Our Curriculum 2014-2015
This was a great year - settled well and into our new home with a dedicated school room! The following is what we did - click on the words in Bold for more information.
8th Grade -
Bible - What We Believe Series - Apologia We LOVE this series - There are four books in the series - this year we are on the third one. - We do this as a read aloud with all the kids. Maddy also did "It Couldn't Just Happen" I wanted to get her started on doing individual Bible - besides devotions.
Science - Apologia Physical Science - I had her do the journal, she also met with a small group of kids for labs and I had her watch the video by Rusty Hughes - I am so thankful to my friend who told me about these lecture/lab videos - saved my sanity! We were able to let this count for high school credit - Yippee!
History - This year we did Diane Waring's Roman's, Reformer's and Revolutionaries. We absolutely loved her first set that we did last year - Ancient Civilizations and the Bible, that I thought we would enjoy this just as much. That was not the case. I did, however, purchase a supplemental item that helped us get through the year - Famous Men of the Middle Ages - I strongly suggest this book regardless of the curriculum you use. If you are studying the middle ages - you will want this.
Math - Chalkdust Prealgebra - LOVE LOVE LOVE. We also used Life of Fred Prealgebra.
Spelling, Vocab, Grammar - We continued to use three of my favs this year. This will be her last year doing these things. As she moves into high school - she will be able to let these go. - Building Spelling Skills 8, Wordly Wise 9, Growing with Grammar 8.
Writing - Cover Story - We enjoyed this so much!! - Fun, entertaining, a few things were a bit confusing - but overall a great program.
Literature - BJU Excursions in Literature - My daughter LOVES to read. We did the first in this series last year - Explorations in Literature. She enjoyed it enough - and did choose to do the second one in the series. However, it is not my favorite and we will be doing something different for 2015-2016.
Logic - The Art of Argument and Discovery of Deduction - Maddy was able to get 1/2 credit of high school credit for this.
Health - Total Health, Talking about Life's Changes
Spanish - Maddy took Spanish through Living Water's Spanish - they have local classes to our area and online.
Co-Op and Electives - Master's School of Art, Reading Like a Historian and SAT Prep.
PE - Taek Won Do
6th Grade -
Bible - What We Believe Series - Apologia We LOVE this series - There are four books in the series - this year we are on the third one. - We do this as a read aloud with all the kids.
Science - Apologia Exploring Creation with Chemistry and Physics - we also did the journal and the lab kit. Three of my five kids did this curriculum - it was so nice to have all the tools I needed right there.
History - This year we did Diane Waring's Roman's, Reformer's and Revolutionaries. We absolutely loved her first set that we did last year - Ancient Civilizations and the Bible, that I thought we would enjoy this just as much. That was not the case. I did, however, purchase a supplemental item that helped us get through the year - Famous Men of the Middle Ages - I strongly suggest this book regardless of the curriculum you use. If you are studying the middle ages - you will want this.
Math - Chalkdust - Basic Math - Again -LOVE this! He also did Life of Fred Fractions and Decimals and Percents.
Spelling, Vocab, Grammar - We continued to use three of my favs this year. Building Spelling Skills 5, Wordly Wise 6, Growing with Grammar 6.
Literature - My son did a literature class with five other boys. They used The Kingdom Series by Chuck Black. This was a study of character as well as Middle Ages. My son has dyslexia - so in order for him to enjoy it more and get as much out of it as possible - I went ahead and ordered him the set in audio books as opposed to the chapter books.
Writing - Cover Story - We enjoyed this so much!! - Fun, entertaining, a few things were a bit confusing - but overall a great program.
Co-op and Electives - He did one terms of Master's School of Art, 3D Drawing, Mini Weapons of Mass Destruction and a games class
PE - Taek Won Do
6th Grade - Special Needs -
Bible - What We Believe Series - Apologia We LOVE this series - There are four books in the series - this year we are on the third one. - We do this as a read aloud with all the kids.
Science - I discovered something new and was so happy! Discovering Nature Series - this was exactly what she needed. Independent, story driven, some research, drawing, coloring.
History - BJU Heritage Studies 5 - This worked well for my three youngest.
Math - Christian Light Education Math 3
Spelling, Vocab, Grammar - Building Spelling Skills 5, Wordly Wise 6, BJU English 5
Literature - Memoria Press. We did, what is now listed as 6th grade level - however, when we did it, it was listed as 5th grade - and it was difficult. I also did not have them do the Bronze Bow. I purchased from Christian Book.
Writing - We did Jump In - this is fun and great for the kid who loves to write or one who is reluctant.
Life Skills - We have a few items from Attainment company which we will use over the next few years. We also do Home Ec from Pearables.
Co-op and Electives - Games Class, ASL, Knitting, Pop Up Art
PE - Fusion Martial Arts
5th Grade -
Bible - What We Believe Series - Apologia We LOVE this series - There are four books in the series - this year we are on the third one. - We do this as a read aloud with all the kids.
Science - Apologia Exploring Creation with Chemistry and Physics - we also did the journal and the lab kit. Three of my five kids did this curriculum - it was so nice to have all the tools I needed right there.
History - BJU Heritage Studies 5 - This worked well for my three youngest.
Math - One did Christian Light Education Math 4, while the other one tried Chalkdust Basic Math - but was not ready for it. She ended up doing Life of Fred Fractions and Key to Fractions.
Spelling, Vocab, Grammar - Building Spelling Skills 5, Wordly Wise 6, BJU English 5
Literature - Memoria Press. We did, what is now listed as 6th grade level - however, when we did it, it was listed as 5th grade - and it was difficult. I also did not have them do the Bronze Bow. I purchased from Christian Book.
Writing - We did Jump In - this is fun and great for the kid who loves to write or one who is reluctant.
Co-op and Electives - Carter - Sports, 3D Art, Games, Around the World Adventure; Zoe - 3D art, ASL, Jump Rope, Mexico Art, Games
PE - Take Won do - Zoe and Fusion Martial Arts for Carter
This was our full and fun year. Let me know if you have any questions.