Our 2012-2013 Homeschool Curriculum Choices

We will be back into the swing of things starting July 23rd. We're starting a bit earlier than usual to allow for me to take time off in September to have the baby and readjust to very little sleep, which I haven't had to experience in well over six years. I know that many homeschoolers are currently shopping around trying to choose the best curriculum for this year or trying to replace something that didn't work last year. Here's our list of what we're using this year and why.

Main Curriculum:


Heart of Dakota's Beyond Little Hearts for His Glory. 

This is the curriculum I actually purchased to use last year, but shelved it after a few weeks. It includes all of the plans for our social studies, reading, spelling, and Bible. It covers all subjects, but I am only using those three as written and being a bit more eclectic with everything else. I like the Charlotte Mason approach to learning, and Heart of Dakota implements a well-laid out lesson guide using Charlotte Mason's philosophies.

Math: Saxon 2

This is a switch over from Singapore Math. While I agree with everything everyone says about Singapore teaching mental math and how to think through math problems, my daughter needs a bit more drill than that curriculum offers. After researching tons of math programs, I decided to try Saxon this year for 2nd grade. It seems to have the repetition needed and still includes the hands-on activities that make math engaging. Whether we will stick with it or not remains to be seen. I think math is one area we may switch around a bit to make sure each year "fits" just right.

Science: God's Wonderful Works by CLP, 101 Cool Science Experiments, Nature Study


God's Wonderful Works comes with HOD's curriculum, but instead of following the schedule in HOD we will be going through the text systematically. I also purchased the test booklet offered by CLP. We will be dedicating Friday to science experiment day using 101 Cool Science Experiments. Wednesday will be nature study day utilizing free nature printables I find online and her nature notebook.

Language Arts: A Reason for Handwriting T, Rod & Staff Grammar 2


This is our last year of formal handwriting lessons, and I've chosen to continue with ARFH using the T book which starts with print and finishes up teaching cursive. I like the simple lessons and how it integrates Bible verses for practice. Rod and Staff was chosen because it's the curriculum used by HOD, and I found very few negative reviews. It's simple, to the point, and seems to really teach the basics of grammar that is very much lacking in the public schools today. Spelling is integrated into the HOD curriculum, so I don't have a separate program for this subject.

Social Studies: American Pioneers and Patriots, Stories of the Pilgrims, Boys and Girls of Colonial Days


All of these texts are integrated into the HOD curriculum, and we will be following the activities and lessons as written in the lesson guide.

Reading: Various Book Titles Recommended by HOD, Explode the Code 3-4, Phonics Pathways, Reading Pathways


We are continuing with Explode the Code because it's great practice that reinforces what we learn in Phonics Pathways. We will finish up with Phonics Pathways by December, if not earlier, and with Reading Pathways shortly after that. Avlyn really took off with the phonics instruction methods of Phonics Pathways combined with the extra corresponding practice of Reading Pathways.


Art: Deep Space Sparkle Website





I love this website! I spent a couple of hours browsing the site and designing up to 30 weeks worth of lessons. We are starting this year with color theory. The blog author is a public school teacher, but her website is so full of examples and organized so well that it's really rather easy to find art lessons you can use from kindergarten and up.

And that's what we're using for 2nd grade this year.You can see what other families are choosing at: School Days Gone By Link Up  Happy Homeschooling!

How Our Year Is Going So Far.....

We are about a month into our Heart of Dakota curriclum, and I'm almost about to set it aside for a bit. While I do like it, I'm finding that I want to focus more on reading, writing, spelling, and math for first grade and not worry too much about science and history. With the way history is woven through the Heart of Dakota curriclum, it would be hard to focus on reading and writing without also doing the history part of the curriclum. I'm not sure if I'll be picking it up again after Christmas, or if I'll just set it aside and use it as-is for second grade.

So far, here's what we're doing:

Math - sticking with Singapore. I am going to use flashcards and drill to help cement addition facts.

Reading - Phonics pathways, explode the code, and a new book I just got, Dr. Fry's 300 most common words which I'm using for reading and spelling instruction. I may pick up the Heart of Dakota spelling list towards the end of the year, but for now I'm finding that using the same reading sight words as her spelling words is helping her retain the information. While she was learning the spelling words provided by HOD, after I'd test her she wouldn't retain how to spell it. With Dr. Fry's book she works all week with the words through a variety of activities.

We are still using the emerging reader's set from HOD, and we're currently working our way through the Early Reader's Bible.

Writing - She has a writing journal where I write a prompt and she completes it.

Science - she loves science. While I decided to scrap the schedule of science provided by HOD because it just jumps around too much, we were still working our way through God's Wonderful Works from the beginning. But my plan is to actually set that aside for now and introduce nature study. We will work on science on Thursdays and continue with nature studies until it gets too cold, and then we'll go back to our science text.

History - on hold for now

Electives - karate on Tue., Thurs., and Sat., library on Wed., art on Fri.

And that's pretty much where we're at with our schooling right now. After the Christmas break, I'll re-evaluate and see if I want to start up BLHFHG again or just use it for second grade.

Our First Week Back and Heart of Dakota Recap

This last week was our first week 'back to school.' We are using the Heart of Dakota (HOD) curriculum. I'll be honest and say that the first day was a little disappointing. Avlyn just didn't seem that interested, and she especially showed a lack of enthusiasm for both the history read aloud and the poetry. I don't know if it was just back to school blues or a lack of 100% preparation on my part ( we had just gotten back from Florida the week before, so planning for the first day kind of slipped me by), but by Wednesday we seemed to have a good flow, and she seemed to be enjoying the curriculum. This is the first year I'm recording hours, so that was something I was trying to figure out too. I am going to have plenty to blog about this year. Every weekend I plan on posting a recap of our week, since I know other HOD users like to see what other families are doing and how they're implementing the plans. Plus, those not familiar with HOD can see if it's a curriculum they may enjoy. Here's how our week went:

Math - HOD recommends Singapore math, and that's finally what I decided to go with. This week was basically a review of numbers, number words, and also sequencing up to 10. Friday we started with number bonds, but I'm just learning about those myself and plan on dedicating a post to it soon. I think we will be sticking with Singapore math for the long-term.

Science - This week we learned a bit about the ocean and whales/dolphins. We did two science experiments. One was creating a current in a sink of water using a dropper and the other was using peanut butter (instead of the suggested Crisco) to simulate the blubber on a whale. She covered two fingers with 'blubber' and dipped both hands into ice cold water. We then discussed why the peanut butter covered fingers weren't cold and how blubber protects ocean creatures from freezing.

Social Studies - Heart of Dakota is very Christ-centered and very history based. We read quite a few pages out of our history book and created our timeline. We chose to use a large poster board rather than a piece of paper. I have it attached with velcro to the wall for easy removal when it's time to work on it. This is her project completely. I don't write any of the stuff for her. I write the information on an index card and she copies it onto the timeline and then draws a picture representing the event.

Reading/Language Arts - I am using two things outside of the HOD curriculum, and those are Phonics Pathways and Explode the Code workbooks. We are just continuing with these until reading skills are solidly cemented. We also started the assigned poetry, which was Sara Coleridge's "The Storm." I printed out a poetry sign and also a picture of the author and poem to hang on the wall. Printing the picture was my idea since the poetry is so classic. I thought it would be good for her to relate that the picture was the person who actually wrote the poem. I am having her create a poetry journal also, so that at the end of the year she has all of the poetry she's learned in a nice journal. We are also working on sight words and minor grammar implementaion. This week it was sentences vs. sentence fragments.

Bible - She worked on Psalm 4:8 this week "I will lie down and sleep in peace. Lord, you alone, keep me safe." We are using an NIV kid's bible for our verses. I am also having her create a Bible verse journal. She writes the verse and then creates an illustration above it. We are just using the writing/drawing journals from Walmart.

Art - This week she created a shield of faith out of posterboard, tin foil, and paint. She decorated it with a rock, a picture of the Lord, a house, and a few other personal things. This related to another Psalm assigned in our curriculum. She LOVED, LOVED this project.

Overall, we had a great week. I'm enjoying the flow and material of the curriculum. We're looking forward to a great year. Happy homeschooling!!

How to Save Money on Homeschooling Curriculum

With this being the first year that we've bought a prepackaged curriculum, I just realized the investment we would be making would require some budgeting. During my research, I saw packages for over $1,000 or for as little as $300. My goal was to see what I could get for $200, the amount I'd probably spend on school clothes for the year.

I knew that I needed reading, math, language arts, spelling, handwriting, phonics, history, and science as the core for first grade. Since Avlyn will be 7 in December, I will need to keep a record book and portfolio of her work that covers the basic subjects. I researched, read, looked at samples, prayed, and finally decided on what to get. If I purchased everything direct from the publisher I would spend around $465.00 But by looking at used curriculum and discount sites I spent exactly $245.56, over $200 less than buying from the publisher and not much more than what I was hoping to spend. Here's a breakdown of what I did, all paid prices include my shipping costs, too:


We decided to go with the Heart of Dakota curriculum. This curriculum is Christ-centered and offers everything needed for a full year. While I like most of their choices, there were some things I wanted to change. If I had purchased the entire curriculum from HOD, it would have cost me $305 - still very affordable, but even more over my budget than necessary. Also, I didn't need some of the elements in the package and didn't want one of the choices included. So I was off to mix and match and save.


Heart of Dakota - I purchased the economy package and added the science text for $121.37. This gave us all of our history, science, and the teacher manual which is definitely worth the money. The publisher recommended a certain emerging reader set that they sell for $65.33. I went on Amazon and searched for every title. I found every book for a reduced price and most were available for free shipping, making my emerging reader set $43.36  The curriculum also requires read aloud books in certain genres throughout the year. I chose not to purchase any of those and just waited for my teacher guide to arrive. When it did, I found the book list in the back and noted that at least one title from each genre is available at our library. Since these take a couple of weeks to go through, it's not really necessary to have all of them available when school starts for us. The company sells those books for around $50, our cost $0.00.


The next step was to find our math. HOD offers Singapore Math as the option. After much prayer and research, I chose to go ahead with Singapore over Horizons math. Now I could have purchased the workbooks needed directly from HOD, but they don't offer a reduced price on it unless I buy the entire package, which I wasn't doing. Now the HOD curricula only recommends the workbooks for first grade, but being that I'm new to Singapore Math and teaching math in a different way than I learned, I really wanted the textbooks and home instructor's guides that are available. So I was able to find both textbooks and the first home instructor's guide on Ebay for $23.00. I purchased the two workbooks from Christian Book Distributors for 20.97, making my math curriculum a total of $43.97. Had I purchased it all directly from Singapore, I would have spent around $70. I am waiting to see if I need the 2nd instructor's guide before purchasing it.


I wanted to get A Reason for Handwriting as our main writing curriculum. HOD does offer copywork as their handwriting program, but I thought A Reason For fit my daughter better. We will probably do HOD copywork the second half of the year. From the publisher the workbook is around $15. I went on ebay and got the workbook and the teacher guide good for K-6th grade for $12. If I had purchased both of those from the publisher it would have been $47.50.


We still need to work on phonics next  year and I've chosen Phonics Pathways. The 10th edition just came out and the publisher wants $40.65. I went on Amazon again and found the new edition for $24.86.


Price Breakdown:


Heart of Dakota  original price of wanted items: 241.76     paid price for wanted items: 121.37

Singapore Math   original price: 69.60     paid price: 43.97

Emerging Reader books   original price: 65.33    paid price: 43.36

A Reason for Handwriting   original price: 47.50    paid price: 12.00

Phonics Pathways 10th ed.   original price: 40.65    paid price: 24.86


Original Pricing Total: 464.84    Discount pricing total: 245.56

Total Savings: 219.28

I could have saved even more money had I been patient enough to wait for our particular curriculum from HOD to go on sale through the message board. I've seen the teacher guide on sale for pretty cheap, but I was eager to get my hands on it, and I do like to support the publisher somewhat for all their hardwork in creation of the curriculum. Hope this breakdown helps you see how I managed to save over $200 and still get everything I needed for first grade. Happy homeschooling!