One of my favorite blog entries is the one in which the homeschool mom lists what she is using this year. Since we officially started school yesterday, I thought I would share what we’re doing this year. While the kids were still toddlers I read The Well-Trained Mind and decided that a classical method would work well for us. We love to read!

Bible–Children Desiring God Curriculum: Jesus, What A Savior! We have about five lessons remaining in this book, then we will use Leading Little Ones to God.

Math–Saxon K and 2. Hannah will start Saxon 3 sometime in November.

Reading–none. We read whatever we want to read and then talk about it. We choose books from the library that follow what we are studying in history and science. I also have the kids make notebook pages for what they read. Also, Hubby reads aloud to the kids in the evenings from something above their reading levels.

Spelling–Spell to Write and Read. I have found that the hardest subject to teach is spelling. We began with a phonics curriculum to teach reading and spelling, then last year I decided to go for something lighter and purchased Spelling Workout. Hannah was not learning to spell. She could remember how to spell the words for the tests, but then misspell the same words later. I decided to switch back to something that would teach the kids “how to” spell rather than them just memorizing what words are supposed to look like. This curriculum also incorporates handwriting. The kids will create a spelling notebook.

Grammar–First Language Lessons and Shurley Grammar, level 1

History–The Story of the World, Vol. 2
We used volume 1 last year and enjoyed it very much. I have to supplement it with books from the library, but this really isn’t a problem. We also use the internet for extra info and coloring pages. The activity book has proven indispensable. The kids make a notebook for history.

Science–this year we are studying earth science and astronomy. I decided to go with Apologia’s Considering God’s Creation and Exploring Creation with Astronomy. The kids will create a notebook.

Music–Hannah and Benjamin receive piano lessons and we have an extensive library of cds and musical performance dvds. While we do have lots of classical music, Hubby and my kids are more into classic rock! Our cd collection runs the gamut of musical offerings, but the dvds are mostly of great guitar players (electric, not classical). The kids are very good at playing by ear, too. After listening to The Lord of the Rings soundtrack, Benjamin sat down and began to pick out the Rohan theme.

Art–Hannah is quite gifted in this area. Benjamin is coming along. I am looking at a couple of curriculums to use, but I’m not sure that it is necessary. We have several books of famous works of art. Last school year, we would look at a picture and talk about it, then Hannah would make her own picture. I am open to suggestions!

Noah and Abbey are 3 and 4. They do whatever they can and want to do with the big kids. I purchased preschool curriculum from Rod & Staff so they would feel like they were really doing school.

I think that’s it! Tomorrow I’m planning to post our schedule to show how we get it all done.