(so many) Curriculum Choices

Being new to homeschooling I became quickly overwhelmed by all the curriculum choices. After reading lots of reviews, looking through catalogs, and suggestions from friends (Thanks Angie & Jill!), I eventually decided on the curriculum mix that I hope is best for my daughter this year. It's exciting when the boxes arrive with our books in them :)

Geography/Our Core

We are using My Father's World: Exploring Countries & Cultures Deluxe for our base curriculum. We want her to learn Geography before studying world history. Since her reading level is high, we're also using the 7th & 8th grade supplements to make it more challenging for her. In addition to the book basket suggestions we are also planning to include some books from the Sonlight reading list.

We are using the recommended Writing Strands and for grammar the All-in-one English Series. She's been writing in cursive since kindergarten, so we may try our hand at calligraphy this year.

Science

For science we added Apologia Exploring Creation with Zoology 3: Land Animals of the Sixth Day and the journal book for it. My daughter loves animals and asked to study them. I plan to coordinate the animals we study with the countries, rather than in order of the zoology book.

Math

We decided to base math on some free online programs with supplements and I'll have a separate post on that to follow. Update: Math choices are published here

The Arts

For Music we will include the Wee Sing Around the World and she is also learning to play the ukulele. We may add in a composer here and there based on the country we are studying.

We will include some projects from Global Art along with studying artists from different countries. I also found Mapping The World With Art to teach how to create maps and it looks AMAZING!

Foreign Language

Lindsey wants to study French as a foreign language, but we haven't decided what curriculum to use yet. Rosetta Stone looks great, but not sure I can afford it. We will probably add something in the 2nd quarter once we get into a routine with everything else. We love everything french & it's our dream to go to Paris one day. Our homeschool classroom is decorated with a French theme in black, white, & pink. I'll blog about it once we get it finished (hopefully soon).

Home Economics

We plan to prepare recipes from each country as part of Home Economics. I'm looking forward to eating our way around the world! Grocery lists, budgeting, and trips to the grocery store will be included. We will continue with sewing lessons; Lindsey has already sewn a curtain for her bedroom, clothing for her & her her American Girl Doll Felicity, and a sleeping bag for her doll. Since fashion is something she enjoys we will also look at fashion as it relates to the countries we are studying. Perhaps she will be inspired to design & sew new fashions for her dolls.


I'm excited to start our adventures around the globe soon & our passport is ready! Lindsey has created a Flat Lindsey (like Flat Stanley) that we will send around the globe. We'll post the travel adventures of Flat Lindsey on the blog, so stay tuned...

Where will your homeschool studies take you this year? Please share with us in the comments below.