Our curriculum for the 2011-2012 school year

My 8th grade boy:

MathUSee Algebra I  http://www.mathusee.com/

Getting Started with Spanish (from Amazon)

Exploring Creation with Physical Science 2nd ed. http://www.apologia.com/

He will get to do most of the labs with our Thursday morning co-op : )

Spelling Workout Level H (Amazon)

Words on the Vine (root words) from Amazon

THINGS WE ARE DOING TOGETHER

Bible Study Guide for all ages. Comes with timeline and maps, as well as a fun worksheet to do with each lesson: http://www.biblestudyguide.com/

Notgrass "America the Beautiful." I'd love to become an honorary member of this family. They publish homeschool curriculum as a family business. I was very excited to find this at the SE Homeschool Convention. It does have a text book, but it's not boring; it includes tons of photos and is a conversational read. There are 10 novels that work in conjunction with topics from the text. It also comes with a book containing source documents including songs, journal entries, newspaper articles, etc. to read in conjunction with the text. Additionally, it comes with a separate time line book and map work, all coordinated with the daily lessons. There is an answer key but no instructor guide is needed; the book is divided into 150 lessons with the assignments listed at the end. My 8th grader has to complete them all while I select certain ones for my 4th grader to complete. I read most of the lesson aloud to my 4th grader, which makes sure I know the material too, and I can stop and discuss with him to make sure he understands. Oh, it also has an age appropriate workbook with a review sheet on each lesson. This is the bulk of our curriculum this year and I am very excited about it!

http://www.notgrass.com/index.php

WRITING WORKSHOP

Writing Workshop Activity Kits
 I used these when I was teaching in the 90s. They are all published in the mid-1980s and I tracked them all down on Amazon. They are divised to be mini-lessons, so they will be perfect to do in conjunction with our writing workshop, which we plan to do at least 2x per week.

 My 4th grade boy:

http://www.apologia.com/

Handwriting Without Tears Level 4  http://www.hwtears.com/hwt

First Language Lessons Level 4 (from Amazon)

MathUSee Delta (http://www.mathusee.com/)

Spelling Workout Level D

I am also doing some vocabulary units with him, some SuperStar Speech, and eventually typing. Both boys get a Logic exercise once a week as well.