Our Homeschool Curriculum 2015-2016

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It's hard to believe that it's already getting close to time for Back to School, or in our case, (NOT) Back to School!  I recently started organizing our homeschool curriculum and preparing the weekly folders, so I've had school on the brain. Add in the school supply sales I've seen, and I'm in full-out planning mode. I've had our core curriculum for a while, but I'm still deciding on a few things here and there. However, I wanted to go ahead and share our curriculum during the 7th Annual "Not" Back to School Blog Hop, so I'm sharing what I do know we'll be using and then I'll update this post with my final decision later. This year I'll be teaching 3rd grade and early preschool.

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Third Grade Homeschool Curriculum

We are using My Father's World Exploring Countries and Cultures. We've used My Father's World from the beginning and have loved it so much. Through this year's curriculum, we will take a trip around the world and explore diverse countries and cultures while learning geography and being challenged by true stories of missionaries. We will experience different cultures by preparing traditional food, making native crafts, and listening to ethnic music.

Bible

• We will be reading true stories from Hero Tales of godly men and women and the character traits they portrayed as they served as missionaries. We will also be reading books from the Christian Heroes series about specific missionaries: Cameron Townsend, Amy Carmichael, Nate Saint, David Livingstone, George Muller, Gladys Aylward,
• Weekly information about different ethnic groups around the world and their specific prayer needs, using Window on the World.
• Weekly memory verses and daily readings from Matthew.
• Our church's Awana program and memorizing Bible verses

Reading

• We will be reading lots and lots of "living" books from our library for each country we study. You should see our library trips! (And our library fees if I forget to return the books! Yikes!)
• Daily independent "Book Basket" reading time as well as listening during read aloud time.
• We will use the Complete Book of Animals as a portion of reading comprehension practice. This also doubles as science.

Language Arts

• We're using Language Lessons for Today (Grade 3)
• Letter Writing (we'll write one letter a week)
• Narration, copywork, dictation, and memorization is included in several areas of MFW
• All About Spelling

Geography

• We'll be studying maps and globes with Illustrated World Atlas, Children's Atlas of God's World,  Classroom Atlas, Maps and Globes, and a world wall map, as well as additional hands-on activities.
• Geography Game teaching country names and locations included in My Father's World.
• Vocabulary focused on geographic terms using Geography From A to Z.
• Hands-on activities (cooking, flag making, passport, etc.) to explore 15 countries using A Trip Around the World and Another Trip Around the World.
• Flags of the World Ultimate Sticker Book will be used for a "passport" and other activities we do throughout the year.

Science

• This year we'll focus on different habitats (desert, rain forest, grassland, forest, polar region, etc.) using Properties of Ecosystems and Usborne Living World Encyclopedia. Our habitat study will correlate to the country being studied (for example, we'll study the rain forest when studying Brazil.)
• We'll use The Great Animal Search to go along with our habitat study. This brain-teasing picture puzzle has over 100 animals to spot on every double page of this book. Each beautifully illustrated scene shows the wildlife in a different part of the world and includes fascinating animal facts.
• Weekly nature walk and nature journal. We'll be carrying our Nature Walk Bag with us, of course.

Art and Music

• We'll enjoy art projects and music from countries we "visit" this year using Global Art and Wee Sing Around the World.
• When we study Asia, we'll use Fun With Easy Origami.
• Hymn Treasures from our church's children's choir--each month the kids learn a new hymn.
• Seeds Family Worship CD's--our favorite!
• We're hoping to start piano lessons this year if we can work it into our budget.

Math

• Here's the tricky one. I'm still trying to figure out which math to use. Jonah hates math and really resists it. I'm still trying to figure out if I should stick with our current curriculum or move on to another program. I'm leaning heavily toward switching, but have not decided which curriculum to start instead.
• Daily math facts practice using flash cards, Fast Facts, or other various activities to increase math fact fluency. (Note: we won't spend long on these drill activities--5 minutes tops. I'm not a huge flash card lover and like to focus more on authentic learning activities, but Jonah desperately needs to gain some math fact fluency.)

Early Preschool

Asher turns 4 in September, and though I can't believe we're already here, he'll be doing some preschool with me. I recently assessed him using my old Kindergarten assessment, and was pleasantly surprised! He can identify all uppercase and lowercase letters already and can tell me about 10 letter sounds, so he's well on his way! I'll be pulling together a variety of materials: preschool printable packs, busy bags, great books, sensory bins, and lots of fine motor skills activities. I'm still trying to decide on my official plan for this time with Asher, but I've been worrying more about Jonah's curriculum choices so far.

Whew! I'm exhausted just listing it all! Here's to a productive, fun, and memorable school year! Want to see more homeschool curriculum choices? Visit the Not Back to School Blog Hop!

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