What We Are Doing for 2010-2011

I have been meaning to share our curriculum for this upcoming school year. But I wanted share some initial observations and impressions of our new programs. Since that takes more time, I was putting it off. So I decided that I would give a list and then make separate review entries of each of our programs as I have time. So here goes:

• Tapestry of Grace will cover history, literature, geography and art. We are doing Year 1, Ancient Civilizations through the fall of the Roman Empire.
• Comprehensive School Mathematics Program (CSMP), 1st grade
• Spell to Write and Read/Cursive First
• Building Foundations of Scientific Understanding

In addition, we will continue memorization and add in narrations. I would also like to experiment with something called story circles, as outlined in Nebel's Elementary Education. It is intended for a classroom, but I think we can adapt it to a family situation. Basically, each child takes a turn adding to a story. As the children become adept at actually creating the story, you begin writing and illustrating the story with the students. Eventually, you can talk about grammar and literary devices. From my perspective, this is the seed of the Socratic discussions that should be taking place as the children get older.

I intend to write at length about each program as we get into it. Let me know if there is anything specific that you want to know more about.