Our Curriculum Choices 2014 ~ The Arts & PDHPE

Tuesday, January 28, 2014

This is my final Virtual Curriculum Fair post & today I am sharing the last of our curriculum choices for 2014.  These include what we use for Art/Music/Drama & also PDHPE (sports, health & values).  I also use a variety of other 'extra' curriculum throughout the year & I will share about those at the end of the post.


Art/ Drama/ Music:
The truth is that the chaotic craziness of art lessons is something akin to scraping fingernails down a blackboard for me.  Give me maths any day!  Of course my children love art & so I schedule it for Friday afternoon as a 'fun' finish to the week for them!  Within the NSW syllabus we are required to cover drama & music as well.  For Art we use Global Art by Gryphon House which I received as a review product last year.  This book makes teaching art easy & covers a huge variety of techniques & abilities.  Each term we simply choose a region to study & I choose art works that I feel cover the learning outcomes & that I can happily teach the children (read: not too complicated or too messy) & we have a combined geography/ art experience.  



First term of 2014 I have decided to cover our drama outcomes by completing a drama unit.  I was unsure with how to proceed after searching our library & finding very little to help.  I finally found Act, Speak, Listen by Jenny Rudd O'Neill in a nearby curriculum book store & so we are working primarily from it.  This is my first attempt at drama with our children (other than in Sunday School) so I'm hoping this will be a fun way to end the weeks this term!

Eli ~ at the movies!

I learnt piano for the majority of my childhood so teaching music should be easy.  Alas it is something I fail terribly at.  For all my good intentions it seems to be the thing that gets left out at the end of the week. Last year we reviewed Adventus & this is an excellent program.  Ellie & Jud particularly took to it & had so much fun.  Unfortunately when we rearranged the schoolroom it just got too hard with moving the piano so many times each day so it got left by the wayside  ( I still love it & highly recommend it & we may go back to using it again this year).  So this year I am seriously going to search high & low on getting my children some piano lessons.  This is of high priority to me as they are getting older & should all be learning by now.  I really appreciate the sacrifice my parents gave so that I could have lessons all those years & so I feel we should likewise give our children this opportunity.  The boys are all eager to learn a variety of instruments ( & I happen to think that a family band would be so much fun), but I want them to begin with piano as it's a great starting point.  So that is my job for this week ~ organise lessons.  
All ready for school last July!

PDHPE:
My children naturally complete a lot of physical activity in the course of life on a farm.  Ellie also does ballet lessons each year & the three youngest do a monthly dance lesson with a homeschooling mother.  All four children are involved in the local Little Athletics & Swim club in their various seasons.  
Values are taught naturally each & every day by us in life & specifically in family devotions each evening.
Last year to cover the 'health' part of this I purchased Health by RIC publications.  This year I decided to seek out a Christian alternative. I stumbled across the Health curriculum by A Beka.  I purchased these sight unseen & I while they look excellent, the lessons look rather involved & they overlap quite a bit with science.  We shall see how they go this year & if we continue with them in the future.  

Jud ~ watching a movie in the cabin last week!
Other:
~To begin the year we are completing a unit study on the Winter Olympics.  I have purchased Winter Games 2014 by Amanda Bennett.  So for the first 4 weeks of term we will complete this along with the normal Maths & English lessons. This should be a fun introduction to the year & is something the children specifically asked to learn about!  
~The twins also love lapbooking & so we are still trying to decide what kit to purchase from In the Hands of a Child.   I will plan on beginning this in second term.
~ Zai & Ellie have fully completed the typing curriculum at BBC school typing (it's free & fun) and are now touch typists!  This year Eli & Jud will need to begin.
~ Ellie is still loving using Rosie's Doll Clothes for sewing & I highly recommend this program!  It is fun & easy to understand & follow long!
~ We continued our French classes using French Essentials.  We are not very good just yet, but it is fun to complete together.
~We love A child's geography Volume 3 from Knowledge Quest which I reviewed last year & so I have purchased Volumes 1 & 2 to work through as well ( Zai reads these as if they are books!).
~ We continue to use a variety of apps on our ipad & it has been a wonderful tool for using in our homeschool.
~ Zai has asked for a curriculum on computer programming.  I am still trying to find something that would work for us.  Any recommendations??

2014 is going to be another busy year of learning here at Sunnyside.  I look forward to beginning next week, but in the meantime I have the rest of our summer holidays to enjoy!!
Have a wonderful day friends


Check out what my homeschool blog buddies are sharing about the arts and beauty: 
44 Awesome Free Resources to Study Art and Music! by Susan @ Homeschooling Hearts & Minds
Finding Beauty with Classical Composers Monthly by Kristi K. @ The Potter’s Hand Academy
Art and Music Appreciation Resource Lists by Chareen @ Every Bed of Roses
Easy Guided Drawing: Benefits and Resources by Tauna @ Proverbial Homemaker
A Peek into our Homeschool: Seeking Beauty by Brittney @ Mom's Heart
All Things Lovely by Michele P @Family, Faith and Fridays
Virtual Curriculum Fair: the Arts by Jennifer @ a glimpse of our life
You Gotta Have Art! by Lisa@GoldenGrasses
Classical Crochet... Or Something Like That by Laura @ Four Little Penguins
The Art of the Matter by Chelli @ The Planted Trees
Art Curriculum For Homeschoolers by LynnP @ Ladybug Chronicles
The Arts: Creating and Appreciating Beauty by Leah@As We Walk Along the Road
Learning Crafts For Kids & Adults by Kim @ Homestead Acres
Arts & the Extras ~ These Are Some of Our Favorite Things by HillaryM @ Our Homeschool Studio















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