I don't think it really feels like we've been doing this 6 years already. I started doing some activities with my daughter when she was three. I had a little girl her age over, too, and we would have "school" during the week while the little girl's mom would keep my one year old. Now my girl is going into 3rd grade and that one year old is now starting first grade! Eeek! The time is really flying. Even though I haven't been the most creative, motivated, organized homeschool Momma (trust me...you see a lot of the highlight reel on here), I've really tried to make these years as fun and memorable for my kids that I can. I don't want to take any moments we have together for granted. Who knows what next year, next month, or next week will hold. I'm always open to what we feel like God is leading us to do with this homeschool journey. If He directs us to school in the future, I want to trust that He knows best. But until then, homeschooling is the journey we feel God has led us on and I want to make the most of it. The part I love the most is just getting to do fun things with my kids and see them grow in their love for each other. Fun is always a big part of my educational philosophy. They are kids. I want them to be kids and be free from the pressures of life as long as I can...because good grief, we have enough of that as adults! : ) With that said...here is what we are planning to do this year!
Bible: I actually bought a Bible curriculum this year. As I'm planning out our week I'm really loving it! We're doing Apologia's What We Believe series that begins with "Who Is God?". I also bought the junior notebooking journal to go along with it. I think it's right on target for my kids and I hope we really enjoy using it this year.
Classical Conversations: We've done Cycles 1, 2, and 3 already! Yay! So now we're going to start back over and do them all over again. And honestly, the first year I did CC I really didn't know what I was doing. We also came into the year late so we had a lot of catching up to do...plus I had a newborn and cancer that year. Yikes. So I'm looking forward to seeing all that we're going to learn this year! I bought some Usborne books to supplement what we're learning. Here are some suggestions:
*I also traveled back over to Half-a-Hundred Acre Wood's blog for some ideas. Great resource. I'm honestly amazed at the organization and amount of info.
*Here's a helpful post with Cycle 1 Resources by Sola Gratia Mom
*And one of my favorite bloggers, Melody Stroud at And Here We Go!....her Cycle 1 Week 1 post.
Classical Conversations will be our Science and Social Studies for the year as I plan to do expansion activities with the weekly CC memory work.
Math: We've been doing Math U See since my daughter was in first grade...so we're sticking with what works! : ) My son will now start doing it this year.
Grammar: We've also been doing Shurley Grammar for a few years and I really like it. We didn't finish Level 2 last year, so we're going to continue that this year with my third grader and start Level 1 with my first grader.
Spelling: I've really liked this free spelling curriculum the past couple of years. I was kind of thinking about switching to something a little harder for my third grader, but honestly this has worked so well for her, why change? The first grade list has printable activities for every day of the week, which I really like. The third grade list just has one printable per week, but it works. I really like free stuff ; ).
Reading: I'm really going to try to do better about doing read alouds with the kids. A friend sent me a couple of unit studies that you can do with some children's chapter books, so that was motivating. We're going to start with Caddie Woodlawn, but I have some others I would really like to read with the kids. Here were a few of my favorites when I've taught in the past:
Chitty-Chitty Bang Bang
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
In the Year of the Boar and Jackie Robinson
A Cricket in Times Square
The Westing Game
Little House in the Big Woods
Island of the Blue Dolphins
Cheaper by the Dozen
...and lots more. Big plans here : ). I also have Abeka readers and some old reading comprehension activities that I plan to do with my third grader to build her fluency.
I have some phonics videos and phonics charts that I plan to do with my first grader to reinforce what he learned last year.
Handwriting: I really want my kids to have neat handwriting! I've been using Handwriting Without Tears since both kids were in Kindergarten and we have all loved it. They have been really self-motivated to do well with it and I've been pleased at the progress. The curriculum is also very affordable and will last the whole year.
I hope you all have a great school year! I'm off to do more prep for tomorrow. Leave it to me to save a lot until the last minute ; ).
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