Curriculum, Past and Present

We've been homeschooling since 1st grade. Now, Little Man is in the 3rd grade. The first year was hard because quite frankly, I had no idea what I was doing. I studied and searched for the right curriculum and thought I found it. I chose Christian Light Education (CLE) and bought a full curriculum! Okay, I said I didn't know what I was doing. Ha! I didn't realize that with a 6 year old that was still learning to read, that there would not be time enough or a long enough attention span to last us for a week of full curriculum...much less a whole year. Ugh! We ended up only using the Learning to Read program, math, and part of the Language Arts. 

2nd grade: After realizing just how hard it would be to try that schedule and the complete curriculum again, I chose to go with CLE math 200's, BJU English and Writing, miscellaneous for reading, Bible, science, and history. Well, on into our year things got pretty stressful. Math seemed to be page after page after page every single day. Little Man was always in tears...but he was getting the math and doing really good at it, too. Yet, by the end of the year I knew that for 3rd grade things had to change. It wasn't just math. Language arts...well, BJU was great but I hated the writing sessions. I suppose that just maybe that wasn't my thing and that Little Man wasn't ready for all the writing. I know, I know...I have to teach writing but I think it will have to be in a different manner or curriculum and when he's more ready for it. I decided half way through the year to try out Switched on Schoolhouse 3rd grade language arts. I was very disappointed! Everything they were covering in the 3rd grade, we had already covered it in the first half of 2nd grade using BJU. It was a waste of good money. Also, SOS has a lot of reading and typing...too much for my Little Man. So guess who did all the reading and typing for Little Man...you got it...ME! I knew ahead of time that that might be a problem. I just thought I'd mention it just in case someone else out there is thinking of trying it the way we did.

3rd grade: Drum roll, please! Here's our line up and by the way, everything seems to be going fine now. And he has already been doing so much more writing than I could have ever imagined. I was really nervous about his writing and if it would ever come around. I think we are getting there and that excites me. The only thing he complains about when it comes to writing, is that his hand cramps up. 

We are almost done with our second week. And now, here is our curriculum for 2011-2012:

• My Father's World Adventures for Bible, History, Geography, Science, Music, and Art
• Modern Curriculum Press Math Level C (3rd grade)
• Rod & Staff Spelling (3rd grade) (We used A Reason for Spelling, Level C for the first week but decided that R&S was going to work better for us.)
• Primary Language Lessons by Emma Serl
• Reading: miscellaneous
• We will also throw some miscellaneous science and art in on top of MFW.

He's also in a football league and Awanas. During the winter, he will join a basketball team. I'm hoping for a great year.

I'm sure through the year, I'll tweak our curriculum here and there. Already have..lol!