This post contains affiliate links where I receive a small percentage of the sale if you purchase through me which I use to help offset some of the many costs of blogging. For full details, please see my disclosure page.
This is pretty much my most exciting post of the year, the post where I get to show you all the great curriculum we have decided on for the 2015/2016 school year. I think it’s important that I disclose right off the bat that we didn’t even worry about finishing this years books. As soon as we got our new ones, we dove in! I figure if I start now, we should DEFINITELY be finished by next summer 😉 I’ve put together some awesome graphics so as to not bore you and worked out some exclusive coupon codes so read on!
What we are using for Bible curriculum
For Bible we will all be working together on the Grapevine Bible Studies. This is our first time working with them and I am SUPER excited to get drawing with the kids! I know that the combination of the auditory and kinesthetic (drawing) components of the program will work well for all three of the kids and they can’t wait to dive in! A review is coming after we have worked on the program so stay tuned!
Simply click on the image below or CLICK HERE to check them out!
What we are using for Science
For Science we are going to be continuing on with our Nancy Larson Grade 1 Science Curriculum (which we are LOVING). I also purchased some great resources to teach the kids all about weather and ocean animals (seeing as we will be living ON the ocean) and then we will be working with snap circuits as we continue to learn about electricity. For Science, I take a bit of an “unschooling” approach, working with what interests the kids. If they have a question or some spontaneous discussion arises, we kind of go for it.
Check out this detailed review of why we love this program. Then click on the image below or CLICK HERE to get your Nancy Larson Science curriculum with free shipping! We love that it is scripted, just open and go with everything we need and we learn a TON in this program! This Science 1 we are doing will be covering all learning outcomes from grade K-3 for us!
What we are using for Social Studies
For Socials we are going to be spending the year pretty much learning about First Nation’s culture/history in Canada. We will be living on an Island that was first home to the Haida Nation. We love integrating learning into our natural day-to-day life so this is going to be a perfect fit as we explore the island together!
What we are using for art
For art we are super excited to be working with our Home Art Studio video. The kids LOVE their art teacher and I love that they are learning techniques (in something that is not really my strong suit) and getting taught with a click of a button! You can even purchase all the items you need with just one click! We seriously love this curriculum and will be slowly working our way through it doing it about once a week.
What we are using for a second language
This last year both Jonathan and I decided we wanted to start teaching the kids a second language. English is the native language in this home and although we both did a bit in high school we don’t fluently speak another language. We have been doing sign language with them since they were babies, so we were looking for the next step as a family. I was a bit concerned it would confuse them when they are learning so much at this foundational stage of their education, however research pretty much blew that theory out of the water. I discovered that the earlier the better! Children’s brains are just wired to unlock languages in a way that an adult brain is not.
That didn’t help the fact that a foreign language that I wasn’t fluent in seemed a scary prospect, let along adding yet ANOTHER thing to my very busy plate.
Enter Foreign Languages for Kids.
This has blown us away! It is online, the lessons are short and manageable (usually about 5-10 minutes)! EVERYONE is learning Spanish from my baby to me! It is fun, it involves very little from me and the kids love it! Plus, it’s affordable (woot woot!).
Click on the image or CLICK HERE to try the no-risk free trial or read my complete review on Foreign Languages for Kids if you need more convincing (and enter the giveaway while you’re at it!)
What we are using for preschool curriculum
For preschool (and grade 1, 2, and 3) we will be continuing to use Mother Goose Time as a family. We, simply put, LOVE this program. For the kids, it means painting and exploring science and math and socials and more through play, music, acting, reading, art and dancing! For me, it means opening up the bag for the day, turning to my daily teachers guide and following the instructions!
To stop doing Mother Goose Time would literally break their hearts, there’s no way I can say the older ones are too old. So I do it in depth with Aliyah (who just turned three) and the older kids sit along for the ride. We adapt it, go into more detail, and get THEM to teach HER! This year we may even allow the older two to teach some Mother Goose Time classes (which should be entertaining). It is my favorite preschool curriculum I have come across yet and am looking forward to showing you the new setup in the fall once we get settled in 🙂
Our Grade 1 curriculum picks
For Malakai (and all the other kids as you will see) we decided to go with A Beka this year. I grew up with it and although there are a ton of amazing curriculums out there, I am finding that my kids are doing quite well. The bright colors, the comprehensive coverage (which is a huge relief for me, no learning gaps!), the do-it-yourself layout, etc. make this the perfect fit for our family this year. We started on our books over a week ago and although I hop a bit back and forth helping everyone with reading their instructions, it is ten times easier than the more teacher intensive programs I was doing before.
We will be doing a ton of Language Arts with Malakai. Although he is reading, he does a lot of it by sight and still needs work on printing/sounds, etc. So, here’s the list:
- A Beka LA
- A Beka Math
- All About Reading
- All About Spelling
- AOP LA Lifepacs
- Mother Goose Time
- Science/Socials/Bible together as a family as shown above
What we are doing for grade 2 curriculum
For Selah we missed our Grade 2 Math from A Beka (it is currently on re-order) which is fine for now as we are currently still working in her Grade 1 and want to finish it. We found some fun readers but I will include a pic at the end of my reading shelf so you can see the hoard of readers I have right now, it’s actually somewhat appalling!
- A Beka Grade 2 Math
- A Beka Language Arts (the complete child’s kit including cursive!
- Mother Goose Time
- Science, Socials and Bible as a family as shown above
What we are doing for Grade 3 curriculum
For Caleb we have the same things basically as the other kids, with a few exceptions.
- A Beka Math
- A Beka Language Arts
- Spelling You See
- The Action Bible
- The Canadian Province Notebook
- THE LIBRARY!!!!
- Mother Goose Time (adapted)
- Science, Socials and Bible as a family as shown above
I include the library because this kid reads through books almost faster than I can get them to him. Going to the library and letting him choose some is far cheaper, plus, wait until you see my readers shelf!
Just for Kicks… take a look at my Homeschool Readers!
Think I have enough? They take up 3 boxes in my bookshelf! And that is just designated readers, I still have bins full of information type books. Hmmm, I AM kind of like a library 😉
The top shelf is for Caleb, middle shelf for Selah and the bottom is for Malakai. A lot of them I inherited or bought second hand so this isn’t all brand new (which you may be able to tell from the worn edges). We love A Beka’s readers. My great aunt has written at least 3 of their books (No Longer a Nobody, Secret of the Maple Tree, and Song of the Brooke) so it has really special meaning for us. Plus I remember reading these same books so vividly, it’s like a time warp!
