Our Current Curriculum - May 2011

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We school year round and don't really follow grades. We started Nov 15th 2010 in roughly the 3rd grade and will go until whenever of whatever year. In most subjects Brianna is in Gr. 3, however, her grade levels go from Gr. 1 to Gr. 5. We are working on a mastery basis so she moves on as she can and stays on certain things longer. 


French is at a grade 1 level simply because there is no such thing as French Immersion workbooks. Workbooks are either meant for French children continuing their education in French (Brianna's in the Gr. 1 level) or English children learning French (where Brianna's in the Gr 4/5 level). Since 98% of French workbooks are meant for French children, I base her in the Gr. 1 level.

So, since we don't have set grades or set school years, I figure every 4-6 mths I'll post what we are currently working on. We are currently mostly not using traditional HS items, but regular workbooks you can buy at the bookstore/teacher stores. Most subjects are supplemented by printed worksheets from various sites and of course, library books.

See my last curriculum post from January. 

Spelling: We are using the Spell by Color program on top of me keeping track of words she's spelled wrong (spelling is not "important" in the rest of her work as long as she is trying to spell the best she can) and she copies, alphabetizes, puts into sentences and draws pictures of her words and we do spelling tests (she insists, I'd be happy with just working on her spelling words as above).


History: We're on a bit of a break from History at the moment, but will be finishing up the History portion of the Complete Canadian Curriculum Grade 3 over the next little while. We're also working our way through the Little House books.


Geography: We're working our way through Canadian Geography & Mapping Skills. This is a basic overview of Canadian Geography. Once we're done this book we'll be using the internet and library resources and going more in depth with each province and territory. We're also finishing up with the Geography portion of Complete Canadian Curriculum Grade 3.

Math: Because we went back to Gr. 1 in math with Brianna to see how far back she was, we didn't come close to finishing the items mentioned in my January curriculum post. About a month after writing that, we went all the way back to the beginning of Gr. 1. She flew through that and we are currently working our way through Gr. 2 where we have found the most missing "building blocks" in math. 

Right now we're using Grade 2 Math Ahead, and for small daily work, Math Skills, Second Grade Activities and printed worksheets. We should be done 2nd grade by the end of July and will be moving back to the Gr. 3 stuff listed in the January post.

English: Daily we're using a Skill Builders - Grammar book, learning/practicing cursive writing with Evan Moor's Daily Handwriting Practice and a Daily Editing book. For reading comprehension we're using a Learn on the Go book. Before summer is over though, we'll be finishing up the English portion of the Complete Canadian Curriculum Grade 3 and English Ahead.


Science: Science is a big jumble of a little of this, a little of that, as I'm sure it'll always be! We just finished the Science portion of Complete Canadian Curriculum Grade 3 and are working our way slowly through Science Investigations, but we're doing more *out* of the text books than *in* them. We'll also be doing a Butterfly Unit Study/Lapbook.


French: We just started back up in French after taking a break for a few weeks. French is a frustrating subject for us because I don't speak/read/write French and when Brianna gets stuck there's no one to help her. Google Translate helps, but it can turn a 10 minute lesson into more than an hour to type up all the translations. 

We've switched from the all French book we were using to the bilingual books made for English children learning French. However, these are meant for children in an all English school who will do minimal French. Right now we're using French Smart Grade 4 and Brianna's complaining it's way too easy. I agree. Even *I* know most of the French in it. I feel we'll be quickly moving to the French Smart Grade 5 book.

Art/Music: So learning the recorder hasn't happened yet. I have found a proper set that includes all the finger charts and music for it, just got to get around to ordering it. Over the next few months we'll be working on a little basic sewing and these great origami sets I found, Pet Shop Origami and Springtime Origami.


Phys Ed/Health: Brianna is currently training for a local kids triathlon. Right now this involves just getting into shape. We have a 3km (1.86m) route that we're walking. This will turn into being the bike route for the triathlon. There's also a .5km (0.31m) route for running. And finally a 50 meter (54.7 yards) swim. 


In Health we're working our way through Canadian Health Activities with emphasis on Nutrition.

Computer: Still touching on typing skills. We haven't done much lately though. We're using Garfield's Typing Pals and blogging for tools.

Life Skills: Our focus is still on kitchen safety/cooking and penpalling. She can now make her own scrambled eggs and can cook a variety of foods in the microwave. Penpalling, she's been lacking in. I feel bad for her poor penpals! Must sit on her an make her respond! 


Also, today I completed our planning through the rest of "Grade 3". While she's still behind in math, as of October, she'll be in Gr. 4 or above in everything else! I'm very happy that's she's only a month "behind".