New Curriculum!!

After not getting much schoolwork done last year (except math and English) due to Micah, I have decided to reset everything this fall and start over.

We are not switching math, English, or spelling. I am very pleased with what we are using and it is working.

We are cutting out Sonlight completely, which actually makes me sad. I have done Sonlight for five years and have loved it, but I have come to realize that there is only one of me and now three children that need to be educated in this house. I can't forget that baby who needs attention too!

Now that summer is here, I have had a chance to think about what we want to do next fall. Even though Micah is older and is doing MUCH better, I think it is still crazy for me to think that I can get all that reading done in one day! I could always make the girls do it independently, but honestly, I don't think they want to be in their rooms reading all day. They want to be down with the family and helping out.

I figured out that if I switch from Sonlight, I need to find a new history, geography, reading, writing, read-aloud, and science curriculums. Sonlight was not just one subject, but many! I also have three grade levels to cover.

For many years now, I have had my eye on Heart of Dakota curriculum. I always looked at it, but always came back to Sonlight. Well, we are switching to Heart of Dakota next year and I am super-excited!! I am able to switch history, geography, reading, writing, and science too!

One of the main reasons that Heart of Dakota was appealing to me was because there is a program written for 9-11 year olds with an extension pack for the older kids. Most of the time, I picked the curriculum to fit the oldest kid and the others just listen in and pick up what they can. Heart of Dakota is actually aimed for the younger group and the older kids get more books to read!

I also like it because it is more hands on than Sonlight. With Sonlight, we read books and the kids answered questions. That was about it. Everyday now, the kids will have a little hands on project to do. I think Courtney and Christian will really like this aspect of the curriculum.

There are about a third of the books to read as Sonlight and it has sections that the kids do INDEPENDENTLY! This may be listening to a section on a CD or reading a passage in a book, but they want them to do it by themselves. This is exactly what I need for my kids!  I think if I would have had them more independent last year, we would have gotten through much more school work. There are still read alouds, so I still get to read to them, but the passages are much shorter for each day. AHHHH! I feel like we will actually be moving along in our curriculum this year.

http://www.heartofdakota.com/index.php

We are going to be doing the "Creation to Christ" package and hopefully this will get Megan into a high school. What? High School? That's just crazy! :)