It’s summertime and the children are excited to be finished school for the summer. I’m deep in the throes of getting ready for next year! I love school and I love planning for school. I’d like to review some curriculum I use to help you as you choose what education your children will have. These are my personal favorites or preferences. It is a good starting point for anyone wanting to start a journey that is both encouraging rewarding all at the same time.
From birth on I have always read to my children. By the time they were 4 they were not only excited about kindergarten but ready to learn in a bit more in a formal setting. I’m not a proponent of stuffing our children when they are 4 into a desk for hours a day when they are still developing in so many ways.
Simple learning is still the best for them and a variety of activities (emphasis on active) is the best way to go. Easing into kindergarten when they are four and allowing yourself to see them in kindergarten for two years not only takes the pressure off of you but them as well. But, don’t worry, they will surprise you and you’ll find they only need one year of kindergarten I’m sure.
So what curriculum do I suggest for these younger grades (Kindergarten through sixth grade)?
I CAN READ
This is a course my mom wrote and I used with Mellie. The most important point of this course is that your child will learn to read from God’s Word! She uses Bible to help them learn to read by teaching them phonics and new words. Words they can read are colored and the black words are words that the parents read for them.
Obviously as they progress the words in black get less and less and the child’s vocabulary increases more and more. Mellie has been so helped by this program and now when we have family devotions each morning, she can read verses from her Bible. This is so special. If you’re interested you can contact me via email (jgeoffrion@hotmail.com) but here are some samples for you to see. She sends them via PDF so no shipping and easy to access. Mellie used it on her tablet.
I CAN GRAMMAR
My mother has also developed a curriculum that is not only simple to use, teaches from first grade the basics of English Grammar but is biblically based. Children will learn from an early age that the Bible is very simple to read and understand if you learn the basics of grammar and phonics. The work she gives the children to do is never overwhelming and Mellie is enjoying going through this course. Again, you can contact me to purchase her PDF files and here are some samples. At the moment she has Grade 1 through Grade6. She also has an art curriculum. My mom is a busy mom who at 78 years of age still tutors 15 students a week!!!
CHRISTIAN LIGHT
This is curriculum with emphasis on workbooks as opposed to textbooks. I use them for Mellie for subjects like Bible and Science as she can work independently with just a bit of adult supervision. The stories are good and their curriculum is Bible-led. A definite plus is that once again you don’t have to do a lot of planning as they can work through a lesson a day. You can find them here.
MEMORIA PRESS
This year I have embraced Memoria Press not only for Mellie but for myself as well. I have heard about them for years but was hesitant to become fully invested because it did seem like much work. However, I decided to try their Literature program with Mellie and I love it. The child reads a book with a study guide to answer questions and they have so many of the classics.
This is more a parent-led course so it is more hands on for the parent but if that is what you like you may enjoy it. They start learning Latin in 2nd grade and they have many copybooks for the children to write things in. (I have also started studying some of their high school courses and I’m enjoying this) You can find their curriculum here.
As Mellie moves into 5th grade, I wanted her to study the US Presidents and the Canadian Prime Ministers. I was born in Michigan but raised in Canada and I married a French Canadian. Any Canadian influence I can give our children (we are all dual citizens) is such a blessing. In wanting her to learn just basic facts I came up with a simple and fun format for each US President. I am now writing a book about them (stay tuned) and I’m excited about this. History will always be my passion and in future posts I want to share with you another exciting history course my high school daughter worked on and LOVED.
Whatever curriculum you choose, do not be afraid to switch out if it doesn’t work for you. This year we tried and tried workbooks in Math for Mellie and she just wasn’t learning but then I found CTCMath (link here) and my life has changed as well as hers. This summer we are doing all of fourth grade Math and it is going so well. The father that developed it homeschooled 10 children and he does not use common core. I love the simplicity of the learning videos and the questions. She works only about 3 mornings a week on it for less than an hour so her summer is going to be just great.
Do you have a favorite curriculum? Please share with us so we can explore it, too. And, of course, read more about homeschooling here.