Curriculum Choices for 2012-2013

I am still trying to wrap my head around the fact that The Boy will be in 7th grade this year. Just a short 6 years before he graduates. So, even though I thought I had all my curriculum choices picked out back in May, I've made some changes. Just in time for the Not-Back-to-School Blog Hop Curriculum Week!

Bible  

There are a couple of subjects that we do all together; Bible is one of them. I absolutely love Bible Study Guide for All Ages. It is exactly what it's name say it is - a guide that I can use for all ages. We take 3 days to do each lesson. On Day 1, we review questions from previous lessons, and then I read the Bible verses assigned for that day. On Day 2, we review the reading from the previous day, and then each of the small people create a page for their notebook, which includes at least a drawing about what we studied and a written summary for the older ones. On Day 3, we review the lesson again by completing a workbook page about it. There are different workbooks for different age levels, but they all cover the same material. Each day we work on memory work - Bible verses, books of the Bible, 12 apostles, etc.

History

 The other subject we all do together is history. This year, we're using My Father's World: Exploration to 1850. I'm really looking forward to teaching this, especially the Revolutionary War. Ballerina is a history fanatic, which makes teaching history a lot of fun.

Science

For science, we're using Apologia curriculum. The Boy will be studying physical science, and the girls will be studying zoology: swimming creatures. Thankfully, the twins will be doing the activities and experiments at co-op this year, so all I have to worry about is reading the material with them.

Language Arts

• For grammar, The Boy and the twins will be using Rod and Staff for their grade level. Little Red will be doing year 2 of First Language Lessons. 
• For spelling, the 4 older ones will be using Spelling Power. We started using it last year, and I really like the way it's set up. 
• For writing, we'll be using IEW's US History-Based Writing Lessons, Volume I, which covers the same time frame as our history curriculum.
• For reading, we'll use Progeny Press study guides to go along with books that cover the time period we're studying in history. The Boy will be reading The Witch of Blackbird Pond and Johnny Tremain. The twins will be reading The Whipping Boy, Stone Fox, and Little House in the Big Woods. Little Red will be reading Sonlight level 2 books.

Math

The Boy used Chalkdust pre-algebra last year, but I wasn't content with his progress. So this year, he'll be using Saxon pre-algebra for the first half of the year, and then start algebra I. The twins will be doing Saxon 5/4, Little Red will be in Saxon 3, and Sassy Pants will start Saxon K.

Foreign Language

The twins will continue with Rosetta Stone Spanish. The Boy is going to study Latin for 7th and 8th grade using Visual Latin.

Kindergarten

Sassy Pants will turn 5 in October. If she were to go to a brick and mortar school, she would be in 4K. Since she'll turn 5 so close to the start of our school year, I've decided to start her in Kindergarten, using My Father's World Kindergarten. This way we can go as slow or fast as she's ready for.