This Year’s All-New Curricula Choices

Our 11th year of homeschooling has begun! We are in 11th grade and 7th grade. While not in my original plan, both girls have almost completely new curricula for this year.

Sissy, my junior, is still using Auralog’s Tell Me More for French. For Bible and English, she’s using guides from Hewitt Homeschooling. The “I Dare You” syllabus is for Bible and “World Literature 1 & 2” are for English. Both use real books instead of textbooks and require more papers and journaling than answering comprehension questions. She is also taking 2 dual-enrollment classes via the Internet from our local community college. They are “College Algebra,” which will fulfill her Algebra 2 requirement, and Astronomy 1, which will fulfill her last required science slot. So far, she thinks it’s “easy-peasy.” We’ll see how long that attitude lasts. She’s hoping to add a few more subjects to her load so she can finish early, but that’s still under discussion.

Kitty, my 7th grader, has had a bit of a shock to her system. Turns out 7th grade is a lot harder than 6th grade and takes a lot more time! She is using Sonlight’s Core 5, “Eastern Hemisphere,” for Bible, History, and Literature. I think she will enjoy it more as she gets into the groove of using the new curriculum. I think it’s great exposure to different cultures and different history than she’s had before. For English, she’s using Vocabulary from Classical Roots Book A, Fix It! Grammar, and WriteShop 1 (that will start in a few weeks when I teach a co-op class using it). For math, she’s still using Math-U-See, and has progressed to the Zeta stage. Kitty is thrilled that this year I’ve allowed her to do Spanish using Auralog’s Tell Me More series instead of Latin. A “Building Thinking Skills” workbook rounds out her curricula for the year.

As for me, I’m starting my first master’s class next week. I’ll be working towards an MA in English from ECU (East Carolina University) online. My first class is entitled “Research Methods in Technical and Professional Writing.” Yep, that title alone is almost enough to send me running for the woods! Really, I’m looking forward to it, although I’m nervous about being a student for the first time in a long time.

Q4U: What’s on your curricula shelves for this year? Same old stuff or new stuff? Let us know!