Fall 2011 Curriculum Plans

When I listed them, it didn’t seem as overwhelming as when I was planning them. I’ll have a separate post on my US History plans because I’m putting those together myself.

Child #1 – “5th Grade”

Math: A Beka Arithmetic 6 (I’ve read that ABeka slows down a lot after the 3rd grade text. She used CLE 400 last year & I went ahead & skipped the 5th grade ABeka text. Only time will tell if this was the right decision.)

Grammar: Growing With Grammar 5 (I used GWG3 with her previously. It is a pretty independent program & I’m hoping for that again.)

Writing: Writing Tales 2 (incorporates some grammar. I liked how WT1 improved her writing skills & endurance.)

Latin: Latina Christiana 1

Religion: Seton’s Religion 4 for Young Catholics (I struggled with what to do for our religion studies this year. I usually use Laura Berquist’s Designing Your Own Classical Curriculum as a guide, but didn’t like what they had for this year. This seemed like a good one-year overview of the Baltimore Catechism No. 1. Since we just studied it over three years, a one-year review sounded good.)

Spelling: We are going to do dictation using Susan Anthony’s Dictation Resource Book. We’re taking a break from a formal spelling program this year.

History: US History using my own mesh. (Post & link to follow in about a week.)

Science: Beautiful Feet’s History of Science (with some modification)

Spanish: Getting Started with Spanish + Spanish in 10 Minutes a Day

Child #2 – “3rd Grade”

Math: A Beka Arithmetic 3

Grammar: Growing with Grammar 3 (first formal introduction to grammar)

Religion, Latin, History, Dictation, and Science with older sister

Child #3 – “Kindergarten”

(transitioning to 1st grade sometime mid-year)

Math: Miquonish math using a variety of discovery math techniques. We will transition into A Beka’s Arithmetic 1 as the year progresses

Reading: We are about half way through Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons (100EL). We will do the best we can to finish it & then move onto SWR-type phonics instruction

Handwriting: I’m going to try to teach this one cursive (loosely using Cursive First) starting this fall.

Crafts/Cooking Class/Fun Stuff: We are shooting for three times per week to have “fun” activities. We’ll be using Shirley’s Prepackaged Crafts for at least half the year.

Winding Down The School Year & Field Trip Update

Well, we made it to the first field trip of the week, but had to skip the second. (We had two sick!) We were able to hit the third field trip and all had a wonderful time. My spouse used the time while we were all out of the house to reroute some plumbing that involves the main water line. He was also able to get a TON of other things done because we made sure we were gone long enough that there would be water available when we got home!

We are all looking forward to the “end” of formal school work for this school year. We have only one more “official” week of regular work and then testing week comes. That means I have only one week and two weekends to write my “finals” in science, history, and religion! I’ve started scribbling history questions down but have not looked at the others. Better get cracking, eh?!

We’ll take a week off and then start up with “schooling light” for the summer. Oldest will be starting Growing With Grammar 3 and Writing With Ease 2. We will also play some math games or work on flash cards for 10-15 minutes several times a week.

Child #2 will do some light math and phonics work – the nature of which changes depending on the day you ask.

Math: We are trying to cement into her brain written two-digit numerical symbols (such as 34 or 79). She struggles and the concept isn’t coming quickly. Math games and lots of dot-to-dots may be in order.

Language Arts: We may just work on handwriting using sidewalk chalk again this summer. She loves it and I can sneak in reminders of what the phonogram sounds are at the same time. We’ll see.

Arrived! (Currently Reading): Haystack Full of Needles

Postmarked 8/1 & 8/2 (I ordered three books, two arrived in one envelope, one arrived in a separate envelope), three brand new copies of this book arrived at my house on 8/4. I’m trying to squeeze in a chapter here & a chapter there, but I’m finding that I want to savor a bit more so I’ve already gone back to do some re-reading and I’m only on Chapter 4.

Haystack Full of Needles by Alice Gunther is subtitled “A Catholic Home Educator’s Guide to Socialization.” In what I have read so far, Alice has painted a picture of her own journey to home educating and is starting to show both how she was able to find other homeschoolers and how the reader can reach out in a variety of ways to find other people who teach their children at home. Not only that, but she makes the case that it is very important for the parents to have a good network of home educating friends, not just friends for the kids.

Let me know if you received your book yet and what you think. I’ll be sure to post my book review and opinion when I am done.

Letter to a Hermit Crab & Starting School

If you have youngsters in your house who beg for pets, especially little boys, you might enjoy this letter sent to a newly acquired hermit crab.

If you are getting ready to start your (home) schooling year, there are quite a few bloggers posting about how they have or haven’t gotten ready, their ideas for this year, and their curriculum run-down. Here is one that I liked on homeschoolcoach’s blog. It talks about how while she isn’t uber-organized, she did manage to put a picture of each kid in their own student planner which will probably gain her some squeals of excitement from the kids. Another thing I noted was her goal this year – getting back to the basics. Spending time talking to her older kids and engaging more with her younger kids. As she points out, that is an achievable goal (although maybe not as much as she would like every single day).

We still have another month before we “officially” start our homeschool journey this year. Learning occurs each day, just maybe not using a book or with a pencil & pen in hand sitting at a desk.

For those of you starting (for the first time or again), bon courage! And try to have a good time! If you are having fun, chances are the kids are too.