>->I am sorry Charity if I seem dumb, but what is thematic curriculum?
I'm not Charity, but I can answer the question...
"Thematic curriculum" is to center all of your learning activities around a 
given theme. Themes can be something like "rocks", "teddy bears", 
"volcanoes", "the Revolutionary War", "the presidents", etc. You try to cover 
all of your subject matter around the theme. Let's say you chose "rocks" as 
your theme. You might learn geology as part of science, sure. But you could 
write a paper about a type of rock (language, written), give a speech about 
the types of rocks (language, oral), make something from rocks (art), discuss 
mass and shapes of rock (math), use rocks for manipulatives in math, go on a 
hike in search of rocks for your projects (PE and outdoor education), etc.
It's truly difficult, with some themes, to get Math into it. Sometimes you 
can use a little imagination to do so. Other times, you just think, "Ok, Math 
will be one place where we get *away* from the theme."
Thematic curriculum can be done weekly, bi-weekly, monthly, or bi-monthly. 
Some themes will automatically take more time than others. No one says you 
have to change themes every 2 weeks, or even every month. You can schedule 
it. You can even change it if the theme isn't catching your kids' interest.
Thematic curriculum can be purchased or made up on your own. These days, the 
teachers' supply stores are chock full of ideas on thematic curriculum. You 
can go to a teachers' store, spend about $7, and come up with a month's worth 
of teaching ideas. If you use your imagination, these can be changed or 
expanded on. (Bear in mind that these books were written with classes of 
20-32 kids in mind. Some activities will have to be changed or ignored if you 
only have 1 or 2 children.) There is also a Christian curriculum based on 
theme - I believe it's called Konos.
A real positive about thematic curriculum is being able to teach several 
children of different ages, using the same theme. You will need to vary the 
activity - if you are doing a writing project, for instance, the older child 
may write a paragraph or an essay while a younger child is writing a couple 
of sentences or perhaps even dictating them to you to write down. If you tie 
read-alouds into the theme, you can read a longer more intense book, which 
the older ones will enjoy (the younger one may not catch everything in the 
book, but will enjoy just being with you anyway). Then read something on a 
younger level and *everyone* will enjoy it - everyone enjoys a good picture 
book, even an adult.
I like thematic curriculum....it's a lot of fun, very versatile, and if you 
can plan it around *your* kids interests, it's even better!
                                 -donna
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