Planning for 2015-2016 school year ~ I am loving vintage books!!

  This is the time of year when the current school year ends and I begin praying and preparing for the next school year. I am also starting to see clearly my homeschooling recipe. I am for sure an Eclectic / Charlotte Mason homeschooling mom with the love antique/ vintage books. I can't wait to post about the vintage books but today I want to stay focused on my curriculum choices.

Keeping:

1. Wisdom Booklets: Bible, music, science,history, law, health
2. Math U See
3. Easy Grammar
4. McGuffey readers
5. Biblioplan : Medieval
6. Mystery of History :The Early Church and Middle Ages (as an optional spine/reading)

New:

1. Elson Readers
2. Truth Quest History : Middle Ages & Renaissance/Reformation/Exploration
3. Bob Jones Chemistry
4. God's Design for Chemistry (Answers in Genesis)

 We have been using the Wisdom Booklets from the beginning of our homeschooling days. Christ clearly called us to using them. We read them together every morning to start our day it is our Bible, music, and time to look at life through all the subjects together. The Wisdom Booklets contain each subject. In the past we have been doing the projects but I have decided to go back to learning history in chronological order and focus on a science topic.

 I really like Biblioplan for my highschool students who are more independent . They can go through studying history in 4 years. In the study  they can include literature and Geography. I will be using Biblioplan textbook as resource for my elementary and Jr.high students.

  I am excited to give Truth Quest History a try. It is a Charlotte Mason /Eclectic flavor that is my favorite in a learning style. I love that Christ is the center and that the book lists are vintage books from an era when literature was not dumbed down, Christ, and good morals are woven throughout the books. These beautiful books are from 1820's to 1960. Many of the authors being in the 1940's or before in the time of J.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, G.A.Henty, Genevieve Foster, Ingri and Edgar d' Aulaire books etc. I love how she has a conversational keeping Christ the center , God focused not man ,and how man responds to Him. She then has a list of books that we can sit together and learning about man's response to God in a chronological order. I am having a blast tracking down these antique and vintage books. Many can be found in the library.She also lists spine options for those who want to read through a book that teaches history in a living book story telling style. Since I really enjoy Mystery of History and Linda Hobar's love for the Lord that shines from her writings I am going to include it as an optional spine for Truth Quest ,even though it is not listed as a spine,so MOH will still be apart of both those doing Biblioplan and Truth Quest.I am looking forward to snuggling up on the couch with some great living books this fall.

 Another new vintage book series we are going to add to next school year is the Elson Readers. I am going to have them read through the Elson readers so they are reading other types of great literature for reading in poems, stories, fairy tales, etc. so they are not just reading historical type books. The Elson Readers are a collection from great antique & vintage authors .  I found some original books that were printed in 1920 the year my house was built.

  We are going to continue using the McGuffey readers. I love these books and I purchased the 1857 version that has Charlotte Mason teaching tips in the beginning and more instruction that McGuffey added to the original 1836 version. This was the last set of readers he was directly involved with so it still has Christ interwoven. click here for 1857 version

 As for Science we are going to do Bob Jones Chemistry highschool and give it a try this year. I am not a fan of Apologia Highschool Science books and since we are no longer attending the co-op that uses it I am taking advantage of trying something new. We will also be doing the God's Design for Chemistry. I really enjoy the Apologia elementary science but I am looking for a Christ centered science with less reading and more hands on experiments etc. so we are going to give this try. Everyone will being doing Chemistry.

I love Math U See and Easy Grammar. They are keepers in this house!

My books are slowly coming in for next year so I will be posting about them. I pray the Lord leads and guides your homeschool for next year. I pray He provides everything you need strength, endurance, focus, books, and most importantly a closer walk with Him as you follow your Shepherd and feeding His sheep.