2012-2013 Homeschool Plans & Curriculum

Pages of notesheets in my journal and a couple tucked in my planner. Lots of things pinned and bookmarked for the coming school year. This post is for myself as much as anyone else interested in what I would like to do with my little people over the next school year – just to see if I can get it laid out in a somewhat organized manner! : )
Upfront notes to refresh:

• this is our fourth year homeschooling!
• I will have three official students this year.
  • N1 will be in 3rd grade (age 8, turning 9 in October)
  • N2 will be in 1st grade (age 6, turning 7 in January)
  • B will be in Kindergarten (age 5, turning 6 next May, so a young K in my book compared to the other girls)

Overall plans and disclaimers. : ) First, we are moving to a year round school plan this next year on a trial basis. I have found, that if we start everything up in August and / or September, by the end of May I am feeling very pushed to get days in before I have to turn in year-end grades/reports to our umbrella school. Ergo, we start in July this year. We’ll take June off (with the exception of some math drilling) and plan on lots of time to play and swim and read for fun. June also hold ballet camp for a couple girls (our concession to not paying for yearly lessons), a Classical Conversations practicum/training that we will all attend, church VBS and time with T’s family. Our July school will also be a bit different because I still want to make sure and allow time for summer fun (lots of time at the pool hopefully!), but I do want to log some time in a few subjects that won’t fit during our regular school year. More on summer plans later, I hope. : )

Therefore, and without further ado, the nuts and bolts of our 2012-2013 year are as follows:

Bible (the same for all girls):

Awana: N2 and B will both be in Sparks this year, N1 starts T&T, and the boy will probably start Puggles this year (for ages 18mo to 3 years). Puggles is a fairly new program at our church and the girls are dying to take the boy to Awana with them … and he wants to stay and play when he sees his friends who are a few months older so we’re going to try it.
CBS: at this point, we are going to continue with CBS again this fall. Our class (both kids and adults) will be studying Old Testament history through the books of 1&2 Kings and Chronicles and several of the minor prophets. N1 and N2 (and myself) will have Bible study workbooks to complete this year and we’ll do those together during our school time, and include B in our scripture reading and discussions.

Language Arts:

N1, 3rd grade:
Explode the Code, book 6 & 6 1/2
A Reason for Handwriting C
Writing with Ease, Volume 3
First Language Lessons, Volume 3
Natural Speller (switching from A Reason for Spelling which I didn’t care for)

N2, 1st Grade:
Explode the Code, 2 & 2 1/2 (probably will start book 3 as well since she’s ending Kindergarten about almost 1/2 way through 2)
A Reason for Handwriting B
Writing with Ease, Volume 1
First Language Lessons, Volume 1
Natural Speller (possibly by the end of the year)

B, Kindergarten:
Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons
Get Ready for the Code (finish), Get Set for the Code, and Go for the Code
A Reason for Handwriting K
Will listen along with N2 on both Writing with Ease and First Language Lessons and participate orally, as she is able
Lots of picture books!

Math:

N1: Saxon 3
N2: Saxon 1 (she’s about 1/3 of the way through this already)

B: Saxon K

Music/Art:

N1: Guitar Lessons with T
N2: Piano Lessons with T, Sunday night Kids Praise choir
B: Sunday night Kids Praise choir

For the rest of our schooling (history and science), we will be following plans laid out with Classical Conversations which we are joining this year. They will be going through their Cycle 1 material (which didn’t mean anything to me as of a few weeks ago). : )
The catalog states that Cycle 1 history covers World: historical empires, peoples, and countries (ancient through modern). The focus, from what I can tell will be ancient civilizations and empires. Each week the girls will have a history fact to memorize about a different civilization / people group. I can then take and run with it in whatever direction I want to at home during the week.
Now. Last year we started ancient civilizations with Story of the World (which we all were thoroughly enjoying) and I was impressed at a homeschool seminar that I needed to set that aside and work on general American History reading in the spring. I had no problem with ancient civilization studies at all – the cultures and how country lines were draw was fascinating. It was the introduction of Greek and Roman mythology to my pre-K and K girls that I wasn’t ready for. So, how will that look this next year as we are starting the same cycle of history over again?

• All three girls will memorize the CC history fact for the week. It might be about ancient Greece, ancient China, or ancient Africa, but they will all memorize just the facts.
• Since N1 will be entering 3rd grade, I think she’s ready to start with some of the mythology in her readings. I haven’t made specific booklists yet, but D'Aulaires' Book of Greek Myths comes to mind as an example of a jumping off place. She will have assigned reading to take some of these memorized facts to the next level and I’m working out figuring out a time that she and I can have a book-date and talk about what she is reading.
• there will picture books and stories on the different civilizations as we come across them, with a goal of learning about the people and their lifestyles, but without a focus on ancient religion.
• the little girls (and all of us) will immerse ourselves in our Bible study work – studying the ancient civilization of Israel, its kings, and how great our God is. This will give them plenty of history for a K and 1st grade year right there and I don’t feel pressured to push them into studies that I’m not ready for them to tackle yet. If, Lord willing, we stay with Classical Conversations for some time, we’ll hit this cycle again in three years when they are in 3rd, 4th and 6th respectively, and then I can hit it more fully with all of them.

Science will cover biology and earth science with related experiments and projects. Again, each week there will be a science fact that we will all memorize, Then, again, we’ll supplement with lots of reading at home, nature / outdoor activities as they tie in, etc. I will spend some time in the next few weeks going through my Classical Conversations book and taking each week’s fact and seeing how we can enrich that at home. My hope for science is to have all three girls on the same page and pace in this subject, age appropriate of course.

I’m sure that I’m leaving something out, and will remember it as soon as I hit post, but there it is in a nutshell. Now to start the fun part – actually planning the lessons and making booklists and plans!