Year 4 Curriculum {NBTS}

It's week 2 of the Not Back to School blog hop being hosted here and at Our Worldwide Classroom.  This week we are sharing our proposed curriculum for 2015.  Don't forget to meet some of our amazing homeschool blogging families in Australia.

Our plan is to take 12 - 18 months with the following books.

Sonlight Core B

This year my aim with Nathaniel is to add in some more Charlotte Mason educational principles.  This is a learning journey for both of us as in the past I have followed Sonlight and the Well Trained Mind.  I really enjoy teaching / learning history chronologically so my aim is to complete Sonlight Core B this year and flow into Core C.


Readers

• The Beginners Bible
• The Bravest Dog Ever
• The Best Trick
• Little Bear
• A Fly Went By
• Owl at Home
• Hill of Fire
• Titanic Lost and Found
• Wagon Wheels
• The Big Balloon Race
• Mouse Tales
• Daniel's Duck 
• Nate the Great 
•  Greg's Microscope
• Amelia Bedelia 
•  Frog and Toad are Friends
•  Frog and Toad Together
•  Owl at Home
•  The Sword in the Tree

Read Alouds
Last year we did not get to most of our read alouds due to taking the scenic route and reading aloud a whole raft of other books so this year we plan on doing two read aloud periods a day.  In the morning doing Core B and afternoon Core C


 Fine Arts

• We will continue using The World's Greatest Composers by Confessions of a Homeschooler.
• The Classical Kids Collection Vol 1 & 2. These are produced by The Children's Group and cover the lives of eight famous composers.
• Classical Composers Monthly as a supplement to whichever composer we are studying.
• We will continue with The World's Greatest Artists Vol 1.  We have already studied Claude Monet {FREE Resource List} and will continue and learn about the other seven artists in the unit.
• We did Shipwrecked earlier in the year and really enjoyed it so we will work our way through Bible Stories by See the Light
• In an ideal world I would love to do some Hymn study too.  I have not settled on anything.  I think we might alternate Composer Study with Hymn Study.
• We will be meeting up with a family each week where we will continue to learn to play the recorder as well as work our way through drawing lessons from the Drawing Textbook.
• I am also in the process of reseaching the Charlotte Mason philosophy on the Fine Arts.
• This year we also intend on attending a few MSO concerts and a ballet concert.

Sonlight Core C

History
This year we will continue reading Story of The World Volume One and using the Activity Guide which goes alongside it.  Core B and C also do History chronologically so I will be consulting my manuals and using the recommended read alouds and spines from Sonlight.

Geography
 I haven't decided yet upon a resource to use.  Here are a few I'm contemplating using

• Charlotte Mason's Elementary Geography
• A Child's Geography (Ann Voskamp)
• The Geography Book
• Geography Songs 

 I think we may continue using Expedition Earth: A Journey through God's World.

I would like to also complete  Trail Guide to World Geography  This particular package is my all time favourite.

I saw a review on Wonder Maps and really like the look of this program.  Have any of you used it or seen it ?

Math

•  We will play with Pattern Blocks and work our way through Patternables and Pattern Block Cards.
• We shall completeExploring Arithmetic 3 by Rod and Staff before switching over to Teaching Textbooks.
• CalcuLadder 1 and 2 These are part of the Learning Vitamins series.  I love these math drill work packs.

Logic

• Critical Thinking Activities
• We will be including Critical Thinking games this year. (Block by Block, Rush Hour, Blokus, Lonpos)

Science

For science we will choose books from our very well stocked home library this year and will be working through Exploring Creation with Astronomy from Apologia.  We will be using the Astronomy Junior Notebooking Journal.  Once we have completed this we will begin Exploring Creation with Botany.

For hands on Science we shall continue with Science Activities, Vol. 1 
Language Arts
Composition
We will be continuing with WriteShop Primary this year.  This program is an excellent way to introduce composition to reluctant writers and primary school aged students.



Spelling
Last year I began using Logic of English with Sir N and was really impressed with his progress.  This year we will continue our lessons with the goal of completing the program.


Vocabulary
This is not synonymous with spelling. We will continue to work though Spelling Workout starting with book B this year. I am also compiling a list of classical books we will be using as read alouds throughout the year ahead.

Grammar
I haven't yet settled on a grammar program.  I have two books I'm considering.  The first being English for The Thoughtful Child by Mary Hyde OR Karen Andreola's Simply Grammar: An Illustrated Primer.

Narration
This is something I want to focus more on this year with Sir N.  There are so many incredible benefits to the student in developing this skill.

Second Language
This year we will begin studying two other languages: Latin and French
For Latin I will be using two programs Prima Latina and  Getting Started with Latin
For French we will begin using  Rosetta Stone

No doubt due to our eclectic tendencies and as I learn more about applying a Charlotte Mason approach to our home education this will change.  I will update this list as I make changes to suit our learning.

Blessings
Chareen
This list is current as of 9 February 2015


It's your turn.
Looking forward to reading your plans for the year ahead.

Our first week back at school {HSMJ}

In my life this week…
It has been a very busy first week back at school and I am looking forward to a slower pace in the week ahead.

I enjoyed an amazing day out photographing over at the Dragon's Head on the other side of Melbourne. 

Helpful homeschooling tips or advice to share…

• Partner with me and Win a full year of Sonlight Curriculum for you AND a friend in the MOM to MOM Curriculum Giveaway.  You can read how this works over here: Let's Win a Sonlight Core Together!

In our home School this week…

• We had a six monthly review at the Children's Hospital
• We spent some time on the SBS on demand channel and watched (Please note these are direct links and will expire by the end of February 2015):
  New Secrets of the Terracotta Warriors, 
  How Big is the Universe?
  Walking Through History with Tony Robinson - Episode 1 Stonehenge
  Air Crash Detectives
• Started using Math Analogies Level 1 by the Critical Thinking Co.
• Oral hygiene lesson at the dentist
• We started Science with Visual Learning Systems.
• Continued reading an original version of  Hans Christian Anderson Fairy Tales in the Companion Library.  We both decided that the original Thumbelina (Tiny) and we love the pictures in the modern version.
• We finished the unabridged audio book for Treasure Island and decided to watch the Disney Classic version of Treasure Island.  I was impressed with how closely it followed the original story line.
• Paul and Nathaniel are still reading Jungle Doctor On the Hop by Paul White

Places we’re going and people we’re seeing…

• We went to see the Sandsculpting event down in Frankston.
• A wonderful day at Science Works.  We explored the new under the deep oceans display.
• Started at Boys Brigade.  I am very impressed with this activity.  It was well organised and disciplined.  I loved the scriptural perspective.
• Nathaniel had a check up and oral hygiene lesson at the dentist.

My favourite thing this week was…
I am so pleased.  Paul has started blogging again.  I love to see the world from his perspective.  He is a passionate birder and wildlife enthusiast.  Seeing the world through his lens is one of the things that I appreciate on Instagram. As a zookeeper at Werribee Open Range Zoo he has had some amazing experiences.  One of them being hand raising Serval cats.  If you have children who love wildlife then I invite you to come and follow his blog:  Bush Tales by Paul.

* Regent Bowerbirds at Lamington National Park

 Things I’m working on…

• Let's Wins a Sonlight Core Together!
• Train Sand Art {Virtual Fridge}
  

 On the WWW I’m reading…

• Father Refuses To Give Up Down’s Syndrome Son Abandoned By His Wife At Birth loved reading about this fathers dedication and even more touched by those who reached out and helped him get home.
• I'm loving watching the progress of the Gardner Quadruplets.
• I agree some people are just born with it and for other's it's caused through a raft of other interventions.  I Know What Causes Autism
• I've been hearing a lot of talk about this post and finally found it How To Discipline A Child – The Rubber Band Method
• I love truth spoken well and this is one of those articles that is well worth reading even if you have not read the novel To everyone who thinks 50 Shades is all sorts of awesome: Please, stop and THINK

 I’m cooking…

• This week I'm in planning mode.  I'm intending to try and stick to Trim Healthy Mama and start moving all these extra kilograms that are making life hard emotionally and physically.
• I'm considering giving this a try this coming week Indulgent Chocolate Fudge Cake

 A photo, video, link, or quote to share…

Blessings
Chareen
* Photograph by Ben of Paul with Regent Bowerbirds

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Join Lisa and I each week and share your week in review.  We look forward to reading about your

• Week in Review
• Field Trips
• School Work 
• Homeschool projects
• And anything homeschool related.

Here is a button for your post.

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Train Sand Art {Virtual Fridge}

This Week

We spent a lovely day at the Sandsculpting event down in Frankston. It really was a lovely day out.  After looking at all the amazing sand sculpting work we took some time to make a picture with coloured sand.

Nathaniel chose to make a train. It took both of us over half an hour to create this.

Featured This Week

Is from over at Mum in the Madhouse.  This week they are sharing a wonderful step by step tutorial including a YouTube clip on How to Make Pompom Sheep

Your Turn

I invite you to take some photo's of your children's artistic pursuits put them in a post and link up with me I would love to come over and see the wonderful art your children have enjoyed doing.

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For the Month of February
 If you are looking for a slight challenge then this month we would love to see your Valentine themed art work.

Blessings
Chareen

Connect with me

 

The Virtual Fridge a weekly art meme where we can hang our children's art on a virtual fridge. This meme was started by Jennifer over at A Glimpse of our Life who kindly invited three other bloggers to co-host this weekly meme.

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An InLinkz Link-up