In case anyone is interested…and maybe a little for me so I can see it organized…here are my curriculum choices for the coming school year.  Caedmon will be in 3rd grade, Bethany will be in 1st and Nathanael will be in Kindergarten.  With the coming of a new baby in September, I [mostly] looked for materials that could cover all three kids at once, or that could be done independently of me.

History

Beautiful Feet Early American History – I wanted something covering American History that I could do with all three kids for the coming school year.  I probably could have managed this by continuing with Sonlight, but honestly, I didn’t want as much material as Sonlight includes.  And, for now, my goal is to take the full school year to do half of the curriculum, adding in “extras” for Caedmon if it seems too slow.

Science

God’s Design for Science by AiG – I’m going to order the full set, which (assuming I like it) will mean I can use it for the next four years, at least.  Again, all three kids can do the same curriculum, with different “levels” of information for different grades…and it is rather inexpensive for the flexibility it offers.  I haven’t decided which topic we will start with, though.

Language Arts

Caedmon – Bob Jones English 3 and Wordly Wise 3000, grade 4.  The Bob Jones curriculum seems fairly thorough, and I think will allow for a lot of independent work.  I will use Wordly Wise for vocab and spelling, and, again, I think Caedmon will be able to tackle much of it on his own.  I will put together a list of independent reading for him from suggestions in the history curriculum, and by perusing Sonlight’s reading list.

Bethany – First Language Lessons for the Well-Trained Mind, Level 1.  I really have no idea what this is like, but I’m just hoping for something basic to get the ball rolling on grammar with her.  I plan to copy some online spelling lists for her to use and have her read some of the simpler books from Sonlight’s second grade readers (which Caedmon used 2 years ago).  I also hope to pick some books from the Honey for a Child’s Heart reading list for her.

Nathanael – The Reading Lesson.  I used this with Caedmon and Bethany…well, I guess more with Bethany, since Caedmon finished it in about 2 weeks.  But, anyway, it seems to work.  I may also add in an Explode the Code book to reinforce concepts and give him something that he can work on independently.  I will probably also try to read at least some of the Thornton Burgess books that I used with the kindergarten curriculum for the other two.

Math

Caedmon – Saxon Math 5/4.  Even though I am sticking with Saxon, this was a tough decision for me.  I was leaning heavily toward Teaching Textbooks, and while I’m certain he would enjoy it, I was concerned about whether it would be at all challenging for Caedmon.  I was not thrilled with the thought of another year of Saxon, but with a different format for the higher grades, it seems a little less tedious while still being thorough and somewhat challenging.  Given the ease with which Caedmon grasps math concepts, I feel this is necessary to keep him learning for the full school year.

Bethany – Saxon Math 2.  Again, I didn’t really want to go with Saxon, and in all honesty, I may end up changing my mind if it doesn’t go well, but the cost (since I already have the lesson book) was low, so it’s not much risk.  I think the repetition and lack of colorful pictures may be best for Bethany to be able to focus on the concepts and get them really ingrained in her mind.

Nathanael – Singapore Math 1A/1B.  I have a love/hate attitude toward Singapore Math.  It is not how I would choose to teach concepts, but it seems to be working for my kids (for the most part).  There’s a good amount of independent work and it isn’t extremely time-consuming, so I’m going with it again.

Art/Music

Caedmon’s continuing piano lessons.  All three kids will be in CFA’s Friday Enrichment Program.  We sing together as a family (probably not something anyone outside our family would want to hear, however…).  I might decide to get a drawing skills book or an art appreciation book, but I think I will mostly try to find drawing / craft projects to do that correspond to the history curriculum.

Bible

The history curriculum has some Bible incorporated in, but each child will also have their own devotional time in the morning, and we will do family devotionals with a book on God’s names…I have no idea what this is like, but we will see.  I will also do memory verses with each child…I’m not sure what my approach to this will be yet.

And that’s it.  A bit haphazard, but it’s something, right?