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Homeschool Curriculum for 2014-2015


Octopus suckers // field trip to Bellingham's Marine Life Center 

I've encountered a bit more curiosity about homeschooling here in Blaine than I ever did back in Lincoln. I chalk this up to Blaine being a super small town (without a large number of homeschooling families), most of the people I interact with being somehow involved in the public school system, and many friends just now entering into parenthood, as opposed to being in the same 'child-years' season that we are in. 
Even though there are a myriad of ways to homeschool, I would say we are 'highly structured unschoolers', which is sort of an oxymoron. I love planning and finding resources for our kids including games, books, read-alouds, field trips, documentaries, even down to the workbooks (hint, we only use two) for my 2nd grader and kindergartner . I hodge-podge classical education with Montessori theory, roll it into a ball with a lot of art and a relaxed schedule and there you have it. There is a LOT of free play time included, too. For those who like to see these resources, for use with their own kids whether you're home schoolers or have kids that are super interested in one subject, this post is for you. 

Math
We use Singapore math for both kids
Life of Fred, we're on DOGS (4th book)
board games, card games, and online games (just a few here)

History
Story of the World Vol. II-III
historical sticker books
Magic Tree house books
read aloud: The Door in the Wall, Good Masters! Sweet Ladies!
online resources

Art
projects found in the following:
Artful Parent book
Playful Learning book
Usborne Art books 

French
Bear books
Usborne books (both read aloud in French)
Tonton (puppet who speaks in French) videos
Duolingo practice
Word-a-day/flashcards
French games (bingo, spot-it, kloo)
Listening to French cds

Science
finishing up an Animal section from last year:
Usborne's First Encyclopedia of Animals
select episodes of The Magic School Bus
documentaries (BBC, Disney Animals)***
field trips (see above), online games (Wild Kratts) + Usborne quicklinks
*second 'semester' science is a "The Way Things Work" unit I created. More details on that when we start.*

Language Arts & Reading
*deconstructing a story (plot, setting, climax, etc.)
*learning what is a noun, verb, adjective
Explode the Code workbooks (1, Ani; 3, Lukka)
Poetry + memorization 4X/week
Audio books during quiet time (both kids have individual cd players-- great investment!)--various
Independent reading practice, daily (we LOVE Gerald + Piggie books for early readers)
Current read aloud --various (usually 20 novels per year)
Heavy library use; events, summer reading program, weekly trip, etc. 
The Write Start activities, writing letters to family

***more in-depth list of this in the future...there are SO many great animal documentaries appropriate for children***
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