Our Curriculm for 2011-2012

If you want to read tons more blog posts about curriculum (enough to make your head spin) head over to

Surely that's enough to keep anyone busy for the rest of the year, but I had a friend ask specifically about what curriculum we use, so I figured I'd write it up real quick.

Preschool:  My last post described what we do for preschool with our youngest.

Kindergarten:  Reading/Writing: Phonics Museum, Veritas Press (good for K-1st grade)

                        Math:  Saxon Math 1

                        Bible:  Stick Figuring through the Bible, Grapevine Studies 

3rd and 5th Grade:  Math:  Saxon 5/4 and 7/6

                                 Grammar:  Shurley English Levels 4 and 6

                                 Literature:  Veritas Press grades 3 and 5

                                 Spelling: Phonics Zoo, IEW (Institute for Excellence in Writing)

                                 Composition: Teaching Writing: Structure and Style, IEW

                                 Latin:  Latin for Children B, Classical Academic Press (together)                                                             History: NT Greece and Rome, Veritas Press (together)

                                 Bible:  Judges through Kings, Veritas Press (together)  

                                 Science:  God's Design for Science, Answers in Genesis (together)

If you can't tell, we use Veritas Press for a classical approach.  We order their lesson plans each year for every subject (so worth it!) and then follow the recommendations.  We've been pleased with everything for the most part (my kids don't like spelling, but the curriculum is fine), and we've been over-the-moon thrilled with many aspects of our curriculum.  I did change from their kindergarten Bible curriculum to the one from Grapevine, just because my daughter is a visual learner, and we added science because they don't usually start that until middle school (it's a classical thing).

One benefit is that the most expensive things are meant to be used for more than one year, such as the Phonics Museum, Phonics Zoo, Teaching Writing, and God's Design for Science.  And for us, with 4 kids we will be using everything several times before we're through.

That's about it for us.  We researched long and hard before we settled on our curriculum because I don't like to keep changing things, and I'm very happy with what we are doing.  If you are still in the research phase, don't forget to check out the other blogs to see what they have to say about the myriad of options available.  Pray about it and dive in!  I wish you the best. 

(By the way, I'm not getting paid for any of the above links.  I just wanted to make it easier for you to find what I'm talking about.)