2013-2014 K-5 Curriculum

We zoomed through the My Father's World (MFW) God's Creation From A to Z, which is their Kindergarten curriculum, but I choose it as our K-4 program. This year we will continue with MFW Learning God's Story for 1st Grade, but again I choose it as our K-5 program because the transition should be smooth and easy. I really like how the phonics is built into the program. My goal and hope for Caleb is to get him reading. Unfortunately, I am doing this after having already finished and realized I took very few pictures.

 I really enjoy the layout of the Teacher's Manual as lessons are already in a weekly grid with check boxes. The check boxes made it easy for me to see during the day what we had completed and what needed finishing. The Bible Reader is plain black and white with large font type; great for beginning readers. The Bible Notebook corresponded with the Bible Reader and after hearing a story Caleb would have to write a short sentence and illustrate his story. The Bible Notebook was a big challenge for Caleb and so we had to discontinue using it.

The Learning God's Story student workbook was all about phonics. The first few lessons reviewed what was learned in God's Creation From A to Z and then moved on rather quickly. We slowed down quit a bit to give the new information time to assimilate. Reviewing previously learned words was essential.
My Big Book of 5-Minute Devotions was truly a delight and gem. Animals as characters in a brief moral story followed by "What does God say?" Just loved it!

Another curriculum gem is the Peter and the Wolf CD Caleb truly loved. He listened carefully, colored the instrument cards the right color and placed them under the right heading. Easy peasy! I personally love how MFW incorporates classical music into their programs.

Math consisted of the Complete Book of Math for 1st and 2nd Graders. The Unifex Cubes and sheets were included in the student pages. I veered a little and choose to have Caleb finish Book B of Singapore Essential Math.

Timeline figures were included in the student pages and just needed coloring and hanging. We hung our timeline on the fireplace mantel because we never use the fire place. Timeline figures correspond with the Bible readings and was a great feature for reinforcing what was being read-aloud.

 Oh, yes let's not figure Drawing with Children. While I liked the concepts being taught I think the book could have been a bit simpler. However, well worth the effort teacher and student put into it because the outcome is pretty cool.

Overall, this was an excellent choice and very much pleased with all the hard work Caleb put into everything. These are a few more of the student pages including the Bible memory verse handwriting page all to help reinforce words learned to increase his reading ability. The phonics and reading were so well integrated. I just loved it!