Curriculum Happy

I'm so excited to be planning our next school year out. I love this type of planning more than I can express (NERD!). So far, I have filled in the daily planner through January and I'm forcing myself to leave it be for goodness sakes for at least a few days. Anyway, this is what we are going to be using for this next school year. So happy to be mostly using what is familiar and looking forward to getting acquainted with what is new.

Tapestry of Grace for History, Geography, Church History, Worldview and Literature. This is will be our third year using TOG and I adore it. Paige will be joining Hailey and Reese this year but on her own level. I have found that TOG is a little much for kindergarten so my approach is to let Paige participate in as much as she wants to (she'll probably love the hands on stuff).

Writing Aids for writing (duh). This goes with TOG and I've been very impressed with it.

Spelling Power for (you guessed it) spelling. This will be our second year using it. Hailey looks forward to this lesson every day and so do I. It is so different from the spelling lists I grew up with (ugh). Looking forward to starting it with Reese next year (it is recommended for third grade and up).

Easy Grammar. This will be our first year with EG and Hailey and Reese will be using it. I've heard a lot of good things about this course and it is also recommended by TOG.

Math-U-See. Second year for both Hailey and Reese. Great program. Short DVD lessons by a real live math teacher (unlike me who has never been and never will be a math whiz).

Sing, Spell, Read and Write. This will be my fifth year teaching with this curriculum and I love it. Can not recommend it enough for a phonics program. So happy to be starting Paige's school career off with this fun program! Hailey and Reese both enjoyed it and I hope Paige will as well.

Apologia Science: Exploring Creation with Zoology 3. This is our third year and the girls and I both adore this extremely interesting series. It is SO well written and like no other textbook I ever had in school. Again, Paige will be included as her interests dictate.

Apologia: What We Believe. This course will be new to us and I am SO excited about it! Basically it is an apologetics course aimed at children between 6-14 years old. The goal is to teach children to discern the truth amongst the ideas they will be bombarded with during their lives. To see things the way that God sees them (as much as we can as people). Jason and I will be leading this lesson together. He will probably do the majority of the teaching if he would like. I can't wait to see what our entire family learns!

The three older girls will also be attending their second year of AWANA. We have been very impressed with this program and again could not recommend it enough! The girls have memorized SO much scripture and the AWANA leaders and program have done a good job reinforcing what we are teaching at home.

Well, that is it. School year 2011-2012 should be a great one around here. We are praying that God grows each member of our family throughout the year. There will be challenges for sure. We'll have our newest blessing joining the family in November, this is the first year I will be teaching three children, and there is always the family toddler to liven things up! But we are looking forward to what this school year brings.