It feels like fall – and everyone is blog hoping about curriculum – so I thought I’d spend the afternoon cleaning out the Classroom Craft room Storage Facility. We mostly gather around the dining room table when our learning conversations take place   – the drawing, seatwork, writing, experiments and research.

Confessions of an UnSchooler  – We have WAY too much curriculum. Besides what I’m listing here, we have 2 more shelves of books, and a few scattered around the house. I use curriculum as a tool. Guide lines. Although I feel like I should have a teaching degree by now with all of the training, research and experience – and results – I don’t know how to raise the bar with each new topic or grade level on my own. I rely on those who have gone before (moment of silence while the Choir of Angels sing of their tireless excellence) . . . . . . and I use the curriculum as guides to ask pertinent questions – learning what interesting facts to expose them to – keeps my feelers on alert when opportunity arises.

So – Here are the tools that I sorted out on the main bookshelf.  This isn’t really a list of what we will use in 2010 – but more of what I cleaned up on the shelf and out of the workboxes. There are items that I won’t use this year – but most of it may find its way into their weekly workboxes.

Character
    Truth & Training The Ultimate Adventure 1 & 2
    The Squire and the Scroll, Book, Coloring Book, & Life Lessons Workbook

Music
    Guitar Lessons/Tips from Worship Team at Church
    Singing to our Cable Worship Channel/Air One/KLove
    First Book of the Recorder
    Ready to Use Music Reading Activities Kit

Math
    Cuisenaire Rods, Wooden, Plastic, & Connectors
    ACE Paces, Misc. Numbers for Worksheet Practice
    Saxon Math Homeschool 7/6, Tests, Workbook, Teachers, DIVE CD
    Math Help Book, Created by Nate
    Math Dictionary for Kids
    Miquon Red, Orange, Green, Yellow & Purple – Almost done w/Yellow
    Miquon Math Lab Sheet Annotations

Art
    Drawing and Narrating Stories
    Drawing Textbook Bruce McIntyre
    Thinker Doodles, B1 & A1
    Tracing Pads, Sketch Pads, Journaling
    Word Toons

Science
    About a half of a bajillion Field Guides, Library, Used Book Stores
    Handbook of Nature Study, Outdoor Hour Challenges,
    Misc. Science Books/Projects/Experiment Books.

 
English
This year we are using Time4Writing and Daily Grams along with Narration. IF we go into detailed spelling, we will use the Wise Guide as a our word List. I am including these items, as they were on the shelf. 🙂
    Getty & Dubay Italic Handwriting
    Daily Grams ,
    Spelling & Reading with Riggs, Spaulding Phonogram Cards
    School Zone Wonder Words
    ACE School of Tomorrow Word Building
    Teaching Reading at Home, Wanda Sanseri
    Reading Club Handout Book for Reports
    Beginning Outlining, Outlining Made Simple
    100 Words Kids Need to Read by 2nd Grade
    ACE English Paces for 2nd Grade
    Writing Strands, Several Levels
    Spell to Write and Read Phonogram Cards
    Phonics Pathways
    Teach your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons
    The Writing Road to Reading, Romalda Spalding
    Time 4 Writing Middle School Paragraphs

Geography
    Galloping the Globe – I loaned it out and havn’t found it. Need to get another
    The Ultimate Geography and Timeline Guide
    Lapbooking through Countries of Interest

Classroom Side

Work Area

Craft Room Side – Storage for memorabilia and such behind curtain.

Items we have in the other room are our KONOS Unit Study books, Keepers of the Faith Books, For Instructions in Righteousness and Cornerstones, Handbook of Nature Study by Anna Comstock, Dictionaries, Bibles, McGuffy Readers, Ruth Beechick Books, & Charlotte Mason Books along with shelves of reading books. 🙂

If you have googled one of these terms and have questions about them, feel free to comment or ask questions – I’m always up for giving our opinion!  We do alot of unit studies, compiled by lapbooks and now moving more towards notebooking. We have a daily nature journal – to find something out side to draw and describe.  Our daily activities are bible, nature, english and math.  The Geography, Science and History seem to come in HUGE overdone globs of intense interest. 🙂

In our state – we have to test english and math during the 3rd, 5th, 8th and 10th grade years of learning – so far – we have tested above the grade levels. My 7th grade son had learning difficulties early on – which has changed how and when we were able to tackle a topic. My youngest son seemed to be memorizing everything the older was learning and has had little one on one teaching from me, he seems to have Nate’s overheard studies down.  I write this to encourage you to see what an “eclectic relaxed learner” acutally has used. 🙂

The Pebblekeeper. 

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