Curriculum Line-Up for 2015-2016

The last three years, Micheal and I have budgeted part of our tax return to purchase our homeschool curriculum for the following school year.  This might not work for everyone but it works for us and gives us a timeline for purchasing and a guideline for what we like to spend.  The funnest part (for a nerd like me) is budgeting for a curriculum new and finding it used for a fraction of the price.  He he!  I love to save!

Okay, here is the line-up.  Some of you might not be interested, but I love to have this for our records and I also get a lot of emails and messages throughout the year asking us what curriculum we use and this is a terrific place to point them to.

Xavier will be five in June.  He'll be our resident kindergartner.  Kindergarten, as a whole, will be pretty relaxed but it seems like he's been waiting forever to be in "big school" and he's so excited!  He's also ready and has shown so much growth the last few months.  I'm excited to be his kindergarten teacher!

(His imagination is fantastic!)

Xavier will be in Math-U-See Primer.  

 

Natalee did the Primer 2 years ago so we have the teacher's book and DVD already (as well as the manipulatives).  It's kind of nice to only need to budget for the consumable workbook for him!  

He will also be using the Sing, Spell, Read, and Write curriculum we purchased a couple of years ago.  I love this curriculum because it's effective and fun.  He'll be using the Kindergarten set.  

 Once again, we only needed to purchase him the two consumable workbooks.

I ordered Xavier a fun, active Karate DVD for long winter months when getting outside is harder.  I'm anxious to see if the DVD is as good as the reviews.

For Science, History and Bible we'll be keeping the children together again like we did this year.  In a few years Ameliya will also have a learning buddy and I'll have 2 little "teams."  

We're continuing with the Answers in Genesis Science curriculum that we started this year.  We're finishing the "green" God's Design for Life set right now and are excited to start the God's Design for Heaven and Earth set this fall.

We are also continuing our Bible Study Guide for All Ages.  This will be our third year with this curriculum and I don't see us switching any time soon.  The children love it, I love it, and we're all learning tons!  Xavier will be using the beginner pages again this year while Natalee will move up to the primary pages.  The beautiful part about this curriculum is that, though they are using different levels of pages they are both learning the same lessons.  A parent's dream.  This year we'll be doing Lessons 105-156.

Natalee will be our first grader this year.  She kind of did kindergarten for two years - partly because I was trying to figure things out and partly because we simply needed the extra time.  No sweat.  

She has really grown up a lot lately.  Almost every meal time she's at my side, offering help and her working hands.  She finds random ways to love and support me and says "someday I'll be a mama."  She's been a very conscious big sister of late and is training baby Mia in all sorts of sweet things.  Six years old is looking mighty fine on my sweet girl.

We are switching things up a bit for reading for Natalee this year.  We've LOVED Sing, Spell, Read and Write for her but it is not a lifelong learning curriculum.  There is one more level to it so I could decide to do it for another year or switch her this year.  She is such an avid and able reader that I decided our time would be better spent in real books versus mainly readers so I decided to switch her this year.  She will be using the Sonlight Core B.  

It ties in her reading and history, as well as a Bible curriculum that we'll use in addition to our Bible Study Guide for All Ages.  Xavier will be joining her with this and I am so excited!  I wanted Sonlight last year (for history especially) and couldn't find a used set within my budget.  Overwhelmed by wanting a curriculum (with so many options) that I'd never used I gave up on it.  In fact, this year when the catalog came, I pitched in.  I was certain it wasn't something we could afford yearly and decided to not tempt myself.  After expressing my frustration and want for a new curriculum for history and something different for Natalee for reading/language arts at a monthly Mom's Night Out, I received some kind encouragement and mentorship from veteran homeschooling moms in our group.  Convinced Sonlight would work for us, I gathered my courage once again to try and get my hands on a used set.  I KNEW it would help our day flow and would be perfect for the kids' levels and learning styles.  I hunted ebay and other used sites and put out some feelers on our local email groups.  God heard my prayer and is providing us with a set for a teeny tiny fraction of the new $300 price tag (for the books I'd need).  I'll need to order a couple of books/maps/etc. that are missing, but overall I'm getting a steal and feeling mighty mighty blessed!  I can't wait to get my hands on it when the family gets done with it in a few weeks!

Natalee will be continuing her Math U See curriculum in the Beta set this year. 

She will also be using Usborne addition and subtraction wrap-ups this summer to sharpen her adding and subtracting skills.

We will be using the Draw Write Now series for copy work and handwriting for Natalee this year.

This is an investment that many homeschooling families around here have that I think will serve our family well for many many years.  I love the diversity of topics and love that the drawing piece draws the children in.

Of course, there will be other fun things sprinkled in here and there.  I'm hoping to continue piano lessons with the children and do some fun unit studies.  We'll be starting school a little earlier than normal so we can take a baby break when #4 comes without feeling the pressure of "getting behind."

Of course, we can't leave Mia out of the line-up.  I did order a couple of "quiet" activities for her and will be working on training her to sit on a blanket with a quiet toy - hopefully this will help our school year (she's very busy).  I'm also going to take some time this summer to pull together a few more busy bags specifically geared for her age and interests.

We also already have some great things that I simply need to pull out and organize on one shelf for her so that *I* can access them easily.  When I can get to them then they get used. 

Just in case I've not said this (every year for three years), I feel stinkin' blessed to have a hubby who not only supports me as a teacher but humors me by listening to me sort through curriculum needs and wants, supply needs and wants AND who offers advice, encouragement, and ideas.  I'm thankful that he invests in the children by following up with them and with me and tells me what he desires for them to learn.  The praise he offers when they spout of bits of their knowledge...well that feels nice, too (grin).  All that and he never ever grumbles at the budget need for books and curriculum.  Yep.  Blessed.

I'd LOVE to peek into your school room and see what you're using this year - feel free to comment with a link to your blog that gives me the goods!!