Posted by Cindy on November 4, 2010
I promised this ages ago and it took a kick in the tail from Sprittibee to get me moving. Here’s our general weekly schedule. It’s just a sketch of what we try to do daily and weekly, but so many other things come up (like field trips, 4-H or orthodontist appts) that the schedule is very loose. Very loose.
We do most of our Bible, science and history studies together. You’ll notice I don’t have particular things like writing, art and music in the schedule this year. That’s because I’m using science and especially history lessons to cover those subjects this year. For example, at least once a week there is a writing assignment that goes along with the history learning – maybe a research report or historical fiction piece or project.
So, in short, just because it looks like each day’s lessons are rather light, there’s a lot more involved in the history and science subjects than meets the eye.
Since almost everyone asks…We’re TYPICALLY finished with school around lunchtime. That doesn’t include read-alouds, music lesson practice, nature walks, horse training and the like. Those are our more casual afternoon activities and aren’t usually “scheduled”. Not every afternoon is spent doing academic style things either. We plan most of our appointments and errands during the afternoon, so at least one afternoon a week is eaten up with these things.
When you live and school with the Charlotte Mason/Unit Study styles, a lot can be accomplished in a reasonable amount of time. My kids are by no means geniuses, but they are very academically capable without having to pour over schoolwork for hours and hours a day.
You can see what curriculum we’re using this year here.
**Editing to add: My children usually read before they go to bed at night, so reading is not typically part of the “school day”, even thought it’s part of our daily curriculum.
Posted by Cindy on July 12, 2010
I love planning and preparing for a new year! And that’s one of the things I’ve been doing on our lazy (yeah, right!) days of summer break. After much consideration, here’s the plan – but it comes with pinkies crossed.
Mahayla – 8th Grade
We’re jumping to Algebra 1 a little early. I have Algebra 1/2 we can fall back on if this gets too tough.
Logic is a very important subject to me! We’ll get an introduction to formal logic along with continuing logic puzzlers this year.
Our history program below will cover plenty of research & factual types of writing – this will fill in the creative writing gap.
I know the language arts section looks pretty slim. We’re taking a break from grammar this year, while our history program will include tons of reading, writing and drama.
Other:
Caleb – 5th Grade
Saxon – not much more to say!
Both of these are logic puzzlers – and fun!
This is a new-to-me curriculum this year and I’m in love!
I’m beginning with All About Spelling to reinforce some basic phonics rules, then we’ll jump into Spelling Workout.
Caleb worked through much of this last year. We have about 1/3 of the book to go, then we’ll just use Spelling Workout as handwriting practice.
Other:
- High-interest, often history-related books for reading
- Living math lessons
- NimbleFingers.com for typing
Together
This is an amazing curriculum!!! It will cover Bible, history, language arts, science, art, music, drama, and so much more! I *think* most of our art and music studies this year will come only from this study. (Gasp!) If I feel like we aren’t diving into art and music enough, I’ll supplement.
Another gasp! I’m using a full-blown traditional textbook for science this year! What?? Let’s just say I’m giving this type of learning a shot this year. If it works, awesome – I won’t have to keep planning my own lessons! If it doesn’t work, no biggie – we’ll keep on keepin’ on the way we always have. Caleb will be following along with us on many of these lessons, but I have separate reading and activity plans (following the same subject) on the days when this is information overload.
Well, of course! A nature study author can’t leave out nature study!
I’m trying a new, informal approach to foreign language this year. We’re using this program for 5-10 minutes a couple times a week as a fun game/flashcard drill time.
Other:
- Occasional Bible & devotional studies to accompany our Old Testament history program
- Games – board, card & online – for many subjects
Eli – Early PK
We’re going to have a fun time learning the alphabet this year with one letter per week as a theme. I have each letter planned with fun crafts, activities, experiments and such that will make Eli beg for “school”.
It’s a do-it-yourself curriculum with hodgepodge ideas from every corner of the internet and my brain, so I can’t give you a specific link. You can check out my preschool links, though, to find many of the sites I visited when planning. A few of the major items I’ll be pulling from include:
I’ll post a tentative weekly schedule before long.
Posted by Cindy on June 10, 2010
My Curriculum For Sale page has been updated!
Posted by Cindy on May 17, 2010
I haven’t been this excited about a curriculum in ages! In fact, I’m almost turning flips knowing that history is taken care of next year and I have no unit planning to do.
“I truly have never seen a curriculum like this before, especially for the 6th grade and above crowd. Hands down, it tops my list of all-time favorites!”
Read the entire review at The Curriculum Choice.
Posted by Cindy on January 10, 2010
Just letting you know that I finally updated my For Sale page with current products available and pictures. Most prices were cut significantly, too.
Keep the questions coming about unit studies! I’ll plan to write another Q & A post later this week.
