Subjects

Most states have the basic requirements of reading, writing, math, social studies, and science.  This is a good thing because if I wasn't required to teach them, I would probably skip over a few and only teach fun stuff like doing science experiments all day long.  We also add a few more subjects to enrich the curriculum.  So, the subjects included on our homeschool curriculum are:

Reading
This includes reading selections in all genres (fantasy, realistic fiction, historical fiction, mystery, classics, science fiction, biographies, autobiographies, informational, poetry).  It also includes reading comprehension.

Writing
This includes learning the different types of writing (narrative, expository, persuasive).  Also includes grammar, punctuation, research, penmanship, typing, and oral presentations.

Math
This includes teaching the appropriate skill for the appropriate grade level.  It's not too scary in the elementary years.  I haven't reached the high school level yet, but we'll cross that bridge when we get there.

Social Studies
This includes history, current events, and sociology.  I'm not a history buff, so my husband teaches a lot of history.  A lot of it is taught simply through conversation at the dinner table, road trips, and reading historical fiction.

Science
This includes teaching things related to science in the areas of biology, microbiology, physiology, chemistry, nutrition, astronomy, geology, and physics.  These titles can be frightening, but don't worry, they are quite easy and fun to teach young children.  I tend to forget that the world is so brand new to them, and it's fun to see their excitement in the simplest of experiments.

Music
This includes both music theory and performance.  My husband is a musician with a degree in music composition, so obviously he is the one to teach the theory.  Our children are required to play the piano and they play one other instrument of their choice.  They rotate the optional instrument to get a well rounded experience with a variety of instruments.  We do not use a piano teacher.  Our children so far have been able to self teach themselves how to play with some basic instruction on reading music.

Foreign Language
Neither my husband nor I are fluent in a foreign language. (Aside from the few years we took Spanish in high school and college.)  Therefore, we use Rosetta Stone Homeschool to teach them language.  We started them out on Mandarin Chinese.  My husband wanted them to learn a character language to challenge the brain.  After one or two years of Mandarin, we added Spanish to the curriculum.  We hope to add more languages too.

Self Study
This is time allotted for our children to select the subjects they are interested in learning about.  For example, baking, pottery, art, etc. 

P.E.
This is not a strict course of study, but time allotted for the children to play outside or participate in a sport or dance. 

I will elaborate on each of these subjects in future posts.