More on combining ...

Once the decision was made as to what pieces we would be fitting together, all that was left was actually doing the work of combining. That, of course, fell on me. Since I am by nature a curriculum junkie, I actually enjoyed the process quite a bit.

Combining--the actual process
Since I knew that SL was going to be the main spine of our curriculum, I used it as a starting point. I placed my order and waited for that lovely box to arrive in the mail. I also ordered the Guidebook for WP ASI. When my SL order came, my first step was to put my IG in order and acquaint myself with it in far greater depth than I had any previous years'. Using the weekly plans, I was able to craft a timeline of all the topics that would be covered. Then I took the ASI Guidebook and did the same.

The first thing I noticed was that though the two programs do not line up perfectly. SL begins with Incans, Aztecs and Mayans--as you'd expect, it's more of a North American history program than a United States of America history program. WP spends more time on Native American tribes. WP delves a bit deeper into the personalities of explorers and other figures. SL focuses more on causes and effects of events and decisions.

Taking these things into account meant that I had to shave a bit off here and pad a bit there. Using my timelines as a guide, I transferred the helpful websites & other info from the WP Guidebook into my SL Core 3 IG. Then I went about picking and choosing which books from the WP program made the cut and needed to be scheduled. I transferred those into my IG, too. In a few instances, I used WP books to replace SL books that I knew wouldn't be as big of a hit with my gang. In the end, my own discretion won out over either of the two purchased schedules I had in my lap. Our own interests determined what went in to the final product, not what SL or WP said we ought to be learning.

Then I went through the craft ideas and began adding them in. To be honest, many of them were paper-and-cutting based, and weren't what I had expected. Others were "busy work" type projects that I knew my kids would see right through. A few crafts did make it into our schedule, though. The rest have been supplied by Hands and Hearts.

Finally, I scheduled in the WP ASI readers that Atticus would be using, as well as the Make Your Own History notebook pages that he would be working on in place of the Story of the US workbooks Jo is doing for Core 3.