Curriculum for a 10 Year Old

Math
Teaching Textbooks Pre Algebra and Math in Everyday Life

 

We are going to use both of these resources this year for math because my ten year old is ready for the level of PreAlgebra, but I really don't want to set him up to be doing Algebra next year in what would be sixth grade according to his public school age. He really wants to do math on the computer so since several chapters of the PreAlgebra course are review of basic math he is going to do those this year and save the beginning Algebra chapters for next year. To round out math for the year he is going to work through Math  in Everyday Life which teaches how math is used in real life or family living.

Language Arts 
Core  Skills Writing level 5  (Not Common Core as far as I can tell despite the name)
Spelling Power 
An online Grammar course
Literature/Novels
     Chronicles of Narnia
      Roald Dahl stories
      others we choose
Vocabulary
More Abravocabra

I need to search to find the grammar program again. I found it before, showed it to my son, and then when I went to start printing couldn't find it. Our World Book Dictionaries have vocabulary lists by grade level so I will see which words he knows and then he'll work on learning those with which he is not familiar. We'll also throw in unfamiliar words from literature and other subjects. I have found several menus of activities for practicing vocabulary words so we'll put that together with his lists.

Science
Chemistry

Last year he worked through a course about the Periodic Table and Elements. He continues to be interested in the field of Chemistry so he is going to use a program which I found online from the Chemical Education Foundation. It's a mixture of text and lab work with lab reports so I think it will be good for him and he will have fun at the same time. It probably won't take the whole year so we'll have to see what he does next.

History
Story of the World 2
Kingfisher History Encyclopedia
Homeschool in the Woods History Through The Ages Project Passport Renaissance and Reformation 


We will begin with the Crusades and Vikings and move forward. The above are the main resources, but there will be a few other resources along the way.

Geography
Lapbooks
Maps
WonderMaps
Internet and Library resources

Geography will focus on individual continents. Learning about the physical features, surrounding oceans, countries, cultures, etc.

Theology
I am not sure what this will include yet, but I have several resources on hand.

Foreign Language
Latin For Children A 

We have worked through some of this before and have not made much progress. We'll try it again, but slow the pace down a bit. I really would like him to learn the vocabulary and grammar presented there.




The above will be the main subjects, but he will also use these resources.
Economics - What ever happened to Penny Candy 
Logic - Red Herring Mysteries
Art- Not sure yet




(I apologize for the lack of pictures. I am waiting to receive many of the listed items.)

Three Books

My friend Heidi has done a series of weekly posts where she shares three things on a specific topic each week. I have intended to participate in the past, but never seem to remember. This week I did remember. I'm not original with my category though, Heidi wrote about three books last week.

So this is what I have been into lately.


A Year in Provence by Peter Mayle


This is the story of a couple who spend a year in France begins with the new year celebration. The book is arranged by months and details their life in an unfamiliar country while fulfilling a dream.

I happened upon this book by chance. I was going through a box of books in my garage and found it, thought it looked intriguing and decided to give it a chance. I am not very far, but it looks promising.



Gifted Hands by Benjamin Carson

I actually just finished this and returned it to the library, thus no picture. In this autobiography Dr. Carson shares what is was liking growing up with a single mother who was determined her sons would make something of themselves and how she encouraged them to learn and excel. He continues telling how he made it in to college and the struggles he faced there are in medical school. But it doesn't end there, he shares a lot about his years of practicing medicine and the challenges he continued to work through.

Dr Carson clearly shows the reader how through his hard work, diligence, and attitude he was able to use the talents he was given to  achieve what he has. He did not wait to have something handed to him, but studied hard, worked hard and continued in his pursuits to make his dream a reality.

I really enjoyed this book, in places it is hard to put down because I wanted to know what was going to happen next. I plan to have my 13 year old daughter read this soon as I believe she can benefit from learning how someone went from humble beginnings to gifted surgeon due to their hard work and unwillingness to give up.


The Well Trained Mind by Susan Wise Bauer

I have read The Well Trained Mind before,  I review the grade specific sections each year as I plan the next year. Some years I read the additional chapters dealing with the benefits of a Classical education and the ideas for implementation. This summer was one of those times where I have read more. I am looking ahead to high school for my oldest and trying to schedule a rough plan for the coming years. I have found some ideas and thoughts to mull over as I work on my outline.

While I've been studying The Well Train ed Mind I've also found my self trying to determine what is fluff and true substance in education. How do I give my children a broad, quality, education to adequately prepare them and at the same time make it engaging so that they don't come to see learning as drudgery and something they have to do rather than something they enjoy.  


What have you read lately?


I am linking up with my friend Heidi at Heidi's Head for Three Things Thursday.

The Power in Your Hands

The Power in Your Hands  Writing Nonfiction in High School by Sharon Watson

For Grades 9-12
writingwithsharonwatson.com/
writingwithsharonwatson.com/the-power-in-your-hands/

Student Book $39.98
Teacher Book $14.98

Order from Create Space

Student Materials

This writing course is designed to be used by high school students over the course of a year. It contains 23 chapters, some of which are designed for more than one week of instruction and writing. The final section is toolbox of many helpful charts, lists, and information for writers. It is designed to be used in school classrooms, homeschools, and coop settings.


What you will find in The Power in Your Hands  Student book

Writing Persusaion

• What is it?
• Writing Logically
• Comparison and Contrast
• Morals and Ethics
• Emotional Appeal
• The SAT Essay
• Proofreading

Expository Writing

• Letters (Condolence and Thank You)
• Process Writing
• Position Papers and proper documentation
• Devotionals
• Newspaper Writing
• Biographies
• Compare and Contrast
• Literary Analysis
• Definition Essays

Description

• Descriptive Essays

Narration

•  Personal Testimonies/ Spiritual Journies
•  Turning Interviews into Narratives
•  Personal Narratives

Each of these topics is defined and described briefly to help the student learn what makes them an unique type of writing. There are also many helps to direct the student to edit and improve their own work. Instructions on proof reading are also included.




Teacher Materials

The teacher's book contains answers to questions and exercises in the student book, but it does not contain the entire student text.

Unique to the Teacher's Book

The teacher's book (well, the whole course) is designed so that a parent can conduct a professional writing course on a schedule appropriate for their needs. To facilitate this some of the topics you will find in the teacher's book include:

• Grading and Evaluation Rubrics and Forms   "What does an A paper look like?"  "What does and F paper look like?" and all levels in between.
• Ideas to help Reluctant Writers
• 14 Minute Writing Power Surges  - ideas to write about for 14 minutes - for the whole year
• Answers and Discussion ideas for the student work corresponding to each of the chapters
• Tips for Proofreading and making exciting word choices

For additional helps and ideas Sharon maintains a blog and offers weekly writing prompts by email.

 Sharon Watson has also written Jump-In, a writing course for junior high and Writing Fiction [In High School].

My Thoughts

I used this course with my 13 year old daughter. While she is below the target age range for this course  I felt she could handle this material based on her previous writing experience. She did fine. The topics and examples used  feature teens or teen issue, but not material I felt was inappropriate for her. A couple examples are teen driving and texting, the dilemma of giving teens a credit card,  and high school classes. Most examples and sources are science or history topics, literature, and personal stories.

Various types of paragraphs ie. direct, climatic, transitional are discussed and explained. This course also contains a fair amount of instruction about constructing introductions and conclusions. We did not spend a lot of time on these sections as I wanted to get a feel for multiple sections of the book during our limited review period, but there is a lot of valuable information to help students learn and master these challenging skills.


By the end of this course students will have completed a wide variety of writing projects for many different occasions and needs. This I find to be very beneficial.  I also like the writing prompts as I want to give my daughter the opportunity to practice the step by step skills she has learned with the text examples, but this way I don't have to come up with the ideas on my own. I could do it, but having it done for me is a time saver.

Another feature I found helpful were the ideas regarding requirements for writers of different skill levels. Most major writing assignments give a word count. While these are realistic targets, they can also be intimidating to younger students or those with less experience.   Thus by giving the instructor 'permission' to require less of newer writers this course should be easily adaptable for most students.

My daughters' thoughts:

"I think it is a really good book that is written towards a student rather than a group of people. During the lesson at some points it is funny so that makes it more fun to use. If I had gotten it earlier in the school year I would have wanted to continue using it as I found it more fun than the program I was currently using. For what I have used of it the topics it chose were interesting as they talked about things teenagers are interested in."

I was surprised by the amount of  Christian content in the book as the only mention I saw of this in online information was one line at the very bottom of the order page. As you can tell from some of the topics listed above there are lessons for writing several types of Christian literature. There are also numerous Bible verses throughout the text. One chapter talks extensively about making moral judgements. (An example in this chapter mentions abortion and lesbianism.  My daughter is aware of these issues and the conflict the letter discusses). It gives good ideas regarding writing about moral issues where people have differing opinions, but it is definitely slanted towards a Christian world view.

I will continue to use The Power In Your Hands with my daughter along with the next volume of the writing course she has just completed. There are many valuable skills to be learned and practiced from The Power in Your Hands  which will increase her writing proficiency.


Read what other Home&School Mosaics reviewers thought of this and Sharon's other writing programs on the Home&School Mosaics blog.

Disclaimer: I received  free copies of the student and teacher books reviewed above for the purpose of writing this frank and honest review. I have not been compensated in any other manner. All opinions expressed here are solely my own.