Back to School Part 3: The Daily Line-up

Our homeschool is getting geared up for next school year. I am pleased to be fairly ready for next school year. I have a few more resources yet to be received but we are ready. I thought I would lay out what I have each child doing next year so that it is clear what I mean by things.
I mentioned in another post that each child has their own planning page in a weekly lineup that I can write on with dry erase pens where needed. My older children especially like the independence of being able to know what's expected and then just go do it. I'm still enjoying having our family together for some teachings/readings and we will continue with some of those things.


Here's the general plan:

Begin together:
Scripture/Praise/Prayer
Readings/Discussions from the Family Discussions section on harvestministry.com's unit study.
Unit study from Expedition Earth
Prayer wall, animal classification chart, missionary studies


Individually:
Math, Spelling, Grammar, Handwriting, Phonics for littles, reading assignments (mostly from harvestministry.com), memory work, writing assignments
There will be some weeks when there will be timeline entries, but not consistently.
Also, there are few things for the older children(not every single day, just sporadically): geography worksheets, critical thinking exercises, vocabulary worksheets


Together again:
Extras such as games, Spanish, geography experiments, music, etc Each week, I have a meal planned relative to the country we will be studying.


Some of these items only require a few minutes' time, but I list them to keep myself accountable.


I'd like to hear what you have planned for your homeschool next year. Leave me a comment!

Back to School Part 2: The New Stuff

 

Each year, evaluate what worked this year and what didn't and I try to give myself the liberty to get rid of the stuff that ends up in the "didn't" category. Sometimes I hang on to stuff because I suspect it could work for us at another time but other times, I just let it go. Then, I go on a research kick to find what will fill the need that might be left by letting something else go. There are times when I have to consider whether something I'm letting go of was something that fell into the "good" category or the "best" category. If it isn't a "best" item, I consider just not filling the gap, because saying yes to one thing is also saying no to something else. That process takes time…but here are our "new " results:


Spelling Workout –I mentioned here that I used a combined method but I stayed behind in getting words keyed into the site for the children. So, this is an effort to simplify.
Primary Language Lessons (2^nd grade)—This is a child-specific choice. This child did not seem to retain much of what was presented in the workbook that we used last year.
Not focusing on History—just based on the observation that my children needed a better basis for history studies, so we are focusing on world geography with only the occasional history topic.
Going it without much of anything for Kindergarten—I am thinking that the most important things I have accomplished (academically) in the first year of our children's educations are learning to read, write the alphabet/words, counting/sorting/adding…I can do that without formal curriculum. Starfall has been a huge help in this area, and other simple resources, such as the library.

 
My new "method" for assignments for the children. I just laminated different colors of cardstock and made up their weekly expectations. There is a section at the top for things we do together, individual assignments for each day of the week and other "extras" at the bottom that are nice to accomplish but not necessary. I can put Post-it notes/tabs on there or write with dry erase pens to make any notes. That fixes them up for a week and I am done planning for them for the week, too!! When we have a day that has things to do away from home, they are to take the items with them that are reasonable for them to complete either in the car or at the location and the next day, just move on. Carry-over type projects just keep going until we're done. I will have a simple spiral notebook for my personal notes, but I don't have that many.

Even the Kindergartener has one :

With the framework from Expedition Earth already given, as well as the outlines from harvestministry.com , I don't have a lot of planning to do. I will try to match up a few of the readings, but that can be done as I go along. I hope this year will be somewhat light in terms of my personal planning load. We'll just keep swimming…swimming…..

Back to School Part 1: Roll Call

This year will be my first year with four students. Our almost-five-year-old is just chomping at the bit to get her own school assignments and participate like the older children. So, I will oblige her J
Student roll call: Dana, age 11, grade 6. Dylan, age 9, grade 3. Nathan, age 7, grade 2 and Jenna, age 5, Kindergarten-ish.
Curriculum roll call:
Math: Abeka (if it ain't broke, don't fix it)
Language arts: Spelling Workout for grades 2, 4, 6
Handwriting: A Reason for Writing for grades K, 2, 4. Copywork from various sources for grade 6.
Grammar: Finishing Easy Grammar grade 5 for grade 6 (we started mid year) , Primary Language Lessons for grade 2, Abeka Language for grade 4

Other: World Geography Unit study utilizing resources from Confessionsofahomeschooler.blogspot.com and harvestministry.com . For the remaining subjects, we will be integrating a geography unit study with a world missions focus. Erica  @ Confessions of  a Homeschooler wrote Expedition Earth and we will be using it as our base. It will be the "core unit" for the K and 2 students. The older two will be adding in more from the free unit at harvestministry.com. I love, love how Ann integrates God's heart for the peoples of the world with all of the subjects here.

Extras:  a little Spanish, little music here-n-there, lots of activities with local homeschool groups and of course, team sports with our county recreation department.

Starting line: I have no idea when we will start. We have completed our yearly standardized testing and submitted those, so we are "done" from a technical level. Right now, we are just ticking away at our math from the current year and reading a good bit. When I get the itch, we will start. I don't have a starting point or finish line, we just keep learning. That's how it's supposed to be, I think. We have somehow, over the years, become year-round, eclectic homeschoolers. It is not how I set out for our school operations to work, but it is what works. We have gone through seasons of formal, school-at-home instruction, minimalist-almost-unschooling, very Charlotte Mason and sometimes Classical methods creep in. Regardless, we do a combination of them all, doing what works for each season and according to the needs of our children.

I have a few new "methods" I have created for our homeschool this year and I'll share them soon. I hope to keep our family together and yet allow the olders who want more independence have it. What I really want is for us all to learn and love to keep learning!

My Top 5

                                                    

Each new day that we are given from the Lord holds fresh promise.  We are given the same number of hours each day.  We are living in the same skin as we were the day before; yet, we have something new.  Another chance. Freshly revived.  Another round. A do-over.  A repeat.  Renewed.  What will we do with it?

I have been getting lots of planning ideas from here, but I find the need to keep my top priorities at the top, first.  Then, I am free to go into the other areas.

Here are mine:

1. Pray with/for children, Bible reading, character training
2. Look into the eyes of my family, listen.  Support/help in relationships.
3.  Daily physical needs: meals/clothing/cleanliness/exercise
4.  Educational requirements
5.  Household management (errands/bills/appointments)

When those things are achieved, then my day has been successful.  Not all of them get done every day. Some days it takes all day long just to get those priorities done.  But, if they do get done, I am free to move into other areas: personal pursuits, hobbies, social pursuits, business related efforts, extracurriculars in any area. 

Also, if I notice an area that a particular child needs some special attention in, I will make a note to myself to attend to that.  The little things are important.  But I'm not SuperMom, so I have to write myself notes.   It doesn't matter if it's extra review with their flashcards or if their fish died and they need a little extra TLC.  It's worth it to me.

What are your Top 5 for your days?

Monthly Newsletter for Our Family

So, I mentioned in another post recently that I would like to post through the process of writing a monthly newsletter from our family.  I am not committing to doing this every month of the year-I like to set myself up to succeed as many times as possible!  We had a lot of "stuff" going on in February and I thought it might give us lots of good material to write about.  Also, once the articles are composed and illustrated, I may work on a little desktop publishing with the two older children just to test the waters and see how they take to it. 
You can click on the picture and see our list..there was a move we helped Grandparents make,  an anniversary, special Valentine's breakfast and more!

Today, I used our time to recall events from the past month.  Tons of stuff to write about here!  I gave them a little bit of time to chew on it and then choose the article they wanted to write about.  Then, we brainstormed the topics that they chose. 

I hesitate to state just how far we will get tomorrow because I make lots of plans, but the Lord sometimes has His own plans for our school days!  But, tentatively, barring intervention, I plan to help them get through a rough draft.  My 3rd grader will probably only be required to compose about two paragraphs.  My 5th grader can come closer to one page.  My 1st grader will dictate to me while I type his out and the preschooler--well, she's a whole 'nother story!!

I'll let ya know how it goes :)

Part Two: Hands On Grammar

I guess I should have mentioned in my previous post on this method that reverse operations serve a purpose as well. :) 

What I mean is, I have taken a  pattern of cards and given them to the children and they produce a sentence (can be silly ) that correponds to the part of speec on the code cards.  It helps them to create as much as identify.  They present it to the group and disputes are welcome.  This is how they learn--working it out, proving themselves, building confidence in their skills.  It works for me!

Hands On Grammar

I do realize that the picture would be misleading since the title refers to Hands On Grammar.  However, I have one child who struggles with grammar and needs any sort of different approach I can possibly conjure up.  I looked all around for something that I thought would be a sure-fire hit for her, at a reasonable price.  For me, that means almost free.  I had invested in various language programs through the years and have been reluctant to shell out much for something that I thought we likely might have already tried, in essence at least.   So, I decided to go it alone on this one.  I am still trudging through Easy Grammar this year.  It's going. Slowly. I felt the need to continue appealing to different senses with her on this and can see that all of my students benefit.  This is what I came up with.

As I mentioned in this post, I used sentences from literature that we had read aloud (or you could use something that the child is familiar with or reading through independantly).  We took a few simple sentences and (for the ten thousandth time) explained what a subject and predicate is.  Review never hurts and we go by the trickle-down effect for the younger ones since we basically have a one-room schoolhouse.  Using the very simple sentences that you see here, (and a few others before I erased them to write these) I had each child decipher the subject and predicate and just mentioned that we were going to have to divide these two parts because they are different and they do different things in the sentence.  That, in my opinion, is the beginning of sentence diagramming lessons.

(These are laminated pieces of regular white printer paper and I use dry erase markers on them with a clipboard)

Next, we "code" them.  This is done with our homemade code cards.  They take one word at a time and decide what part of speech it is and place the corresponding card in order, so that sentences look more like this:

This lesson is done as a group.  Anyone can (respectfully) dispute the answer that another gives.  The discussion facilitates learning AND teaching.  The ones who are sure of their answers inevitably teach the others the correct answer and even how they got it, and looove to prove it!!! 

If a child is unsure, they can reference the back of a card and find the definition and examples of what that shape represents and from there he can decide if he is choosing correctly. If a child, in coding his assigned sentence(s), runs into a word(s) that they are unsure of or have not yet learned, they can simply put a black card there and move on.  That word will be up for discussion when we all have completed their coding and we open it up for input.  Each child only had  two sentences to code on this day.   The solid black cards are KEY for them, in my opinion.  It keeps a struggling student from getting burned out and feeling stuck.   It's their "get out of jail free" card.  They are all laminated for durability.

 Got any other cool ideas for making Grammar more fun?  If so, please share :)

A Day in the Life of This Homeschooling Mom

Schooling By the Spirit

Today is one of those days.  But not one of those days.  I had a bare bones list of school iniatives jotted down.  How they actually played out is a totally different story.  This is one of those times when I am soo thankful for the little things the Lord drops into my mind at just the right time.  Without fail. 

We are having one of those "bare bones" type weeks.  I just have vague ideas of what we're covering.  Actually we've been having those for several weeks now.  We have just had a lot going on in our family and what with the construction zone that our family room has been, there's not much order to anything at the moment.  I am hoping next week will bring more, but I can't say for sure :) 

I know math and language arts are fairly remedied with the workbooks we have.  That will get us by.  Other than that, art is at free will and reading "inspired"  pieces will just suffice for history and science.

Here's what I mean:  I started with this list general list for today:

Newspaper articles-brainstorm, assign
Math - 1 pg in workbook and a game for the 1st grader
Reading-Nature Readers
Grammar/Language:  workbook page, 5th grader should make corrections
Handwriting
Finish reading our current read aloud
Key in spelling words for next week
Make a birthday card for Grandma
Check that 5th grader turned in assigned written narration on literature book.

This is what actually happened:
Finished reading our current read aloud, Lewis and Clark and Me  (love, loved it!)
Went on to map out some trails.
Used the map and scale to figure distance of the journey (5th grader has been doing this in math)
Discussed preparedness for such a journey
Discussed issues of survival, health,  and accomplishments of this journey
Discussed dogs, breeds, their functions
Used a few simple sentences from book to pick subjects/predicates/introduce diagramming.
Used my homemade code cards to code those sentences (will post separately on this)

Brainstormed ideas for Feb. family newsletter (thinking on posting this as a series)
Assigned articles and began writing notes for those
Played add/subtract bingo
Played mult/div bingo
Scratched handwriting
Realized that I need to make clue cards for conjunctions????? (How did I forget that??)


Plans for after lunch:
1 page in math
1 pg /corrections in Language
Reading from nature readers for one hour at room time.

Hoping I will get to the things that I made note of   :) 

I make plans and sometimes they come to fruition...most times, the Lord has better plans.  I'm OK with that.   I figured on checking off some boxes.  The Lord knew for sure, they'd love the inspiration from real learning instead.  It's been a beautiful homeschool day already!

Organization: My Monthly Menu

A few days before I read Erica's post at Confessions of a Homeschooler, I had the same thought! With school starting and so many other things to keep organized, I could not possibly think of adding another paperwork item to my list of to-do's. So, I decided to make a monthly menu and just repeat it. It already allows a few "new recipe" slots in there for variety. So, I hope it won't feel like we are having many repeats in a month. I try to make healthy , homemade meals. I also try to accommodate what my family likes and will eat. Some are healthier than others, I do concede. I am planning to create 4 shopping lists, one for each week of the month, and that way my master shopping list is done for me each week. That would feel great, no??
A few really quick notes: my husband works Tues-Sat so, our weekend is Sun/Mon. He loves to grill out on those days and he loves a burger! J Also, veggies vary, depending on season/availability but are served at nearly every meal. Breakfast and lunch are planned so that my children can either prepare themselves or with little supervision. Breakfasts don't really need a plan… and lunch sometimes revolves around leftovers, soup/sandwiches or other fairly light fare. Snacks are at around 3:30 and are something like cheese sticks, yogurt or peanut butter crackers. And I do very little on Sundays . SO, this is just my dinner menu.

Sunday	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday
Soup/sand- wiches	Burgers on the grill	Spaghetti Salad Breaksticks	Breakfast night (varies)	Tuna Casserole Veggies	New Recipe	Chicken tetrazinni
Shake 'n' bake chicken Mac'n'chz	Hot dogs on the grill	Enchiladas and Mexican sides	Beef tips in gravy/rice Salad	Chicken pot pie	Chili Cornbread	Beans n rice with cheese J
Sloppy joes	Burgers on the grill	New recipe	Stroganoff Salad	Deli sandwiches or hot sub	Corn dogs and tater tots (family request)	Taco nite
Grilled cheese tomato soup	Chicken kabobs over rice	Chili dogs sweet potato fries	Pork chops (method varies) Veggies, Homemade bread	Whole roast chicken Veggies Baked potatoes	Pepperoni rolls Salad	Cubed steak w/ gravy Veggies (family Request)
Chinese (frozen)	Salmon cakes Salad or veggies Pasta salad	New recipe

I'm Dreaming ....????

Okay, so I came across this website, Planner Perfect and together with what I've been reading at Like a Warm Cup of Coffee, I was inspired.  I was inspired to look long term and make goals for myself.  Long term for me is for the whole month or maybe some things for next month.  Most days, I am honestly just living that day.  That's all I can handle.  Mentally, I must only survive the day to feel accomplished.  Meals. Clothes. School. Errands. Bible. House. Smiles. Hugs. Kisses. Those are my priorities and they occur in random order throughout the day. 

I didn't used to think of dreaming as writing out the "to do" list for next month.  But now I do.  It is my dream to live a life with purpose.  To think out a bit about the things that are important and make them happen, with a bit of forethought. That IS success for me. I'm mostly writing this out for myself (accountability).  Here are my dreams, so far.....

August: keep kids fairly consistent in keyboard lessons, finish knitting the hat I've started, finish the rest of the month staying within my WW points, get kids' pictures made.

September: plan for a drill date that we are traveling to with my husband, plan for a child's birthday that is the 25th!, make a date/reservation and go camping, make ornaments for a Christmas ornament exchange that we do each year, begin searching for deals on winter clothing, kids' sports start--keep up with that.

Those are the things that will keep me on track and feeling like I have the majority of things under control. And, my planner contains the details of how to make all of these things happen for our family.  It might loook like a glorified "to do" list, and to some, it is.  For me, it is Peace :)

Organization: Home Management Binder

You are looking at one of my most treasured homekeeping tools!  I used to do the Flylady type Control Journal.  That has since morphed into my Home Management Binder.  I don't have the time to follow an entire notebook system devoted solely to housecleaning.   This binder manages each area of our home, in as much detail as I can manage. Simplify and streamline.  That's what works best for me.

Here's a look at what mine contains:

1. Meals and recipes

There is a recipe section for things that I have printed out and do not have the time to transfer to little index cards. I have a monthly menu made up and will hopefully share that soon and I'm planning to make a grocery shopping list to go with each of those weeks so that the lists is already done for me.

2. Homeschooling

This section contains all those little notes that you write down along the way or lists that you must print out and have no place to store.  For example, I have a 3-pg list of narration starters.  Where would I put that? Also, if I have pending orders I would put email confirmation paperwork in there. 

3.  Personal

This section has a chart with each person's name, date of birth and social security number for easy access.

There are gift ideas and clothing sizes.  This is also where I do some of my "doodling".  I plan for my garden, write down home dec ideas, etc.

4. Household

My secretarial spot.  It has the name, phone number and account number of every agency and business with which we hold accounts.  Also, the library, our hair lady, medical offices' numbers, etc.  There is also a rough schedule in there, just to keep me on the path, but nothing like a Flylady get-up.  We do jurisdictions each day and try to encourage each other to clean behind ourselves as we go along.  Also contains husband's drill schedule and any info that he needs me to have handy.

5.  Ministry

Contains contact list for church families and ideas/notes I have in my head for things church related stuff.

Now the front inner pocket contains immediate needs, such as delivery confirmation slip from the Post Office, or other things I would want immediately at hand on a day-to-day basis and I don't want to leave it out on the countertop to catch a spill.

I do have the zipper pocket in the front (Flylady) that holds handy stuff like pens, paper clips, etc..

Can I see yours???
Link up with me to share our Home Management Binder ideas!

Link up

Planning for Next Year Part 5 - 5th grade

Do our children have to become gradually more serious about their education? Yes. Does that mean that there has to be an end to enjoyment and fun and their school days?  Not necessarily.  I hope that this year will turn out to be as fun for our oldest student as it is for the preschooler.  Of course, fun  in 5th grade is a whole lot different that the finger paints and bean bag games of preschool. 
Here's what we've got in store for our oldest:
Math : Abeka (workbook only) (although we are currently finishing up last year's work)
Language: Abeka-workbook, but only the grammar studies, composition is separate
Writing Strands- I just love their program and my daughter is excelling with it. (I wrote a review here)
Spelling - see my hybrid spelling method here
Handwriting-A Reason for Handwriting
History - Guest Hollow, American History Year 1 (I reviewed it here)
Science--various resources, Abeka text as a reference, experiments from various places
Art--this student loooves art and is quite spontaneous in this area, also How to Teach Art to Children in a group setting, with siblings
Music-keyboard
P.E.--she is playing volleyball in the fall (2nd year) and whatever else strikes her interest in the seasons ahead.
Also, she is now old enough for our church's youth group so she is having a great time there as well.

I think she is really getting the hang of some of the crafty things I've been trying to teach her in the last few years.  So, hopefully during those wintry days of cabin fever, we will have more craft time !

Planning for Next Year Part 4 - 3rd grade

This year is going to be so much fun!  I hope :)  I am planning for all of my children to become a little more independant in their studies, according to their abilities.  Really, I am hoping that they will come up with some iniative of their own.  My 3rd grader is pretty strong in the area of math and is a good reader (not to be confused with those who actually enjoy the reading part, but he is  a strong reader).  Narration needs more practice as well has handwriting and spelling.  I have mixed and matched some things to come up with this plan for him:
Math: Abeka workbook only (no need for tests with all that review, in my opinion)
Christian Liberty Reader: History Stories for Children for practice in narration
A Reason for Handwriting-a very simple way to teach cursive
Language:  Abeka Workbook only
Spelling:  hybrid b/t Spellingcity.com and Spelling Power (more on this method later)
History:  Group studies:  Guest Hollow (see review here)
Science:  This kid looooves the outdoors, but he will have to do a smidge of  'work' in this area, usually with a unit study with his siblings and some experiments from various resources
Art:  How to Teach Art to Children (group setting as well)
Music:  Keyboard continuing slowly in this
P.E.  Flag Football in the fall, we'll see what else might come along when the time comes

I am interested in what other 3rd grade boys do...please share.

Planning for Next Year - Part 3

 Hi! My name is Christi and I love planning.  I begin planning for school long before a new year is upon me. I love planning for school in general.  This is always a huge part of my looking ahead in the Spring and my gettin'-down-to-business-cause-it's-almost-time in the Summer.  I have four children, three of which are 'school age.'  So, I began with my resources and this will give you an idea of what I have planned for my Preschooler.  Now, it's on to my First Grader.

Plan:  Stay steady on the basics.  Everything else will happen.

I have never been one to stress that my young students get a full course load in the first few years.  I really emphasize getting the basics down.  When they have basic tools, the extras will come far more easily. 

These are the No Questions Asked, Gotta Be Done daily basics:

Math:  Abeka Math Text, lots of games (some printables from here as well as some I have made myself), and nothing can take the place of a deck of flashcards while carschooling to fill in the gaps!  We also use the Math-U-See blocks and methods to help reinforce, since I used it for quite a while.

Language Arts:  Abeka Phonics and Language, A Reason for Writing and lots of reading, reading and a smidge more reading (using Abeka readers).  These readers are perfect for this age and reinforce phonics.  Children love the colorful books and illustrations, too.  We just practice with these, nothing high stress. These are subject to being put aside in favor of audio books or group read-aloud time.  Narration is common (lots of CM tendencies here). This child needs a little practice on some of his letters so, we will have to be diligent on the writing efforts. I also have several manipulatives to help with sounding and spelling words.  Copywork could, at any time, replace a day's work in the writing workbook.  I don't feel bound by much of anything.  I go with my gut most of the time.

Extras

Science and History:  I have two very simple readers for these.  Both are from Christian Liberty Press and involve just reading to the child. These will probably be used for the older children to read to the 1st grader and nothing more.  Nature is the best teacher on this one and they pick up on so much that the other children are reading regarding history, so there is no concern at all there.

Art:  As a group, I will be using How to Teach Art to Children.  I have done several of the activities with them already and they were a hit.  He is also present for music that might be playing or be being played and can enjoy a little inspiration there.

He will also jump in and participate wherever and whenever things work out that way. 

He also has household chores and is involved in devotion discussions as a family.  He is asked to find Scriptures and read (where he is able) aloud, as appropriate with help. He has his own Bible journal and draws to go along with what we're discussing.

Planning for Next Year Part 2

    Preschoolers.  Oh boy.  Mine can really do a number on the room, the schedule, my nerves and the peace efforts of any diplomat.  She's also quite  a clown.  So funny, happy, smart and very sweet. I can't imagine doing all this without her.  She loves to do her schooo-work just like the others.  I feel urgency to get a plan for her learning time this year. Not just so that she won't be a disruption, but so that I effectively steward her time and effort as well.

    Preschool is a time for fun with learning, although some is rote memory. This year for our preschooler, she will be using lots and lots of good picture books from our local library.  Older siblings will read to her and the entire crew will enjoy audio books.  There will be times when she will be playing counting games with a brother, drawing pictures for her stories, practicing tracing with her sister and of course, she gets to do art with the rest of us. 

     Her schedule is semi-organized, meaning I don't have it down to the very activity for every minute of the day.  I do, however, have a general idea of what I want her to do by the end of the week.  Each day, we do Circle Time.  This is mainly for the younger two children and is a daily review/intro as you would expect to see in a regular school setting.  It makes them feel all school-y to say the Pledge of Allegiance, sing their little song and go over the date and such.  She will be doing one new letter each week and several activities that go along with that letter.  Many of my materials are downloads from Confessions of a Homeschooler, whose blog I stalk love.  She has lots of cool games and printables for each letter.  But, I never stray far from my roots.  I began my homeschooling career using Five in a Row with our youngest and continue to love this method for my younger students. It has brought us many memorable learning times together.

      I know I haven't been specific on this post, but many days are "go with the flow as long as we get it done".  This is the stage of schooling/life we are in right now.  Sometimes it takes forever to recapture attention, others it is all done and idle hands create boredom.  So, as long as I have a general idea, I can usually roll like that.  Every day, I hope, holds only what the Lord has ordained for us to accomplish in a meaningful manner.

      I would love to hear others' preschool plans!

Schedules – They Make Me Happy! – Summer Edition

As warm weather becomes the rule and we're packing away the coats, most of us have our eyes focused on the freedom of the summer break. Surely there are many fond memories of the lazy days of summer we all spent writing letters to our school friends, finding ways to get together, planning the tons of fun we were in for on the family vacation and the list continues. By the time fall is beginning to signal its arrival, we are yearning for the structure and discipline of our old routines. They make us feel productive and give us boundaries.
    In my opinion, it is just as helpful to have a summer schedule in place so that we don't get so far off track that we struggle trying to get back into a groove when the time comes. So, I have come with a plan for our family for the summer. There is lots of space for flexibility or just throwing the whole thing out the window – once in a while! It will give us a few boundaries and we are sure to at least work the few projects that we have planned into our summer vacation. There is a week of travel planned, plenty of trips to the pool, playdates, VBS, and other things going on. But for the days at home, this is a rough idea of what works for us.

Planning for Next Year, Part 1

Clip art licensed from the Clip Art Gallery on DiscoverySchool.com

Now that I've given you a list of resources that I plan to use next year, we'll move on to the big question: HOW??

  First, we do have a system.  We must have a system. It is a modified version of the workbox system.  Also, we have a general routine for our day (MOTH).  The day is not over if things do not get done on time or in order.  When interrupted, we just pick up where we are and move on with the day.  It's not to get uptight over, it merely keeps us all on track.  I will elaborate on that later. Each family should use the tools which work best for them, so long as they create order.

 Next, I have to choose priorities.  Not just all the things that would be 'good' to do in school, or as a Christian, or what a 'good Mommy would do.'  I try very hard to choose the things that the Lord has impressed to me are  best for our family and concentrate on doing them and doing them well and doing them first.  All else comes afterward.  For us, Bible study and prayer time and relationships within our home are top on the list. Housework sometimes slides. Chores may have to be carried over. But walking in love and resolving whatever issues come our way-those are the things that are in the forefront.

Finally, we have the other stuff.  Chores, fun, family times, working together on projects and plenty of other things that make this a wonderful family of which to be a part!  This is one of the reasons why we homeschool.  We like our family – each member is a blessing from God!  We enjoy our time together.  We work together and play together and learn together.  It works for us.

Stay tuned, we will go step by step and put it all together and be peaceful and ready when the new school year comes around!

Previews for School Next Year

This is the time of year when all the homeschool world is buzzing with talk of curriculum choices, methods, conferences, resources and all the rest.  I love it!!!  I am a curriculum junkie.  I love planning and reading about planning.  I make planners, I buy planners.  I dowload tons and tons of free stuff that I just gotta have and then enjoy planning to make it work.  Do you?  Or is it just me???
Well, anyway, we started our homeschooling journey with a very low pressure, literature based approach.  We have used Five in a Row on one level or another since the beginning.  We have loved it.  Still do!  This year, my two older children have asked for their "own" stuff.  They want stuff on their grade level and definitely want text books.  Strange.  But, I considered it.  Now, after much thinking, evaluating and prayer, I have decided to head that direction with them.  We took a little more of a classical approach last year, but I'm not sure they felt my implementation was "individual" enough for them.  So, this is the beginning of a new thing for them. They are headed in a much more independant direction, and it fits both of their personalities.   They are all so excited, and I must admit, I am too!
The littles will still be very Mom dependant and very much enjoying reading and numbers and fun stuff to get into. 
So, here's a list of goods for my children for next year, plain and simple:
5th grade
Abeka Math, Lang. Arts, Science, and several of the readers
Christian Liberty Bible,History, Nature Reader
Writing Strands Level 4
Spelling Power
A Reason for Handwriting

3rd Grade
Abeka Math, Lang. Arts, Science and several of the readers
Christian Liberty Bible, Nature Reader, History
Spelling Power
A Reason for Handwriting (cursive)

1st Grade
Abeka Math, Phonics, Language, and readers (just for fun, not required)
Christian Liberty Bible,  Nature Reader, History, Science
A Reason for Handwriting
more reading and fun projects
Much of this will be used as supplements to our Five in a Row titles, as well as some lapbooks along the way.

Pre K (4 yr old)
lots of listening to reading :)
going along with whomever has the most interesting lesson at the moment.
a few lapbooks along the way
learning with numbers (hands-on)
learning letters (hands-on)
making messes (aka: Art)
maintain position as resident doggie sitter
I take ideas from lots of sites, but this is my most recent favorite.

All will participate in activities from :
Discovering Great Artists
How to Teach Art to Children

Also,
Bastien Piano series for 3 of the crew members.

Oh, and  this (No. 2) is the planner I ended up with this year because it is the one I used the most last year.

Anyone wanna share what your plans are for next year????

Lesson Pathways is Now FREE!

Yep!  You read right!  Lesson Pathways is now FREE.  No subscription necessary.  This is a site full of wonderful lessons, projects, activities, games, and ready-to-teach weekly topic units.  It makes it soo easy to prepare your week's lessons using many different teaching and learning styles.  You can also choose from lessons for K - 5, using many of them for various grade levels or combining them for use as unit studies.
Go check it out!

Burnin' Up the Budget

I don't know about you, but this time of year has me in hard-core planning mode for next school year.  Tax season brings the warmest of smiles to my face.  Unfortunately,  this is due to the fact that I am going to soon be writing huge checks to book suppliers, curriculum companies, and hoping that I can hang onto enough change to swipe the card a few times for other supplies in the fall as well.

I endlessly browse large discount suppliers, pour over curriculum review sites, search for blogs with comments on prospective materials and  click around at mom-and-pop publishers, hoping to give them a lift.  Finally, the "perfect" item crosses my path and I shout (silently) "Sold!"   This is perfect.  I have found IT.  THE item I have been  desperately looking for......until my next click.  And so the cycle continues.  I am sure that just a few short years ago, parents must have only had 20 items from which to choose and it must have been much easier.  The comparisons and debating with myself drive me crazy!  And, each year the budget looks strikingly similar to the year before. 

So, how much does it cost you to homeschool each child in your family? Inquiring minds want to know.




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