Mom wants to know, "What exactly are you teaching?"

Mom offered to buy us some curriculum guides from Concordia Publishing -- the Missouri Synod Lutherans, I think. Here's what I told her:

I'm currently working from the Sunshine State Standard for 3rd (and 2nd) grade:
http://www.fldoe.org/bii/curriculum/sss/

I do have a couple of curruculum guides:

Making the Grade: Everything Your 3rd Grader Needs to Know http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0764124781

Third Grade Success: Everything You Need to Know to Help Your Child Learn http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0471468215

The first one is more of a curruculum book, and the second is a book of extra activities to support them. I was also heavily influenced by the following book to go ahead and do it as I see fit. (My kids are square pegs, so one size does NOT fit all for us.)

Homeschooling: Take A Deep Breath - You Can Do This! http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0972807152

(All of these are available through the public library.)

I wasn't aware that there was a Christian way to do math. ;) I haven't checked out their social studies or science. Any book that says that the earth is less than 6000 years old gets burned in the front yard -- by my husband, if not by me. I have to be careful with history because at this age, anything more than 50 years ago is often viewed as akin to Narnia.

We'll probably follow the election a little, study mosquitoes, maybe continue our catapult work. I'm also planning some life skills -- tying shoes, riding bikes -- along with The Social Word of the Week (i.e. consideration, concern, politeness, cooperation, etc.) and the weather chart. I may also graph the groceries and/or electric bill, do a little comparison shopping in the Publix ads. Not exactly sure yet. We'll be mapping, measuring, weighing, maybe doing a little buoyancy. A lot of that stuff is in the "Making the Grade" book and the Sunshine State Standards.

I hadn't planned on teaching any historical bible, but if I could find a chronological study, it might be fun. (I never understood why the bible was assembled out of order!) The old testament is pretty gory and exciting, really. (Mayhem, gore, treachery, beheadings -- ooh! Vocabulary words!!) Speaking of vocabulary, I was planning to pick that up from their reading as we go along. Spelling's not really a problem for The Boy, and as The Girl proceeds, I'll be looking for words that she gets wrong.

Anyway, I think I'm set for curruculum for now, but I could panic and decide to pick up some more later. Until The Boy gets over his phobia of library books, I'll be picking up books from Amazon from time to time. (I own a "free shipping" membership, so it's no big deal, really.) I would still really like to have that Smithsonian Digital Microscope, for the mosquito unit and others. (You can capture pictures and embed them in your reports!) I haven't decided between World Book Encyclopedia and Encyclopedia Brittanica -- both are on CDROM for under $30. I've postponed the decision on the YMCA. Right now, I'm not sure what else I need, but I may submit a grant proposal later in the semester.

Anyway, that's what's going on. As soon as we pick out our mascot, I'll send you a JPG to put on our t-shirts! ;) I'm leaning toward squirrels -- because the kids make me nuts and taking them to the store is like herding squirrels. The Boy wants sea sponges ("We soak up knowledge") but I think it's mostly because he wants a SpongeBob t-shirt. I wonder how a mud skipper would work out...