Planning the Upcoming School Year

Posted by Cindy on July 27, 2009

After a nice LONG summer break, we’re starting back for the 2009-10 school year next week!  I can’t believe I’ll be teaching 7th and 4th grades this year – and we can’t forget the 2 1/2 year old who will continue to wreak havoc daily! 

Here’s the basic daily plan – which hasn’t changed much from last year:

• Dressed/Bedroom Chores
• Breakfast/Bible
• Daily Chores
• Math
• Language Arts
• Unit Study
• Free Time for outdoors/handicrafts/hobbies
• Reading Break

Curriculum plans are (as always) subject to change, but here’s the projected list.  Remember, I never teach from all these materials everyday, or even every week for that matter.  These are just resources that we’ll use at some point or another. 

7th Grade

Math/Logic

• Saxon Algebra 1/2
• Mind Benders Grades 7-12
• Introductory Logic
• The Thinking Toolbox: Thirty-five Lessons That Will Build Your Reasoning Skills
• Other problems solving projects will come from various sources

Language Arts

• Easy Grammar
• Spelling Power
• Words on the Vine
• Vocabulary from Classical Roots
• Daily Paragraph Editing
• Writing will be tied into unit studies and other real-life events
• Some reading will be assigned to go along with unit studies, some reading will be free choice
• No formal handwriting practice this year

4th Grade

Math/Logic

• Saxon Math 5/4
• Mind Benders Grades 3-6+ Book A3: Deductive Thinking Skills
• I have lots of other problem solving books that we will pull activities from here and there, too.

Language Arts

• Language 3
• Conquering Cursive
• Spelling Power, Fourth Edition
• Spell Quizzer
• Writing is the same as 7th grade
• Reading is the same as 7th grade

Bible/Devotions

• Bible Topics – Daniel, Jonah, Ruth, Romans, Psalms, Proverbs
• Possible Bible/Character/Devotion Missionary Studies include:

How to Study Your Bible for Kids

Journeys of Faithfulness: Stories for the Heart for Faithful Girls

The Squire and the Scroll with Life Lessons from the Squire and the Scroll

Princess & the Kiss: A Story of God’s Gift of Purity with Life Lessons from the Princess and the Kiss

Beautiful Girlhood

Bible Games Packet that reinforces books of the Bible, divisions of the Bible, Bible research skills and more.  I bought this at a Bible outlet store that was going out of business a few years ago.  The game boards and pieces are all just paper tear-outs.  Since I’ve already prepared all the games, I can’t find the title of the product anywhere.  It was originally published by Standard Publishing, but I’ve had no luck finding it on their site either.  It’s a wonderful resource!  If I find out the title and it’s still available anywhere, I’ll be sure to post it.

Bruchko

George Muller: The Guardian of Bristol’s Orphans

Bartholomew’s Passage: A Family Story for Advent

Hero Tales, vol. 1: A Family Treasury of True Stories from the Lives of Christian Heroes

Unit Studies

This is the fourth year in our four-year history/science cycle.  We will be working on modern history and physics.  I’ll post plans as each unit comes along.  For now, here are the tentative unit lists.

History/Geography

• US Geography
• Statue of Liberty and Other National Monuments
• US Government
• US Presidents
• Inventors
• 1900-2010 History – This will be our biggest unit!
• World Geography

Science

• Energy – Heat & Electricity
• Light, Color & Sound
• Magnets
• Simple Machines and Work

Nature Study

We’ll use various ideas from the NaturExplorer units once (or more) a week.  I’ll be posting many of those ideas here and at Shining Dawn Books.

Artist and Composer Study

August – Cezanne, Chopin

September – Rousseau, Vivaldi

October – Rodin, Gershwin

November – Gauguin, Ellington

January – Toulouse-Lautrec, Schubert

February – Seurat, Berloiz

March – Russell, Schumann

April – Matisee, Brahms

May – Kandinsky, Stravinsky

I’ll be sure to post lots about our daily lessons and happenings through the school year!  Have a super 2009-10!

(You can find our current studies along with the resources I’m using in the sidebars.)

Seining – A Family Event at Church

Posted by Cindy on July 23, 2009

Most of you probably remember that my husband is the youth minister at our church.  We try to be as family oriented in our activities as possible, making sure there is at least one family event per month.  This month’s event was planned by a very neat family that used to homeschool and love the outdoors.  We went seining in the creek on our church’s farm!

(Seining for sport is actually not legal in Kentucky, but fear not, we were only seining for educational purposes.  All the “catches” were put back into the creek unharmed.)

Our big “kids” – my husband and the gentleman who planned the event – enjoyed the seining tremendously.  Everyone else did, too – for a time.  Then there were bigger and better things to tackle.

Here are a few nature shots I took while I waited on the creek’s edge with Eli.

And here’s Eli deciding his turn had come to get in the water.

A wonderful time of food and fellowship ended the evening.  What better way to worship God than enjoying His creation with brothers and sisters in Christ?

Summer Time!

Posted by Cindy on July 21, 2009

Whew!  I’m ready to get back to school just so I have an excuse to stop the insanity!  LOL!  What’s been keeping us busy lately?

I know I’ve been MIA a little lately.  Between all these fun activities, the garden, planning for school and writing the next set of NaturExplorer units, I haven’t had much time for blogging.  I have several posts in the hopper, though – how we planned our family VBS, a wonderful family event we did at church recently, the coming school year plans and some wonderful nature walk finds.  Hang in there.  I’ll get to the posts and start updating my sidebars soon.  Hope you’re enjoying your summer!

Hands-On Homeschool Carnival

Posted by Cindy on July 13, 2009

Welcome to the July issue of the Hands-On Homeschool Carnival!  I’ve been suprised by the number of wonderful submissions in the middle of the summer.  How exciting – especially as our family is getting geared up to start again.

Since we’re all so busy with summer fun, I’ve made the post descriptions short and sweet!  Enjoy!

• Even though we haven’t been doing “official” school, our summer has been filled with lots of hands-on learning as we work in the garden and harvest the veggies, take extra field trips, play board games in the shade of the porch on a hot afternoon, and spend many lazy hours reading good books.  Here’s a peak into our very hands-on VBS…A Trip to Rome!

• Our Busy Homeschool shares how much fun writing in Colonial times must have been in her post titled Writing With a Quill and Ink.  She also shows how much fun a dinosaur dig can be in Paleontologists and Climbing.

• Homegrown Mommy shares a fun Biblical lesson her children presented and video taped in Here’s a Quick Lesson Plan for Samson and the Lion (Judges 14).

• Homeschool Bytes put birthday party plans in the hands of her daughter in Give Kids Money and a Budget – Tuesday Tips.

• Home4Skool shares how she and her children have been creating their own structures in Making Domes.

• ToddlerCraft shares a simple, but fun idea for little ones in Learning About the Ocean.

• Talking to Myself gives a very unique idea for getting children to cooperate in Studying New England – Part 2.

• Roots and Wings shows you very clearly how to make a homemade planter in Topsy Turvy Tomato Tutorial.

• School For Us shares a super hands-on artist study in Henri Matisse and Icarus.

• Harmony Art Mom’s entire family had fun in Sculpey Projects – Great Summer Creative Fun.

• Schooling Memoirs made a lesson from Story of the World come to life in Mummy’s.

• Mountaineer Country celebrated our country’s independence in hands-on style as she shares in Our 4th of July.

• Leaving Footprints has a wonderful hands-on idea for *moms* of preschoolers in Preschool Activity Box.

Thanks for visiting!  I hope you’re making wonderful summer memories!!  You can submit to the next Hands-On Homeschool Carnival (in August) by clicking here.

Nature Study at the Creek

Posted by Cindy on July 5, 2009

There’s a wonderful orchard in our area that also has a free walking trail.  The trail leads you down to one of the most lovely little creeks I’ve ever seen!  With clear water it’s shallow enough to observe and play.

We made some great finds – an eroded rock with a terrific leaf fossil, all sorts of shells, creek critters and an unusual looking plant along the edge of the creek.  Any guesses as to what type of plant it is??

And best of all, we found happy kids.  What children aren’t happy exploring outside??

The end of the trail leads you to an open area near the creek where it’s said Frank and Jesse James once camped.  Unfortunately for us, a little snake friend was already camping there so we didn’t hang around.  I’m all about nature, but I do draw the line occasionally. 

Need ideas for creek study?