The Well-Trained Mind & 4th Grade

This past summer (after year number 1) I read The Well-Trained Mind by Jessie Wise and Susan Wise Bauer. It was a great read and I have definitely learned some new things. So now I have made some changes for our 4th grade year and I think we'll like it much better then the previous year. (my fingers are crossed). Lily now has her own binder set up with dividers for each subject. I like it!

4th Grade Curriculum

Saxon Math 54 - I also purchased the DIVE cd in hopes to free up some time to do preschool with Jasmine. We'll see how it goes.

History Odyssey - Middle Ages - I've changed history a little this year. We're still using SOTW2 as it's one of the spines scheduled in HO. We haven't started this yet, we're still finishing up SOTW1. I'm actually stretching it out a little right now because I haven't been able to purchase everything for the Middle Ages yet. One of the main things I still need to purchase is the Hands & Hearts Middle Ages Kit (and of course the additional student kit for J). I'm looking forward to adding that into our history for some hands-on fun. There are also many other things I am adding to History this year. But that will have to be a separate post for a different day.

Rod & Staff English - Building With Diligence (grade 4) - I am pretty happy with this curriculum choice. I think it works well for us. It takes us about 20min a day. We do some of the written work orally, don't do 'all' the written work. I pick and choose based on what she needs practice on. I feel that it covers things really well. Happy enough with it that I plan on moving on with it in 5th grade.

Veterinary Science Unit Study - Lily LOVES animals and is thinking about being a Veterinarian when she is older. So we did this for fun. We still haven't gone through their whole reading list. That's ok, it'll keep books in her hands for a while. (I hope).

Sonlight Science 4 - Electricity, Magnetism & Astronomy - We're not very far into this as of yet. We are changing it a little.....we're not doing the student pages that it comes with. We both (Lily and I) like notebooking instead. So now after reading a two-page spread or what have you, Lily will draw a picture that relates to what she just read and then write a little something about it. Then she adds it to her science binder. She likes this a lot better.

Spelling Workout D - We have the older 'sports' edition. We are not very far into this yet. So I can't really say much about it right now. So far, so good though.

Getty Dubay Italic Handwriting E - I decided on this book this year due to the fact that Lily has terrible handwriting. I hate saying that...but it's true. Even the pretty cursive was terrible. So, after researching different handwriting programs I figured this might be the best cursive program for her. Again, she's not that far into this yet either but so far, so good.

I guess that's basically it for now. There are more things that I want to add once we get the chance to purchase them.