science fiction.
Josh is going to be using WriteShop I. I think that will be a good fit for him because he’s not a big fan of creative writing. He’s always kind of been my non-fiction guy and WriteShop I is going to have him focusing on things like descriptive, narrative, and informative writing.
Spelling
After getting Josh’s dyslexia diagnosis, we are back to All About Spelling for the long haul, after shelving it for the last half of last year. With its basis in the Orton Gillingham methods that are highly recognized for their effectiveness with dyslexics and its hands-on, multi-sensory approach, I think it fits the bill for the explicit spelling instruction that I was told Josh needs.
Math
Josh and Megan continue to use Teaching Textbooks. I love the video instruction method and the fact that the grading is done for me. I also love that this is one subject that both of the younger kids can usually do independently (though long division is kicking our butts).
We are at the place in our homeschool journey where it is a sanity-saver for me to be able to send them off to do some of their work alone in their rooms.
I also enjoy the fact that there are only 120 lessons, plus tests and quizzes in Teaching Textbooks. This makes it easy to get through a full year of the curriculum in a typical school year. The kids typically finish early, so we take a short break, then, start on the next level.
The following materials were provided to me at no charge for the purpose of reviewing: Trail Guide to Learning and WriteShop. Teaching Textbooks was purchased by me for our family’s personal use. This post contains affiliate links. All statements made in this post are my true and honest opinions. Your experience may vary.
