What's new, they want to know...

"Planning your homeschool is a lot of fun, especially if you’re going to be trying something new. Just like finding a shiny new penny you’re excited to use it. This week I hope you’ll share something new you’re using, why you’ve decided to use it, and if you have used it how you like it. Make sure to include the publishing information and where you got it from so others can look into if they like."


I love this week's theme over at Home School Blog Awards... I'm using a few new items this year, and we're loving them, so I'm glad I've been asked to share them. Plus, I'm going to enjoy reading other HS mom's posts on their new finds. That will probably give me new ideas for upcoming year's curricula.

Anyway, to begin, we are using a vocabulary program called Wordly Wise 3000 this year for both kids. They seem to be enjoying it, so far. It can be seen here: WordlyWise3000.com — Vocabulary Reinforcement for All . I had found a copy of it at our local used homeschool sale earlier in the summer and picked it up. Unfortunately, I assumed the 6 on the book meant Grade 6 and found that it was an older edition of the program and the number did not coincide with the grade. I liked the look of it, so I ordered the appropriate grade level for both my kids and they are doing well with it.

We are also using a new science curriculum this year. It's The Complete Book of Science by School Specialty Publishing. You can see them here: Complete Book of Science, Grades 5-6 workbook . Nick is using the Grades 3-4 workbook. I went through them and aligned their units so they are both working on the same topic at the same time (if possible), so that we could do all the experiments together. We are really enjoying this science curriculum, even though it is not from a Christian perspective. I am just making sure we discuss anything that sounds like it's contradicting Creation. It's got enough workbook pages for them to do that it makes me happy and enough easy, hands-on experiments to keep them happy.

We are using Handwriting Without Tears - Cursive 3 for my son. He learned printing using the D'Nealian style and it's incredibly hard to read his writing. His HWT cursive is beautiful - granted, he's taking his time in the workbook and that's probably why all the letters look so nice, but I can't wait for him to be through the book and start writing his work in cursive (so I might actually be able to read it!). You can find Handwriting Without Tears here: Why It Works Handwriting Without Tears

My son also struggled on his end of the year test with spelling. This really surprised me, since we did a 2nd grade workbook for spelling and he got one word wrong out of the entire year! When we got his scores back from the CAT test, his spelling was pretty low. I saw the mistakes he made and they were all phonetically explainable choices. For example, for the word "neat", one of the ways to spell it was "nete" and to a phonetic reader, that could be right, since we all know that an "e" followed by a consonant and a silent or sneaky "e" will make that first "e" long. Anyway, he made many, many mistakes like this, so I realized I needed to find him a spelling program that would cause him to learn to spell without relying on phonics. I did a few searches on the internet and found AVKO's Sequential Spelling program. It sounded like just what he needed. We're on the 16th day and so far, so good. He's really learning how to spell, as opposed to just memorizing a list of random words for a week and then forgetting them. Their program is found here: Sequential Spelling

My final, and favorite new find is our Geography resource. We've done history in many fashions during the year's we've been homeschooling and never enjoyed it very much. I guess an exception to that was fourth grade, when we studied Florida history, and we liked it a lot because we did a LOT of field trips! Anyway, I never remember learning about Geography when I was in school - although that was a very long time ago, so maybe I did... and I'm terribly challenged in that area. I found Geography Matter's program called "Trail Guide to World Geography" and it sounded like something we would all enjoy. Even with the difference in ages, we could do it together, which was a huge plus. We are having so much fun with it and really learning a lot, too! You can find the program here: Trail Guide to World Geography by Cindy Wiggers . We are using these recommended resources along with it:

All of these resources can be found at the Geography Matters website - linked above.


I'm glad I was asked to share our new resources with you, it was fun and I love promoting products that I'm truly happy with.


As always, have a Blessed Day in your homeschool!