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teachingmyown
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| Posted: June 25 2007 at 2:56pm | IP Logged
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I am still here musing and sighing over curriculum choices. Not quite in a panic anymore, actually no energy for a panic. 
My latest train of thought is to just pick what I think is the best fit for us in each subject and go with that instead of buying a curriculum such as Kolbe or Sonlight. I would be missing the lesson plans, but IF I can get my MROL together and actually have a daily schedule, and use books or materials break down logically by day or week, I could actually do it.
Here is what I am thinking:
Language of God for all 4 kids
My Catholic Speller for all 4 kids
Explode the Code for grades 2, 1 and pre-K
Singapore Math for grades 4, 2 and 1, still working on 6th grade math
Faith and Life for all grades, along with CHC 1st Communion prep
Lives of the Saints, I would like to use the Vision teacher's guide and use it for their writing assignments
Real Science for Kids for all levels
Let's Read and Find Out science books
Language, I need help here. My kids really hate Prima Latina. Do I stick with Latin? Is there an effective but more enjoyable program?
I am still not sure about History. I am looking at RC History, but am a little intimidated. I was thinking I would just go with SOTW along with the workbooks and work our way through that. Then when we have finished those books, however long that will take, move on to History of US.
What am I leaving out? I have always been weak on Art. We have some of the Draw Write Now books, and I want to get the Come, Look with Me books.
I would like any input. Be as brutal as you want!  Especially those of you who know me!
Thanks.
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In Christ,
Molly
wife to Court & mom to ds '91, dd '96, ds '97, dds '99, '01, '03, '06, and dss '07 and 01/20/11
Remembering Today
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Ruth
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| Posted: June 25 2007 at 3:11pm | IP Logged
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Looks great, Molly! I'm doing Language of God, CHC Spellers, and Faith and Life with my 4 youngest. I love Explode the Code and Let's Read and Find Out science books. I'm also very weak with Art. I think this is a great plan. Good luck!
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Ruth
mom to 7 miracles
My family blog
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guitarnan
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| Posted: June 25 2007 at 6:02pm | IP Logged
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I like your list, too (it's mighty familiar around here!).
Perhaps for art, you might go to your local library and see if they have Mike Venezia's fantastic series of artists' biographies. This is the series we used all year; I just "happened" to have one around when there was nothing else to read aloud and my kids were hooked on his breezy proze style and funny cartoons. By the time we read Chasing Vermeer (by Blue Balliett) aloud, we'd done about a dozen artists and my "art-hating" daughter demanded to go to the National Gallery of Art! We had a great time visiting paintings by all the artists from Venezia's books (he lists where you can view works by each artist at the end of each book).
We tried Prima Latina a couple of years ago and my children didn't like it either (mostly because of the southern accent on the CD, don't ask me why). We switched to German, but I wouldn't advise that if your children would prefer a different language. It's much easier to find resources for Spanish, French, you name it...German is VERY unpopular.
Throw in some good classical music CD's for those endless hours on I-95, and I think you're set! 
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Nancy in MD. Mom of ds (24) & dd (18); 31-year Navy wife, move coordinator and keeper of home fires. Writer and dance mom.
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Theresa H
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| Posted: June 25 2007 at 8:10pm | IP Logged
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Molly,
I will be using CHC Language of God and Spellers. THis coming year is just our 3rd year to homeschool and art has been weak for use too. I liked Seton's grade 4 art, but plan to use information from the National Gallery of Art. Sites to access:
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Theresa from OK
Married to Bill(92), 4 children: ds(94), ds(97), ds(00) & dd(06).
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Theresa H
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| Posted: June 25 2007 at 8:19pm | IP Logged
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Molly,
I'm also using CHC Language of God and Spellers. I like Seton Grade 4 art, but plan to use information from National Gallery of Art for art appreciation along with Seton grade 5 and 8. They will send videos/DVD for you to view, only cost is return postage, and have a website for kids. Here are the websites (sorry I do not know how to make a link yet).
www.nga.gov/education/classroom/laonfinder and nga.gov.kids.
I'm still trying to figure out how to include Latin in our studies that is fairly easy to do with varied ages.
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Theresa from OK
Married to Bill(92), 4 children: ds(94), ds(97), ds(00) & dd(06).
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teachingmom
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| Posted: June 25 2007 at 10:47pm | IP Logged
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Molly,
It sounds great! I'm using Language of God for the first time next year -- for my 2nd, 4th, and 6th grader. In fact, the box just arrived today. Much of the rest of your plan is what I have arrived at over the years.
For history, we just choose an interesting historical period and dive right in using living books - a mix of picture books, novels, non-fiction DK or Usborne-type books, and biographies. This past year we did Ancient Rome for the first semester and World War II the second. Next year we will re-visit Colonial times (already hit that time period 5 years ago) and hopefully fit in a trip to Jamestown and Williamsburg. My girls love doing history this way in the elementary years.
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~Irene (Mom to 6 girls, ages 7-19)
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Anne
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| Posted: June 26 2007 at 5:58am | IP Logged
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Molly you sound a lot like me. I have been trying to put it all together myself as well. I finally made the decisiion to go with Tapestry of Grace. It will be our history language arts writing and art activities. I am also looking at another art program to suppliment the craft type activities.Has anyone looked at Artistic Pursuitsfor art? They combine art and history together. I am considering using this. Let me know what you think about it!
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Anne in TN
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allegiance_mom
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| Posted: June 28 2007 at 12:13pm | IP Logged
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"Mike Venezia's fantastic series of artists' biographies"
He also writes a composers' series which we used in second grade with great results.
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Bookswithtea
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| Posted: June 30 2007 at 8:30am | IP Logged
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Story of the World is a great choice for schooling lots of ages together. SOTW 1 needs no Catholic altering, and the activity sheets are really nice. I bought mine on audio so that we can listen together when the baby comes. I have a 5th grader and a 2nd grader doing this together. The 5th grader will read readers from the SL core 5 and 6 lists along with www.readingyourwaythroughhistory.com. The younger one will continue with phonics and listen to read alouds. The rest of the SOTW books need modifying, but at one book a year, its doable, and the audiobook option along with activity sheets and even quiz sheets (if you like that sort of thing) make it so easy for a busy mom to use.
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Blessings,
~Books
mothering ds'93 dd'97 dd'99 dd'02 ds'05 ds'07 and  due 9/10
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Sarah
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| Posted: June 30 2007 at 12:28pm | IP Logged
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I'm going to mix and match subjects, too, Molly.
Seems to work well here!
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Six boys ages 16, 14, 11, 7, 5, 2 and one girl age 9
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teachingmyown
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| Posted: July 14 2007 at 1:00pm | IP Logged
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Okay, I changed my mind. Imagine that!
I have decided to go with Sonlight as a frame. We will do Core 3, American History with all 4 kids. It will be a stretch both top and bottom, but we haven't done a good year of Amer history in a long time and I want to do it. Hopefully, we will make it to Williamsburg and Jamestown. (Irene, maybe we could meet up?)
Anyway, so that is one change. Another is that I think I will do First Language Lessons with dds 7 and 5. When they do workbooks, I tend to let them go without really interacting with them. I am hoping this will commit me to be more involved. I am considering using Volume 2 for my 4th grader. Otherwise, I will use Sonlight's LA program.
I am going to put Latin on hold for a year or two, and purchase Rosetta Stone Spanish for them all to work on. I looked at Latin for Children yesterday and liked it. DD 11 even said "cool!"! But I think I will give Spanish a try first.
For art, I am going to commit to use what I already have, which is so much, and actually plan it into our schedule. Revolutionary idea, I know!
For music, I will like the look of Music Ace Deluxe sold by Timberdoodle. I can't afford music lessons and am pretty rusty on music theory myself, so I thought this would be a fun, painless way to introduce it to my kids.
Now for Language Arts for my 6th grader, I have a few options. There is Sonlight's LA, plus their new program Grammar Ace, which should work well. She really likes Language of God but again, I tend to let them get ahead of me with workbooks and then have to re-teach what they misunderstand.
I went to a conference yesterday and picked up a few things from IEW. One is Fix-it Grammar, which looks so simple and I can use it with the 6th and 4th graders. I also bought "Bible-based Writing Lessons for my 6th grader. Another unexpected find was "Teaching the Classics: A Socratic Method for Literary Education". It was an impulse buy, but I am pretty excited about it. I have always felt inadequate trying to discuss or analyze books with my older kids. The last thing is even more of an impulse buy. It is called "A Word Write Now, Structured Word Lists for Stylized Writing". It is a creative writing tool that helps writers come up with different ways to describe character traits, various adjectives and adverbs. It will work as a great supplement to the IEW writing program.
Of course, some things didn't change (yet!). I will still be using Singapore, My Catholic Spellers, Faith and Life and Explode the Code. I am still debating the science choices.
I hope to get started in early August, so we will have time to fool around during the beautiful Fall weather, and of course, there is the baby coming in December!
I love feedback. I get to the end of a planning session and my head spins and I don't know which end is up. So, if you see any glaring mistakes, please jump in and save me from myself. 
Thanks!
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In Christ,
Molly
wife to Court & mom to ds '91, dd '96, ds '97, dds '99, '01, '03, '06, and dss '07 and 01/20/11
Remembering Today
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JSchaaf
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| Posted: July 14 2007 at 1:54pm | IP Logged
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If you haven't already finalized your plans, you might want to look at The Big Book of Lively Latin. I've heard good things about it and just ordered it for the fall.
Jennifer
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4Real Forums : Living Learning
Topic: Putting it together myself
