2010-11 Curriculum: Hurray!

And there is much anticipation as we wait for the UPS/FedEx guys to bring us our loot.  I’ve got plans for our next semester, trimester, whatever…. for the beginning of this Schooling Season at W.E.   Last year [half a year, second semester '09, whatever it was] involved a great deal of winging it and oh-my-god-what-have-I-gotten-myself-into-I-have-no-idea-what-I’m-doing and testing out texts and rejecting at least 50% of them.  I’m going into this next school year as a seasoned vet [or, at least, not a total clueless newbie] and I do believe I am lot wiser.  And, I must say, we are very excited for the new term to start.   After much stewing and researching and whatnot, I narrowed things down, and then Brett had fun helping me make the final selections.  And let me tell you, I’ve never seen a kid flip out over a potential textbook before!

I’m still working on collecting all the accessories to go with our curriculum, but in the meantime here’s The Plan.  Shall we call it Season Two of Wallner Elementary??

Student: Brett     Age: 6     Grade:  Whatever.

Math

Singapore Math 2A

Brett will be learning about numbers to 1000; more addition & subtraction and multiplication & division; length & weight.  By request we have ordered the 2A Intensive Practice workbook as well.  Girlfriend loves her math!

Grammar

Voyages in English by Loyola Press

A two-part program.  Grammar – parts of speech, usage, mechanics and such.  Writing – sentence structure, effective writing and the writing process.

 

Geography

Geography Units by Evan-Moor

This series contains a book for each of the seven continents:  Africa, Antarctica, Asia, Australia, Europe, North America, and South America. Units are based on the five themes of geography developed by the Association of American Geographers and the National Council for Geographic Education.   We’ll be learning about each continent’s water & landforms, geographic & political regions, resources, animals and people.   Brett has chosen to begin with Australia and then Africa.

 

Science -  The Human Body

Kingfisher’s First Human Body Encyclopedia

We will be studying ourselves for a few months!   Muscles, the nervous system, the brain, blood, all that good stuff.  Brett will choose which topics she’d like to learn, and we will be making trips to the library and doing experiments on Luke.  Just kidding.

 

History – The United States

Joy Hakim’s A History of US

The History of US series won the James A. Michener Award in Writing and the Parent’s Choice Gold and Silver Award. We’re starting, naturally, with Book One, called The First Americans  Prehistory-1600, which “tells the story of Native Americans from Alaska to Patagonia. It also tells the story of explorers like Leif Eriksson, Columbus, Cortes and others.”

 

Spelling

All About Spelling by All About Learning Press

What can I say about it?  It is all about spelling.  After much trial & error, this curriculum is making me [and Brett] very hopeful.  They say third time’s a charm?

 

 

 

 

Stay tuned for more updates soon…