I can't believe that the school year is coming to an end. We have made some huge strides this year, but still have a long way to go with two of the kiddos (but the progress that they have made has been great!) I am already beginning to try and nail down our curriculum choices for next year. I am not big on change each year, but I need to make adjustments because of grades or things that just aren't working for us. I have a current list of what we used and what I thought about it Here . I am hoping to update it soon with next years list.
What I am hoping to get for next year:
Middle School {that was said with a bit of terror in my voice....}
Omnibus my oldest daughter will be starting 7th grade in the fall and wants try this program. It is world history, literature, and theology. If she just reads the minimal list of books, she will read: (1st semester) Aeschylus I: Oresteian Trilogy, The Codes of Hammurabi & Moses, Gilgamesh, The Histories, The Odyssey, and Plutarch's Lives Vol. 1 (2nd semester) The Aeneid, Early History of Rome, The Last Days of Socrates, Sophocles I, The Twelve Caesars, and Julius Caesar. This doesn't include the huge list of suggested secondary books :)
There is going to be huge learning curve, but she is up to the challenge!
Middle School Economics this program (and the below program on civics) is by request by my daughter {who apparently isn't as overwhelmed with omnibus as I am} She is very interested by economics and civics, and these are the only programs I found for this age rage....will be reviewing them.
Civics in America by Calvert
I am currently still trying to decided between two middle school science programs: either Science Shepherds life science (I think its meant to take 2 years to complete, 7th and 8th grades) or The Rainbow which is a two year program complete with experiment kit. Year one is Physics and Chemistry, year two is biology and applied science. I think I am leaning t0wards Rainbow. It is a bit more expensive but looks like it will better equip for high school. I would love to hear from anyone who has used either of these programs.
We will continue to use Aleks.com for math, I will be enrolling my soon to be 4th grader in the program as well. As well as continued use of Mega Words and Wordly Wise for language arts.
also looking into latin for her {and maybe the 4th grader as he i well advanced in LA}
New this fall for grade school...
R.E.A.L. Science Odyssey level one, life science. And the experiment kit. I have read good reviews about this science and am hoping that it will work for my 4 grade schoolers.
History Pockets I am hoping to use several of these in different grades along with our history curriculum. My kiddos are very hands on and creative/artistic so I hope these will peak there interests.
A child's History of Famous Americans, Calvert my 4th grader will be using this along with the history pockets for US history this year. I was going to also use Calvert's Oregon State History to fulfill the 4th grade state history requirement, but was just give a free copy of Oregon History by Switched on Schoolhouse.....and free sounds so much better :)
A Child's History of the World, Calvert will be the base for the 3rd grad history
I think will will be changing to Singapore Math for out SpEd students, we are also going to continue using Rocket Math and Phonics Connections with them.
I still have lots of planning to do...but this is a good start.
