We got a late start this year for school because we were waiting on Silas and Mark to come home. And here we are halfway through and I’m getting to this post. This year, I remembered and had time to actually do some fun first day pics! Here they are with a little snipit of what we are using for curriculum. Our altogether curriculum for most grades includes:
Exploring Creation with Chemistry and Physics (Apolgia)-This is for grades Pre-K to 6th. This volume is full of fun experiments and information and the kids all seem to be enjoying it so far.
PictureSmart Bible Old Testament-This is our Bible for the year and we all seem to be enjoying the general survey it gives us of the books in the Old Testament.
Mystery of History Volume IV-We skipped Volume 3 of history because the new volume came out and I got impatient waiting to do it. I have to say it is my favorite volume so far and the most thorough. We are loving it!
Our first grader is still working on learning to read. We’re using Primary Arts of Language or PAL as well as All About Spelling. Usually, when I have kids who need a little extra time learning to read, this one curriculum has helped reading “click” with them. So far, that seems to be the case with Bryant. He is now reading words when we go out and about and I feel like he should be reading really well by the end of the year. He is doing Math Mammoth Grade 1 for math. He’s working on First Language Lessons of the Well-Trained Mind Volume 1.
Silas is working on 2nd grade Math Mammoth and learning to read using PAL with Bryant. He is a hard working and I can’t wait to see reading click for him!
Ceili Rain is in 2nd grade reading with our Veritas Press comprehension guides. She is working her way through Building Spelling Skills 2 and her Math Mammoth Grade 2. She is almost complete with her First Language Lessons… Vol. 2 as well. She loves math and can’t seem to get enough of it.
Our 4th grader is rocking the grade with his goofiness. He is in First Language Lessons… Volume 4 (and is so sad he’s almost done…not really), 4th grade Veritas Press reading comprehension, Math Mammoth Grade 4 and Institute for Excellence in Writing Student Writing Continuation Course Level A (IEW SCC Level A).
Liam is cruising through Math Mammoth Grade 5, Veritas Press comprehension guides, and is joining Josiah on his IEW SCC Level A for writing. He is also doing Fix It Grammar: The Nose Tree.
Ace is stepping out of the Exploring Creation series by Apologia and is now in Apologia General Science. He finished up Math Mammoth Grade 6 and is now working through Saxon Math 8/7 and doing very well. He is also doing an IEW course but it is Level B instead of A. He is doing the same grammar as Liam and is working on Lightning Literature and Composition Grade 7. He’s also venturing into the world of foreign languages (although not with as much gusto as Zoe) and taking Spanish 1.
Last year, ya’ll. This is the last year I’ll not have a high schooler! Eek. I think we are closed to ready for that. Zoe has a general idea of what she wants to go to college for. But prepping for that is adding even more gray hairs to my head. Anyway, our polyglot-in-training (mutli-language speaker) is working on several things. She is doing Apologia Physical Science, Algebra 1, Windows to the World/Literary Analysis, IEW with Ace and Spanish 2. We found an ASL course online and she completed 50 hours for a course certification at the end of December.
That’s it! All of the kids are working really hard and will be duly rewarded. I believe this next nine weeks (our third of academics) we’ll have people finishing up several subjects and working on zoning in on the skills they need to master (read: multiplication facts). We’re already starting to look at next year and pray about what they will be learning!
A couple of notes: None of the links are affiliate links. I included them in case anyone wanted to know more about the curriculum. Also, I purposely work to make sure a lot of our curriculum is non-consummable to help cut down costs. And we “buy used/save the difference.” So, while a lot of the curriculum (especially when you account for seven kids) looks pricey. It’s not. I make a spreadsheet of everything I need to purchase and how much it costs retail and then I work from March until the new school year searching for it used or at a discount price. I get really excited when I see I’m saving three to four hundred dollars (which is about how much I can save)!
