Our New Curriculum has arrived!

$700 for our new curriculum (not including math, that's another $300 a year): 24 curriculum note books, 37 literature books, one thermometer, one owl pellet kit, one butterfly kit, and one human ear anatomy kit :D. We are VERY excited about this!!!!  It's called Moving Beyond the Page ; it's a literature based educational experience (in lieu of boring text book)...I have done a TON of research of the last few years on which direction to go, and this one looks like it will really fit our bill!  It is to my advantage that the girls are so close in age...this one is designed for children ages 7-9.

Here is what MBTP has to say: "

Components of a Curriculum for Gifted and Creative Learners

1. Start with state and national standards so you can be confident that your child is learning the skills and content needed in each subject area - including math, language arts, writing, science, social studies, and history. But don't stop there. . .
2. Wrap those standards in a concept-based curriculum so children learn skills through big ideas that they can take with them through their lives. It will help them to understand complex interactions, become true innovators, and see the interconnectedness among people, ideas, and environments.
3. Differentiate the curriculum to meet students at a level that is both challenging and rewarding. Children of the same age can be at different levels. Challenge them all.
4. Be cognizant of different learning styles. Help children learn in a way that feels natural to them. Don't force all children to learn in the same way all the time.
5. Work through your child's strengths by utilizing each of the multiple intelligences. When children work through their areas of strength, they achieve greater levels of success.
6. Encourage the many dimensions of critical and creative thinking. This dimension will set apart the book smart from those who are innovators, inventors, and designers.
7. Implement project-based instruction to reinforce the real-world application of a child's learning. Instead of isolating math, reading, and science lessons, children should use their skills in a variety of areas to solve problems or create products.
8. Utilize an interdisciplinary curriculum to help your child discover connections among subjects. Math and science go hand in hand. Social Studies cannot be understood without reading authentic documents and literature from different time periods and different perspectives. Life does not isolate these subjects, and your child's curriculum should not teach them in isolation either."

Doesn't this look fantastic?!!!  I cannot tell you just how excited we all are about this!  

We've also been using  Math U See since April; and again, we love it, and the girls are doing great with it!  I'm also teaching them together on math, because my younger one happens to be really strong in math...so it all works out.  We have completed Alpha, almost through with Beta, and in March we will order Gamma.  The girls are doing so well; I'm very impressed with the presenation of the material (we start with a DVD lesson, and then move onto the workbooks)...and the girls give me a hard time at times, but they are learning...and everytime they understand a new concept, you can just see the joy and pride in their faces!

Overall, it's been a work in progress, trying to figure out what curriculums to use....because the choices are (mostly) infinite.  My focus until now has mostly been reading and math, with short books and lessons on other subject matter, but now that we're in a good routine, it was time to expand.  And, we all are genuinely having a great time learning together!!  The girls seriously LOVE homeschooling!

We're pretty lucky....now, if we can only get the state of South Carolina to drop this ridiculous witch hunt of a bill, because they will harm a great deal of children...all for what?  More $ in their already overcrowded public school districts?  More control?  The homeschoolers are speaking LOUDLY...they are NOT going to get away with this!