3 posts tagged “curriculum”

We don't do curriculum at the moment (in the traditional sense) but we make it up as we go along.  We cover the children's interests and fit in extra subjects as we go along.  For instance, we covered Scottish history when we went to Scotland and the Egyptians to fit in with a visit to the King Tut exhibition.  Surprisingly enough the kids seem to have a really clear chronological historical knowledge even though we don't necessarily cover it in chronological order.  They seem to fit it together like a jigsaw puzzle.  They are much more clever than me!

However, I am finding the collation of all the information they need a bit time consuming and difficult.  We are therefore looking at a very flexible curriculum (for 3 age groups!)with plenty of different activities to stimulate their minds.  I won't tell you which, because that will sway you - really it will!  I love the idea of having it all in front of me, but I really don't want to be doing "school" at home.  I want plenty of reading time, plenty of talking and discussion and not too much bookwork.  I really do believe that they need to write to learn, but I also don't want every new discovery to be killed by the threat of written work.  The kids can smell written work coming!!

We have maths curriculum for Ewan and Callum.  I am making it up as I go along for Isobel. That is it for curriculum really.

What works for us??  We love A Child's Geography.  We also love the Apologia science books.  We are studying Zoology at the moment.  In both there is lots of practical application and some written work (notebooking and lapbooks) but real flexibility.

SO, for the homeschoolers among you;  do you use curriculum?  What do you use and WHY?

I can't resist examining our 'curriculum' constantly.  I wish I could just settle down and enjoy what we are doing already.  There are so many different things that we could be doing.  It makes my head spin! Say we are studying the Egyptians, then I am fretting that we haven't covered the Romans yet.  We are plodding on with the maths and then there is another curriculum that looks wonderful.  At the end of the day, we are doing some wonderful work and maybe I should just settle and get on with it!

Take the Maths.  I LOVE MathUsee, but it would cost us quite a lot of money to do it.  Buying 3 kids the books and then the teacher packs and the manipulatives would be just too much.  Also they have learnt different things at different times so they would have to redo some stuff to get on track with the new curriculum.  In the end, I think we are better continuing as we are. Callum would be coming to the end of Key Stage 2 so I figure that we should spend a few months consolidating that rather than moving on.

So here is the curriculum so far (if I can just find my paper napkin....):

Daily handwriting: Evan Moor

Maths - Schofield and Sims and National Curriculum practice books

Literacy - The easy bit - poetry, notebooking, story writing according to our other studies.  Spelling and grammar as it is needed.

History - Scotland's Story (we love it!) which is easy to read and fun for the kids.  We notebook and add to each subject with internet resources.

Geography - No question here - A Child's Geography is wonderful. We are writing travel journals and doing craft related to the topic.  We listen to music from the area and cook the food.

Bible Study - Abraham - God's Brave Explorer by Kay Arthur and Janna Arndt - easy to use and very clear

Science - Flying Creatures of the Fifth Day - with lapbooks and notebooking pages.  This is new but I am really excited about this.

Free Study - Callum and Ewan, Astronomy - Isobel, Butterflies - This is their choice and they can carry it out however they like.  I am going to do a bit of research to help Ewan and I will sit with him to guide him a bit.  Callum and Isobel can carry out most of the work themselves with help from me if they need it.

There are some gaps that need filling.  The kids are still writing their cookbook (slowly) but we are only putting in recipes that we use a lot.  There is so much stuff that we want to do. I would love to try The Gift of Family Writing, but there are not enough hours in the day!

Now all I need to sort is the timetable! 

After all the Christmas rest and relaxation, we are back to schooling.  This is our second term and I am starting to get better organised.  I know what I need to have achieved by the end of this term.  I feel a lot more confident in my abilities.  We are pretty much using the National Curriculum as a basis for our curriculum.  I am not sure how schools manage to get through all the curriculum that the government expect them to get through.  I have been looking through all the Framework and we will struggle with only 3 kids to cover it.

I am doing the history myself!  After looking at the Well Trained Mind book, I think we will start at the beginning - Ancient History.  We are quite excited about doing the Egyptians but we have a bit to go before we get there.  As for the science, we are going to cover the weather.  We seem to have had such a lot of rain and flooding that it seems to make the most sense!

As for the maths and literacy, I am trying to keep to the National Curriculum.  The maths will be as the curriculum demands.  The literacy will follow the same paths but we are using some different books.  Literacy is still met with a groan so I think we will have to work on that.

Today we have been finishing off character representation and A Christmas Carol which was left from the end of last term.  Ewan has been counting in tens using the abacus.  We also played a multiplication game.  I had not realised that my times tables were so rusty!  I am sure I will get better with the kids!!

Sounds all roses doesn't it - well you didn't see us all in Lidl today!  Or maybe you did.  I was the wailing one with the wild kids!  Why do they do that!!??