We are continuing most of the curricula that we were working on in the Fall, but we are adding a few new things:
1) Classically Catholic Memory (Gamma year) - I've looked at this program for at least a year and finally decided to get it. This program has memory work planned for you in history, science, geography, religion, Latin, math, and poetry. It was the geography part that finally convinced me to get this. I really want my kids to have a better knowledge of geography than I have and this looked like a good way to do it. Plus, it includes all those other subjects as well. I chose the Gamma year because it most closely followed the history that Cati and Matteo are studying this year and it is the year that studies the geography of North America, which seems like a good place to start.
I introduced the program to the kids this week since I knew it would take a bit of time to get started and explain it to the kids. They are really enjoying it, especially the geography. The maps that come with it are nice and big, heavily laminated and sturdy. On one side you place stickers labeling the places that you're memorizing and on the other side you trace and label the areas with a wet-erase marker to test yourself. Kids always love drawing with those kinds of markers. In just three days they have already learned half of the Canadian territories and Chiara has learned the continents of the world.
2) I'm determined to work regularly with Elena for 10-15 minutes per day to solidify her letter recognition and sounds so she will be ready to start reading in the fall. My other kids have picked up on letters and their sounds without me having to teach them, but Elena seems to need a little help from me on this. Kids this age love having a time carved out for them to do "school" with mom anyway, so I'm sure this will be good for her. I got Seton's Phonics K books. We're going to put a page protector over the pages and do them with a dry-erase marker so she can go back and repeat pages as needed. We started this today and she loved it!
3) IEW - I know, I'm among the last to jump on this bandwagon :) I've heard others talk about how much they love this program for many years. Well, I finally got it, wanting a writing program to help teach Maria how to write good essays as she comes up on the high school years (starting in the Fall!). Most writing programs want you to start from the beginning in 4th or 5th grade. IEW is one of the few that lets you jump in at any age. We were all recently very sick with some sort of cold-like virus for a couple of weeks, and since I couldn't do much besides sit around anyway, I took the time to watch all the DVDs that come with the program (I got the TWSS and SWI B). I was really impressed with its organization and progression and I'm really looking forward to starting it with ALL four of the older kids! Writing samples to come soon, I'm sure!
4) Mom meeting time - I've included in our schedule about 15 minutes for each of the older three kids to meet with me individually each day to make sure all of their assignments are complete, to do anything that needs to be done one-on-one, such as memory work, to let them ask me any questions, and to grade their work. This serves several purposes: a) I can't tell you how many times I've found out after a few days that certain things have been left undone, "accidentally forgotten," even though it is clearly listed on their assignment sheets! Well, now I'm going to double check things with them before they are officially finished for the day. b) I want to reduce the number of times I'm interrupted by the older three while working with Chiara. I do all of her work one-on-one in the mornings, and often the older ones will interrupt with a question, or ask me to quiz them on Latin vocab, etc. This ends up cutting down on Chiara's time with me and breaks her concentration when we're working. So, I want to be stricter about not allowing interruptions during this time by giving the older ones their own scheduled time to address their needs. c) In the fall, I would check and grade their work on the weekends and make their new assignment sheets for the coming week, but it would take me SO LONG! So, I'd really like to grade their work with them each day and let them make any corrections at the time so that I won't get so behind and have to take such a huge chunk of my Saturdays catching up.
That's all of changes we're making for this term. Here's a brief listing of the kids' subjects and curricula for the term:
Maria
Art of Problem Solving - Algebra I
Second Form Latin
First Start French
Rosetta Stone Italian
IEW SWI B
Catholic Textbook Project's Light to the Nations II
Center for Lit online literature discussion class
CC Memory work, Gamma year and other poetry memory work
Kolbe Academy's Physical Science
Copywork
Religion (3 older kids together): Seton 6 catechism, various saint readings, The Great Adventure Bible Timeline audio CD
Meet the Masters Art
Cati and Matteo
Math Mammoth & Life of Fred
First Form Latin
Rosetta Stone Italian
IEW SWI B
RC History, US history with From Sea to Shining Sea text
reading through Reading Roadmap's 3rd and 5th grade lit lists (Center for Lit)
CC Memory Work, Gamma year and other poetry memory work
Apologia science - Zoology II, Botany
Copywork (Cati only)
Pentime 2 and 3 handwriting (Matteo only)
Religion (3 older kids together): Seton 6 catechism, various saint readings, The Great Adventure Bible Timeline audio CD
Meet the Masters Art
All About Spelling, Level 5 (Matteo only)
Chiara
Math Mammoth & Life of Fred
Rosetta Stone Italian
copywork
narrations and beginning writing from keyword outlines
Story of the World, Ancients, audio and lapbook
All About Reading 2
All About Spelling 2
Religion - Seton 1 catechism, saint and Bible readings
parts of CC Memory, Gamma year and other poetry memory work
science and art as desired with older kids
read-alouds
