Bug's 5th Grade Curriculum

I'm so excited to be starting a new school year!  There is something about new workbooks, filled in lesson plans, and freshly sharpened pencils that shouts purpose, plan, and order to me.  After these past two chaotic months, with every day different from the last and so many people and activities coming and going, I'm craving order and a schedule.  My girls...  Well, not so much.  But they have had "the summer of fun" so they don't have anything to complain about.

Bug's curriculum has me the most excited, to tell the truth.  She will be embarking on Sonlight's Eastern Hemisphere History.  Since my history education has been largely American and Western Hemisphere, I'm sure that I will learn much of the material right alongside her.  We can share in the joy of discovering new things, and marvel at events and places together.  I'm also looking forward to the personal growth that this study will bring, as there will be daily research assignments that she will be expected to complete on her own.  I know that she will need some hand holding at the start, but I trust that she will become competent with using internet research tools, as well as library systems and indexes.  Quality research skills will be invaluable in practically any career she will go into and I'm thrilled that she will be developing them at an early age.  Sonlight will also cover reading, with read alouds and vocabulary work as well as great comprehension questions for the individual readers.

A very happy Bug doing her research.

Bug will be entering 5th grade and the state standard is to study US History through looking at individual state histories.  Since Sonlight clearly won't be touching on that, I'm looking to My Father's World Adventures workbook for the state history notebook pages.  Written for a second and third grade level they should be easy enough for her to complete on her own, one or two a week.  She will also participate in a US History Club through our local home education program.  My plan is for her to do Sonlight four days a week, and MFW on Fridays.

If you are wondering why I'm combining the two, here is the simple explanation:  We have chosen to participate in a home education program for the free classes and numerous field trips, seasonal parties, and choir.  It is a great program and I barely scratched the surface of all it has to offer last year.  The cost of the program is that I am required to meet state standards and I need to submit monthly reports of what learning took place along with samples of their work.  This is why Bug needs the state reports.  I could just use their history curriculum and call it a day, but I chose to homeschool in part to provide a richer education than the schools would provide.  For me that mean Christian values, literature based, great discussions, and learning above and beyond the state standards.  This is why I went with Sonlight.  Now, I suppose I could do Sonlight's condensed American history, but Bug did Cores 3 and 4 in second and third grade and will do their higher level American history in eighth grade (SL's schedule nicely joining with state standards that year.)  I don't want her education to be as one sided as mine, learning all about the West and barely touching upon the East.  So I'm going to stick with Sonlight's schedule and toss in really simple work and a fun club to meet the minimum state and program requirements.  Does that make sense to anyone, or am I crazy?

Bible will be done through Community Bible Study.  This is a terrific program that we have participated in for the last three years.  The older kids (2nd - 8th grade) study the same book as their mother, reading the same passages and memorizing the same verses.  Our group meets on Fridays.  I love the time to meet with other Christian women, and the girls enjoy their classes.  It is the highlight of our week and we turn down any classes, field trips, or activities that conflict with CBS.

The rest of her curriculum is pretty standard fare.  Singapore Math has been a great fit for Bug, and she rocks state testing year after year, so we are sticking with it.  She will be doing 5A&B.  I decided that for my own sanity it would be worth it to purchase the answer keys, but I will probably still do the reviews along side her as it becomes a fun competition and they don't seem so long.  Spelling is taken from the home education program's provided resource, Pearson's Reading Street.  Bug will read aloud a story from the basal reader on Monday, complete the worksheets for the correlating spelling list on Tuesday and Wednesday, and test on Thursday.  This plan worked so well last year that I'm keeping it in place.

Everything else is covered by Evan Moor's Daily books.  Bug will be doing Daily Language Review, Daily Reading Comprehension, Daily 6 Trait Writing, Daily Geography, and Daily Science.  I clearly like these books, and the reason is that they are simple in their format so she can work independently, and yet the content is solid and she is learning what she needs to know.  The writing book in particular has helped her become a very strong and confident writer by giving her a clear set of guidelines and tools to use to craft a solid essay.

Bug will also be taking Spanish, art, choir, and computers through the home education program.  She will continue to grow as a dancer, a true passion for her, and will pick up three more classes.  She will qualify for a locker at the studio.  :)  She wants to join the performance troupe, but I'm going to wait another year on that to let her maturity and skills develop a bit more, and to delay the hit my checking account and sanity will take when she does join.

I really feel at this point that I know what works and what doesn't work with Bug and I'm anticipating a great school year!  I have linked up with Kris at Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers for her her annual Curriculum Wrap-Up.  I have also linked up with the Not Back to School Blog Hop.  So many curriculum choices, so little time...  :o)