Our 2012-2013 curriculum

Ben recently told me I seemed less stressed and more confident in my decisions than in year's past about this year's curriculum and school year.  I guess that is pretty true, maybe it is b/c there are too many other things to be stressed about.  Maybe I have had more time with the kids and their learning styles.  Maybe I am just more confident in knowing if I screw them up this year, I always have next year to correct it.
Any who, this year I started ordering curricula back in May and I have had most of the summer to plan, and some things we have already started.  All summer we have been reading, journaling, and doing arithmetic.  I still follow The Well-Trained Mind as my go-to for curricula, but this past year we participated in a home school group and we had a home school brag one evening.  Everyone brought their fave items and I stole lots of ideas from the Mamas and kids who seem to have it "all-together."  I also used Cathy Duffy's website Top 100 picks for homeschool curriculum, which I must be on to something b/c it has been repinned over 750x on my pinterest homeschool board.

Here's the breakdown:
LE (age 7, strong reader):
Math - Horizons
Language - Shurley English
No phonics - she tested out of every phonics program I put in front of her
Spelling - Spelling Workout
Handwriting - we have used ABeka in the past, I told her as long as she journals every day in cursive, she no longer has to do handwriting pages
Vocabulary- Wordly Wise


Boo (age 5 1/2, reads on K/1 level):
Math - Horizons
Phonics - Explode the Code
Language - Shurley English
Spelling - Spelling Workout
Handwriting - ABeka print

I try to combine as many subjects as I can.  These subjects they learn together:
History -Story of the World vol 1
Art - Usborne Art Treasury for Kids
Science- we check out non-fiction books about topics that interest us, then we create journals about the things we have discovered.
Citizenship - Lessons in Responsibility for Girls and Little Keepers of the Faith
Bible - they each have their own Bibles and every morning they have their own 15 minutes or reading/quiet time.  Each week we memorize a new scripture together as a family.
Piano - Alfred's Music for Little Mozarts