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Sunday, March 6, 2016

Homeschool Curriculum Changes

As I mentioned in my previous post, we made some changes to our homeschool curriculum.  Some of these were made back in September/October, and some started after Christmas break.  So far, we are very, very pleased with all of the changes.  Here's my original curriculum choice post, and here are the changes (links are in my sidebar under 2015-16 curriculum choices)

Caleb, Seventh Grade
Math -- Bridgeway Math
History -- Notgrass America the Beautiful
Science -- Accelerated Christian Education (ACE) Grade 7 PACES

Micah, Second Grade
English, Math, Science, Social Studies -- Time4Learning
Spelling -- Spelling Classroom

Now for an explanation as to why we changed...

Math -- Caleb was using Teaching Textbooks, but he was no longer using the disc component, so I ended up teaching him the lessons.  I figured if I was going to teach him math, then it was okay to look for something else.  He also decided he was more interested in a mastery approach as opposed to the spiral approach we had been using.  After doing some research, I landed on Bridgeway Math, which is a remedial math of sorts.  Since math is his weak subject, I thought cementing all of the concepts before moving onto Pre-Algebra was key to his future success in the subject.

History -- I spent time creating a war studies curriculum for Caleb, but we struggled to make it fun and interesting to HIM.  So, after some thinking and coercing, he agreed to just go back to a textbook.  I had been eyeing Notgrass America the Beautiful, but I wasn't sure it would be a good fit.  Well, much to my surprise, it has one of the biggest fits thus far.  Caleb enjoys it, and I LOVE that he can do it independently with little to no assistance from me.

Science -- Caleb did an online science class through Florida Virtual School, but it was a bit too difficult to retain and remember everything when there was no textbook to skim through.  So, I bought the ACE PACES and they're doing the job for now.  We'll probably re-address science moving forward in 8th grade, but we've got time.

After saying I'd NEVER, EVER use Time4Learning, I now find myself using it with Micah, and he LOVES it.  This is a boy who loves to play on the computer, play video games, and is a whiz at electronics.  So, it was only natural to use this with him.  He likes that it doesn't require much writing (with a pencil, that is), and he's doing really well with it.  He does still sit with me to do Bible, Writing, Handwriting, and Reading.

We switched him to an online spelling program, too, and it's going really well, too.  He seems to have a knack for spelling, and again...it's not any writing, so he's thrilled with that.

It's about that time to begin researching curriculum for 2016-17 should we be making any changes.  I have a feeling there will be a few, but I'm still in the planning stages.




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