Our Curriculum for 2011-2012, Part 1

Welcome to a new school year!  We are very excited here in our little Schoolhouse.  God has lead us to a wonderful selection of curriculum that I am sure will be wonderful for our children.  Half-Pint is now in 2nd grade, Farmer Boy is still in Pre-K, and Little Brown Braid continues to hang around and someone pick up a few things here and there.  


Here is what we are learning together as a family:


Bible:  
We never got around to using Vos' Child's Story Bible Vols 1-3 last year, so we are using that now.  We are just reading through it and HP is doing some copywork from each chapter and drawing in her notebook.  (We are using the edition published by Banner of Truth, here's what Vol. 2 looks like.)


The 2 older children will be starting AWANA next week.  That will be included in our curriculum.  HP will be in Sparks again this year while Farmer Boy is going to start his first year in  Cubbies.  Pa will be volunteering in Cubbies to help with Farmer Boy's new transition.


Character Building:


This year, we will be reading through a books, the main one being Everyday Graces.  This book is actually a collection of different stories, excerpts from books, and poems.  Each chapter good character traits in different aspects of life:  honoring Mom and Dad, loving siblings, even dealing with manners at weddings, funerals, etc.  It's a GREAT book, I definitely recommend it.  Biblically based.


We are also going to be reading thru Storytime with the Millers.  This book is pretty conservative (about Amish life), but still teaches good character and is Biblically based.


Literature:


We are reading thru some poetry and Shakespeare this year!  


When We Were Very Young by A.A. Milne
Poetry for Young People by Lewis Carroll


Tales from Shakespeare by Charles & Mary Lamb
Beautiful Stories from Shakespeare by E. Nesbit


Some other read alouds will include:


Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll
Peter Pan and Wendy by J.M. Barrie


... and whatever else we check out from the library!




Okay.  That's it for now.  I'll post more about the rest of our curriculum another day this week.  I am recuperating from a long morning of speaking to some women about breakfast.  

Jesus Storybook Bible

This year, we are going through the Jesus Storybook Bible**. Why did we choose this? I had read so much about this particular story Bible and it stuck out in my mind. The main premise: Every story whispers His Name. Whose name?

JESUS CHRIST

What a beautiful way to not only teach about different stories in the Bible, but show HOW even the Old Testament events happened, because of what was going to come- JESUS! The SAVIOR!

There are 44 stories. After talking with a friend, I decided to do what she was planning on doing. After each story was read, have my daughter draw a picture and write something about what she learned from the story.

It's scheduled out this way:

Monday: read one chapter.

Tuesday: Listen to the chapter on the CD. Then, draw a picture from that chapter. Copy a significant statement from the chapter.

Wednesday: repeat Monday (but the next chapter)

Thursday: Repeat Tuesday

Friday: review and Praise God for Jesus!

Here is the first in her own Jesus Storybook.

So precious. What a great reminder, too!

**please note, we own the Jesus Storybook Bible, deluxe edition. This comes with the story read on CD. BEAUTIFUL!