"Not" Back to School Curriculum 2013-2014


2013-2014 Curriculum

I go into more detail about our curriculum choices on our accumulative curriculum page

These are the main things we will be using throughout the next school year. We also read TONS of books at the library for each unit study we do and use lots of different apps and internet resources to feed our curiosity.

Anything that the boys do together will be highlighted. I will be teaching my 5.5 year old a mixture of Kindergarten and First grade leveled materials, using preschool materials to keep my 2.5 year old entertained, and doing my best to keep my 6 month old occupied while we learn throughout the day!

 For our main curriculum, we will be finishing up Interlock and moving into Volume 1! All subjects are included except reading and math, we've really enjoyed the way it "weaves" all of our subjects into the bible lesson each unit is based upon.

Curious about what it covers? Check this page out to see what we've done in Interlock, and view this page to see what we will be doing in Volume 1!

 Our Morning Bag, based on the Morning Basket concept. If you want to know more about our Morning Bag, you can read about it here.

We finished All About Reading Pre-1 quicker than I thought we would, so I went ahead and purchased All About Reading level 1 for reading used for $17. I LOVE AAR, it's so easy to use because it's all scripted, and the games and hands on manipulatives make it a hit for my "active" little Monkey! For learning sight words, we use You Can Read!

We're using Konos volume 1 for character education. I picked it up for $1 at a homeschool convention this summer and we've already used it a little bit, it has some GREAT resources. It's meant to be used as it's own curriculum, but for us right now, it's a great way to teach character. I just pick the activities and books I want to use, and we make little character books similar to lapbooks as we learn about that particular trait.

 Still rockin BFIAR and FIAR for literature, I can't get enough of these! I enjoy the time we spend together, cuddled up reading these books, doing the activities from the manuals, and sometimes making our version of lapbooks or using materials other moms have made. Sometimes, when things have been really crazy around here, we do FIAR only.

For Math, we skimmed through Math U See Primer, it was a lot I had already taught Monkey so we really didn't need to go over it all again. We dove into MUS Alpha as soon as it arrived from ebay ($17), and he's really starting to enjoy math! We still use Rightstart Math level A occasionally just to get him to think out of the box some more, and between the two programs, he's building a strong mathematical foundation.





 Intro to history using Read and Find Out Science books on archaeology and fossils, Story of the World, Child's History of the World, Usborne history books, and Little Pilgrims in God's World ($4). And anything from the library to whet our history tastebuds!

Everything I'm borrowing from the library this year, saving purchases until next year. The only thing I purchased was Little Pilgrims because I found it so cheap. I'm basically using a bunch of resources, trying to figure out what works for us. Monkey loves when I read Story of the World, I was curious about Child's History of the World, so I rented that too to see if he enjoys it better. I'll be sure to keep you all updated to what we finally choose.

I've created a pinterest board for activities I want to do with Story of the World

History IS included in Weaver, but it moves at a much slower, more in depth pace. I was just wanting to do an overview because Monkey is showing interest. I'm not expected him to memorize facts or anything, but just to develop a life-long love of history, because I hated it growing up and now that I'm an adult I finally appreciate it and realize how important it is. 

"Traveling" around the world using ideas from Pinterest (I have boards for each continent unit), lapbooks, Window on the World, and Children Just Like Me. I'm wanting Monkey to have an understanding that people everywhere live vastly different from each other, and to appreciate differences and learn to pray for others. This is basically me creating our own biblical geography.

Again, geography IS covered in Weaver, but I'm taking a different approach by using literature from Five in a Row, lapbooks, crafts, food and the aforementioned books to do a quick overview of a few countries on each continent. Every year I intend to make the unit studies more in depth and cover more countries.

Since we're nearing the end of Interlock which using units to cover the days of creation and the flood, we'll be reviewing creation with The World God Made that I picked up used for $2.


For handwriting, we're continuing to use Handwriting Without Tears. We had stopped for awhile because Monkey didn't want to do it, and just picked it back up over the summer and will continue to use it for mastering capital letters before moving on to lowercase letters.

I'll be using Montessori ideas I've pinned for teaching grammar. I know Monkey will enjoy learning grammar this way versus the other curriculums I've looked at.


We're going to be using our materials from Kindermusik Imagine That for music education, along with apps and Pinterest.

I'll be using Learning at Home ($5 from homeschool convention) for Froggy's preschool next year along ideas from Pinterest, tot trays and printables from:





Also going to use this curriculum with Froggy and Monkey for some fun school time together:

As for keeping my Little Bear occupied while we do school, I will be continuing to use Baby Baskets, and offering sensory activities of various sorts that I've pinned on Pinterest.

Seem like a lot? It is! But, I'm thankful to have the freedom to cater to my children's needs in each aspect of their learning. In the last part of this "Not" Back to School series, you'll see how I piece everything together, it's totally not as complicated as it looks!



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