I would usually wait to switch books and curriculum until the start of our new year, January 1st, but we have finished early or come to a point in the curriculum where I thought, "wait we need to go back and start over because you are NOT getting this as much as I feel you should". And I am not very concerned about what "grade" they are in, we just move on as we finish and continue in a progressive order. So I am just putting their age and not a grade level for each child, but I will put a grade level for the books. Also this does not include crafty, read a louds and field trips, those are planned weekly. We also only have 4 basic subjects, english, math, history and science. We do Bible/prayer/Catechism together daily. I also included prices and places I got the books to give you an idea of how much we spend for a school year.
Claire age 10
Math- Arithmetic 4 curriculum this is a review unit for her, we had been doing a 6th grade book, but fractions and more so decimals were a struggle. I got this curriculum (teacher workbook key I am just going through and writing the problems in a spiral notebook, my grandpa gives us about 25 each year, for her to use as her "workbook"and teacher lesson book that I will use for the daily teaching lessons) for free at a book sale and decided to just start over, we will be flying through this book just because most of it she has down, but thought it would be more beneficial to start at the beginning and I really like ABEKA.
History- From Sea to Shining Sea grades 5-9 American History from Ignatius Press we will be doing this a combined class with Maria. I found the book on google books and the teachers edition up to chapter 6, but that gives me time to either find the teachers book cheap or go through and make my own tests.
Science- Science Order and Reality, grade 7, I really like ABEKA books they seem to flow nicely and are easy to use. Claire has not done a science curriculum before she has done unit studies in the past, but looking through this book she has already learned about most of the units, so she will be expanding what she knows. This is another book (just the student book) I got off the free table at the last book sale I went to.
English- Literature and the Language Arts this is a grade 6 textbook that is full of short stories, it focus on reading comprehension and vocabulary and writing skills. I got his curriculum (student book, teacher book and answer key) from my dad, my brother who was home schooled never used it.
Claire age 10 at least 1 year of lessons; cost free
Maria age 12
Math- Saxon 6/5 grade 6, I love Saxon math, I always use Saxon (except for Clarie's review bc I got the ABEKA free) I got this student textbook free from a book sale. We will do 1 lesson a day, Maria was just not as strong as I wanted her to be for math. We will supplement with some of the free resources on the Saxon website.
History- From Sea to Shining Sea grades 5-9 American History from Ignatius Press we will be doing this a combined class with Claire. I found the book on google books and the teachers edition up to chapter 6, but that gives me time to either find the teachers book cheap or go through and make my own tests.
Science- Matter and Motion in God's Universe grade 8 ABEKA. I got this student book from a friend. Maria also has done only unit studies in the past but I like that ABEKA mixes reading and hands on in their books so I think she will enjoy this book.
English- Grammar and Composition I grade 7. I have the teacher book and student book, I got both from my dad unused.
Maria age 12 at least 1 year of lessons: cost free
Pio age 13
Math- Saxon 8/7 grade 8 with pre-algebra. another set of books (teachers, student and test) I got from my dad, we will do 1-2 lessons a week. Depending on how Pio does in the teacher instructed lesson, if he gets it we usually just do part of the mixed practice, if he needs more time to work with it we do the lesson practice and all of mixed practice
History- Christ the King, Lord of History this is a 2 year curriculum book for 9th and 10th grade and is world history. I got he book off a Catholic curriculum swap Yahoo group for $13 including shipping. And found the workbook for it on a Catholic book website, it is in a down loadable/printable form but I will probably just have him answer the questions in a spiral notebook instead of printing it all out (we are all about being
Science- Exploring Creation with Biology High School grades, I have never used anything from Apologia but this is a computer based curriculum, all of the lessons are on that computer disk that runs on Internet explorer and has hands on experimentsPio will answer in a notebook so we can cut out printing costs. This is a really in depth curriculum and I am excited to use it. I only wish it had a timeline of how long each study unit will take. I did not take biology in high school and I am unsure of how easy/hard it will be for Pio, so I do not know how to plan my lessons.
English- Themes in Literature grade 9 (another free table find) similar to Claire's book this is a collection of short stories, poems and the like the are read and have vocabulary and comprehension questions along with each story. It also has writing assignments that go along with each story, so if it is a biography the student might need to write a biography. All assignments are short and able to be done in a day. It also has a timed out loud reading section so once every 9 weeks you can test their reading speed which for me is not a big deal but some people like it. Aslo the teacher book is outlined very well as far as lesson plans, easy to implement.
Pio age 13 at least 1 year of lessons: cost $13
So for 1 year of home school curriculum for 3 children I spent $13 on textbooks. On craft items and printer ink I spend around $100 a year. I try to ask for craft items, glue and that sort of thing from my in-laws who like to by the kids "back-to-school" stuff. And depending on what I find at Good Will and garage sales that number might go down, or up if I have a pricey craft that I have to buy all the items for at a regular store. So all in all not a bad cost considering that school fees in our district are between $160 and $200 a child depending on grade.
I hope you enjoyed seeing what we are up to. :)
Amy
Preach the Gospel at all times. If necessary, use words. - St. Francis of Assisi
