2013-2014 School Year Books and Resources
First Son - fourth grade, Mater Amabilis Level 2, Year 1
First Daughter - first grade, Mater Amabilis Level 1B
Second Daughter - pre-kindergarten, Mater Amabilis Prep Level
Second Son - preschooler and trouble-maker
For everyone (First Son and First Daughter, Second Daughter when she is interested)
- Faith and Religious Education
- Catechesis of the Good Shepherd (Level II for First Son and First Daughter, Level I for Second Daughter and Second Son)
- PSR on Sunday mornings
- Scripture - My Big Book of Catholic Bible Stories
- Advent - Stations of the Nativity (especially for the girls), picture book a day, Jesse Tree, and other activities (See some of our Advent and Christmas activities here.)
- Lent - flower prayer garden, sacrifice beans, and other activities (See some of our activities here.)
- Monthly letters to our CFCA friend
- English and Language Arts (First Son and First Daughter only)
- Handwriting - Cursive First
- Literature
- Poetry - We'll read from a variety of poetry collections. We'll also write some poetry this year as well.
- Memory Work - poetry and Scripture verses
- Fairy Tales - The Red Fairy Book
- Family Read-Alouds
- Nature Study
- Picture Study
- Pierre-Auguste Renoir
- Edgar Degas
- Claude Monet
- CHC's Art Masterpieces: A Liturgical Collection
- Art - The Usborne Complete Book of Art Ideas
- Music Appreciation
- Music Masters composer CDs - Here's a link to a review of the CDs and a post on how we've used them in the past.
- We alternate weeks listening to full pieces by the composers on Spotify. (I highly recommend spending the $5 per month to eliminate the commercials.)
- Music
- parish children's choir for First Son and First Daughter
- Making Music Praying Twice for Second Daughter, Second Son, and anyone else who wants to participate - Read my review.
- Crafts - latch hook rugs (for First Son and First Daughter)
- Practical work
- Gardening with Kansas Dad
- Baking with Kansas Mom
- Building a birdhouse with Kansas Dad
- Typing - Dance Mat Typing
- Physical Education (in addition to running around outside)
- Swimming lessons (summer)
- Soccer (fall and spring)
- Basketball (spring)
- Virtue Study - Program for Achieving Character Education along with stories from The Book of Virtues and The Moral Compass. Read my review.
- Financial Literacy - Raising Financially Fit Kids - Read my review.
Fourth Grade
- Faith and Religious Education
- Saints - 57 Stories of Saints (I've decided we'll skip the stories of St. Maria Goretti and St. Dymphna.)
- Catechism
- One saint's biography assigned as independent reading each term
- Advent - Stories of the Child Jesus from Many Lands
- Easter - Katie, The Young Life of Mother Katharine Drexel
- Math
- Saxon Math 5/4
- XtraMath - read my review here.
- English and Language Arts
- Reading - First Son will read nearly all of his lessons himself. In addition, he will read at least one saint biography, one history book, one geography book, and one classic book each term.
- Writing
- finish Writing with Ease Level 3, then Writing with Ease Level 4
- Grammar and Spelling
- Literature
- Mythology - The Children's Homer: The Adventures of Odysseus and The Tale of Troy - read my review.
- Classic Children's Literature - First Son will read three "classics" of my choosing during the year during his independent reading.
- Shakespeare: The Tempest, Macbeth, As You Like It (one per term)
- Bard of Avon: The Story of William Shakespeare
- Masterpuppet Theater
- Poetry for Young People: William Shakespeare
- The Young Person's Guide to Shakespeare
- Tales from Shakespeare
- Beautiful Stories From Shakespeare
- Shakespeare Made Easy
- ipad apps of the full plays
- Ancient History
- Famous Men of Greece, Text
- The Greenleaf Guide to Famous Men of Greece
- Usborne Internet-Linked Greeks
- The Usborne Internet-Linked Encyclopedia of the Ancient World
- Ancient Greek Art (Art in History)
- Geography and Earth Studies
- American Geography
- People and Places - Central and South America
- Hidden World of the Aztec
- Where the Flame Trees Bloom
- The Cay
- Tierra Del Fuego: A Journey to the End of the Earth
- Chucaro: Wild Pony of the Pampa
- Amazon
- Journey to the River Sea
- Wild South America
- Maps - Maps, Charts, and Graphs D
- Science
- The Solar System and Science in Ancient Greece
- A Child's Introduction to the Night Sky
- Janice VanCleave's the Solar System
- The Stars: A New Way to See Them
- Science in Ancient Greece (Science of the Past)
- Archimedes and the Door of Science (Living History Library)
- The Librarian Who Measured the Earth
- Experiments and Demonstrations - First Daughter will participate in these as well.
- Latin - Latin for Children Primer A
- Faith and Religious Education
- Saints - Loyola Kids Book of Saints - read my review.
- Catechism
- My Father and Mother on Earth and in Heaven (Our Holy faith)
- Our Heavenly Father (Faith and Life 1) - read my review.
- Clare's Costly Cookie
- Jesus and I
- Liturgical Year - selections from Catholic Mosaic
- Math
- Saxon Math 2 - Read my review.
- xtramath - Read my review.
- English and Language Arts
- Reading
- The Ordinary Parent's Guide to Teaching Reading
- Then we'll move on to real books First Daughter will read aloud to me.
- Spelling - Sequential Spelling 1 (after we've finished the reading book)
- Writing
- All About Me! (I picked this up at a library sale. I like to have the children write about themselves in first grade. First Son used My Book About Me. There are lots of options for something similar.)
- Writing with Ease Level 1 workbook - Here's what I wrote about Year 1, though I haven't used the workbook yet.
- Literature - Fables - Aesop's Fables for Children - Read my review.
- History (American) - Stories of Great Americans for Little Americans
- Maps - Maps, Charts, and Graphs A (I think the picture is wrong in this link) - Read my review.
- Latin - Song School Latin 1 - Read my review.
- Faith and Religious Education
- Saints - My First Book of Saints - Read my review.
- Liturgical Year - selections from Catholic Mosaic
- Math - selections from Saxon Math K
- English and Language Arts
- Phonograms - Doodling Dragons: An ABC Book of Sounds
- We may move on to The Ordinary Parent's Guide to Teaching Reading. (Read my review here.)
- Lots and lots of picture books like these. We'll also be reading-around-the-world again, this time spending the whole year in Central and South America. (Read about our other adventures reading-around-the-world.)
- Montessori Preschool Activities
I receive a small commission if you follow a link to Amazon and make a purchase. I am also an affiliate with RC History, though I don't think any of the links above go to that store.
