Jordan will be in the 4th grade this year. I have spent hours finding curriculum that I think will be fun but also is what I think he should be learning. Yes I'm one of those people who wants him to learn the basics, math, science, history, and english all while throwing in other things we've talked about what he might want to learn. Ive also put together some things for Conor to do while we're doing school. Originally I was going to put Jordan into a virtual academy, but after lots of research I decided to just "make-up" my own curriculum. Ive taken some from several sources and I think this year will be lots of fun.
Here's the list for Jordan's 4th grade year:
Science: (Sonlight)
- The Boys Body Book
- The History of Medicine
- Food and Nutrition for Every Kid
- Almost 12
- Improve Your Survival Skills
- The Human Body
- Dry Bones and Other Fossils
- Understanding Your Brain
- The Complete Human Body
- Introduction to Genes and DNA
- Unlocking the Mystery of Life (DVD)
History: (Sonlight)
- The Wright Brothers
- The Story of Inventions
- Bell and the Science of the Telephone
- Diary of An Early American Boy
- George Washington Carver
- The Story of the U.S.A book 1-4
- Old Yeller
I also plan on watching The Story of Us which we started last year but never finished.
English: (BJU)
- BJU English 4
Math: (Horizons)
Lifepac Bible
Lifepac Preschool (just as a guideline)
German In 10 min a day
I also purchased The Complete Zoo Adventure for day when we want to get out of the house.
I also purchased a homeschool fitness curriculum from http://familytimefitness.com/
For Conor I took an idea I read on another homeschool blog where I make Conor his own box and put items into it for him to do "school" with. So far I've come up with these items:
- puzzles
- pipe cleansers
- alphabet stamps
- paper
- crayons
- cloth tape measure
- magnifying glass
- books
That's the curriculum now here's our schedule: (of course all this is tentative)
6:00 a.m.- wake up
6:30 a.m.- eat breakfast
7:00 a.m.- leave to walk
7:30-8:30 a.m.- walk at LaFortune
9:00a.m.- arrive home, have snack, start school
12:00 noon- finish school, have lunch
1:00 p.m.-3:00 p.m.- free time, cleaning time for me
3:00 p.m.- story time
4:00 p.m. start getting dinner ready
5:30 p.m.- Mike home
6:00 p.m.- dinner
6:30 p.m.- family time
7:00-9:00 p.m.-whatever time (hang out with us or play in room)
9:30 p.m.- bedtime for kids
10:00 p.m.-Mike and Katy time (sometimes with Emma)
10:30 p.m.: bedtime
All in all I think I have a fun year planned. We'll also take field trips to various places. One of the best things about homeschooling is the ability to go where we want when we want. I have lots of places I want us to go over the course of this next year.
Here are a few:
- Tulsa Zoo and Living Museum
- Oklahoma Aquarium
- Oklahoma City Zoo
- Various museums around Oklahoma
- Kaleidoscope Museum
- Oktoberfest (I know the drinking but if we go early maybe we could avoid that and just take in the German traditions and such)
- The Oklahoma Scottish Games
So there it is. I hope you all will keep up with my journey as I know it will be both fun and challenging.
