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
Language Arts
4th Grade
Math/Logic
Language Arts
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.)
Posted by Cindy on November 30, 2008
School is slowing down a bit for the next three weeks. (Yay! – Shhh, don’t tell my kids I just cheered about that!) Besides all the real-life skills that come with writing Christmas cards, baking cookies, budgeting for gifts, crafting and such, I’m planning to keep some “real” school alive with the following:
Among anytime readings from the books on my sidebar, I think we’re going to purposefully read a daily chapter from
then
I’m excited about our Bible/unit study – The Names of Jesus from Easy Fun School (which was FREE!) I’ll be sure to post about the notebooks the kids create in a few weeks.
We’re ditching most of the regular math schedule for a geometry unit from AIMS called
We’ll also be keeping up with weekly artist (various nativity scenes) and composer (Handel) studies. I’ll post more about those plans soon.
And that about does it for planned school time this Christmas season. I hope you’re able to take a break from the normal to enjoy something a little different this December. Whatever you do, I hope you enjoy your children and the joy and excitement that comes with this time of year. They’re only little once!
Posted by Cindy on July 21, 2008
School will be starting up again soon! We’ll probably wait until the rest of the garden has been harvested and canned/frozen, but the serious planning is well underway already. Following is our overall plan for the year.
Bible
Since working through the Old, then New Testaments over the last two years, I think we’re going to branch off into various devotionals and kid-friendly Bible studies this year. Some of which will include both kiddos, while some will be separate. A couple will be completed as part of our kid/youth group studies at church, too. These are just to get us started. I haven’t decided exactly where we’re headed after these are finished.
Science and History
This year’s science cycle is chemistry. Besides a once a month chemistry club that a friend is going to host, we will work our way through:
Of course, nature study will continue at least weekly, too.
History
Our history cycle is Early American History. The plan is to get through as many of the units below as possible and pick up where we leave off as we head into Modern American History next year. I’ll be posting detailed unit plans as we get to them.
- Explorers
- Native Americans
- Pilgrims
- Colonial America
- Revolutionary War (and other significant wars – French Indian, 1812)
- Pioneers/Westward Expansion
- Salvery/Underground Railroad
- Civil War
I’m also considering buying the The Story of the World Vol. 3 CD’s for our listening pleasure. (And to keep up with world history of the time period.)
Mahayla – 6th Grade
Math
And various logic activities.
Grammar
Spelling
Writing
We’re continuing the blog, journal, field trip journal, writing prompts and newsletters. We’ll also be adding things here and there from:
Reading
With each unit, she will be assigned at least one book. Otherwise, I never have to worry about her reading and comprehending. In fact, I often have to ask her to stop reading so she can get other things done!
Handwriting/Typing
Handwriting and typing will be practiced thoroughly through writing assignments. Within each unit, there will be some copywork, and at least weekly, she will practice keyboard skills at Nimble Fingers.
Caleb – 3rd Grade
Math
Various logic activities
Reading/Phonics
Spelling
Writing
We will continue with the journal, field trip journal, writing prompts and newsletters.
Grammar
Handwriting/Keyboarding
Cursive practice worksheets
Nimble Fingers
Other Things That Will Be Tackled At Least Weekly
Art/Artist Study
Adventures in Art – an out of print book I found at a used curriculum sale
Artist Studies
Music
Paid piano lessons for Mahayla
Composer Studies
Foreign Language
We don’t hit this hard, but here are some resources I at least plan to pull out once in a while.
Home Skills, Homestead Skills & Handicrafts
Keepers At Home group
Indoor and outdoor chores
Weekly cooking responsibilities
Serving others
4-H Club
I know this looks like A LOT, but remember I don’t do everything from every curriculum, nor do I teach everything every day! Life is education!!! I’ll be keeping you posted on our school year and I wish you a very blessed, productive and smooth school year at your house!
Posted by Cindy on June 30, 2008
Jenny at Little Acorns Treehouse has asked that experienced homeschoolers give some of their best advice to new homeschoolers. Even though I’m a bit late in writing my entry, here it is! I chose to focus on one of the worst mistakes I made in the earlier years.
The worst mistake I have ever made homeschooling has been trying too hard to push “my” agenda with the children.It’s so easy to plan, prepare, buy materials and have the perfect schedule of studies set for the year – only to find that your child isn’t exactly on the same page as you.
As an example, before our third year of homeschooling, I decided that we needed to get more serious.I had been using a very literature-based, hands-on, mom-planned curriculum through the previous years, but I began to doubt my abilities to teach the “right” things and know my own children’s learning styles.
In my mind, the way to make sure we were on track was to buy textbooks/workbooks for every subject.And of course, I needed to add all the extras that so many people recommend, like Latin, etiquette, and even a planned out fitness program.Let’s just suffice it to say that this year turned out to be our worst ever.My children were miserable.I was miserable.And very honestly, I believe less learning took place because everyone was so miserable.I wasn’t meeting the learning styles of my children and I was pushing to accomplish way too much.
Since we’ve been back to a more natural flow of learning for our family, school has become enjoyable again!That’s not to say that I don’t slip back into the same old habit of over-thinking and over-planning, but keeping my eye on the situation and being willing to make changes when necessary has made all the difference.Good luck!!You’re going to love it!
Posted by Cindy on April 11, 2008
This was another question asked recently at co-op. Another part of the question was: How do you plan for next year when you may or may not want to change curricula? Once again, here’s the answer I gave, but I know my friend would appreciate your thoughts in a comment.
I’ve told you before that I can be considered by some as “curriculum ADHD”, so I’ve had experience planning for a year in the midst of curriculum changes! Here are my basic planning steps:
1.) PRAY! Ask God to guide you in all things – and that includes curriculum choice.
2.) Know Your Goals
- What is my educational philosophy? Do I need to plan my year to be more in line with Charlotte Mason? Do I need to make more room for classical subjects? Do I need to buy more workbooks?
- What are my children’s learning styles? Do I need to do more/less hands-on next year? Do I need to find materials that are more auditory? Do I need to stick with one type of curriculum all year or do I need to vary the approaches for more interest?
- What “holes” do I see from this year? For instance, I don’t feel like I have been including enough classic literature in our curriculum. I also don’t feel like I’ve been pushing my oldest to her greatest potential. Those will be things I’m sure to think about as I make out plans for next year.
3.) Know your plans
- For example, if I know that every Monday afternoon we will be at co-op, I need to plan my curriculum with that in mind. I wouldn’t want to plan schooling so tightly that we would be behind in our studies from “missing out” on a Monday afternoon of book work.
- If I like to plan field trips or be a part of 4-H, Keepers At Home or other clubs, I need to keep all that in mind as I think about what I want to accomplish in our curriculum over the year.
4.) Research your choices
- With all the above in mind, really take some time to research what’s best for your family. Think about things like:
- Is there anything I can buy that will cover more than one child?
- Is there anything I can find that will meet several of our needs – meeting particular learning styles, filling the “holes” from last year, and helping me include more CM style learning?
- I use catalogs, the internet, used curriculum sales, our state homeschool convention and a local Christian/homeschooling bookstore when researching.
- I often buy things I’m not sure about from used sources so I haven’t wasted a lot of money if it doesn’t work. Internet selling sites are my friends when a bad choice has been made!
5.) Write out a plan for each child to be sure everything:
- is being covered (Make sure you haven’t forgotten math or something!)
- is well balanced (You haven’t overloaded the schedule, but at the same time you have enough.)
- really fits the learning style of that particular child
- pulls the kids together as much as possible
- won’t overwhelm you!
6.) Gather supplies
- don’t be afraid to make mistakes
- don’t be afraid to make changes
- don’t be afraid to stick with something and give it another chance
It’s funny that as I type this, I’m simply ready for this year to be finished! It’s been a long year with a toddler running around. We only have four more weeks to go!! Once our year is over and I have a few moments to sit on the porch swing with the sun in my face, I’ll be ready to cart the catalogs out with me.
