I am excited to partner with Oak Meadow today to bring you this Grade 4 Curriculum Review.
Yesterday I shared with you my Grade 6 curriculum review for Oak Meadow. In that review I mentioned I would be sharing a Grade 4 review with you very soon.
(I am sure you have been waiting with baited breath)
Well, wait no more! Today I get to share with you all about the Oak Meadow Grade 4 curriculum.
As you likely know, my grade school curriculum goes up to Grade 3. At this point, I am not going to go beyond this grade level. There are many reasons for this, but the biggest reason is that my passion lies in the primary years. I love researching, reading, and learning everything I possibly can on child development and educational practices for children from toddlers through the primary years of school.
Trust me, my friends, there is PLENTY of information in that six year span to keep me joyfully busy!
A second reason I wanted to stop at Grade 3 is because it is a logical switching point. By the time you complete my program, your little one will most likely be a very independent learner. With all of my programing, parents and caregivers work alongside children, gradually releasing responsibility, until … poof!
Independent, critical thinking learners have emerged!
And wouldn’t you know that Oak Meadow Grade 4 is intended to be the first year that children work through their curriculum independently?!
At least, of course, that is the intention. We started using this curriculum last year with my Grade 4 son, and he wasn’t quite ready to be on his own, so we continued on our partnership in his learning, as I continue to release responsibility to him bit by bit as he is ready.
Isn’t that one of the most beautiful things about homeschooling? Letting our children develop in a manner they are naturally meant to develop? This little guy of mine requires a bit more time, a bit more support, and a bit of a slower pace. I love holding that space for him.
Throughout this Grade 4 year he did indeed become more and more independent.
Now, let me share with you what you will dive into when you venture into Oak Meadow Grade 4:
The Oak Meadow Grade 4 Curriculum includes:
- Course book (containing Language Arts, Art, Music, Social Studies, and Science)
- Math book
- Teacher Manual
- Book of Recorder Duets
- Native Legends
It also includes a large assortment of chapter books and novels to dive into. Much like in Grade 6, many of the Language Arts activities are related to these novels.
In the Grade 6 curriculum review I mentioned how we were using Oak Meadow as enrichment and intended to continue our own path for Language Arts and Math. The aspect that most drew me to this curriculum for my son in Grade 4 was the focus on Art! My little guy adores art and has a huge passion in this area. I knew this would be a perfect area of enrichment for him.
As you likely know, figuring out how to teach “actual art”, instead of just those one off arts and crafts projects can feel a touch overwhelming. And as a homeschooling Mama it can feel a touch overwhelming to be THE teacher for all of the things!
I mean, I am not an artist, but maybe my son is destined to be one?! That is quite a bit of pressure!
Oak Meadow took this pressure right off of me and allowed my son to explore art in a step by step, strategic way all on his own. In fact, it was a magnificent way to grow his self-confidence! Just as his older brother would share all of his fascinating science tidbits and Ancient Civilization facts, this little guy would share his amazing creations. He wowed us all in that very first week with his perspective drawings!
Let me walk you through a bit of the details of the program.
The Coursebook includes:
Language Arts: This portion of the curriculum walks children through the whole gamete of language arts skills. Grammar, proofreading, story writing, spelling, and writing relating to stories to name just a few.
Social Studies: The main focus of social studies at this levels is on Native Americans, Early Settlers, and Pioneers. There was some American History and Geographical information included, but it can be easily swapped out to be relevant to other countries. For example, the state capitals were simply swapped to Provincial capitals for us.
Science: Goodness I love science! There was a large focus on Animals in this part of the curriculum which suited my animal-loving boy just fine! Afterwards, we went right into learning about the night sky, which suited this star-loving Mama just fine! (There was also nutritional and mapping content in this section, which I should mention in case you or yours tend to be nutrition-loving or map-loving!)
Art: This section was super cool, and my little guy could absolutely do this section entirely independently. I personally loved how there were visual representations all throughout, which made it much easier to understand each art technique. If you have a budding artist, this is a fabulous place for them to build their confidence and knowledge.
Music: The main focus of music for Oak Meadow this year is furthering recorder skills and learning music in how it relates to the recorder (or at least this is my impression, and well, this is my review so it is all simply my impression! For all the facts be sure to visit Oak Meadow, they share lots of details on their website and are always so helpful with questions.) My boys are tackling guitar and drums this year, so we didn’t use this portion of the program.
The Math Book:
The Grade 4 math book, much like the Grade 6 math book, is cyclical in it’s approach which makes this teacher’s heart swoon. This approach makes the learning nice and deep. The instructions were nice and clear so most of the math book could be done independently.
It is such a different feeling when your child gets to this point in their education! It feels like a transition of sorts, from partner to guider (that is probably not the best word, but I think you know what I mean). For most children in Grade 4 they are ready to be guided with a brief chat before they begin and a follow up when they are done. This feels so different than sitting alongside your child and doing the work together!
These little ones of ours are growing up, my friend!
So there you have it. My review of the Oak Meadow Grade 4 curriculum. I just know you will love it every bit as much as we do. You can read more about it right here:
Thank you for reading, and thank you to Oak Meadow for partnering with me today!
xo
Sarah
Leave a Reply