Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Most of Curriculum Shopping Done


Well, I've done most of my curriculum shopping. I've got a mishmash of different curricula and publishers. For my eight grader's math I have The life of Fred, Beginning Algebra and Algebra 1 by Heath. The Life of Fred is a book that has a bunch of heavy reading. Since my daughter reads a lot, I think she'll enjoy having a math book like this one. The other is a standard applications math book, which will be most helpful to me as a teacher. I still need to get a graphing calculator.

We are also going to start Latin this year. My daughter is very interested in the etymology of words, so Latin will help with that. Other than that it will be English, Life Science, US History, Spelling, and Spanish. It should be a very exciting year.

My fourth grader will be working in 4th and 5th grade math books. I have Haughton and Miffin plus stretch your mind mathematics. I am going to be doing a lot more writing exercises with her this year. I have A Beka Language Arts. We are going to work hard on punctuation and sentence structure. Last year I encouraged her to write from her heart this year, she needs to tighten up her grammar and writing skills. We'll also continue spelling, social studies, and science. I am going to work from a 2nd-3rd grade book and 4th grade book. The lower level keeps Science fun, but the on level books keep her on track with definitions and concepts.

In case you were wondering, I got most of my books on ebay, with the exception of The Life of Fred. I watched a lot of items, read reviews on Amazon, searched for days, but eventually I got most of what I needed for about $75.00. I was also blessed enough to shop at a yard sale of a homeschooling mom. I scored a bunch of books for about $10.00.

I will probably attend the homeschooling expo coming to town next month, but I am not anticipating buying too much.
It is my goal to get my lesson planning done while my girls are away over the next month, I've definitely got to get it all done my mid-october because our new baby is on his way. Wish me luck.

Monday, July 13, 2009

Good News for the Girls!

Both of their BFFs are being homeschooled this year. They'll have wonderful field trip partners now. Yea!!!!! I am so excited.