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Hey you guys, welcome back to my channel for another video. Today I'm going to be doing a flip-through of the curriculum
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creation to the Greeks from My Father's World and sharing how I plan to use this in our homeschool next year with my sixth and seventh graders
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So if you don't know me, my name is Sarah. I'm a homeschool mom of four just wrapping up our seventh year of homeschooling
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And my father's world is a curriculum that has a special place in my heart
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I've used it for kindergarten through second grade. And we also just finished exploring countries and cultures this past year
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which is the first package in their investigate theme. So next, we will move on to Creation of the Greeks
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which is the next step in their family learning cycle. I think that boxed curriculum packages can sometimes get a bad rep
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but I personally love them because everything is already planned out for you
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you and ready to go, as you'll see when I start flipping through this, it makes it so much easier
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especially if you are just starting out and overwhelmed like I was. Yes, it's a little bit more
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expensive, especially if you are purchasing the curriculum new, but having the peace of mind that
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I wasn't leaving anything out and all I had to do is follow the planned out lessons was worth it
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Okay, so this curriculum, Creation of the Greeks is going to be brand new to me. I hope you will
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subscribe to my channel and follow along with me this year because I'm sure I'll be sharing some
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update videos along the way like I did with exploring countries and cultures. For now, let me
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show you what's inside the teacher's manual and give you an idea of what our schedule will look
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like as we use this curriculum. Okay, so creation to the Greeks. This curriculum is written for
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students in fourth through eighth grade, but if you also have a second or third grader
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they can use this as well. That's one of the things that I love about this curriculum. They make it
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really easy to use with multiple kids. Typically, there are suggestions given for older or younger
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kids when needed in the teacher manual. This curriculum, I consider it mainly history. It's a history-based
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unit study, really, but it's integrated. And by that, I mean it does include art and music
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Bible, science, and read aloud that all fit together with the history being studied. So as we go
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I'll show you some of the books that you'll be using that come with this, but you do need to purchase
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your own math and language arts curriculum, and for seventh and eighth graders, you'll need your
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own science. They give you recommendations, but you are really free to use whatever you want to for
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this. So in Creation of the Greeks, you will be studying the history of Israel and how the biblical
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account matches up or fits in with the history of Egypt, Greece, Babylon, Persia, and more
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So if you look at the table of contents, this shows you what you're going to be studying
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each week, the biblical account, and which cultures you'll be studying that account along with
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and also what you're going to cover in science. This curriculum also guides you in learning
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about the Jewish feasts that are celebrated in the Old Testament, really to show how they
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point to Jesus, but this is outlined in the table of contents as well, along with the weeks that
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you're going to be doing it. So you can see here what you'll be studying week to week, moving
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through history, and all the science concepts that are going to be covered as well. The science
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that comes with this curriculum is science in the beginning from Berean builders. I'm actually
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going to do a flip through of that curriculum and talk about it in another video, so I won't go
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too in depth to that right now. Okay, so then we get to this preparation page
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This is a great page to just kind of tell you what materials you need to gather
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to prepare you for this school year. And this is just good to make sure you have everything on hand
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It gives you some checklists of things to do. A few more things on the back of this
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Then we get to teaching. tips. I will come back to this as we kind of flip through the lessons. We'll kind of go back and
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forth. So teaching tips for each subject. And then we have a page that kind of answers the
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question, how do I fit everything in? So this is kind of their suggestion and tips of how to get
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everything done during the day. They give a suggested schedule. I think they've got some good
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tips on here. You'll have to read through it. I know that we kind of just have to make
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our own schedule and do what works for our family, but they do have some good tips on this page
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And then they have a page with all of the memory verses and things that you're going to be
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studying this year, just a quick reference page that you can come back to. And then we get to
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week one of the curriculum. So this is the week one schedule, the weekly schedule. Each
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week you'll have one page that looks like this. On the other page over here, you will have any
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kind of preparation notes along with a list of materials needed for that particular week
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And then on the subsequent pages you have additional notes for each day as needed And your chart is going to refer you to these when you need to look here So this week is talking about preparation for the Sabbath
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You will be using, find the book. This book right here throughout the curriculum to learn about the
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significance of the seven biblical feasts. So this part right here is just giving you some prep work that you'll need to do this week
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Okay, so if we look over here at the weekly schedule, this top row right here basically tells you what you're going to be studying each day
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These are going to match up with what's in the table of contents. So every day of the week, you have your own column and then every subject has its own row for what you're going to be doing, what you're going to be covering that week
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Now, you can do these in any order at all that you want, or you can simply work down the column each day
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It really is up to you. So let me talk about a few of these and how they're going to work
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And then at the end, I will briefly go over what my plan is for our homeschool
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So this first row up here is for Bible work. Okay, so you're going to have a memory verse each week that you are working on
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And if I go to the teaching tips and look at the memory verses part, this is how they're really going to approach the memory verse
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So you're going to be reading it together, defining any difficult words
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On Tuesday, you're going to use that verse for handwriting Thursday, dictation
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So it talks about how to do that. And then a little quiz over the verse on Friday
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So every week, you'll have one of those to do. And that's something I really want to do a better job with Bible memory and memorizing verses this year
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So we're going to try to focus on that. Okay, then some of the days you will have just Bible reading
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So you'll be reading verses and then having your kids narrate those back to you. And then sometimes you'll have just other things that are related in here. Like here it says, what is history? And this verse says C notes. So whenever you see that, you're going to flip to that day in your teacher manual. And it's going to just give you a little bit more that you can pretty much read. It gives you it scripted out what to read to your kids. So we've got the what is history part right here. And then a little bit more
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more that they want you to teach about Genesis 1, 1 through 5. And it looks like they also have the
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memory verse written right there under that day. And then also throughout the Bible portion
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you're going to be using this illustrated family Bible as well. So you're going to see this
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throughout that Bible portion. It is filled with just a lot of great pictures and archaeological
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and historical notes, which I think is great. So this is going to be really fun to use, and this is
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scheduled into the Bible portion. Okay, then we get to the vocabulary row, which is right here. And
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for vocabulary this year, we're going to be using this book, English from the roots up. And I
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believe we're just going to be focusing on the Greek roots in this curriculum. The Latin roots are
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going to be covered in the Rome to the Reformation curriculum. So if I look at this week
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right here, you're going to basically have the same thing every week that you're doing. So it tells me
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to see notes. So if I flip here to Monday, here's where they talk about vocabulary. Okay. So you're going to
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be reading through the book. It gives you kind of what you're going to be doing. It looks like we're going to be using index cards, printing that vocabulary word on an index card. And if we go then to
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Tuesday. On Tuesday, we're going to be looking up all the words on that card using a dictionary
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Wednesday, we're going to be writing sentences with the word. Thursday, we're reviewing, it looks
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like, and then I think that's it. Nothing scheduled for Friday. So every week, there's just
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going to be the same procedure using a new different vocabulary word and using that book
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This row is for handwriting. This row is only here for the first three weeks. It's an informal handwriting review. So what you're going to do is basically whatever letter you're doing that day, you're going to print it on the side of a piece of paper and have your kids copy a row. Second graders are going to work on print and then older students should do cursive. And then they'll be practicing handwriting all year with their Bible memory verses. They do note that if your students are just starting to learn
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cursive, they can omit this and instead just start a cursive handwriting book. There's one that they
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recommend when you're purchasing the curriculum, but you can probably use any cursive writing book
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that you want to. Then they have boxes here for English and math. Remember that I said you'll have
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to supplement your own curriculum for these. They usually will leave some space in these boxes. So if you
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do want to write in your lesson plans, you can. This year we're using CTC Math and Essentials in Writing
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I am also using Essentials in Literature for my seventh grader and BJU Press literature for my sixth graders
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My father world does recommend a couple of different options for these that you can use if you want to or if you looking for some suggestions Okay and then this row right here is for your main history portion You be using a couple of different books for this So I got them here I going to
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show you. You're going to be using, let's see, Streams of Civilization, Volume 1 is one of the
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books that you'll be using. Ancient Egypt is another one. And then we've got world history from ancient to
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modern times and then a couple of the days they have the dinosaurs of Eden scheduled in there
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And your kids will be creating a history notebook and a timeline for this year. This curriculum
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came with student sheets that have pages that you'll use for some of this stuff. So whenever you see
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this double asterisk in the teacher's manual, it means that you'll be using something from
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the student sheet packet. If you are using this multiple kids, you will need to purchase additional student sheet packages for them
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So sometimes you'll be doing readings, but they also, in this part
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include a lot of projects, crafts, and activities as well to go along with what you're learning
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Okay, then the book basket row. This book basket is really a time for your kids to read books
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that are going to enrich the topics that you're studying in science and history
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and just give them more information. So in the back of the teacher manual, they have a lot of resources that you can choose from
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So what I do is try to stay about two weeks ahead in reserving books at our library
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and I keep them in a bin for my kids to choose from for whenever we have book basket time
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So you'll see that they give recommendations for each week and also descriptions of the book
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which is really helpful. So you can decide if it's going to be appropriate for the age of your kids
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what the book really covers. Okay, so then we have a science row right here. So science in the
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beginning and then for some of this, they have this pyramids book also recommended. Science is
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scheduled anywhere from two to four days each week, typically using science in the beginning
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but you'll also use the pyramid book sometimes. And in this first week, the celebrating biblical
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Feastbook is also scheduled. This isn't common though. It's typically going to be your science in the
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beginning curriculum here. All right, the reading row. This row is included because they recommend that kids have
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time set aside each day to work on independent reading skills. So they can use some time each day to
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read silently. They suggest that you sometimes even have your kids read aloud to you. So you can
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choose books that go along with the time period that you're studying in history or any book
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really that you want your kids to read. And there is another list in the very back of the book
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that is kind of a general list recommended for reading for different age level. So this is really
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helpful back here too. Okay. And then finally we've got the art and music row. So here's
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where you'll find activities that use this book right here, God and the History of Art. This is a
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four-year curriculum actually that teaches art and history and this year you will learn all about
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Egyptian and Greek art. It comes with two volumes. So I've got a second volume right here
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And it also comes with some paint. I got some paint that came along with it to use
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And we have these cards right here. They're postcards that are going to show paintings from
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different famous artists. And then it also comes with paint and marker cards that your kids are going to
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use. This is another thing that you're going to need to get multiple of if you are using it with
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multiple kids. And then you will also be studying for music. You'll be studying the broke composers
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this year. So Vivaldi, Bach, and Handel, notes about that, the music part will be included in the
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teacher guide. I think it's in week three that that starts. Okay, so that should give you an idea of
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how this curriculum is set up, how the teacher manual is laid out, and how easy I think it is to
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follow each day. Everything is planned out for you. You really just need to follow along and use
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the books, pages, and worksheets that they tell you to. So some weeks there's going to be a little bit more
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prep than others, but once you get into a routine, I don't think it's that bad to manage. Let's take a look
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at week two really quickly. It's pretty much the same, but you'll see just a couple of new rows that
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added from this week on. Okay. So if we look at this page, you've got the Bible row at the very top
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You have vocab. So similar structure. You've got your new word, dictionary, sentences
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review and test. Handwriting, you're still doing that informal review this week
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Math drill. Okay, so math drill is added here. You've got your English and your math. This week
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they've added math drill. So starting this week, they recommend that you do just about five minutes of drilling basic math facts four days a week
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So drilling addition subtraction multiplication and division facts here You can use anything you want to for this So you can use flashcards you can use an app worksheets that you create whatever you want to
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Just make sure that you drill one different type of fact each day. In the history section
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this is what I mean when sometimes you'll see different notes for older kids. These are
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optional to do, but they're there if you want a little bit more enrichment for older kids
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got book baskets still science. We have just two days a week, which I love. It's much more doable
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for us to do science twice a week. We've got the reading box. That's where you're going to assign
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your silent reading. Art just has two days this week. And then this is a new line this week as well
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foreign language. This is optional, but they do recommend that you add a foreign language program
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so they give you space here to plan out the lessons if you want to do that. My father's world also has a free
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foreign language enrichment guide that you can download, and that will help you supplement any foreign
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language curriculum if you need to beef it up a little bit for high school credits, or you want to add in
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more activities. We are going to be continuing to use our Latin curriculum from Memorial Press this year
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so that's what we'll be doing in this foreign language part. And then finally, we have a
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a read aloud row here. I'm really excited about the read alouds included with this
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curriculum. I've heard great things about these books. So here's what we have for read alouds
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We have the children's homer, this one the Trojan horse, isaps fables for children. And then these books are here from Patricia St. John
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I've heard great things. Star of Light, Treasures of the Snow, and the Tanglewood's
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secret. So you'll have just a little bit to read aloud most days. I usually do this after dinner
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while my kids are sitting captive with a bowl of ice cream or some dessert and we really like
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that tradition. So for two days a week, you'll have something scheduled for your art and then
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starting in week three, you will have one day each week of some kind of music, some kind of activity
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or a lesson. Okay, so that is added in in week three. Okay, so that's what this curriculum looks like. There are
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34 weeks of lessons in here. If we flip to the back of the book, there are a few more things to help
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you out in the appendix. There is a guide to celebrating Passover and the other feasts. And then, like you've
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already seen, you've got your book basket list. And then you have that recommended list for general reading that is in
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the very back. And how I plan to break this up, what I've kind of thought about doing is in the
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morning, kind of as we first start our homeschool day, we will be doing this part from our memory work
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and we'll be doing some of our vocabulary and stuff during that morning time too. And then in the
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middle of the day when I'm working with my kindergartener, my older kids are going to be doing
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things like they're English and their math, they're science. So my son will be doing. So my son will be
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doing some science on his own. My girls and my kindergartner are going to be using science in the beginning
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So we probably will do that part together. And then kind of in that middle of the day part
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they're also going to be doing their foreign language and their book basket time
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And then probably in the afternoon, after lunchtime, you know, we'll get that science done together
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We will get any spelling done that we need to do together
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And then we'll also tackle the history part that big chunk right there in the afternoon. And we'll also probably be doing our art and music
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together then as well. The silent reading, they'll do on their own time, and then our read-alads
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will typically do in the evening. So that is going to be a schedule for most of the days. That's what
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the plan is. Anyways, it rarely goes as planned, but that kind of, you know, will give us a basic
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guideline for how we're going to be doing everything in our homeschool. But really, I love the
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flexibility of this and you can make it work, you can split it up, and just fit everything in however
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works best for you and your family. Just looking through this again right now, I'm really excited to
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begin this curriculum. I hope seeing the flip through helped you decide whether or not this would be
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a good fit for your homeschool and just gave you an overall idea of what to expect with my father's world
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It's such a well thought out and planned curriculum, very academically complete, and I'm
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I love how they carry a biblical worldview throughout all the subjects that they teach
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It's been a big blessing to our homeschool, the years that we've used it, and I don't doubt that it's played a big part in helping my kids and I grow closer together
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as we learn together each year. If you have any questions at all, please leave them in the comments below, and please hit
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that thumbs up button if you found this video helpful. I love for you to subscribe to my channel and come along with me this year as we use this curriculum
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in our homeschool. I'll continue to share thoughts, tips, encouragement with you along the way
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Thanks so much for watching. I'll see you next time