We all love when it's nice enough to do lessons outside!

[Here's the second nuts and bolts of how we homeschool post!]

The Curriculum Question

Now that Monkey and Bug are solidly in upper elementary and Lion is on the edge, I decided it was time to revisit a post about "the curriculum question" from May 2014. Our educational philosophy remains the same: Our goal is to give our children a solid foundation in the three Rs and to cover other subjects as time, interest, and opportunity allow (because if you can read fluently, write intelligibly, and use basic math skills, you can learn anything else you need or want). The program descriptions also still ring true to our current goals for each subject (you can read them here). What has changed is that I use more ready-made resources to accomplish those programs now that the girls' education is slightly more advanced.

I was mostly recently asked the curriculum question while sitting on the floor of a large used curriculum store surrounded by stacks of books. The person asking the question: a new to homeschooling mom also on the floor surrounded by books who was not only trying to choose her first curriculum for her first grader, but simultaneous breastfeeding an infant and wrangling a preschooler. She asked (with just a hint of desperation), "What do you use? And how in the world did you choose it?"

I gave her my best encouraging smile, "It's a little overwhelming, isn't it?"

I explained that I work backwards. Rather than looking through the endless options, picking one, and seeing if it worked for us, I ask myself these questions:

1. What are my goals for this subject?
2. How will my particular kids best learn them? (Also, how can I best teach them? If the method doesn’t work for my personality, then it’s going to equally ineffective.)
3. What resource out there does that? 

This series of questions narrows down my options pretty quickly, and I've yet to spend money on resources that we didn't use. In fact, most things I need are cheap or free. I encouraged her to keep it simple and stick to the basics while they figure out their rhythm and preferred learning methods. While I chose not to go into great detail about our current resources with this already overwhelmed mama, I thought my readers here might like an inside peek at what we study. 

So, here's a look at what resources we're currently using to accomplish our curriculum and why we picked them:

Joy in Reading

All three girls know how to read now, and I can safely say I'm raising a trio of bookworms! Our resources are still our local public library and an extensive home library. Daddy and I have also come up with a list of classic fiction and poetry that we want the girls to become familiar with in the years to come. The girls and I will be reading and discussing these works during our family lessons. I also help the girls find quality books to read independently, we still do a just-for-fun picture book read aloud time midday, and Daddy reads novels to the girls as part of the bedtime routine (books like the Harry Potter or Wrinkle in Time series).

Writing for Clarity & Creativity

For this subject I've succeeded in finding several ready-made resources that accomplish my goals. For spelling, I wanted a resource that gave me word lists comprised of sight words and sound families and reasonably engaging worksheets for practicing those words. K12reading.com fit the bill perfectly (and it's free). For grammar, I needed worksheets that would methodically cycle through the rules of grammar while avoiding the mind-numbing exercises of "underline this, circle that" a couple dozen times. Daily Grams does exactly that with daily worksheets of about 6 questions (starting in 3rd grade). For Lion (in 2nd grade), I print worksheets from Education.com to cover the parts of speech and the most basic rules of punctuation and capitalization. For composition, I needed ideas for assignments I could use to teach them the mechanics of writing in a variety of genres. I discovered the Institute for Excellence in Writing has great workbooks that have students read a passage, take notes, then rewrite it in their own words. Each assignment focuses on some aspect of composing stronger, more interesting writing. This resource has allowed the girls to tackle the mechanics of writing without stressing about coming up with the content themselves. (The IEW workbooks also begin in 3rd grade. Lion uses assignments printed from sources like Education.com and TeachersPayTeachers.com.) To work on the more creative aspect of composition, we play with Story Cubes and story cards. This allows them to exercise their creativity in storytelling and describing without having to worry about the mechanics of putting it all on paper. (Recent attempts to combine the two with my older girls have been disastrous.) Both Daily Grams and IEW have full teaching curriculum available, but as a professional proofreader and editor, I knew I could teach the subjects; I just needed the assignments already made up for me.

Foundations of Math

For teaching math concepts, Khan Academy has proved a great online (free!) resource. Each girl can work at her own pace, watching videos, practicing problems, and proving mastery of each task. It also revisits skills they've already mastered to make sure they still remember everything. They love that they get instant feedback on their problems, and earn points and badges for problems completed and skills mastered which they can use to unlock new avatars. If Khan Academy falls short of adequately explaining something, Daddy (the former math teacher) is our favorite resource. For memorizing math facts, we use flashcards (check out Target's bargain bins) and customizable (free!) math drills from Math-aids.com.

Walking through History

Our walks through history have become much more methodical recently. We decided it was time for the girls to learn the specific chronology of history and more specific facts, and I wanted to accomplish that without having to slog through a dry textbook and worksheets. Since the girls and I love read alouds, Story of the World seemed like a good match! It tells the stories of world history from ancient through modern times in four volumes. To help the girls remember and review I give them each a blank note card for each section we cover. They draw a representative picture on one side and write notes on the other. Anytime we're reading we keep a globe and a smartphone nearby, so we can look up locations and additional pictures or facts. I also pull out any books we happen to own on the time period we're reading about.

We've also started doing map studies. I have dry-erasable maps of the U.S. and of each continent. We're working our way around the world, memorizing states and countries by tracing and labeling places in sections.

Spontaneous Science
We've gotten slightly more intentional in our coverage of science recently. Still no textbooks, but I've acquired a couple of books full of hands-on activities we can do with everyday household stuff. Our goal is to do one activity per week, accompanied by reading and discussing the topic covered. The girls also love science videos, so most of our lunchtime viewing covers science topics as well. Then of course, the girls curiosity leads to plenty of unplanned topics being covered. For example, recent dinner conversations included discussions about why it's blurry around a candle flame, what causes contrails, and what causes tsunamis. I would love to find a comprehensive list of science topics for elementary students to use as a checklist, but I'm still hunting for this resource.

Music

All three girls are learning instruments: Monkey plays drums, Bug plays violin, and Lion plays piano. At this location and the last, we've been able to find music schools were they can each take private lessons. In our current church they're also involved in the children's choir, and they've all done a great job participating in those performances. Music appreciation is just part of everyday life in our house. Pandora and YouTube have been our favorite resources for exploring a wide variety of styles.

Visual Arts
My goal here is simply to have them see and enjoy art and casually explore making their own. Our favorite resources for viewing art have been the local art museum and a Page-a-Day Gallery calendar that we've made part of our family lessons. For making art, we have a dresser that's always well-stocked with craft supplies. We also have a growing collection of art instructional books that the girls are now old enough to appreciate. Some topics include drawing, clay, fabric and needle crafts, calligraphy, and origami.

Health & Wellness
Right now the girls formal resources for health and wellness are classes at a mixed martial arts school and a homeschoolers' gym class at the local YMCA. The rest of their health and wellness education is just a part of everyday life. The girls love to play outside, and they help grocery shop, help clean house, and take care of their own personal hygiene. We casually discuss (and Daddy and I model) making healthy lifestyle choices on a regular basis.

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Our Faith
While we do "Bible time" at the beginning of our family lessons, I've never counted it among our academic subjects. Our faith isn't just something we study. It's something that permeates every aspect of our lives in some way or another, and the formal routines we have in place (hymns at breakfast, family Bible study, church activities, prayer at meals and bedtime) are things we'd do even if the girls went to school. For our current family Bible study, we're reading through What the Bible Is All About: A Bible Handbook for Kids, memorizing the books of the Bible in order, and memorizing Bible verses.