I have finally got our curriculum lined up for this academic year – just in time as it’s now September! We have also drafted a timetable, which the girls are both keen to start on. We are going to spend time in the mornings on our unit studies. The first one for this year is Sir Isaac Newton – there is plenty of material to really get our teeth into, and loads of experiments to make the learning fun!
Each subject will be completed using a core text and/or workbook. We are broadly following the National Curriculum but we will also be looking at topics that interest the girls in much more depth by including them in our unit studies.
Our curriculum, by subject, is included below. I’m sure I will add to the books over the coming weeks!
Unit Study
Our first Unit Study – Newton
We will spend several weeks looking at Newton’s life, his work on gravity, laws of motion and light. Here’s hoping for some rainbows soon!
English
English
These are our English books. We are spending two sessions each week looking at Spelling, Punctuation and Grammar (known in the US as Language Arts) and skills for writing and reading. K (11) particularly loves comprehension work, and we will be using readtheory.org for comprehension work, alongside our literature texts for the year.
We will also be spending a session each week on a literature study. Both girls love reading and I really want to encourage them to look more deeply at their chosen texts, rather than just reading the story. J (7) is starting with The Enormous Crocodile by Roald Dahl and I have a reading guide to use alongside this. K will start off with Boy by Roald Dahl, then move on to Goodnight Mister Tom by Michelle Magorian and then after Christmas will attempt Animal Farm. She reads at a high level so it will be interesting to see whether she grasps the satire in George Orwell’s classic.
We will also be looking at a Shakespeare play together. We enjoyed A Midsummer Night’s Dream last year, but I’m still trying to decide between The Tempest and Romeo and Juliet this time. I’ll keep you updated!
Maths
Mathematics
Both girls use Conquer Maths online but like to spend time using workbooks too. J is speeding ahead in Conquer Maths – she is already half way through the year 3 course thanks to her enthusiasm over the summer!
Science
Science
K will be starting Activate 1 for KS3, which covers the three sciences, and also working from a Lonsdale coursebook for variety. I also have a very comprehensive American Middle School Chemistry curriculum which we will be using to supplement the work, and because their worksheets are rather good! J has a set of Schofield and Sims science books. We are going to try to keep both girls on similar subjects so that they are working on the same thing, albeit at different levels, together.
Geography
Geography
A friend, who also happens to be Head of Geography in a secondary school, recommended OUP’s geog.1 so K will be working through the text book and workbook. It was more difficult to find a similar book for J’s level but I think that Across the Curriculum Geography might work out well for her.
Art
Art
We will be working together to study famous artists and their work. We will look at one artist and several pieces of work at a time. I am also planning to do a unit on textiles, where we will try different stitches, use the sewing machine and give tie-dye a go!
Nature Study
Nature Study
The girls were keen to include nature in our work. J has shown an enthusiasm for bird watching (which is probably because her favourite uncle likes to do it!) and K is keen to learn more about nature that is around us. As long as it remains warm enough, we will try to spend time outside each week seeing what we can spot and completing journals about it.
French
French
We were very lucky to have been given a wonderful pile of resources by a good friend, including several sets of cassette tapes for conversational French. It’s been a really long time since I did GCSE French (although I did get an A!) so I am hoping to learn along with the girls in this subject.
History
No photo for this one I’m afraid – I am still awaiting the delivery of the last couple of books for J. I am keen that they both learn the same period together to make my life a little easier. We are starting with 1066 and working chronologically from there. K is using the OUP KS3 History books. J will be looking at Great Events: The Battle of Hastings by Gillian Clements and In Search of History: 1066-1485 which is an older title but comes highly recommended.
And that’s the way our year looks!
Our journey in Home Education 