Just a brief note. I've been looking at curriculums and trying to determine what we were going to do. Munchkin has made a lot of positive forward strides in so many areas. But not so many in the basic reading, math, science areas. I think I've already covered that situation in prior posts so I'm moving on.
Reading for next year will be Hooked on Phonics for the central curriculum. We are starting at the beginning and moving through it as fast as Munchkin shows me that he knows the skills. I expect that we will get through the first level relatively quickly. We are also expanding our collection of beginning readers so that we can read a book a day at his level. This is possible because of McKay Books where I can stock up on readers for around a dollar each. The beginning readers we used last year only had a few words per page, and frequently they were just words not sentences. The ones we are getting now have one sentence per page. I'm also finding some good beginning readers through local, and online, curriculum sales.
I debated between Hooked on Math and Math U See for a math curriculum this year. But upon reviewing the Hooked on Math I realized that he does not yet have/demonstrate the knowledge for even the beginning level. As his tutor this past year pointed out, he's still having issues with one to one correlation between the numbers and quantities. So I will be using the Primary Math U See as a guideline but supplementing it heavily with other materials. And we will be moving through it at his pace. I don't know what the roadblock is for him but we'll keep trying patiently until something clicks. And I'm sure it will click at some point, just like spelling did for him.
Science will be a curriculum based around the book "Science Play". And this year it will be more focused on helping him to explore and learn about things rather than trying to predict things. He just hasn't had enough time to explore this area to be making predictions and hypothesis. So I'm going to follow some advice from other sources and just let him explore science while documenting what, where, when. And then helping him learn the why. I have to remember that he didn't really explore the world around him as a younger child. And he wasn't exposed to much in the way of science education within the school systems. So my job this year is to help him learn science through exploring. I think we will both enjoy it.
Those are the "core" subjects for us. There are other subjects but none of them are purchased curriculums at this point. Munchkin just hasn't reached a level yet that makes it difficult for me to make the curriculum. And honestly, I could have kept adapting several fine, free curriculums for those three subjects. But I also don't mind using other curriculums. In the case of these three it will just take a little of the stress of lesson planning off my shoulders. A little because I'll still have to adapt and supplement most of the lessons. It looks like the "Science Play" curriculum will be the one that requires the least adaptation.
I'm looking forward to this coming year.
