I’ve been so pumped to spend the last week digging into the new curriculum we chose for my fourth and fifth-grader, Trail Guide to Learning: Paths of Exploration. Here’s my initial take:
EXACTLY WHAT I WAS LOOKING FOR.
As I’ve mentioned, this is my fifth year of homeschooling. Over the last few years, I have settled on some subject-based curriculum that worked well for my kids and we really enjoyed. Last year, however, I started to feel like it was more about crossing off the subject from my mental list and a little less about the joy of discovery. I really felt led to explore some more unit-based, all-encompassing curriculum. We had really enjoyed last year’s Trail Guide to U.S. Geography, which brought me to the Trail Guide to Learning series from Geography Matters. I have been reviewing the materials over the last few days and I. am. so. excited. We will spend this upcoming year exploring the early days of American history beginning with Christopher Columbus and ending with westward expansion. All subjects, except math, will be seamlessly woven together, while we enjoy real books, learn about actual events which impacted our country, and develop critical thinking skills. I can teach my fourth and fifth graders mostly together, which will hopefully free up some mindshare for my kindergartener, and I think the kids will honestly love the material. We will even be covering some basic art concepts, which we’ve never tackled at home.
BEAUTIFUL BOOKS.
The Trail Guide to Learning series is based on the methodologies of Charlotte Mason and Ruth Beechick, so relies heavily on “real books.” I ordered the Complete Package, which includes all the books we will be reading throughout the year. Again, I felt this was completely worth the additional spend because it means I have everything I need and will not be rooting around at the library, while my kids roll around on gross pillows in the kids’ area and try to unstick gum from the bottom of the card catalog. Many of the books are biographical, but some are historical fiction, such as The Adventures of Munford. My kids will have relatively short assigned reading passages each day, and we will also read aloud. I think this mix will work really well to motivate and entertain my somewhat reluctant readers.
REALLY GLAD I ORDERED THE PRINTED STUDENT NOTEBOOKS.
The “student notebooks” are essentially the worksheets that accompany this curriculum. The company offers digital downloads of the material, but recommends you order the printed sheets from them to save on time. I read several reviews of the system before purchasing and it sounded like most of those moms were printing the sheets on a weekly or sometimes daily basis as needed. I wasn’t sure what to do because the printed packs were $75 (times two for our family.) I ended up ordering from the company and am SO GLAD I DID. The prints are very high quality and the volume is gigantic, easily hundreds of pages for each of the two levels. The pages come printed on three-hole-drilled paper, so I can easily separate the units with tabs, drop them in a 3-ring-binder and off we go. Definitely worth the extra spend.
GIVE YOUR ORDER PLENTY OF TIME.
I admit it; I struggle with patience. My expectation is that anything I order online will be shipped within a day or two and on my doorstep within a week. I also expect that anything that costs hundreds of dollars will not also come with a shipping price tag. A-hem. Not so with this particular curriculum. I paid almost $20 for media mail shipping. Grrrr. After a week with no shipping confirmation, I called the company and was told that this is their busiest time of year so orders were very backed up. Okaaaaay. I finally received my order in a little over two weeks. Now, as you read above, I am super happy with this curriculum and think it will be amazing. But, two weeks, is a long wait in 2017. Just saying.
