... because he's all about the planning!
Math: Math-U-See Epsilon/Zeta He's incredibly familiar with all the topics in these two books, so we plan to complete them this year and add enrichment material to go deeper, instead of moving straight into pre-algebra. (Plus Murderous Maths, just for fun - the boys thought they looked like a blast. Yeah, we're geeks.)
Latin: Latin Prep Book 1 - I know, I know! Don't mock me. We still love Latin for Children, but I don't know if we love it $140 worth of love. That's a lot of books we'll never own, when I could just hand him my Henle and Vulgata and turn him loose. So, shush. We'll give this a shot and see how it goes. I plan to order both the Latin and the Murderous Maths from Ray. Heard good things about doin' business with Ray.
Writing: We're cranking things up a bit with writing this year. He will either excel beautifully or beg for death. Possibly even both. In the end, though, it's all good.
Italic Handwriting, Book F I went with Italic handwriting because unless this child becomes a doctor, his current handwriting is going to hinder any hope of future employment. HWT has scads of room for flair, but it wasn't cutting it for legibility.
Spelling Workout E Aaaaand... I think I may have ordered the wrong spelling book. Just dawned on me while I was looking for links. So, um, anyone want to chime in on Spelling Workout 2001, vs. MCP? Anyone? Anyone? I don't know. He's a natural speller, anyway. This is just my neurosis kicking in. Plus, the kid lives for workbooks, and we just don't use them, really. Maybe he won't notice he's writing? And perhaps I won't care that I bought the wrong edition? You never know how things will turn out.
Reading: I don't have an official list together yet. He wants to work his way through the Chronicles of Narnia again. I have some ideas, some biographies, some historical fiction, some techie type stuff lined up. I think this will be a good year for reading, really. This is one area for which I don't need to plan too terribly much, as he's always on the lookout for a good book.
History: Story of the World, Vol. 3, with additional readings and encyclopedia work. A little outlining here and there. Good stuff. We'll start up... um, right after we finish up the Middle Ages...
Music: we'll be breaking this up into two segments
Theory: Meet the Great Composers
Practical: Regular piano lessons will continue. He's moving along nicely, and loves it. His teacher uses Alfred's books (method? something of Alfred's, anyway) and was explaining that if she'd known he would do as he's doing, she'd have started him at level 1 to begin with, rather than the prep books. So he's gone through three books since he started in March and she did go ahead and jump him ahead. He loves this stuff. Part of me wishes we'd started earlier, but another part really feels he's getting so much out of it because we waited. Don't even get me started on how that can be extrapolated out into other areas of learning. Not. Going. To. Go there, thanks.
Art: Artistic Pursuits I think I can, I think I can, I think... I think someone else really needs to offer a co-op for this one, to be perfectly honest. Until then, this is what we'll be doing.
Greek: easy, gentle intro with Hey, Andrew! and some kind of pronunciation CD I picked up at Rainbow Resource - no clue what it is, and it's too late to look it up now. However, we're on our way.
Religion:
Kids Catechism, Lee Strobel's The Case for Christ for Kids, and interspersed work from Doorposts, Keys for Kids Daily Devotionals, and maybe-hopefully-sure-would-be-great-if... we could get some PCA action down here in Morgan County. We'll see. Not a high-need area for ministry, I suppose. So, we're still pretty much on our own, as far as that goes. But that's okay. We can hang for a while.
As you can see, there is one glaringly obvious piece lacking... no science. I mean, we'll DO science, it's just that I haven't picked a curriculum yet. I have no idea what I want for this year. Biology, per the WTM sounds good, but nothing has grabbed me and said, "USE MEEEEEE" yet, and that's really what I was hoping for this year. We do need a good microscope, and heaven knows we have plenty of things to look at under it. But I still need a good spine.
And so, there you have it - fifth grade, in a nutshell. Probably a fairly sketchy nutshell. I'll edit in the morning. :-) If it looks like I've missed something, let me know, please. The last thing I want to do is tell him at the end of the term that we've got to do a two-month intensive on underwater basketweaving, or some other important skill, because I forgot to schedule it in!
Kiss those babies!
~Dy
10 comments:
My girls are loving the Apologia stuff, though we don't agree entirely with their religious philosophy and sometimes, they really stretch to make a religious point. :-) Still, the science part is fun. Good reading, lots of experiments, and a couple of companies sell handy dandy science kits with all needed supplies, in case you, like me, have trouble rounding up "common household items" at the last minute. :-)
oh my kids do alfred piano books. Ben is in 3A and Scott is in 1B. I told scott he can quit when he finishes 1 B.
ben also does some fingerbuilder exercises each week- scales
and they each have various classical/pop/and other xtra books. there's alos a free piano music website which the teacher and the kids use to have fun and pick their own.
i have heard the staw wars theme in more than one level now :-)
Shannon, I'm glad you found a good compromise with Scott! Has it helped? Also, could you share the music website? James would *love* to have more to do. Each week, he masters what she's given him and then works ahead. (She is due w/ her first child July 4th and I'm hoping that when she comes back from maternity leave, she'll be more pro-active with him.)
Jennie, we did Apologia's "Exploring Creation Through Astronomy" last year, and it was good on information and supplements. I agree on the other points, as well, which is why we hadn't pursued it for a biology spine. I felt a tad silly reading some of the statements, and we often veered off into meatier discussions than what they offered in the text.
I'm so glad to hear I'm not the only one who reads through the "common household items" lists and finds she doesn't have much of it on hand! LOL! That's always so frustrating. What companies do you use for purchasing kits?
Dy
We're having similar issues with handwriting here, and Nathan's going into 6th! Italic. . . hmmm. I write using italic, actually, so that might be a good way to go. Cursive is a no-go, as far as legibility, and frankly, I'm not a big fan of reading it either. Maybe we'll try italic as well this year.
We are also planning to start Greek this year with Hey, Andrew. I just need to consistently fit it in.
For science, we just read (and do stuff outside). I know, that's terrible--and me, a biology major! But I started loving science in high school, not a minute before, so I guess I figure as long as they are conversant with scientific terms and concepts, then they too can discover in high school whether or not they really love science, like I did. Or maybe I just use all that as a clever excuse not to get all messy with things that they really don't understand the "whys" of . . . LOL.
Looks like a great year! My youngest daughter will be a 5th-grader this year and I loved looking at your plans. I told Steve I'd like to atart planning out next year's lessons for the kids this coming week. Ooooooo! You've inspired me!
This is the first year I bought kits, and boy, has it made science easier! (Read that: it actually gets done. :-) )
I bought them from Home Science Tools, but if you google your chosen curriculum + kit, you should get hits.
As for the religion, I just told the kids that they were going to say some weird stuff; take it with a grain of salt, the science is still good. :-)
We used Astronomy and Botany this year. The kids are about halfway through their books and science is their new favorite subject.
sure it's http://www.gmajormusictheory.org/Freebies/freebies.html
and I lied - I told scott he could quit after 2A! whoops
first i told 1 more year- and he freaked. then i told him 2A - which will take him at least through mid year ! Lol
Dy, we need to talk. I may have some of what you want and a product I found at our homeschool show for science. I will email you soon. Just don't order anything yet!!! And Ray is GREAT for someone so horrible. :)
Patty Joanna
Dy, if you're looking for piano "extras" for James, and he likes worksheets, try this website: http://www.practicespot.com/freetools.phtml
I used it frequently when I was teaching music, and it might be just what he wants. Plus, it's free. :) You just print out what you want, and you can choose the levels and let him work at his own pace.
This all looks so great! It's wonderful that you're doing both Latin and Greek. Also, I love it when folks blog on what they're doing curriculum-wise. It's always interesting to a newbie like myself!
And Happy Birthday, John!
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