It’s hard to believe that Miss Manners will be heading into 4th grade this year. It seems like only yesterday that I pulled her from public school and finished out kindergarten at home.
Miss Manners is a completely different type of learner than her big sister. While Miss Bookwom (13) spends the majority of her time with a book in her hands, Miss Manners does not. She is the “get-outside-and-get-your-hands-dirty” kind of girl. She learns best by doing, not reading or seeing. Until last year, she never picked up a book unless she was forced to. (And I don’t “push” reading, as I want her to find a natural joy in reading.”
I’ve worked hard to make sure she’s always learning. While she doesn’t read a lot (or any) fiction, she loves Weird but True, Ripley’s Believe it or Not and National Geographic Kids.
A few things she enjoys doing in her “free” time:
Traveling with her grandparents:
During the 2016-2017 school year, they traveled to 16 states together! They took a 10 day trip to the Iowa State Fair, the banks of “Plum Creek,” Mount Rushmore, Yellowstone and Colorado. In March, both of the girls traveled to Florida for 9 days full of history and beach bummin’. (I’m still hearing stories about Ponce de Leon. Miss Manners loved the rich history of Florida.) She has her eye on traveling to New Mexico and Arizona next.
Planning for her Future:
Miss Manners has a love for babies. She spends hours a day taking care of them, making sure they’re comfortable and in the trendiest clothes possible. She often sews her and the babies matching outfits! Someday, she’ll be an amazing mama.
She also has a love for animals. She recently discovered Usborne’s Vet Academy and finished it in just a few days. Last spring, she started saving money so she won’t have to be “broke” while in college. She says she is NOT eating Ramen Noodles every meal while in college. 😀 I love that she’s looking ahead to her future.
Dissecting:
After dragging home a dead black snake, she started researching snakes. She wanted to see the ovaries, so she just had to dissect the snake. This led to tanning the skin to turn into a bracelet. Then, she found another snake… Only a homeschooler will find a dead snake on the road and turn it into a business. After “tanning” the skin of her first 2 snakes, someone approached her about drying some snakes for him. Let’s just say she’s in entrepreneur-heaven. $30 is a lot of money to her!
This year, we’re going to do a lot more hands-0n learning and less book work for Miss Manners.
Here’s the plan for our 4th grade homeschool curriculum:
Math {Teaching Textbooks 5 and CTC}:
As an avid Teaching Textbooks user, I’ve always been happy with the program. After all, it basically saved our homeschool the first year. But after having Miss Manners review CTC for me, she fell in love. The ease of using WiFi instead of CDs was a huge plus for her. She can do math at any time, without lugging around her bulky laptop. The lessons are quick and easy, taking only about 10 minutes to complete. She loves that she can bounce around, doing what she wants, when she wants. However, I’ve already bought Teaching Textbooks, so we may end up doing a mixture of the two.
Language Arts {Easy Grammar 4}:
Easy Grammar isn’t her favorite thing. But then again, nothing that involves a pencil and paper is. This year, we’re going to take it easy, doing only minimal amounts of Easy Grammar and trying our hand at more hands-on learning. (Which I’m still trying to figure out. How exactly do true unschoolers learn grammar!?!)
Spelling {Spelling Power}:
Miss Manners is a terrible speller, which shouldn’t surprise you at this point. I’ve found the most pain-free way to practice spelling with her is to use dry-erase markers on our sliding glass doors. We also use play-doh, Bendaroos and Bananagram tiles to spell her words. She still hates it, but less so than when we were just using a traditional approach.
History {Mystery of History}:
We didn’t use Mystery of History last year but plan to pick back up again this year. Previously, we only did about 1 hands-on activity a week to go along with our lesson, but I plan to do much more this year. As Miss Manners learns best through hands-on learning, I will probably have to force myself to do more with her.
Science {Apologia Human Anatomy & Physiology}:
We’ve used Apologia for a few years now and love it! This year, we’ll be using it mostly as a guide and doing a lot of our own crafts and activities to make it more hands-on. The human body is very complex, so I want to make it as exciting as possible for Miss Manners.
Geography:
We will be using the Usborne Geography Encyclopedia as a guide. We will work through the book, adding in our own projects and activities as we go. I also plan to do a month-long unit study on each continent. These will include tasting foods, learning about major religions, enjoying music and researching individual countries. We will start with Antarctica and work our way through North America, South America, Australia, Africa, Europe and finally Asia. I am working on putting together file folders with all of the information and activities I will need for each continent. This will make it easy to grab and learn, with little prep. I’m aiming to have the folders completed by the end of July.
Writing:
This year, we’re unschooling in writing for Miss Manners. I’m praying that by not pressuring her, she will find that natural spark and want to learn more about writing. After all, forced learning is not fun for anyone involved.
Reading:
We will be reading several classics this year, together. From The Adventures of Tom Sawyer to The Indian in the Cupboard, we’ve got quite a list ready to dive into. We’ll be focusing most of Miss Manners’ alone reading time to books like “Improve Your Survival Skills” and other topics she enjoys.
PE:
Between playing outdoors, riding bikes and soccer practice, we always get plenty of exercise so I don’t worry about formal PE classes.
Art:
We will continue to attend bi-weekly art classes with some homeschool friends this year. We always love to add in our own projects using Sparketh and Chalk Pastel. We will also begin studying great artists using Usborne’s Famous Artist and Famous Paintings books.
Music:
We will be learning music through SQUILT Music, as well as working through Usborne’s book of Famous Composers.
Other Plans:
I have never met another kid who loves “old people” as much as Miss Manners. She could care less about running with kids her own age but she gets grumpy when she hasn’t visited with old people enough. She will continue volunteering at Crosslines Food Pantry on Thursdays with both of her grandmas. She will also continue to spend as much time as possible with both sets of grandparents. We are very blessed that she is able (and actually wants to!) spend so much time with my parents and in-laws. She will continue spending the night with them about once a week, or until she decides to slow down.
We will also be focusing on researching our family roots. I’m hoping to spend a week or two at the library, digging as far into our family history as possible.
What’s your favorite 4th grade homeschool curriculum?
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Check out other homeschool curriculum we’ve used: