4th Grade Curriculum Choices

Mercie has finished her 3rd grade year. She will be taking next week off a break, although she is going to finish her math workbook - Math Lessons for a Living Education. She has mostly completed this book, but since we started it several months into her school year, she hasn't quite finished it. Most of what is left is review, so she is going to work in it every day until next week until she is through. She won't have any more work, except free reading.

I was very torn over what to order her for 4th grade. I dislike changing things up mid-year, and I'm doing my best to make sure we get curriculum that will work for us. I did lots of research and looked at lots of curriculum packages and reviews to find the "best" for her learning style and for my sanity. Here is what we placed the order for today. It is all coming from Christian Book Distributors and will be here next week. I will then fill in the lesson plan pages I created six weeks at a time.

HISTORY:

I chose Mystery of History Volume 1. Mercie hasn't had much exposure to the ancients, and I think it will be a fun year for her. I used this with my two oldest when they were in 4th and 2nd grade. I remember all of the fun activities we did, and I think this hands-on learning style will be great for Mercie. The review cards and timeline are two things that will help her visualize what she's learned.

SCIENCE:

We will be using Christian Kids Explore Creation Science. I believe a firm foundation in Creation Science is so important. As a public school graduate, I can honestly say I knew nothing about creation science until I was a married woman. I believed in the Biblical Creation, but the science behind it was unknown to me. I really want Mercie to have a good grasp on the facts before we delve into something else.


LANGUAGE ARTS:

I have decided on two different books for Mercie. The first one we will be using is Language Lessons for Today, grade 4. I plan to use this book 3 times a week. I love the fact that this program includes lessons on grammar and punctuation as well as oral language skills.

I also decided to get Mercie Grammar Minutes for grade 4. There are 100 pages in this workbook, and she will use 3 a week. They are quick and easy worksheets that go over almost every grammar concept she will need to know.

We are also doing Spelling Workout this year. We haven't used formal spelling much, and I think she could benefit from it.

MATH:

After much deliberation, I have decided to use Teaching Textbooks 4 for her. I think she will do well with the computer-based lessons. She was excited to get to use the computer for math.

ART:

One of the curriculum I was looking at was My Father's World Creation to the Greeks. One of the biggest draws from this was God and the History of Art. I wasn't crazy about the other resources, so I decided to just get the art and schedule it in twice a week for Mercie. She is very excited about this.

OTHER:

I also bought her this Home-Ec book for young girls. It will teach her about nutrition and cooking skills which she is very interested in. She will use this twice a week.

I feel like this a great workload for her, and I am excited to begin!