Curriculum 13/14

Curriculum Choices 2013/2014
As promised our curriculum for the upcoming school term.
SISTER BEAR-Grade 8

• Sonlight Core F Eastern Hemisphere
• Growing With Grammar Level 8
• Winning with Writing level 8
• R.E.A.L. Science Odyssey Biology 2
• Grapevine Bible studies Old Testament
• Journal
• Teaching Textbooks pre-algebra

BROTHER BEAR-GRADE 6

• Heart of Dakota-Bigger Hearts for His Glory (with Little Bear)
• HOD science from Bigger plus Magic School Bus units
• Rod and Staff  English 5
• Saxon math 7/6
• Grapevine Bible Studies Old Testament
• Journal
• A Reason for Spelling D
• Expedition Earth geography(check this out over at confessions of a homeschooler. Erica did an awesome job on this curriculum.)

LITTLE BEAR-GRADE 4

• Bigger Hearts For His Glory (with Brother Bear)
• HOD science from Bigger plus Magic School Bus units
• Rod and Staff English 4
• Singapore math 2B and 3A
• Grapevine Bible Studies Old Testament
• Journal
• A Reason for Spelling D
• Expedition Earth Geography

I decided to join my 2 youngest for History and science and spelling . Brother bear has some issues with writing and reading. He is rather reluctant at both. So when we decided on HOD we added the extension package for him. For the storybooks We added the classic selections and the boy interest selections. Bible will be done as a group. All read alouds will be read as a group.
This is our plan for this year and I feel really good about it!
What are you planning on using this term? I would love to see feedback.

School is now in session.....Blogging too!

      This is the beginning of a beautiful year. School year that is. I have wanted to begin a blog for some time now. I wanted to have a record of sorts of our adventures to share with friends, family, and anyone who can find it useful.
        I guess I should start with the basics. We are beginning our 4th year homeschooling. Our student body consists of my 3 not-so-little bears. Sister bear age13 and beginning 8th grade, Middle bear age 11 and beginning his 6th grade year, and last but not least Little bear age 9 and beginning his 4th grade year.
        We will be starting our new school year on July the 8th! We are planning on doing  a 6 weeks on 1 week off schedule year round. Let me tell you, This definitely works better for us. Last year we had a rough and bumpy ride. Our first 2 years were smooth sailing. But last year, ugh, it got to be a complete chore to do school. We all seemed to be burned out. Even though it felt like nothing was accomplished, we actually got quite a bit done.
       We had so many tough times that we actually ended up switching curriculum 3 times. Yup you read that right 3 TIMES!!!!  We began with what we knew ... A beka books, but the kids seemed to be having difficulties. Next stop K12 public school online, That was a HUUUUGE mistake. They were less organized than I was. (Which was saying a lot) We hang in there for all of 8 weeks. 8 long dragged out weeks. OOOOFFFF! I still don't know how we survived. With this program we actually schooled 8-10 hours per day. It actually took that long to get all daily lessons done between 3 kids. It was total torture for us all, even dear dad who works full time to support us felt the blunt of this choice. So we prayed and we prayed . I had always liked the idea of a Charlotte Mason type education. So we prayed some more. Yup it took a lot of prayers. Finally I decided to brave it on my own. We pulled the kids out of K12 and began just homeschooling on our own.
          Now I bet you're wondering about choice #3. Like I said earlier , I had wanted to do Charlotte Mason style learning for some time. It seemed the perfect fit, Middle bear had been diagnosed with ADHD and Little bear has anxiety issues. Sitting still is not an option for us. (more on that later)So here I go brave and adventurous(or so I thought). We decided to do Mystery of History vol. 1. With Story of the world vol.1 , Apologia sciences and lots of living books. The road got a lot smoother for us all. We actually enjoyed school again! I even got up enough courage  to throw in a few notebooking pages  and lapbooks. We did narrations and timelines. It was fun, Yet I still felt something was missing. Kind of like the feeling you would get trapezing without a safety net. I needed to know I was doing ok. I know , I know, lots of homeschool moms feel this way. So we muddled through and finally finished.
      Thus begins my journey into year 4. I knew I could not have a repeat of such a disasterous year. So, again we prayed and asked the lord for guidance. Almost as if by chance, I was at a homeschool sale where  prices were cheap, the curriculum flowed, and magazines were being given out. Yeah, I know cheesy. I actually purchased Sonlight core F for $100.00 complete! It included language arts and science. I knew right then I had found a gold mine. I thanked the Lord for such a great blessing! As I paid for my purchases and believe me there were many, (I do hoard homeschool books) I was handed a lovely little plastic bag containing all sorts of homeschool goodies and ads. I thanked everyone kindly and left. That night I prayed again for god's help in finding something that would fit. Then 2 things came to mind. #1 I had just got a really expensive curriculum almost at a steal!. #2 that bag of goodies and ads was laying on my night stand.
       I flicked my lamp on and began to go through all those advertisements. I asked the Lord to guide me and Guide me he did. I saw the ad for HOD in the homeschool magazine, then I found a card to send in for a free catalog. I knew beyond a doubt the Lord had came through! This was what I was suppose to see. I turned on the laptop and went to the website for HOD. I poured over samples and read and read and read some more. I knew it! I had found the answer to my prayers. Everything I needed layed out in an easy to read and use format. I absolutely loved it!.  Now since we are a family of 5 , on a budget, with only one parent bringing in the paycheck, I knew we would not be able to afford too much at once.
        I decided on Bigger heart for his glory for my boys. I know it may seem a little remedial for Middle bear, But he is a struggling reader and seems to thrive better at a lesser pace. We ordered the basic, the science, the expansions, boys reading pack and classic reading pack. I know this will be a perfect fit for them.
         Sister bear will be using the Sonlight Core F this year because we were blessed to find it and she is already chomping at the bit to do it. Next year she will begin ctc with HOD.
         Next post I shall lay out our complete curriculum for the school year and link you all up to some great resources for HOD BHFHG.