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School Year 2009-2010
updated 08/13/09
We're quite the eclectic homeschoolers! Over the years, I have come to greatly enjoy puchasing books that fit our unique family, even more than purchasing ready-made curriculum. While we do buy curriculum (after all, why reinvent the wheel?), I love customizing things to fit our style.
(By the way, for the 2009-2010 school year, we'll be homeschooling an 8th-grade son, a 5th-grade daughter, a 4th-grade son, a 2nd-grade daughter, and a kindergarten daughter. We also have a younger girl, age 2, and we're expecting our 7th child to be born in December.)
Below are the plans we have for this year:
"Together School"
We start our school day after a yummy breakfast and some chores. We begin by gathering around the dining-room table. We do the following subjects together, although the younger children might play quietly with toys or color, and the older children might quietly work on pages for their notebooks (scrapbooking style).
- Bible -- This is our non-negotiable subject, because we want our children to know God's Word better than any other thing. Of course, we're using the Bible curriculum that we wrote. We're on our second time through the Bible, and we're studying Foundations 2 (Matthew, Mark, Luke, John and Acts) this year. We've already learned the memory verses in the curriculum, so our kids will be working through AWANA memory verses.
- Music -- We're excited to use Rod and Staff's Growing in Music (Grade 4) this year. We're also learning some old hymns from our hymnbooks, using this time to get better at singing parts together. We'll be learning music appreciation and making notebooking pages from the book Focus on the Composers.
- Drama - This is a new addition to our curriculum this year. As a lover of drama myself, I wanted to pass some of this on to my children. We'll start the year by reading Pilgrim's Progress in "reader's theatre" style. Next we'll enjoy the book Is There an Actor in the House? by Virginia Bradley. Finally, we'll enjoy some dramatic poetry in the book Joyful Noise, by Paul Fleischman. We're only planning to do drama 2-3 days per week.
- Read-Alouds - We so enjoy reading chapter books together. Normally, I do all the reading, but this year (with a new baby on the way), I've tried to choose books that had available audio CDs from the library. We're planning to enjoy the following books:
- Gooney Bird Greene, by Lois Lowry
- The Westing Game, by Ellen Raskin
- Mountain Born, by Elizabeth Yates
- A Single Shard, by Linda Sue Park
- Mr. Popper's Penguins, by Richard and Florence Atwater
- Tanglewood Secret, by Patricia M. St. John
- The Wheel on the School, by Meindert Dejong
- Where the River Begins, by Patricia M. St. John
- Farmer Boy, by Laura Ingalls Wilder
- The Secret of the Fourth Candle, by Patricia M. S. John
- History -- Quickly turning into my favorite subject, this year we'll be finishing our study of Daniel's vision of a statue (found in Daniel 4) by learning about the kingdoms of Greece and Rome. We will be reading many of the recommended books listed by Christine Miller. Our "spines" will be The Story of the Greeks and The Story of the Romans by H. A. Guerber.
- Geography -- Not daily but weekly, we're planning to survey much of the world's geography in a very simple way, using things we already around the house, such as maps from Abeka, our GeoSafari globe, Flat Stanleys, and online maps to print and color for our notebooks.
- Grammar -- Once each week, we're planning to analyze one sentence from the Bible together, using this method. (More explanation here.)
Individual Schoolwork
After our "together school," my children start working on their own individual subjects. I tutor them one-on-one as needed, checking for understanding and teaching new concepts. As much as possible, however, I encourage those who are older to work on their own, from assignments that I've given them. (I do all my lesson planning in the summer, by the way, so I don't have to think too much about it during the busy school year.) One of the highlights of this year is the individual notebooks they are each compiling. (Thanks to Cindy Rushton for teaching me much about this method!)
Kindergarten
- My daughter is eager to "do school" like her older siblings, and she wants to learn to read. I am planning to start her with Abeka's phonics curriculum, including their reading books and workbooks, Letters and Sounds and Writing with Phonics. Since she loves workbooks, I'm sure she'll be thrilled. She also uses Abeka's Numbers K book for a gentle approach to math.
Second Grade
- All About Spelling -- My hands-on, loves-to-move daughter adores phonics and spelling, now that we're using this curriculum (begun in first grade).
- Reading -- She's going to read through the Abeka readers. I love their character-building stories, and all of my children have loved them, too.
- Math -- Abeka's Arithmetic 2
- Handwriting -- Abeka's Writing with Phonics 2
Fourth Grade
Fifth Grade
Eighth Grade
Afternoon School
After lunch, we'll do the following, before the kids finish their individual homework and I get started back to work online or with housework. (Maybe I'll take a nap occasionally? LOL!)
- P.E. -- Homeschooling P.E.
- Piano -- The kids have individual piano assignments from Faber & Faber's Piano Adventures.
- Art -- Once a week, we'll do drawing, painting, and art appreciation using the game Masterpiece (keeping it simple, because I'll be tired by this time of day).
That's all! Whew! It's a busier year than usual, because this is our first time homeschooling five children at once... plus as I said, a new baby is arriving in December. But God has been gracious to us all along, and we know He'll walk with us this year, too.
Thanks for stopping by! If there is any way we can help you out with your homeschooling year, just send us an email. |
