Back to the Books - But not so much

We're back to school again! We actually started a while back, but we've had a few trips in between so our routine has been out of sorts. One thing that I had noticed with my curriculum choices this year was that the kids were going from workbook to workbook to workbook. It seemed like an awful lot of book work, so I've rearranged our days so that we have only 2 days of a lot of book work and 3 days of mostly hands-on projects. I have scheduled History and Science for the 3 hands-on days and I think we're going to have a lot of fun.

For History, we are using Abeka 3rd grade, Our American Heritage. I loved this book in the 3rd grade. It is a book of biographies of early Americans. I am using this book as a jumping ground for further in-depth study on various historical figures and events. We'll study the Pilgrims, Colonial Times, Benjamin Franklin, etc. I'm really excited about this year's history, I've been waiting to use this book with my kids since I was in the 3rd grade! :)

For Science we are doing a unit study on Geology and then later we will move on to Space and Planets. For Geology I'm using the Evan-Moor Geology book (compare prices). It is part of their Science Works for Kids Series. I like this book because it's laid out in an easy to use format. I don't have a lot of time to plan so I just open the book, get my supplies and we're up and running. I really think studying Geology is going to be fun, what kid doesn't love going out and finding rocks and then looking at them with a magnifying glass? And all of that in the name of doing school! :) The book has a lot of hands on projects too, like using a peanut butter and jelly sandwich to get across the idea of layers when they are teaching about the earth's layers.

That's our history and science in a nutshell. I'm looking forward to a good school year, we're getting back to our schedules and routines so things should start flowing smoothly around here. Summer is nice, but a little structure always seems to be a little comforting. :)

- Julee