Well, I spent the summer planning what I thought was going to be the best school year yet and, for the most part, it has been.  I have had some ups and downs with Sierra's curriculum and have changed up some things but have been pleased with it so far.  Daniel's was all good.  I wasn't entirely pleased with his Art History, so I have paused that aspect, but everything else was going along really good.  There were areas I thought dragged a bit at times, but for the most part it was going GREAT.

And than....a good friend of mine excitedly told me about a curriculum she just bought called Moving Beyond the Page.  We had discussed this curriculum somewhat last year, but when I researched it I discovered that it costs a bit of change....much more change than I was willing to pay.  I was very impressed with the curriculum...extremely...but let's face it....if you can't pay for it you likely can't get it.

That same friend also decided to go a different way with her curriculum choice and was satisfied with what she got.  However, as soon as she got into it, she found herself getting frustrated.  I hate when that happens.  Curriculum ain't cheap, you know.  She spoke to me often about her frustration (2 years on American History from 2nd to 3rd grade) and felt she should have kept with her first instinct and get Moving Beyond the Page.

Well, she could take it no more...she ordered MBTP..  She came to me all excited about her purchase and informed me that she got this years and next years...offering NEXT years curriculum to use THIS year with Daniel!!  By this I mean, she bought curriculum that she will use this year with her son and she also bought the curriculum she will use next year with her son.  She felt that Daniel was ready for the curriculum she will not need until next year.  I was shocked and grateful....but skeptical.  Look, I had it all set.  You've read my blogs before...I have a school calendar all worked up.  We are ON SCHEDULE.

When her shipment came in, she brought the books for me to look through and assured me if I wanted to, I could keep them to use.  I thanked her and out of politeness took all of them..I was genuinely interested in the literature guides, but confident in my own choices.  When I got home, I sorted out the literature guides...planning on only looking at them....but I noticed some of the topics coming up with the other books.  There were topics about Life Cycles and Economic Cycles, American Heroes, the Environment...and the literature books go with these topics.  Out of curiosity  I opened a book or two and found myself SOLD hook, line and sinker!

Here is what I like:

1. Daniel's current science program is very...well....black and white.  I do not necessarily mean in color, though that fits pretty well.  It is more of I have a Teacher Guide that I read from and it has some activities planned for each chapter section...but it can be somewhat dry.  The activity sheets are also black and white, as is Moving Beyond the Page, but with Moving Beyond the Page, the teacher guide is just a guide.  They require you get certain books that go along with the topic...these books are colorful and books your kid will look at.  For instance, the first unit is on weather and we had to get a book on weather and climate.  The book is full of colorful pages that will engage Daniel versus me just reading some scientific information.  It goes along with a trend that is running through Homeschooling called using living books.  Instead of boring textbooks, they get books full of life.  I LOVE that.
2. I also love the literature that corresponds with the units being taught.  For instance, the first topic is weather...the first book is Tornado by Betsy Byars (a book about a tornado that brings a dog house traveling from one house to another...with a dog inside that gets names Tornado).  Now, Daniel read this book last year, but I figure a little repetition isn't so bad.  The difficulty steadily increases as the year goes on.  The activities that go with the literature are very educational like finding the main idea of the chapter, etc.
3. It is a real brain tickler.  It requires thought and reason which is perfect for Daniel.  When he is not challenged, he gets bored.  He loves math because it requires him to work and use logic.

So, I went into looking into this curriculum with every thought of not changing a thing...and then, in the matter of minutes, my whole system was thrown out the window.  Well, that is a bit melodramatic.  Though this curriculum is comprehensive with history, language arts, science, and literature, I am continuing to use what I have (minus science).  We will continue with Story of the World because Daniel likes the stories and activities.  I LOVE Shurley Grammar which deals with more of the mechanics of grammar while Moving Beyond the Page will deal with more of the structural parts.  There will be some overlapping of concepts...but there is NOTHING wrong with that.  I did not have a structured literature program, so I appreciate having the guides now that will go a long way into getting more organized.  This curriculum does not cover math which is good because Daniel LOVES Singapore Math.

So, sheepishly I let my friend know that I will be using the curriculum that SHE paid for.  I am so lucky to have a gracious friend who is excited to have me using it.  Now, I stress about messing up this precious, expensive curriculum.  But, you know...when it involves your kid and you want to give him the best, it is hard to turn down generosity like this.  

Things I look forward to this year with this new curriculum:

1. When we get to the book, Poppy by Avi, we will dissect owl pellets.  
2. In a couple weeks, we will make a wind vane as well as a barometer.
3. Daniel gets to pick his favorite American Heroes to study in several weeks.

There are so many things to look forward to...it didn't take me long to decide this curriculum was right for us, so I stopped looking ahead and began planning for NOW.  Now is going to be FUN....INFORMATIVE....EDUCATIONAL....and CHALLENGING.  Of course, now is also going to be me wondering what to do.  My calendar is no good.  My mojo is broken.  I will admit to being a bit stressed about this as I do not do well without structure.  I managed to plan out the rest of this month and will likely plan through to Thanksgiving break and than spend most of that break getting my act together.  My brain is already working towards coming up with new ways to structure myself...and Daniel.

I recommend Moving Beyond the Page.  I am already thinking that we will have to buy it for next year.  It is pricey, but what can you do??  It's all pricey, right??  I looked up what the next level would cost and shared the information with Matt....he choked a little.  I told him they had a payment plan, we could order and start paying off early next year.  He isn't convinced.  :-)

Did you get that??  lol

Ok, homeschooling is full of ups and downs and a lot of those ups and downs can hinge on the curriculum you use.  Some time ago I shared a definite DOWN with the curriculum I chose for my daughter's grammar.  It was heavy, fast moving with little to no explanation for teaching the concepts.

Today I want to share an up that, if I could, I would attach to a balloon on this computer to illustrate just how UP this is.  It is Sierra's writing curriculum.

When choosing curriculum for Sierra, I knew she needed a formal grammar program, but I also wanted her to work on a writing program.  Her writing was typical, I think, for an 8th grader...as basic as basic can get with no real focus or structure.  I wanted to get something that would change that.

I read about a lot of great writing programs out there, but one just seemed to outshine them all, at least by reading customer reviews and by the limited views I could see on the internet.  Lucky me, it was inexpensive and thus easy to reject if necessary.

We have been using Wordsmith for a little over a month now and I am really impressed with the early results.

First of all, it is not dry or boring.  The creator/writer of this curriculum writes as though she is in the room talking to the student.  I read the text with Sierra and often find myself laughing.  Many times what she says is not only funny, but so true and personable that I will stop after reading a sentence, again as if she is in the room, and comment...that is so true!

Secondly, it is loooooooooooong.  We do not spend more than 10-15 minutes on a lesson per day.  She gives some information, some examples and assigns the student a task.  These tasks are often really fun like taking an old word like happy and coming up with other words you can use in it's place.  This is great on so many levels because it shows Sierra the importance of those adjectives and adverbs that we are studying in Grammar.  It has really gotten her thinking outside of her box and expanded her vocabulary.

Thirdly, in this short month of doing this program, I have noticed a HUGE difference in Sierra's writing.  Today she had to write a restaurant review and I read it and laughed and nodded knowingly as she described the salad bar at Jason's Deli.  Very descriptive writing that gave me, the reader, a clear picture of what she ate and why I would want to eat that....and why I would not want to drink the drinks there, too.

It is so thrilling when something sticks...and so, fourthly (uh...fourthly?), just as I started to write this review, Sierra came in and commented on my note on her restaurant review (which simply said "Awesome").  I was talking to her about how impressed I was with her form and descriptive writing and how she only had a couple minor grammatical issues and I saw the pride on her face.  She often complains about the curriculum she is doing this year...it is hard, challenging, and asking more of her than she has ever had....but she sat on the end of my bed and told me she really likes Wordsmith.  I grinned from ear to ear as she told me that she can see a difference in herself.  That is the best reward of all.

So, check it out.  It is truly a great writing program!!  http://www.commonsensepress.com/wordsmth.htm

Fresh on the heels of in one breath writing a blog about how much I did not care for Switched On Schoolhouse and in the other praising our new system for Sierra, I am here to say I have entered a new phase of irritation with a curriculum choice at the root of all my agitation....and it is a curriculum for Sierra.

I asked for advice on a Language Arts program for Sierra and Christian Light Publications came highly recommended.  Of course, the issue with not having a homeschool store within a good distance is that it is hard to really look at a curriculum before committing to buy it.  I did go to a store that is a fair distance from here and looked for this program, but they did not seem to have it.  Maybe this should have been my first and only clue NOT to buy it, but the woman who recommended it just was so positive about it, I thought I couldn't lose.  I did check out the sample online, but it was hardly useful in fully grasping what we were getting into.

Sadly, this little voice inside me said to just buy one workbook (one of the things I liked about this program is it came in workbook forms...she would finish one and pick up another one....twelve in total, I think).  I did not listen to that voice and ended up buying it all.  Perusing it when I got it seemed to be good, but I failed to really look at it and see it's flaws and how it would frustrate my daughter.

It immediately jumps in to finding verbs, linking verbs, being verbs, adjectives, adverbs, diagramming, etc.  Doesn't sound unreasonable, right?  Well, how about if the sentences she had to label and diagram were, for the most part, in a more classic, old English language?  Ok, not all of it was, but even the ones that were not were more of an old American language.  I found myself scratching my head at some of these sentences...many packed with words Sierra has never heard.

Now, it is good to be exposed to this language, but more in a literary form...to expect her to break the sentence apart into the different parts of speech was simply way too much to expect.  I could see her slowly shutting down with each lesson...and, honestly, I was too.

This is added to a severe lack of foundation in the subject after being in public school for so long.  Public school focuses so much on reading and less time on mechanics.  She is just plain lost.  Luckily for me, I am doing a great grammar program with Daniel called Shurley Grammar.  Daniel is already learning about different parts of the sentence.  After many sleepless nights and prayerful moments, I decided to go through Daniel's grammar with Sierra...but at a much faster pace.  There is no hurry with Daniel...many do not even opt to teach grammar at his grade level (though I am told that even though this is 2nd Grade, it is well above grade level).  As I am going through this with her, I am adding the difficulty of diagramming sentences as we go along.  Just today, we went through his first 3 chapters of grammar (she caught up to him in one day).  She is more at ease and I am more at peace.  Course, with her cruising through Shurley Grammar 2, I will have to buy Shurley Grammar 3 in no time...and 4 soon after and so on.  Luckily, this program is working well for Daniel and I have no plans on stopping, so I can buy them for her and use them with him.

A definite key to homeschooling is to not sweat the small stuff.  It is so easy to just give up...throw in the towel.  But, with careful prayer and thought, a solution will come.

In the meantime, anyone interested in buying a very barely used notebook filled with a year's worth of 8th grade Christian Light Publications Language Arts program??

Quite possibly the most frustrating thing I hear most families that homeschool seem to deal with is curriculum.  An advantage to homeschooling is the ability to customize your child's learning needs.  A definite disadvantage is an inability to really get a feel for the curriculum until you buy it and use it.  I do not know how many times I have heard people complain about spending hundreds of dollars on a particular program only to discover that their kids hate it.

Sierra is a very techy kind of girl.  Well, techy in the sense of being able to do a lot on her computer.  After dealing with some boring textbooks for 6th grade, it seemed that an easy choice for us was Switched On Schoolhouse for 7th Grade.  It was a win/win situation for both of us.  For Sierra, it was more interactive with videos and it was all on her computer which made it convenient.  For me, it scheduled her whole year for her, gave her her assignments, and did 75% of the grading (as well as kept a record of her grades).  I thought, we just can't lose.

Well, I am here to tell you how we lost with using this program and how we are trying to fix a lot of issues after a full year of using SOS.

1. There is the issue of being on the computer for so many hours during the day.  When Sierra was in the midst of the schoolyear, we both would have said to you and anyone who listened...this curriculum is awesome.  She was making good grades.  Over the school year, though, she was very moody a lot.  She lacked energy and I would get so frustrated with her and she would get frustrated with herself.  Over the summer, I saw a transformation with her.  Her energy level was up, her moods were more stable.  We had a meeting of the minds on what had changed and we came to the conclusion that sitting in her chair at her computer for hours each day had been zapping her energy!  During the course of our conversation, we decided that it may just be best to discontinue using SOS and go back to textbooks....just be choosier with which textbooks we chose.  She had such relief at the end of it all.  Interesting since we thought that we would likely continue doing SOS throughout the rest of her school career!
2. I am not sure what SOS taught her.  I saw her grades and they were good.  She ended the school year with all As.  However, in starting new curriculum, I have noticed a severe lack in many areas.  For instance, we are now using Abeka for American History.  In each chapter, you read several paragraphs and than you have questions to answer and terms to identify....read some more paragraphs and answer more questions and identify more terms....and than you will have a quiz.  I looked at her first quiz before she took it and was satisfied that it was not too hard, but not too easy....typical.  After studying for her quiz, she got her quiz and than panicked!  She said she was not expecting these types of questions (example: Who were the king and queen who financed Christopher Columbus' journey to America?).  She did not expect to have to know names of people or places.  Uh, what??  She said that SOS didn't ask for "stupid" things like that.  So, what exactly did they want.  Isn't history knowing dates, facts, names?  Don't even get me started on Language Arts!!  It blows my mind what she does not know.  It is of no fault of hers....well, I am sure she is somewhat at fault.  So, she is having to learn how to study (not a bad thing).  She is having to learn how to read text and find the important facts.  She is having to learn to diagram sentences.
3. A big problem with SOS (and, admittedly, a problem with me) was a lack of one on one involvement.  It is VERY easy to take advantage of letting the computer be her teacher.  I can honestly say I know maybe 5% of what she learned last year.  I gave very little input to what she was learning and she rarely, if ever, came to me with questions.  It sounds terrible now, but I liked not having to worry about her.  Now, I am completely worried because I see she has a long way to go to get where she needs to be.

So, now I am completely involved in her work.  We sit down together at least once a day to go over something.  Language Arts has become a one on one event for us.  I have had the pleasure of sitting down with her and her science to help make sense of measurement conversion.  I have learned something important:  It's fun!!  I like sitting down with her and explaining to her about predicate nomitaves and metric conversions.  

So far I am only unsure of one of her curriculum...Language Arts.  It is fairly complicated and did not come with a teacher's guide (or didn't come with one worth anything).  I am having to really reach back into the far recesses of my mind to remember all those terms I had to learn so long ago.  Maybe I will review this curriculum when I feel confident that it is good or not.

But, my thoughts on SOS is maybe stick with only doing one subject...maybe an elective course like foreign language.  Sierra is so enjoying her new curriculum and the book work.  She does not feel so trapped.

When I first began to explore the idea of homeschooling my kids, I first thought of my kids: what is best for them socially, spiritually, educationally.  When my husband first thought of homeschooling the kids, his first thought was $$$.  After the emotional decision was made, I began to realize why his first thought was $$$.  Homeschooling can be so expensive.  Oh sure, many will point out that it is less than private school, but that is little consolation for me..I am not, nor did I have, putting my kids in private school.

Last year, I was able to get Daniel his core materials for about $150 while Sierra cost us close to $500.  This year, Daniel was going to cost closer to $300-400 while Sierra was staying in that $500 range (and that does NOT include the formal art class we are putting her into this year).  My heart palpitates as I want to give my kids the best curriculum for their abilities that I can and I spend HOURS on the internet searching for the best options (as well as scour our local homeschool store which is CHAOTIC to put it nicely and dark and overwhelming).

I have heard a couple of my homeschool friends talk about buying their curriculum on ebay.  Now, I have never been much of an ebay fan.  I get nervous about getting what I think I am getting in the condition I want to get it in...plus paypal just seems like such a hassle.

BUT, then I started pricing things.  For example, Daniel.  I wanted to get him started on Shurley Grammar this year.  Shurley Grammar, online at their website was $70 plus shipping.  On Christianbook.com, it was $55.89, but you could bet you would add another $10 in shipping.  However, on ebay, I was able to get the exact same items (teacher book, student book, practice book, and cd) for around $23 with shipping...the teacher's book has SOME highlighting in it at the very front of the book, but it is in otherwise pristine condition.  This was HUGE savings.

I recently tried purchasing American History for Sierra.  I have decided to get her Abeka's America Land I Love history which is not too bad new on Abeka's site...I could buy the whole kit for about $90 which includes the text book, and several other books.  BUT, looked on ebay and found a seller selling the whole kitten caboodle for $30.  I asked, before purchasing, about the condition and the seller gave me a detailed description of exactly the condition of each book and I was pleased to pay what she asked.

Now, that is not to say that I have not been bamboozled.  I recently decided that Sierra needs help with writing.  So, while I found a grammar set for her to do, I wanted to get her a seperate set for writing.  I decided on Wordsmith which came highly recommended on homeschool review sites.  The student book, new, is $20, but I wanted to see what I could find online.  I found a woman selling it for $8 plus a couple dollars in shipping and thought YES!!  When it arrived in the mail, it was the Teacher's manual, not the student book, which is naturally cheaper brand new.  In fact, when I got turned the book over, it had a $6 price tag.  I was pretty upset because the title said "workbook" and the picture was a picture of the student book, not the teacher's guide.  Now, I did find the student book, also on ebay, for $10 and I ordered it (hopefully it will be what I ordered).  AND, making lemonade from lemons, I found that the teacher's guide has been helpful.

So, I love ebay now.  I have bought some things new and kept to ebay for others.  I have not been disappointed with the transactions, shipping time or the like....and I have saved TONS of money.  If I can get my kids ALL that they need and save $$$ in the process...why not.  I think Sierra's went from about $500 to now around $200.  LOVE THAT!!

Ok....I have been told I am addicted to chocolate.  I have been told I am addicted to Facebook.  I can tell you I am addicted to Pinterest.

Am I addicted to Home Schooling??  My husband informed me tonight that I have a problem and I am addicted.  He said "you look like an addict, you need to shut it all down or you won't sleep".

Ok, so I spend every waking minute planning, researching, typing up plans, talking about and dreaming about homeschooling.  So, my wrist and fingers are numb or have shooting pain from all the typing.  So, I got a book in the mail about homeschooling teens and that is sparking new things in my brain.  So what....

Apparently, when Matt told me to stop everything and pick it back up tomorrow, I had the look of a manic.  How can I stop....I am reading interesting perspectives on what I should may be do or not do with my teenage daughter.  What books I should do...some writing curriculum that comes highly recommended.  Literature...credits....  Today, I decided to go ahead and start working on Sierra's history credits for high school.  I look forward to ordering more curriculum for her.  I planned out her year of science, only to discover some holes in the plan, so I will have to reorganize a bit.  It was a day dedicated to school....as was yesterday...and the day before...and, well, so on....

So, my mind is going in ten million directions.  I still have some printing and binder assembling to do...a school room to reorganize....a long list of things to get done and I have until the end of August to get it done.  No problem, right??

Matt says 89% of what I talk about is centered around home schooling....99% of what I do is home schooling.  Now, in all fairness, I am just trying to get as prepared as possible for the upcoming year so that when things happen, as they often do, I can be prepared.  

I have had this conversation before at my homeschool group's park day.  There is one particular mom that I talk to a lot who FEEDS my addiction.  She introduced me to the wide open range of stuff out there for my son and now I have pin boards full of activities on pinterest and I have curriculum information stored everywhere!

Do I need to go to Home School Addicts Anonymous??  Do I need an intervention?  

Yes, my name is Sandra and I am an overplanner!!  Or.....am I?

Well, I am PLEASED beyond PLEASED to announce that I have completely and totally planned all my son's school for the 2012/2013 school year.  Seriously.  Ok...well, I haven't planned the second half of his math.  I haven't bought it yet.  I am waiting until he needs it.  AND, I haven't planned his reading because it is reader's choice...that is, I will give him a choice of 3 books at a time for him to choose to read.  Add to that I cannot predict how fast he will read each book.

It is quite thrilling to know ahead of time what we need to get done this year...

The lesson plan is ready for each subject.  I have not only made a lesson plan for the school year, but I have gone subject by subject and made binder inserts for each subject.  He will have a binder for each subject where he will keep all his work.

AND, I even managed to find an excel spreadsheet that I can use to keep progress grades on.  I LOVE IT!!

Now comes the next challenge.  Doing the same for my daughter.  Oh, how it was going to be SO MUCH EASIER for her this year.  We were going with Monarch by Alpha and Omega Publications...everything is on the computer and it figures out her plan for her.  BUT, we decided it was NOT a good idea for her and so now I am going through figuring out her curriculum (which I have pretty much figured out what she will do) and than AFFORDING to buy it SOON and than plan it out.  

But, it is quite an accomplishment for me to have this done.  I am very relieved that it has worked out.  I look forward to assembling binders and arranging the room.

I would show you my lesson plan, but it is too large a file, unfortunately.  Here is a screen shot of one week.

Here is what his history binder will look like:

Last year was such a success in homeschooling Sierra.  She used a program called Switched on Schoolhouse which was all on the computer.  All I had to do was put in the dates and it figured out her lesson plan for her.  It was completely independent.  What parent wouldn't love that.

Success, yes...the right thing to do?  Possibly not.  Earlier this past week, I sat in Sierra's room and we had a long talk.  For a LONG time now, we have been dealing with her being tired ALL THE TIME. All I hear ALL day LONG is how tired she is.  This girl is L-A-Z-Y!!  We have changed her diet.  We have altered her sleep patterns.  We have seen doctors.  We came up with an answer...allergies.  We start on a regimen.  Than something magical happened.............she went to camp and we bought a trampoline.  Sounds random, huh?

Well, first let's start with camp.  She went to camp with her Student Ministry and instead of having a knock your socks off experience (which is always good, but too often seems to be followed by a crash down to earth), she experienced insight into her life and changes she needs to make.  She found that there are areas of "obsession" that was taking her focus off where it needed to be.  She made the conscious decision to re-focus her life and the changes have been A-MAZING!!  She is serving more, she is watching less TV and You Tube and she is taking less than 3 hours to get ready to go anywhere!!

She came home from camp and found we had bought a trampoline.  She has spent every day on it since she got home.  She has never been so active...gotten so much fresh air and sun....EXERCISED as much.

So, what does any of this have to do with Switched on Schoolhouse.  I sat on my daughter's floor earlier last week and we were discussing the Sierra before and the Sierra now.  During school, she would easily spend 4-5 hours staring at a computer screen.  She would just sit at her desk, or on her bed, or in her chair with a computer on her lap.  NO WONDER she was tired and lethargic all the time.  There is no closure to what she would do.  No books to close and put up....no set time to get up and stretch.  With everything all in one place, it was just too easy to get sucked in.  Her breaks would consist of getting on You Tube....while in her chair, bed or desk.

As we talked, we both realized that we need to change things up.  We talked about how if she had different subjects with BOOKS, how easily she can change her surroundings.  If she wants to do history on the trampoline, she can....if we need to go somewhere, she can bring her science with her.  And there is something to be said for closing your completed workbook...getting up off of whatever you are planted on...and putting it up....stretching...getting a bottle of water....maybe jumping on the trampoline.

An interesting thing happened at this point.  She said, "Maybe you and I can have some one on one time each day like you do with Daniel."  Was she missing that last year?  Did I drop the ball?  Did I let her get too independent?  Wow.  As I look at different curriculum I think will work well for her, I can see joy in her face as I spend as much time and energy on her as I have been on Daniel.  Daniel is only going into 2nd grade, he will need more of me than she will, but this awakened something in me.  Homeschooling is more than an educational opportunity, it is a relational one, too.

Is there anything more thrilling than ordering curriculum?  Is it sad or weird for us homeschoolers that we get such a THRILL out of it.  I have been working on getting organized for the upcoming schoolyear (yes, we don't start until September, but that's OK), but it has been frustrating to try to figure out what to do when I do not have all the materials.

I recently sold a bunch of curriculum on ebay.  I am no ebay expert...I am not even a novice, so when I got an email that my funds were available on paypal, silly me thought that meant it was in my account.  No, you have to go through processes to get the money into your account.  But, I got to thinking...why go through all that when I can just use my paypal account to buy new curriculum.

The thrill of the hunt began.  I already knew what curriculum we would be using this year would be, it was just a matter of finding where I could get it the cheapest (I will list and link that curriculum below).  I tried Amazon.com, but they do not tend to carry much homeschool material there unless it is sold by private sellers.  I tried Christianbook.com (Christian Book Distributors) and found they had what I needed, but a couple of items seemed a bit much.  A seller on ebay had the grammar I was looking for in new or like new condition for far cheaper than anywhere else, so that was an easy sell.  Math and bible were cheaper when bought at Christian Book Distributors while science was cheaper from the publisher.  All in all, I am pleased.  Lucky for me, I already had history, and reading is taken care of too.

So, here is what we are doing for the 2012-2013 school year (as long as I do not have buyers remorse!)!

History - Story of the World Volume 1:  Ancient Times
Math - Singapore Math 2A, 2A Intensive Practice, 2B, 2B Intensive Practice
Science - Considering God's Creation
Grammar - Shurley English, Level 2

My latest obsession has been Science.  What science program should I use for next year??  How much emphasis should I put in to 2nd grade science?  Is one day a week sufficient?  Two days?  If I did it that long, could I plan it right so that his curriculum could last for two years??  Is that too slow??  Am I OCD?Universe
Stars
Solar System
Earth
Light
Sound
Wind
Weather
Clouds
Rocks
Plants
Insects
Mammals
Reptiles
Birds
Fish
Amphibians
Food Chains
Reproduction and Genetics
Human
Animal Anatomy
Physiology