January 20, 2014

The 2013/2014 school year

Or at least the last part of it!

We had a lovely fall semester of 2013 then took a month off in December in which I planned and organized and scheduled and charted, and now we're off and running in January.

Because I've had a few people asking, this is The Plan.

Monday:
Family Work from 9 to 11.   We try to cover the following:
Artist - finishing Van Gogh, then Monet
Composer - currently Rossini
Poetry - we're reading from Favorite Poems Old and New
Logic - currently using The Thinking Toolbox, then Fallacy Detective
Fairy Tales - reading our way through Andrew Lang's collection
Computer Coding - right now they play games on the iPad (Hopscotch, Daisy the Dino, and Kodables).  Then we'll move on to some of these.
Geography - Visits to Europe and Around the World in 100 Years by Jean Fritz
Nature Study - working our way through the Pierson Among the _______ books and The Nature Connection

Then we head to co-op for the rest of the day.

Tuesday - Friday:
Family Work from 9 to 10:30
Scriptures/Devotional - this includes:
     Reading the scriptures
     Scripture memory work
     The Friend and New Era magazines
     a blurb from a manners book
     vocab cartoons
     an idiom from the Scholastic Dictionary of Idioms
History -
Middle Ages from Simply Charlotte Mason with additional reading for the older boys from Beautiful Feet Books
Latin and Greek roots (via flashcards)
alternating days of dictation and Shakespeare (we're right in the middle of A Midsummer Night's Dream)

Then the older boys (age 13) go off to do their independent work:
scriptures - a topic or section of their choice
Teaching Textbooks (LOVE!!!)
copywork - in both print and cursive
history reading (from SCM and BF guides)
science - currently Exploring Creation with Chemistry and Physics.  One is using the notebook and loving it, the other hates it.
Lighting Lit
written narration - 1 per day
science biography or specific topic

While the older boys are off being older, independent boys I work with the two younger boys (ages 10 and 7).  We do the following together:
Science - Exploring Creation, Land Animals of the Sixth Day.  We've taken a few detours when they've requested (cells, decomposition, etc).
a story book - we're reading our way through all sorts of books.  Some from this list and some from this.  Or whatever I see on my shelves!
a history book (taken from the SCM suggestions for 1-3 grades)
then we alternate Life of Fred, Nature Study, Lightning Lit, and Winston Grammar

Then they both head off to do independent work.  For now they both do Explode the Code (at their own level) and copy work.

Ten-year-old also does Teaching Textbooks and a history book from the 4-6 grade suggestions.

Seven-year-old meets with me after lunch to do:
Math - RightStart Level B
Reading - a mixture of several reading programs
Spelling - All About Spelling Level 1

We meet back together in the afternoon, around 3, to listen to a family read-aloud.  Right now we're reading The Hobbit (for the 3rd or 4th time) and Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone.

And that, my friends, is The Plan!!!  For now.  Until I change it.  Again.



1 comment:

  1. I'm truly sorry you have more annoying friends then just me :-D

    Thanks for the updates. It's fun to take a peek into your life. I stopped looking at all things homeschooling for the last two years... it was just too sad!... but now that I'm getting back in the game, man there's even more cooler stuff then there was before! I want to play with everything! It's nice to see what's working for you guys at this point in time and to siphon ideas :-)

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