Wednesday, August 5, 2009

Our School Plans for 2009-2010

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I'm a little late posting this for Darcy's blog hop (there are already 138 links!!!), but I have a good reason...

I was here...

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...thinking about anything besides curriculum!

But our new school year is quickly approaching, so it's time to share our plans.


Bible:

  • Sunday School and Catechism instruction at church (plus memory work for both)
  • Daily stories from The Child's Story Bible
  • Discovering Jesus in Exodus (Last year we really enjoyed the first book in this two-book series)
  • Additional memory work (starting with the books of the Bible)

History:

We were originally scheduled to use Story of the World 3, but I decided it was going to be too difficult. So we are going to concentrate on American history, and maybe a little detour to Holland (lots of Dutch blood in this family). Next year we will study geography, and in two years we will start the history rotation over again.


Science:


This will be our first year incorporating formal nature study. It seems a bit overwhelming, since I can't name the most common trees or insects, but we're going to give it a try. We also did not finish our science curriculum last year, so we are stretching it out over two years. I think this will work out great, because I wanted to spend more time on astronomy anyway, and I wasn't sure my younger two were ready for chemistry.


Foreign Language:



Art:


Music:


Other:

  • Occasional activities from Family Math
  • Computer activities like typing and Web Design for Kids (see Dawn's review here)
  • Extracurricular activities like Cub Scouts, ballet and swim

Just for Ryne
(age 10, 4th grade, high-functioning autism):

In the past I have listed
RDI as part of our curriculum. This can be confusing, since it is not a curriculum in the traditional sense. We use RDI to remediate Ryne's core deficits of autism, and it flavors how we use all our curricula. For more information please consider joining the Homeschooling with RDI Yahoo Group. I will also blog more about this in the future.


Just for Grace (age 6, 1st grade):


Our oldest, Anna (age 11, 6th grade), will be starting at a Christian classical school this fall, attending school Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. On Tuesdays and Thursdays she will study at home, so I will still be heavily involved in her schooling. For those of you curious what they study in a classical school, I am listing her curriculum for the year.


Anna has also marked up my Veritas Press catalog with additional literature choices, so we will be doing a little supplementing. She'd also really like to listen to the Story of the World 4 CDs to go along with the history cards.

Blue House Academy will officially start on August 17, the same day Anna starts at her new school. In the past we have started in July and after every 3-4 weeks of school we would take a week off. I really love having those breaks, but I'm going to try a more traditional schedule this year. We'll see how it goes...

Be sure to visit LWM3B to see what others have planned for the school year. I've only read a handful so far, but have already found a few new things worth researching.

Happy Homeschooling!

11 comments:

  1. Kellie -

    Ohhh beautiful. It looks like a postcard.

    I've got an email in draft to you... on its way soon!

    -D

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  2. Sounds like you have a great year ahead of you. Thanks for linking to my review. I appreciate it. I need to look at Harmony Art Mom. I have a few other friends who read and love her blog.

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  3. We have very similar tastes! Good to read about your upcoming year!

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  4. Your photo is absolutely gorgeous!! I can only imagine how wonderful your get-a-way must have been :)

    Good luck in your upcoming year-- it looks like you've planned a splendid one!

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  5. What a great lineup you have for the year! I have lots of questions for you - we are doing many of the same things!

    We LOVED that Astronomy book last year (2nd gr) and feel that that series will be a good one for us in the future also. This year I am using Sonlight Science 2 so I can do both kids together. Don't know if I'm gonna like it yet...

    We stepped away from SOTW3 this year also. I went with Sonlight for my 3rd gr but Rachel (1st) will not be able to handle SOTW (although I intend to use parts of it - activity sheets & book lists). Hope you enjoy MFW! Let us know what great books you read as we will be learning about US hist also!

    Wondering how you like that Latin program? I was going to start my older 2 next year (4th & 2nd gr) an am always looking for recommendations. I know that Rosetta Stone now has Latin but have heard good things about Song School. We use RS Spanish too.

    AND we are also starting Intro to Art using Artistic Pursuits! I'm excited about this one and so are the kids. Is this your first year using it? I'd like to add Hymn's for the Kid's Heart to our Intro to music lessons too. Are you happy with it??

    Wondering why you don't want to use Spelling Power? I am just starting with it for my 3rd grader and hoping it works for him (he is already strong in spelling though - no LD).

    Thanks for posting all your info! I would love to but haven't had the time since I still haven't started my 1st grader (we started this past Mon) yet - oy! Looks like we have many common courses planned! Sorry for going on and on - lol!

    Blessings,
    Andrea

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  6. Never apologize for long comments -- I love it! : )

    In visiting some of the participating blogs yesterday, I saw several who love Sonlight Science, so it sounds like you made a good choice.

    Yes, since I already bought the AG for SOTW 3, I will be pulling from that as well. Between that, the VP catalog and the literature list in MFW, I should have plenty of good books to recommend this year!

    We love Song School Latin! Check under the Latin category in the sidebar and you can see R & G doing one of the chants. It is a very gentle introduction though. No grammar, very easy vocab. So if you're looking for something more meaty it might not be a good fit for you. They really need to come up with something to bridge the gap between SSL and LFC A.

    We are new to Artistic Pursuits, but have heard so many good things about it. It's also received good reviews among families with special needs kiddos.

    We have been listening to HftKH for years, but have never incorporated it into our hsing. I think the series is wonderfully done.

    Spelling Power...we did not do formal spelling last year for Ryne, but he did use SP a little the year before that and liked it, so that is why I'm hesitant to change. But after looking at some of the lesson samples for All About Spelling, it's a little tempting to switch. I just think the lesson reads better (well, with SP there is not much explanation besides the rule) and the tiles look pretty neat. We do not have the SP activity cards, so maybe that would make a difference. My thought is to see how SP goes and re-evaluate later. My bank account needs to recover a bit, LOL!

    See, now I'm the one to go on and on... : ) It will be fun doing some of the same stuff together this year!

    Kellie

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  7. Looks like a great plan. You are going to enjoy the Outdoor Hour challenges, we have been following them for a while now and have had a lot of fun and made some cute journals. Don't worry, prior knowledge about nature is not required! Good luck!

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  8. Thanks so much, I just got the Math U See DVD, and will watch it tonight, I think it will be the *one*! We haven't even started yet and can already see the blessings!
    Sam

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  9. That is a beautiful photo! Wow! I wanna go there!!
    You are something else, Kellie! How do you plan all of this homeschool stuff? I am a bad planner :(

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  10. Thanks for stopping by and commenting on my blog-yeah, I'm sure my busy gal will be learning lots just watching her older brother this year! We're excited for where the year will take us!

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  11. Kellie,

    I am so excited to find out about Finding Jesus in Genesis and Finding Jesus in Exodus! :) Thanks for that information. Adding that to my Amazon order right now. Hope your year gets off to a great start!

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