2017-2018 School Year Curriculum - Back to Homeschool Blog Hop 2017

We tend to be ecclectic homeschoolers and also tend to school year round.  We take off for holidays and times when sickness just takes over.  We have taken off a few weeks in the fall, spring and summer in the past but might try to do 6 weeks on, 1 week off this year.  We will need to adjust a little around Christmas, but it just might work.  Not fully sold on that yet!


I have always known that I had a struggling learner in my son, but was just recently able to pin it that he is a SPATIAL Visual Learner.  What?!!  Yes, he basically thinks in pictures and seeing the whole picture rather than through words and learning in bits and pieces.  He learns holistically rather than in parts. He tends to miss out on the details.  Tag that on with a bit of dysgraphia and ADHD and we have a hot mess!



He wasn't reading by second grade and I panicked.  When I finally found How to Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons we were able to get him reading and up to grade level by the end of his second grade year.  Fast forward to this year where he will be starting the 8th grade.  Wow, where has the time gone?  I am also homeschooling a 7th grader and a Pre K4 year old that I am going to start in Kindergarten because she is just ready and her birthday falls within a month of the public school schedule for qualifying for kindergarten.

We have found Schoolhouseteachers.com to be an excellent resource for us in our homeschool journey.  We plan to use it for most of our upcoming homeschool year. 

For the 7th and 8th grader:

Math - we have found that CTC math has been a true blessing!  It is online and consists of short, approximately 5 min, video lessons and short, generally only 10, practice questions.  The lessons are short, to the point, and he is learning wonderfully.  He will be starting Algebra here in about a week so I'd say it's a win!  I also recently reviewed No-Nonsense Algebra and have found this to be a valued resource in review and supplemental help. My Kindergartner, 7th and 8th graders will all use CTC Math this year.

Language Arts (Schoolhouseteachers)

1. Opening the Door to Poetry - 9 wks
2. Refelcting on Poetry - 2 weeks
3. Children's Literature for Life - Carry on, Mr. Bowditch - 4 week unit study
4. Daily Grammar - 16 wks
5. Middle School Spelling - 36 wks 
6. Creative Writing - 24 wks
7. Research Skills (7th Grade) - 6 weeks
8. English on a Roll (we reviewed this one too, not on Schoolhouseteachers)

Science

1. Earth Science (Schoolhouseteachers)

Bible  (Schoolhouseteachers)

1. Apologetics Creation vs Evolution - 15 wks
2. Creation Apologetics
3. Christian Discipleship Lessons

History (Schoolhouseteachers)

1. Classical History -29 weeks
2. We will do a conglomeration of things through the year including Drive Thru History

Social Studies (Schoolhouseteachers)

1. American Government
2. Checks and Balances

Geography

1. All About Maps (Schoolhouseteachers)
2. Let's Go Geography (we are currently reviewing this on the Crew!)

Of course since I'm on the Review Crew there will be more items added as we review them and work them into our schedule.

For my preK/Kindergartner, I will do a mixture of things.  She is using several things we have reveiwed for the Crew this year and we are continuing them into this school year. 

1. Phonics Museum App (we are reviewing right now)
2. Bible ABC Notebook curriculum (reviewed earlier this year)
3. Ecclectic Foundations Language Arts (reviewed earlier this year)
4. CTC Math
5. K5 Learning (still a few months left from our review)
6. Spanish (she just loves this program from Whistlefritz that we reviewed!)

As always, I know some things will change over the course of the year and there are still some electives to be decided on.  We will plug on as always and enjoy the journey.  Take time to check out some other posts on what other homeschool families on our Review Crew are using for their Curriculum.