It’s Meet the Teacher night at our local elementary school. (Look who’s not there!)

I don’t think I ever talked about curriculum.

Here it is:

It came in a big box.

Everything to guide a year.

The Oak Meadow curriculum materials have just been re-worked and reprinted. The new books are attractive, the teacher books are spiral bound, and the whole system is easy to use even when you need several books to assemble a lesson plan. I’ve seen examples of older versions of the materials since I ordered the ‘Home Teacher’s Process Manual’ before we enrolled to get a feel for the program. The improvement in visual appeal is marked.

New one in front. But I’m sure you can tell.

Now known as the “Guide to Teaching the Early Grades,” the new version of the Process Manual isn’t just prettier, there is also an appendix in the back with rhymes, songs and poems.

Pro Tip: When you get your Oak Meadow curriculum, start with the Resource Book. That’s where the introduction is. Nothing makes sense unless you read the introduction first.

The Coursebook contains the outlines for 36 lessons that are to be completed over the school year. Each lesson contains one week’s worth of activities sorted by subject: all of the Language Arts assignments for the week come first, followed by Social Studies, then Math, and so on. As the teacher, my responsibility is to read through the Lesson, sort out how and when we will complete each activity and gather any resources we’ll need for that week. A ‘boxed’ curriculum doesn’t mean that parents can just follow along step-by-step! Especially since this is project-based learning and not a stack of worksheets to complete. There are still lesson plans to make! Schedules still need to be sorted! My personal plan is to stay two weeks ahead with lesson preparation. That’s plenty of time to request books from the library and get any Thriftbooks or Amazon deliveries to enhance the lesson. Social Studies is about China for the first two weeks, so I’ve got a few library books that directly support what is covered by the included projects and stories. In Lesson 2, Health focuses on the systems of the human body and how the whole thing works together. My library didn’t have the book I wanted (it’s got transparent layers!), so I’ve got one on the way from Thriftbooks. I (probably) won’t buy one-time-use-resources, but this particular book is pretty cool and will stay useful later. Plus it’s Thriftbooks* so I spent all of $3.59.

Everything on the shelf.

I’m not sure how Oak Meadow could have made project-based learning any easier. The Coursebook contains weekly planners, weekly checklists, and Learning Assessment pages for every lesson. Stories in the Resource Book and Readers, and activities in Crafts for the Early Grades are referenced – this makes it extra important to look through the lessons ahead of time so that you can have all the needed materials ready. The craft instructions are detailed and the stories fit the methodology (you’ll have to read the introduction). I feel prepared and supported and pleased.

All that to say: I’m feeling pretty good about our choice.

I’m ready to get this show on the road.

*I have a small Thriftbooks addiction.