Almost time for First Grade!

Well, to all my homeschooling family and friends...a new year is about to begin. I know a lot of us do a sort of year round schedule, taking breaks throughout as we wish. So there is no official start date or stop date. Luckily I have the BEST homeschool reviewer who is an amazing advocate for homeschooling and acts as our liaison with the schoolboard. She makes our lives SO much easier!

I want to do the SONLIGHT curriculum with JD-6 for first grade. It is incredibly expensive, though. Good news is that they now offer payment plan options which we will probably take them up on.

I will probably stay with Horizons math for now, JD seems to like it and it works well. WE also play a lot of math games which I include as curriculum as well.
For science...what to do? JD loves science and we have been kind of doing a lot of reading about science-whatever interests JD at the time...space, nature, plants, germs, anatomy, dinosaurs, etc. We have lots of science books and experiments books, and have done a few simple experiments. But for my bipolar personality the unschooling method seems to be a huge struggle. I need something routine, planned out. Ready to go. Clear concise goals to work towards and achieve. So for science, I don't really know what to choose.
For history I really want to do Sonlight. I love their literature based theory and approach. It also encompasses reading as a subject and includes readers. But I am confused about which level readers to choose for JD. He is already reading chapter books like Call of the Wild unassisted and has great reading comprehension. I am not sure whether to put him in level 1 advanced or level 2 intermediate...or even level 2 advanced?? I don't want to push him too far ahead though. Even if he is capable of reading at a 3rd or 4th grade level, I want him to build a very strong reading foundation and build on that. I don't want to get readers that are super far ahead of his grade level, and have him miss something from the 1st or 2nd grade learning readers. I am thinking level 2 intermediate. He can always choose to read books at any level on his own time, which I am sure he will since, like his mommy, he loves to read. Which is a wonderful blessing! I think reading is the key to learning and unlocking the mysteries of the world, history, literature, science, etc.

I also want to do a lot of hands on things as well. I find it a little hard to make everything fit into one day since I also have to work at home full time, at least 6 hrs per day to help pay the bills. Thank You Jesus for my parents' offering me a job as a web tech for their online business. It is because of them, and God, that I am able to afford the luxury of staying home with JD and homeschooling!!

For phonics we have been doing Explode the Code which we will probably stick with. I want to get him involved in art and music, but I do not really know where to turn for that. Music lessons would be great but we don't have the money right now :( We have some basic art supplies, but I am not great at artsy stuff. I need help in that area. I don't know where to begin facilitating art for a child.

I may get a spelling/handwriting book with scripture called A Reason for Handwriting. Last year we read and wrote down scripture directly from the Bible, practiced letters, and Explode the Code also has a lot of letter writing practice.

For physical education, we try to go outside for active play (bike riding, running, playing with kids, etc) for at least one hour a day. We usually make it 2-3 hours, but that makes it hard on my work time. We did group soccer last year which he loved, but I think I missed the sign up deadline this year which he is very upset about. I am awaiting an email back to hear if we can do late signup.

What else is there?? Now I see the benefit of doing an all-in-one curriculum like Bob Jones, or Alpha Omega. You can get it all together from one place in one package and know nothing is missing! But I want to make sure I have the best there is out there for every subject!

So...I will make updates on what we decide and purchase. I am looking forward to starting Sonlight asap! Justin in so eager to learn and loves it so I want to foster that love for learning in every way possible!

Love to you all!
JMS