Pete started first grade yesterday! If some of the titles sound familiar, it’s because we’re using a lot of the same publishers as we did last year. We seem to have hit on a good combination of curricula for our needs.
Social Studies
- “Story of the World: Volume 3“
- This year I decided to spare my voice a little and buy the book on audio. Turns out that was a great decision. I put the first chapter on Pete’s iPod, and he’s listened to it about 10 times since yesterday. I’m hoping that trend continues.
Math
- “McRuffy Math 1
- Pete got about halfway through McRuffy’s first-grade math book last year, so we’re picking up right where we left off.
- “Teaching Textbooks: Math 3“
- He wants to try Teaching Textbooks this year, too. I’m going to let him play around with it, but we’ll discontinue it if he starts to get frustrated.
Language Arts
- “First Language Lessons for the Well-Trained Mind: Level 2”
- One of the things I love about homeschooling is the ability to cater the curriculum to the child’s learning preferences. Poppy used “First Language Lessons: Level 1” when she was younger, and she hated it. I still had the book when it was Pete’s turn to start grammar, so we tried it out. It was a really great fit for him, and we finished Level 1 last year.
- Michael Clay Thompson’s Language Arts curriculum
- I’ve been looking at Michael Clay Thompson’s books since we started homeschooling, but I’ve always ruled them out for being too expensive. This summer, though, I found a pretty good deal on them on eBay and decided we’d try them out. We just started the first book today; I’ll give you an update on how it’s going later this year.
Science
- Nancy Larson Science 1
- I think I bought this last year, and we still haven’t finished it. Resident science guy Rockford is supposed to lead our science lessons this year; hopefully we’ll make it all the way through this year.
Handwriting
- McRuffy and “Star Wars Writing Skills“
Phys Ed
- Tae kwon do
- Pete is starting the school year as a yellow belt. He isn’t very passionate about TKD, but he’s plugging away at it. Mostly because I told him he can’t quit.
- Soccer
- This will be Pete’s first season of soccer with a mid-week practice! He’s hit the big time.
Art
- Class with a local artist
- Yes, it’s the same place as last time. I’ve talked to the instructor, and we’re going to take it on a week-by-week basis.
I first became aware of artist Wayne Thiebaud a little more than a decade ago, when Rockford’s sister worked at 
included a project based on his work that we’d be doing it in our art class at co-op.