Bible - We end our day together with family Bible time. I love to listen as my husband reads and explains God's word to our children. The Lord has gifted him with the ability to explain and bring to life Biblical truths; how thankful I am to have him leading our home.
In the mornings, we enjoy a Bible time together, just the kids and I. We haven't been using a curriculum, per say, but rather have just been reading through a book in the Bible, discussing it and then memorizing portions of the book. This past year, one of the portions of scripture we memorized was Ecclesiastes 3. So, now, when we come across a bug that "is no longer with us", one of us might say.."to everything there is a season..."
Obviously, as with everything in home education, whatever your family finds that works, inspires learning and honors the Lord, would be what I would recommend. As for now, I want our Bible time together to feel very different from our other subjects. I want my children to remember sitting together with me, discussing God's word but I also want them to see that "Bible time" doesn't end there. I want them to know that God's word is unlike any other book we will read; it is inspired and full of truths to lead us in our daily walk with Christ.
Scripture memory- "Hiding God's word in our hearts" Along with our above mentioned memorization and Awana, we also enjoy listening to scripture set to music.
Here are some great Cd's that we are enjoying right now; I love hearing my children singing these songs and enjoy listening to them myself.
Hidden in my Heart
By Heart scripture songs
This CD is a great one for memorizing passages of scripture; the songs are easy to sing along with and are enjoyable to listen to.
To further encourage their Bible memory, the children will also be writing their scripture memory as part of their writing lessons. I will discuss this more in the Writing explanation below.
Science - This summer we began our first Nature study. I will be posting pics of this in the page titled "Nature Study". To help us gain knowledge about the amazing things God has created, we will be using this book (A Handbook of Nature Study by Anna Botsford Comstock) and this book (Keeping a Nature Journal by Clare Walker Leslie and Charles E. Wroth).
Shortly, we will also begin a study on Ocean life. We have chosen to use Apologia science this year to help guide us though this study. I imagine there will be visits to the local aquarium coming soon. How exciting to be learning, right along, with my children.
History- We are excited to be using Mystery of History this year. After much research was completed and prayers for wisdom were prayed, we felt sure that Mystery of History was the best choice for us. What drew us to this curriculum was the fact that it is, not only chronological in it's teaching but it includes Bible history right along with the world history that you and I may have learned in school. Having grown up in a Christian home, church and school, I am grateful to have received an education that included the Bible. However, in my case, as a child, I don't think I understood that at the same time that Daniel, of the Bible, was remaining faithful to His Lord, other things I had learned in History class were happening. I kind of had these things separated, in my mind, as Bible truths and History facts...not necessarily one in the same. I love that this curriculum strives to teach it all together. I also love that my children will be learning these amazing stories of history with each other, not separated because of "grade level".
Reading- What joy it brings me to see my children curled up in a chair or lying on their beds reading a good book. I will probably create a page soon that is for listing books that we have read and recommend.
My son will be learning to read this year; I am excited to find books that will encourage his desire to read more. As he learns to read, we will be using A Beka phonics.
We'll be keeping it simple as far as the materials we will use. I like what Susan Wise Bauer says in The Well Trained Mind, ".. most reinforcements, even though they may be advertised and produced for a home-education setting, were originally designed for a classroom of children. A teacher teaching a whole group of students to read can't sit down with each one and teach her to pronounce each letter correctly whenever she sees it on a page. That's an intensive, one on one process. The teacher has to resort to the second best method: reinforcing the correct sound through secondary aids in a non reading context. You don't have to do that."
If only I would have known this or believed it when I first began home educating my children, I would have saved a lot of money.
*** more to come****
