Andy, Kristen, and our boys(+ 1 princess): 2011-2012 Curriculum

We have finished 2 weeks of school and things have been going really well. I love having a routine and knowing each day what we will be doing. I'm sure over time there will be changes to how we "school" at home, but here is how we have started off our year.

We do school Monday through Thursday, so that we can leave Fridays open for field trips, fun with friends, errands, or just a lazy pajama day. The boys wake up in the mornings and begin to complete their chore chart (which I'll blog about later), and then have time to play, relax and eat breakfast before we begin school. School starts when Davis lays down for his morning nap. :) I'm not sure what we'll do when he gives up that nap, but as of now it's a great time to do our work.

Choosing what curriculum to use took some time for me. I attended the statewide homeschool convention this year and last. I spent lots of time on the computer looking at curriculum web sites and reading other homeshooling blogs. I would also ask other homeschool moms what they were using for curriculum. Homeschooling has such a variety of options on how you want to teach your children. That's part of what I love so much, but it can also feel overwhelming. I went to the convention this year with a game plan, thinking I knew what I was going to order, and while I was there got so confused tha I almost completely changed my mind. In the end I realized that I had to go with what I had a peace about, and it was what I had originally chosen. Whether we always stick with the same curriculum, I don't know, but that's another great thing, we don't have to. We can see what is working for us. Since this is my first year, I wanted a very "teacher" friendly curriculum. One where most of the planning is done for you. I did not want to spend every night spending hours planning out tomorrow's lessons. What I do like about our curriculum is that it is easy to add on to if you want to go more in depth on any subject.

The main curriculum we chose is called Sonlight. It comes with a 4 or 5 day schedule for the week, and it very easy to follow. It also provides space in the teacher's guide to fill in other subject you want to add on. I purchased Sonlight K Core. Core basically consists of history and read alouds. Anyone who knows me, knows that I LOVE to read. That was another huge reason I chose Sonlight. I wanted a curriculum that I would enjoy along with the boys. The first book we read was The Boxcar Children. We finished it a week early, because every time I got to the end of the chapter the boys would say "can you please read more?" I usually did, because I was enjoying it as much as them.

Here is a picture of what Sonlight calls "box day". It's the day when your curriculum arrives and you have fun getting to open it and spread it out, and look through it all. This was earlier in the summer.