Reading/Language Arts

Foundations C by Logic of English. We will probably begin Level D mid-year, but we’re going to take it slowly with C.

Math

Dimensions Math, Levels 1A and 1B by Singapore Math

Spanish

• Calico Spanish (online subscription)
• First Thousand Words in Spanish
• Spanish English Bilingual Visual Dictionary
• Use Spanish at Home phrase book by TalkBox.mom
• ¡Pío Peep! Traditional Spanish Nursery Rhymes

Nature Study

• Exploring Nature with Children. There is one topic per week, and included with each topic are lists of living picture books. I get most of these from the library.
• The Handbook of Nature Study. This is a hefty little book that overwhelmed me at first. It took me a year before I realized how to use it! This is FULL of information with simple lessons that accompany Exploring Nature with Children very well.
• Nature Anatomy: The Curious Parts and Pieces of the Natural World
• National Audubon Society Field Guides. I grew up with all of these, and I loved flipping through them. I’ve collected my own copies (my parents still have all of theirs) over the past few years–some new, some used. I’d like to get more as we continue nature study.
  • North American Birds: Eastern Region
  • North American Trees: Eastern Region
  • North American Wildflowers: Eastern Region
  • Rocks and Minerals: North America
  • Insects and Spiders: North America

History

• The Story of the World, Volume 1: Ancient Times
• The Story of the World, Activity Book 1: Ancient Times
• Timelines of World History (Usborne)
• The Usborne Internet-Linked Ancient World. I already had this book, so I bought the others–Medieval World and The Last 500 Years–to go with it. These smaller books are the same as what you’ll find in the single The Usborne Encyclopedia of World History, if that makes sense. I really like The Usborne Book of World History, sold only by Sonlight. Both of these books would accompany the entire Story of the World series.)
• World history timeline or “Book of Centuries”. I printed a free one I found online. This isn’t a requirement for the Story of the World curriculum. I thought it would be a nice addition. We’ll add the major events and historical figures as we study, and we’ll add other events and people that we learn about in other subjects.
• Homeschool in the Woods Timeline Figures. I went ahead and paid $74 for these. It was more than I wanted to spend, but we can use them all the way through 12th grade! There are other options for adding images to your timeline, such as drawing your own or using free ones online.

Bible

• The Children’s Illustrated Bible. We’ll use this Bible for the majority of the stories we read, but we have other Bibles we might use. We’ll also read from an actual Bible, especially when we read Psalms and Proverbs.
• Ambleside Online Bible schedule
• My Bible Coloring Book. We MIGHT use this again. Molly used it last year when we read through The Jesus Storybook Bible and The New Bible in Pictures for Little Eyes. Or we may just stick with reading the Bible stories before Molly gives a narration of each. Either way, I’ll probably be purchasing a second copy so Mac can at least have one for himself. We loved this coloring book.
• Our 24 Family Ways. We will be using this as a family for virtue and discipleship instruction. This will cover the first 24 weeks of the school year. Our memory verse for each week will come from this book. When we finish it, we will memorize The Lord’s Prayer.

Morning Basket

I have spent years preparing for homeschooling and hearing all about morning basket/morning time/circle time/morning meeting/symposium–whatever you want to call it. I have scoured the Internet in search of the best morning basket materials and soaked up podcast advice about how to implement it. We started it last year, and it was a trial-and-error endeavor until we figured out what worked for us. There are SO MANY things I want to share with my children, and the more our homeschool takes a Charlotte Mason approach, the more these things become necessary.

However, if you are new to homeschooling, please do not feel overwhelmed by the following list of resources! You do not need to buy it all up, or any of it for that matter. I’ve collected these books over time and have found several used copies online. I want to emphasize that many of the following books, as well as the ones above, can and will be used for multiple years. I do not spend thousands of dollars each year on curriculum and materials!

Here are my morning basket plans for the first six weeks, just in case anyone wants to see how I’m going to (try to) make it work for the school year. I put M/T/W/R/F in each block so that I can either circle the days I plan to cover it or circle the days we actually did it.

Frustratingly, I keep thinking of more books I want to add, but I just don’t know how to make that possible. I might have to wait until next year. I really want to do it ALL! But no one can . . .