Across the Page

I’ve been reconsidering my list of resources for next year. I’m staying with my choices for science, math, grammar, spelling, reading, and Latin; however, I’m thinking about switching to Tapestry of Grace for history, geography, and writing.
I just recently discovered Tapestry of Grace, and though I haven’t made up my mind for sure yet, the [...]

It always surprises me how I can get to this time of the year, be tired of school and ready for it to end — yet still get all charged up by thinking of curriculum options for next year.
Here’s what I’m looking at for first and fourth grade:
FIRST GRADE:

Ordinary Parent’s Guide to Teaching Reading
First Language [...]

A friend mentioned that she had switched to Teaching Textbooks this year in her home school. Yesterday I finally got around to visiting the TT website, and I liked what I saw. I liked the idea of a self-teaching curriculum that allows the student to proceed at her own pace. Of course it makes things [...]

Time to take a look at the texts we’re using this year. In this post I discussed some of the global issues of our home school, but here I want to think about the specific texts and tricks.
Kindergarten:
I have very modest goals for my kindergartner. She turned 6 in December, so she has a fair [...]

Last Friday at co-op, the K-1 chemistry class investigated what happens when molecules react. I explained some different ways atoms can be rearranged in reactions. (Legos come in handy at such times.) Then, we attempted our first experiment.
Actually, over-prepared lass that I am, we did three:

We observed what happens to tarnished pennies when they’re soaked [...]

We’ve had two good classes so far with my 15 highly energetic K/1 chemistry students. I’ve been adapting material from Ellen McHenry’s The Elements, Real Science-4-Kids Pre-Level 1 Chemistry, general internet discoveries, and my own ideas.
Last week we learned about the Periodic Table as a listing of all the ingredients of the universe. The Elements [...]

I’m going to be teaching K-1 chemistry for our homeschool co-op this spring. (It starts this week.) For the most part, I’ll use the Real-Science-4-Kids organization, but I’m mixing in some additional — well, elements — both in order to introduce the concept of the Periodic Table, and to find ways to make the class [...]

Some time ago, Karen Edmisten mentioned The Mouse of Amherst in a Poetry Friday post. I ordered it immediately, but not until yesterday did the right time come for Elizabeth Spires’ 61-page imaginative introduction to Emily Dickinson, accented by Claire Nivola’s delicate drawings. The ultimate proof came at the end, when my 8-year-old exclaimed, “Let’s [...]

In the past I’ve written periodic reviews of the various materials we’re using in school, but this year we’re using so many that such a post would be way too long. Instead, I’m going to focus from time to time on a single subject and reflect on how the materials we’re using are working for [...]

I’ve outlined the problem and done some preliminary investigation regarding materials for chemistry after we finish the ten-week Real-Science-4-Kids pre-level-1 course. Now I’m ready to go out on a limb, forming and testing a hypothesis as to what the best choices are. Here’s what I’ve decided on:
This one has over 100 pages of chemistry information [...]