Our Curriculum 2011-2012

*Note: This is an updated, more indepth version of the post that I made a few weeks ago!*

The verdict is in! I have finally, FINALLY settled on what we will be using for the upcoming 2011-2012 school year. Originally, the plan was to finish up our current school year and then start our new one immediately after Labor Day, but the days of summer were a-calling and some family events came up and we took some unexpected time off.  So, the plan is now to wrap up the CURRENT year right before Labor Day then take the remainder of September off and start the NEW year on October 3rd.  What will be using, you ask?

I'll start with Bub.  He will be entering his K4 year, but he won't actually be 4 until December.  I was at a crossroads for awhile.  We will be wrapping up Little Hands to Heaven in five weeks(as stated above).  Sweetpea went through the program twice, adding in some supplementation the second time around to provide more challenge.  I do plan to do this with Bub as well, but Sweetpea's first trip through the program took close to two years because of my pregnancy and then having a newborn for awhile.  I also slowed the pace down in the beginning, but didn't feel it necessary to do this time around.  That left me with two years to fill for Bub before he needs to begin Kindergarten.  So, I've decided to wait a year before he cycles back through it and for this upcoming year to use this as his base:

This is a great and SUPER economical preschool curriculum written by a mom who also used Heart of Dakota, but felt that there needed to be something in between the preschool and kindergarten guides to better bridge the gap.  I have poured over the sample pages countless times and really like what I see, and for $15 (gasp!) it is a great investment. I got an even BETTER deal by catching it on sale at CurrClick for $1.99! Talk about savings!   It also follows the style of HOD, which is another plus. Find more about it here.

To this, I will be adding in Abeka K4 Phonics and Reading. I got the teacher's manuals from a dear homeschooling friend for free and then purchased the student workbooks (on which I found another great deal at Second Harvest Curriculum).


In between the lessons of Animal Play, I will be using many of the FANTASTIC (and FREE, I might add!) preschool packs from Homeschool Creations,



We are especially looking forward to the robots one which I will use simultaneously with both children along with the Rockin' Robots unit study from Amanda Bennett that I scored FREE during one of her Terrific Tuesday events on Facebook


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Now on to Sweetpea! It's so hard for me to fathom that my little girl will be starting Kindergarten! Where does the time go??*sigh*

She will be beginning the next guide in Heart of Dakota, Little Hearts for His Glory.  This will be her core, containing all of her main subjects.  I have broken down what each of those contain below. I am very anxious to start this one because it looks amazing! 



HISTORY
We will be doing a broad sweep of history from Creation to Early American History using History for Little Pilgrims and History Stories for Children.

SCIENCE

Science will tie into our history theme for the week and be based on a distinctly Christian perspective of God's creation using The World God Made.

MATH
For math we will begin by using Singapore's Earlybird Kindergarten Math and supplementing with Horizons Math K.

BIBLE
Our Bible lessons will be the bulk of our history lessons for the first half of the year, but we will also be working on devotions and memory verses each week as well.  We will be using Kenneth Taylor's Family Time Bible, Steve Green's Hide 'Em in Your Heart CD Volume 1, and Devotions for the Children's Hour.  We will also begin weekly Awana meeting again in September.

FINE MOTOR SKILLS
We will be using the first grade level book for this area since Gabriella has had more than adequate practice here.

STORYTIME/READ-ALOUDS
We will introduce read-alouds in our school setting using classic Thornton Burgess stories.

PHONICS/READING/PENMANSHIP
In this area, we are using the Abeka 1st grade program rather than the suggestions made by Heart of Dakota simply because I came across a great deal on the teacher's manuals and readers for this program at a local used book store.  .



HEALTH
We will also be using Abeka's first grade Health, Safety and Manners curriculum.




Additionally, for homemaking and biblical womanhood skills, Little Keepers of the Home.

and that's our year!  What do you think?

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