Homeschool Planning: Curriculum Choices

As we wrap of the end of the '13-'14 school year, I wanted to recap what worked well for us this year, and lay out what we're planning to do next year.  Some of the links in this post will be affiliate links.

What we used this year:  
Our base curriculum was My Father's World, year 2, Creation to the Greeks.  This comprehensive "box" curriculum was great for us in all areas but science.  It covered Bible, Literature, Vocabulary, History, Geography, Science, Music, and Art.

We added A Beka Math, which worked fine for Brianna and Jack, but not so well for Eli.  He ended up switching to CTC Math for a review, and likes that better, so we're sticking with that for him next year.  I haven't settled on a math program for Jack yet.  I may just stick with A Beka for him.

We supplemented the lousy science book with several "kit" type science experiences.  EEME was Eli's electronics building subscription, which he totally loved.  Einstein in a Box was a blast with the Lunar Launch kit we reviewed.  The Magic School Bus science kits I picked up from Educents were a little young for Brianna, but we had fun with them.

We also enjoyed some science DVDs.  A while back, a fellow homeschool mama posted about The Magic School Bus series being on super sale, so we got the collection.  My kids ALL enjoy those.  Even some big, nameless teen boys.  Katie asks for them by name.  The Curiosity Quest DVDs were a hit, as well, and I've had requests from the kids for more of those next year.  I'll have to take a look at our curriculum and then a look at their website, and see if anything matches up nicely.

You'll notice there is no language arts listed in the MFW materials.  We did a lot of journal writing and Jack did some Word Building paces before we discovered Spelling You See.  I'm delighted with SYS, and both Eli and Jack will finish out their books (and probably continue on in the series) next year.

About halfway through the year, I picked up Write From Ancient History at Educents.  It's a neat series, if you haven't seen it.  It has narratives, primary source materials, poetry, and cultural stories in chronological order from Ancient History to Modern Day.  We've been adding an assignment from this book about once a week.  I like it well enough that we'll order the next one when we get to the end of this one.

What we're planning to use next year:
For next year, we'll be doing My Father's World, Rome to the Reformation as our spine, covering Bible, Literature, Vocabulary, History, Geography, and Music.  Once we get into castle times, I have a Clickety Clack castle set for us to paint together, and the boys have requested Knights and Dragons to go with it.

Math, Spelling You See, and Write From Ancient History, we will continue on with, as I mentioned above.

We'll be doing Astronomy and the human body for science.  I won a gift certificate to A Journey Through Learning, and I'm planning to use it for enrichments for these subjects.

For art, we will finish up ARTisitic Pursuits and Draw and Write Through History: Greece and Rome.

I need to add some sort of reading program for Jack, but I haven't decided if I want to go back to Scaredy Cat or if I want to try All About Reading.  There's a program I'm very interested in for Eli, too, Rockets, Radar & Robotics, but I'm wondering if it would be too much on top of everything else.  I also want to be sure to leave some room for whatever review items come up next school year.

Our "summer bridge" activities:  
Since this year ends with Greece and next year begins with Rome, I got a few books to use as summer read alouds to make the transition. The Curse of the Acropolis: Athens, Greece and The Mystery at the Roman Colosseum by Carole Marsh will be fun reads. We have a bunch of her books, so the characters are familiar.  Detectives in Togas and Mystery of the Roman Ransom by Henry Winterfield are new to us.

Trying to inspire more outdoor activity, I got a couple pairs of these bucket stilts, and a few other outdoor toys.  We're hoping to spend some time at the community pool this summer, too, if Luke tolerates it.

I have a DVD I plan to pull out on one of the sweltering hot days when no one feels like moving: Drive Thru History: Rome and Greece. It actually came as a freebie with our HSLDA membership.

We're going to be reviewing Greece & Rome and Greek Myths from Moving Beyond the Page this summer, too.  So it's basically a Greek and Roman summer school program this year!

I know the old saying, "You want to make God laugh?  Tell him your plans."  But it feels good to have this all plotted out.  Even if we ultimately vary from the plan a bit, it's a starting point.

To read about what other Crew families are planning to use next year, please visit the

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