Still Not Back to School

Only twenty more days till school starts here. I am itching to get started. When I made the schedule, I was feeling generous about summer vacation. Hopefully, next yeaar I will remember how hard it is to  wait. Hannah hates to admit it, but she has admitted, that she, too, can't wait for school to start. She gets bored in the summer. Just not bored enough to start school almost three weeks early.

This is my first time entering the Not Back to School bloghop. I know, though, that since there are already over 200 blogs registered, very few will make it this far. If you did, wow, that is persistence!

The curriculum we use here has been the family choice since 1991. Only one year did we do the eclectic dance to save money, and while I enjoyed it, I would rather spend my free time with my kids than researching, planning, buying, etc. So  I present to you, Calvert. Calvert is pretty all inclusive and is in use at the Baltimore brick and mortar school of the same name.

Hannah's Seventh Grade

Math, all the way to eighth grade, is published by Calvert. We finished seventh grade math and used Aleks for pre-algebra and this year we are using Prentice-Hall.

Bible, we purchased at a homeschool fair, is Early History of Israel by Explorer's Bible Study. Hannah chose it because she likes ancient Egypt, and guess what? Egypt played a huge role in the early history of Israel. I like that it's brief, scheduled daily, uses actual Scripture, and includes memory work. This is not a Calvert book.

Science uses Prentice-Hall, and is what you call meaty.There are five textbooks, and no skipping around, either. From Bacteria to Plants; Animals; Human Biology and Health; Motion, Forces, and Energy; Sound and Light. Calvert includes supplies to perform some of the experiments.

Literature includes Classic Poems to Read Aloud; Kidnapped; The Miracle Worker (a play); Around the World in Eighty Days; Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry. Calvert also included Diary of Anne Frank, but Hannah is a sensitive girl, and not ready to deal with the Holocaust. I may substitute A Wrinkle in Time.

Language Arts uses Everyday Spelling andHolt's Elements of Language.

Technology, naturally, is online, Easy Tech lessons and applications across the curriculum. Also online, instructional videos, a library of reference tools, a BrainPop subscription and hopefully soon, Discovery Streaming.

Social Studies, aka History and Geography, use Houghton-Mifflin Across the Centuries and Glencoe Geography-The World and Its People. Both are the second year of a two year set. The geography text is my least favorite. It is bor-ing.

Art, a perennial favorite, uses A Child's History of Art, Architecture. This comes with Art cards and hands-on lessons that relate to the text.

And not included in Calvert, but required by the State of Maryland:

PE, for which I loathe planning and executing, once a week on the Wii Fit, and once a week free play

Music, which I wish we could unschool for, famous composers from the 16th, 17th, and 18th centuries.

Elinore's Nursery School

Elinore, sweet, girly, and almost three, will be casual schooling. We will continue with Tot School by Carissa. We are about to start the letter O.

We are also using ABeka for Art, Numbers, Letters and Sounds, and Language Development cards.

We also like Kumon workbooks for cutting, pasting, coloring, mazes, and numbers.

We have several Evan-Moor titles: Fun with the Alphabet, Alphabet Puppets, All About My Body, Phonics Centers, Literature Pockets-Nursery Rhymes, and Early Learning Centers.

I like the Rod & Staff Preschool Series, we have workbooks A-F, and the Bible Storybook.

We have Crayola supplies out the ears: crayons, colored pencils, paint, dry erase activity center, markers, and more. Don't get me wrong, we can always find a way to use more!

We also seem to be collecting Lauri foam toys: upper and lower case alphabet puzzles, Tall Stacker, Fit-A-Space.

And finally, in September, we are starting Saxon Math Kindergarten. We got the teacher's manual free at the Book Thing.

Elinore gets speech therapy an hour a week at home, occupational therapy once a week at the center run by Kennedy Kreiger, and physical therapy every other week for half an hour at the center. At the end of August, she will get a special instruction teacher at home once a week for an hour ( I think).