Last week, I covered what my older son is using for his 3rd grade-specific subjects. Today, I'm covering my curriculum choices for our family-style homeschool subjects.
Bible
Two to three mornings a week, I read a Bible story to my kids over breakfast. We use The Story Bible and Memoria Press' accompanying discussion guide: Christian Studies Enrichment: Kindergarten through Second Grade. In all honesty, this is not my favorite story Bible. The content itself is great, but the language feels a bit short and choppy when I read it aloud. I do appreciate the questions and prayer that accompany each story, however. The Memoria Press guide also gives vocabulary definitions and more in depth comprehension questions (with suggested answers).
One to two mornings a week, I read from one of Simonetta Carr's series called Christian Biographies for Young Readers. We are about to finish reading about Augustine of Hippo. Next, we'll read about Anselm of Canterbury.
Memory Work
After reading a Bible story or Christian biography, we'll review memory verses, manners, states and capitals, Latin, and French. I keep these items on a loop. How many items we get through simply depends on how much time we have until we need to move onto the next thing. The manners cards came from Memoria Press' kindergarten curriculum. (We didn't get to them last year!) States and capitals are simply a set of flashcards. For memory verses, we start with verses recommended by Ambleside Online. I add additional verses that stand out to me once we have the verses for the current term memorized. Latin and French, I pull from the Latin and French curricula we are using.
Handwriting
For handwriting, I use my own curriculum: Wonders of Handwriting by Wisdom & Wonder Schoolhouse. I love this curriculum. It teaches handwriting (even cursive!) in a multi-sensory way. It's short and sweet and effective. My boys' handwriting has really taken off since I started teaching them handwriting this way.
I also print out a couple of memory verse copywork sheets each week. I've found these sheets help my kids with their handwriting and with memorizing Bible verses!
History
My kids do get quite a bit of history in their enrichment programs. So I decided this year, we would focus on Native American and pre-Columbian American history. Currently, we are using a combination of chapter and picture books, along with narration, discussion, videos, and crafts for our curriculum. I plan to write more on this as we go along. Let me know if you'd like me to write about it on the blog!
Science
My kids also get science in both of their enrichment programs. At home, we are following along Journey Homeschool Academy's astronomy course for elementary-aged kids. Because this is a video-based course, it's a bit more hands-off for me. My kids watch the lesson video and then I ask them for a narration on it. It's quick and simple. Because they do a lot of hands-on science and experiments in their enrichments, we keep science at home simple.
French
We are using the French program from the Alveary this year. In past years, we had used The Cultured Kid, but I felt my kids were outgrowing that program. I signed up for the Alveary last spring. If you're not familiar with it, the Alveary is a Charlotte Mason-based curriculum. Overall, I haven't used the Alveary as much as I had expected to. French has been an exception, however. I think it has been the perfect blend of moving to something a little more academic without being too academic. I wanted something that was mostly oral but not simply memorizing vocabulary and common phrases. This French program fits that perfectly. Also, my kids really enjoy the videos and the assignments.
Literature
We do literature mostly family-style. Here's how. For my 3rd grader, we have a time during our afternoon school block where I will take turns reading a chapter book aloud with my 3rd grader. My first grader tends to stick around to listen. We'll start with vocabulary words, then the read aloud. Then my kids will give me an oral narration on what we read. Finally, we'll go through a few discussion questions. While this could work for quite a few grade levels, I say this is our 3rd grade literature curriculum because of the reading level of our book selections. Also, my 3rd grader takes turns with me to read aloud. For this first fall term, I've been using literature guides from Memoria Press, starting in January, we'll be using the guides from our Tales & Treasures Book Club for this. I seriously cannot wait. This is something I've been dreaming of for so long. More details will be coming on this soon!
For our first grade literature, we are using book selections from the Alveary's first grade literature. These are mostly fairy tales and folktales. I really love the books they have selected. For these, because they are truly read alouds done by me, I read them to my boys at bedtime. In January, Tales & Treasures will also have an early chapter books option I will be using with my younger son as well.
Piano
While not necessarily done family-style, both of my boys use Hoffman Academy for learning to play piano. This program is amazing. I've heard nothing but good reviews of it, and I have nothing but positive things to say about it. If you don't want to go the route of in-person piano lessons, you really should look into this. The songs start out simple and build from there. Mr. Hoffman does a really great job at keeping music theory light and also memorable for kids. For now, this is our music. We do occasionally sing hymns throughout the week that we might have heard in church. My kids also do several musical theater productions a year. But this is my kids' steady, ongoing curriculum for music.
Art
This is another subject we don't actually do as a family; however, my kids use the same curriculum. I purchased the kindergarten through 5th grade art curriculum from Artsy Blevs on Teachers Pay Teachers last year. On nights when my husband takes one of my sons to a sports practice, I will typically stay home with my other son and we will do an art project from the curriculum together. So far, the projects have been super fun, on point skill-wise, and include art elements and concepts. It's great one-one-one time together and a way to sneak in extra learning with a fun project. We will also dabble in watercolor from time to time as well. This is something I don't really follow a curriculum for. I pull from various resources, depending on what we want to do for the day!
I love the topic of curricula. I love hearing and reading what others are using. I hope you found this helpful. I'd love to know—what subjects do you do family-style? What curricula are you using?