Right now I am sitting here in a house with no furniture watching the sunrise and thinking about my family. Yep, were in the middle of PCSing military jargon for. The Storage Shed Brunswick Ga 12x16 Shed Interior The Storage Shed Brunswick Ga Free Tool Shed Plans 10x12 Shed Plans Mediterranean Style. Free 2day shipping. Buy NETGEAR N300 WiFi Router WNR2000 at Walmart. Step By Step Diy Patio Free Easy To Build Playhouse Plans Step By Step Diy Patio Diy Bracelets Step By Step How Build Raised Garden Beds. Lego My Style Preschool Downloads' title='Lego My Style Preschool Downloads' />The Files of Mrs. EAs we sit and wait for the hurricane I thought that now is as good a time as any to start blogging again. Ive been meaning to get back up and going especially since we started our school year. And it seems the best place to start is with our curriculum choices for the year. For those who homeschool maybe it will give you some ideas and for those who dont, it might give some insight into what we do all day since thats a question I get asked by my non homeschooling friends. So far we like the materials we are using most, though, are ones weve been using for years. Some are really popular while others are off the homeschool beaten path. So, without further ado, here is what we are using this yearI like that Setons religion program is concise while providing a solid Catholic foundation. It has also helped us memorize our catechism and improved the girls reading. We are also using the Virtues in Practice program from the Dominican Sisters of St. Buy and sell electronics, cars, fashion apparel, collectibles, sporting goods, digital cameras, baby items, coupons, and everything else on eBay, the worlds online. Free online games for kids, adults, boys and girls Shooting, racing, strategy, etc. Play for freeCelia. Its a free program that focuses on a different virtue and saint each month. It helps us easily learn about saints and holy virtues. We are doing the third grade literature study from Memoria Press. The novels include Mr. Poppers Penguins, A Bear Called Paddington, and Charlottes Web. Im replacing Farmers Boy with The Courage of Sarah Noble since we havent started the Little House on the Prairie series yet and The Courage of Sarah Noble fits with our Social Studies curriculum. Our current schedule has us finishing the novels before our year is over so we will either enjoy books of the girls choosing, continue our Shakespeare studies from last year, or jump into the Little House on the Prairie series. Well figure that out when we get there. A lot of our curriculum choices are inspired by the classical program put forth by Laura Berquist so it makes sense that for poetry we use her anthology. Each morning we read and practice our poem until eventually the girls have memorized it. After reciting their poem correctly for their grandparents, we move on to another one, usually completing a poem a month. During the course of their memorizing, we also have many discussions about the poem, read other books connected to it, and complete a coloring sheet. This is one part of our homeschooling that has surprised me by all the benefits and joys it has provided us. Also based on Laura Berquists curriculum, we are using English From the Roots Up flashcards this year to introduce the Latin and Greek root words so that when they officially begin studying Latin next year it will be easier. Each week we add three new cards that we then review daily and regularly Im giving them a quick, cumulative quiz. So far the girls are loving thislearning a different language and getting to play with words. Punjab University Engineering Programs 2013. I was surprised that they consider Latin to be one of their favorite subjects. Easy Grammar really is just that, easy. We do about a page a day. The lessons include good explanations and enough practice without overdoing it or giving busy work. I especially like that it starts with prepositions and prepositional phrases before identifying the subject and verbs. Makes it so much easier and will make diagramming sentences easier in the future. Writing. This year we arent really using a formal writing curriculum but working on simply writing regularly. While we have some materials from the teaching supply store, Ive also purchased a few things from Teachers Pay Teachers and will be occasionally supplementing with Memoria Presss Introduction to Composition book which parallels our reading program. Im trying for as many authentic writing experiences as possible, trying to connect our writing to what we are studying or experiencing in life in order to make it more meaningful. We arent just doing formal writing assignments, but writing letters, journaling, and creating stories. At this age, I want the girls to like writing and to develop into strong writers. So our goals for the year is for them to enjoy writing and to be able to write clear, well written paragraphs. Math. Math is another subject where we dont have a clear cut curriculum this year. We are taking a strong mastery approach. While the girls havent struggled with math concepts, they have struggled to memorize their math facts. I know this is going to continue to hold them back. They were also getting frustrated and hating math. So we have taken a step back from an organized curriculum to focus on learning all of our math facts. We are using Xtra Math daily which does a great job quizzing the kids on their math facts. We are also using our Math Wrap Ups but if you get these be sure you get the set with the CDs if you dont have the music they dont really work, worksheets from education. Microsoft Office Project 2007 Ita Torrent. Fun Schooling Math Mysteries and Practice Problems with Minecraft. We started all the way back with our addition facts and will move through subtraction, multiplication, and division with fractions and balancing equations along the way. By the end the girls will have mastered their math facts and will be truly ready to move on to higher level concepts. Weve already seen improvements but the best one so far has been that they are enjoying math again and regaining their confidence. This was a hard decision for us to make math was the one subject I said I would always need a formal curriculum for but this is one of the many reasons why we homeschoolto meet our childrens own needs. In addition to Laura Berquists book and approach, our homeschool is strongly influence by The Well Trained Mind. One thing I like about the classical approach is focusing on a different branch of science each year. Instead of spiraling and covering the same topics every year, we rotate through Biology, Earth ScienceAstronomy, Chemistry, and Physics on a four year track. While I like what Susan Wise Bauer describes in The Well Trained Mind, I didnt quite like how she approached it and wanted more structure as well as more diversity in activities. Elemental Science uses the yearly structured I wanted. It also uses real books as opposed to a text and includes lapbooking and has easy hands on experiments for every week. Basically, Elemental Science program has everything I want in a science program. Truthquest is basically my Social Studies equivalent to Elemental Science. While it offers suggestions for a spine the program is also based on real books. For the most part it is a list of topics with book suggestions. It also includes lapbooks, writing assignments, timelines, maps, and coloring sheets. And most importantly it makes history fun. What I also really like is that it starts with American history and it is so hard to find a classical, hands on program for American History for the lower grades. So often the classical programs start with Ancient History which I think can be very confusing for young childrenhere is a totally different culture from a long time that includes a bunch of gods that we dont believe in. The reason the Greeks used to study Greek history first is because it was their history and they started with what they knew so to me its silly for us following the classical model to start with the Greeks when what we really should start with is our own history and culture, like the Greeks did, building on the framework that children already have.