Curriculum Reviews: Everything else.

Lastly, this week, here are some of the "other" programs we use...

(I wrote about some of these last year, too.)

LATIN: I don't think I have much to add beyond what I wrote not long ago. So, look here. ;) We plan to just keep going with Visual Latin next year. We generally do this altogether one afternoon a week. I'm working on making some vocabulary flash cards to help us. I love that, in a pinch, we can do this in the van on the way to run errands and such. ;)

ART: Yeah. I dropped the ball on this one this year. Oy. I console myself with the fact that the boys did get at least some art instruction at Options on Mondays. And I worked in some art with other subjects. I just didn't do a great job of doing art for the sake of art on a regular basis. Honestly, I haven't figured out how I'm going to tackle this next year. Ideas?

CRITICAL THINKING: The boys did things like Mindbenders and Code Breakers books, solved Encyclopedia Brown mysteries and just plain challenged each other constantly with riddles. There wasn't a set schedule for these...just used them as time allowed, often to occupy one boy while working with another. I'll probably just continue along this same path next year. 

PHYSICAL EDUCATION: Well, this year we had...

• fall soccer (for Asher and Micah),
• PE each Monday at Options (for all three),
• karate (twice a week for Asher and Micah all year except during Asher's broken arm...during good weather, Noah and I walk during these sessions),
• hiking at Rocky Mountain National Park, Canyonlands, and Arches (as a family),
• archery lessons (for all three),
• swim lessons (for all three),
• swim team (for Noah), and
• the Healthy Kids program (with one mile fun runs for all three).

That's not including the daily backyard and basement play, the walks to the Farmer's Market, the bike rides, and the park play with friends. So, yeah. I think they got enough PE.

Next year, other than the soccer, will look pretty much the same I think. :)

MUSIC: We used to do weekly music classes with all three boys. We loved those. Then we started soccer; and, after a year or two of doing both, it just became too much (and a scheduling hassle). So, sadly, we stopped the music classes. With Options, though, the boys gained a weekly music class again. Noah and Asher both took the music and drama class and got plenty of singing and some music reading for the first two years (2008-2010). Last year, they did the same but Asher also added recorder/chimes. At home, he'd practice recorder and Noah started playing piano again just on his own (using a variety of Carol Matz favorites song books that he loves). Next year, Micah is excited to take the music/drama class that his brothers have enjoyed...Asher will take keyboarding (piano)...and Noah will take recorder/chimes and also bells. 

And that, friends, in a nutshell, is what we've used and will use. (I'm sure I've missed some little things but am fairly sure I covered the main things, lol.) I hope at least some of it has helped some of you in your own searches for materials (either for homeschooling or supplementing), and I'd love to hear about any materials that you use and enjoy! In the meantime, happy weekend to you!