After receiving the new Catholic Heritage Curricula (CHC) lesson plans a few weeks ago I was so excited I dropped the program that I had designed for our younger daughters and began using the CHC plans. They are thrilled and I'm overjoyed to find such complete, yet flexible, plans that are thoroughly Catholic.
Are you looking for a program to keep you on target yet one that is flexible? These are the plans for you. Do you use an educational approach that focuses on living books and the beautiful in life or do you prefer the classical approach with a solid grounding in the basics suitably arranged by the child's ability with a focus on memory work? These plans will work for you too. If you prefer textbooks and workbooks the CHC lesson plans includes all the core assignments in an easy to use format. Not only are these plans complete and flexible, but they contain dozens of ideas and tips from experienced Catholic homeschool mothers that make teacher preparation and the learning experience exciting yet simple. I'm so impressed with these plans that I'm ordering a set for my godson and will be modifying the first grade plans again next year to use with my older children (they are that flexible!)
CHC surveyed dozens of families to determine what they wanted in lesson plans and then they designed plans that are simple, but at the same time deep and inspiring. The plans are easy to follow and use low cost, high quality material. The authors have done an impressive job integrating the material around science or social studies topics, the liturgical year or an approaching holiday. Not only are these plans easy to work with (including space to fill in your own assignments if you wish) but they are attractive to the eye, charming, quaint and best of all thoroughly Catholic. I'm amazed! These are not plans you'll dread using because they don't reflect the drudgery that often goes along with lesson plans, but rather they offer a spark of excitement through wonderful ideas, charming illustrations to raise the spirit and reflections that offer hope and encouragement.
The CHC Lesson Plans for both Kindergarten and the First Grade contain all the necessary features to help the parent/teacher quickly and easily make use of the plans. The "Frequently Asked Questions" section addresses common concerns with answers that are fresh and inspiring. "Educating For Eternity" follows the Q/A section and includes a typical course of study, goals, and a subject guide (overview of the material and it's best use.)
The lesson plans themselves include a weekly teacher's guide followed by the assignment plan. The Teacher's Guide in the First Grade lesson plans cover two pages for each week. Each core (and some non-core) subject heading is followed by innovative suggestions and tips for not only teaching the material but also ways in which our Holy Faith can be naturally woven into the teaching of that subject. These two pages also contain quaint illustrations that can be included as part of the students learning experience, illustrated hands-on religion projects, space for the teacher to note daily practice work, a brief excerpt from spiritual writings to set the tone for teaching religion that week, and a weekly goal chart with the overall assignments broken down by subject. This weekly goal chart provides flexibility for families who prefer to use an approach other then day-to-day assignments.
The Teacher's Guide is followed by a two-page daily assignment table (day of the week by subject) for those who prefer assignments broken down by page number. Core subjects are shaded so the teacher can quickly determine what material is essential. This feature makes personalizing the plans simple as non-core subjects can be done on the day assigned or saved for later. The assignment table set-up is unique in design with lined space available around the table allowing extra work, enrichment activities, appointments, etc to be added. The Kindergarten plans have similar features with the exception that the teacher's guide occurs alongside the daily assignment table.
Finally, the lesson plans are followed by appendices which include supplemental activities (I wish I had used these with my older children), monthly planners, chore charts (illustrated for non-readers), certificates (beautiful), and resource lists.
The materials used within these plans are all excellent products used by many families (including our own) for years. I am so very impressed by the plans that I will be permanently dropping the lesson plans I designed for our children to use CHC plans. These plans are worth two or three times the price and are truly unique.
