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Share Your Plans for Next School Year
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Hi everyone! I thought it could be fun and helpful if people would share what they have planned for the new school year (whether you start it in June, September, or already started it earlier). I love that we have such variety in this group, that while we all love Charlotte Mason we find different ways to apply it to our individual family situations and homeschooling stages! This post might also be a great resource for those who are still brainstorming what to use for a particular subject or grade. Here is what I would love for you to share:
- Your children’s ages or ‘grades’ – just so we know what general age range you are using something with.
- What curriculum or materials you have planned for each subject area or grade level. There are lots of ways to divide this up, do what makes sense to you!
I’ll post mine in a minute so this first post stays uncluttered and to the point!
An introduction to my family:
- Makayla age 14 going into 9th grade.
- Joseph age 10 going into 5th grade.
- Emma age 9 going into 4th grade.
- Daniel age 7 going into 2nd grade.
- Oliver age 6 going into 1st grade.
- Caleb age 4 and tagging along as he wants to.
- Mason age 3 and tagging along as he wants to.
- Samuel age 2 (next month) and tagging along as he wants to.
- New Baby due in late fall.
Okay, so we homeschool year round in a limited way (meaning summers are just a few focus areas). This year summer is focusing on: scripture study, math facts, cooking school, and ancient history. This fall we’ll begin a full schedule with the following plans:
Here is what Makayla’s plan looks like for 9th grade:
- Math U See Algebra 1 – While Makayla doesn’t love math this is one of those subjects you just have to do. Math U See has been a wonderful curriculum choice for my whole family over the years.
- History Revealed: Ancient Civilizations & the Bible from Diana Waring – This will be a family study where she uses the high school materials, the elementary ages use related books, and everyone chooses projects to do. I am thrilled to use History Revealed, so thrilled that we purchased all 3 courses to cover history for the next three years. I would encourage you to check out the overview of History Revealed to get a feel for how the program is set up.
- Apologia Biology with labs – This is one of two lab courses we are requiring our children to take.
- One Year Adventure Novel – This will be a creative writing credit and is an elective.
- English 1 – A combination of Spelling Wisdom (prepared dictation that covers grammar and spelling), literature studies, and writing across the curriculum. She will also participate in a book club and discussion group locally and plans to take at least one online discussion class this summer from Center for Lit. She enjoyed a class last summer through Center for Lit on The Hobbit.
- Health – 1/2 credit – I don’t have a curriculum for this, we’ll discuss different topics each week based on a brainstorm session we have at the beginning and middle of the course. This will include nutrition, disease, healthy habits, and several current events topics we find in the news.
- Art 1 – This will be a mix of art history, art appreciation, museum visits, and creating art. Makayla has interest in working on sculpture, calligraphy and illumination, and a few other areas of art expression for this year. We will use a variety of resources, classes, and books.
- Seminary – Old Testament Studies – This is the first of four years Makayla will wake up bright and early to attend scripture study classes with some of the youth from Church, meeting Monday through Friday during the school year at 5:55am.
- Latin Alive – For fun. Or at least I hope it will be fun.
Joseph’s plan for 5th grade will begin pushing him out of his comfort zone and into more writing. He doesn’t mind school but he doesn’t love it either. I hope that this year’s history curriculum will work well with his build it, make it, take it apart interests.
- History Revealed: Ancient Civilizations & the Bible from Diana Waring – This will be a family study. Joseph will do a mix of the upper level and younger elementary level work including projects. I am thrilled to use History Revealed!
- Spelling Wisdom – This will be his copywork, spelling, and grammar practice.
- Brave Writer – We will use the Brave Writer methods to enjoy writing, this year with a specific attempt to integrate writing into history fairly often.
- Math U See Epsilon – This level focuses in on all things fractions. From what a fraction is to adding, subtracting, multiplying, and dividing them.
- God’s Design for Science: Life series – Joseph and all the children younger than him will do science together using these three books (The World of Plants, The Human Body, The World of Animals). We will add in some health topics during the human body book as appropriate. This year will dovetail nicely with Makayla’s Biology.
- Art is integrated into History Revealed and includes both art history, art appreciation, and creating art. We’ll visit our museum and learn about specific artists as their work is on display.
- Music – Besides learning hymns during morning devotional and singing in Primary we will listen to the works of a few composers. There are also music activities in History Revealed.
- Scripture Study – besides our family devotional each day Joseph reads the scriptures personally as well.
- Literature – Joseph will have a mix of books that are related to history and some that are on an independent reading list. He also participates in our monthly homeschool book club.
- Latin for Children A – for fun.
Emma will be in 4th grade and what you will quickly see is that her plan looks like Joseph’s because they have pretty much always worked together. She will have lighter writing requirements.
- History Revealed: Ancient Civilizations & the Bible from Diana Waring – This will be a family study. Emma will do a mix of the upper level and younger elementary level work including projects.
- Spelling Wisdom – This will be her copywork, spelling, and grammar practice.
- Brave Writer – We will use the Brave Writer methods to enjoy writing, this year with a specific attempt to integrate writing into history fairly often.
- Math U See Epsilon – This level focuses in on all things fractions. From what a fraction is to adding, subtracting, multiplying, and dividing them.
- God’s Design for Science: Life series – Emma joins in this study as well.
- Art is integrated into History Revealed and includes both art history, art appreciation, and creating art. We’ll visit our museum and learn about specific artists as their work is on display.
- Music – Besides learning hymns during morning devotional and singing in Primary we will listen to the works of a few composers. There are also music activities in History Revealed.
- Scripture Study – besides our family devotional each day Emma reads the scriptures personally as well.
- Literature – Emma will have a mix of books that are related to history and some that are on an independent reading list. She also participates in our monthly homeschool book club.
- Latin for Children A – for fun.
Daniel will be in 2nd grade this fall and is a strong reader. He is an information guy, he loves interesting facts and stories. His plan is as follows:
- History Revealed: Ancient Civilizations & the Bible from Diana Waring – This will be a family study. Daniel will do younger elementary level work including projects.
- Copywork – I come up with a new copywork piece for Daniel each week. This is handwriting, spelling, and grammar practice.
- Brave Writer – We will use the Brave Writer methods to enjoy writing. This year Daniel will continue to do oral narration, I will transcribe his stories and reports.
- Math U See Beta and Gamma – Daniel may have some of Beta to finish up at the beginning of 2nd grade and then will move into Gamma, the multiplication level.
- God’s Design for Science: Life series – Daniel joins in this study as well.
- Art is integrated into History Revealed and includes both art history, art appreciation, and creating art. We’ll visit our museum and learn about specific artists as their work is on display.
- Music – Besides learning hymns during morning devotional and singing in Primary we will listen to the works of a few composers. There are also music activities in History Revealed.
- Scripture Study – besides our family devotional each day Daniel reads scripture readers each day. This year he may also choose to begin reading directly out of the scriptures in personal study.
- Literature – Daniel will have a mix of books that are related to history and some that are on an independent reading list. He also participates in our monthly homeschool book club.
- Song School Latin – For fun.
Oliver will be in 1st grade this fall. He is on a track very similar to Joseph’s at this age, not yet reading independently, though we have 6 months before fall so that may change. Here is the tentative plan:
- History Revealed: Ancient Civilizations & the Bible from Diana Waring – This will be a family study. Oliver will do younger elementary level work including projects.
- Copywork – Oliver will move to copywork of a sentence each week this year. This is handwriting, spelling, and grammar practice.
- Brave Writer – Oliver will begin oral narration, I will transcribe his stories and reports. I am excited to hear him, he’s a quiet but funny boy.
- Math U See Alpha – Oliver will begin his first formal math this year. He has done some of Math U See Primer for fun so this should be an easy transition.
- God’s Design for Science: Life series – Oliver joins in this study as well, on his own level.
- Art is integrated into History Revealed and includes both art history, art appreciation, and creating art. We’ll visit our museum and learn about specific artists as their work is on display.
- Music – Besides learning hymns during morning devotional and singing in Primary we will listen to the works of a few composers. There are also music activities in History Revealed.
- Scripture Study – besides our family devotional each day Oliver will sit with me to read one story from our scripture readers each day.
- Beginning Reading – Oliver is using All About Reading and making steady progress. He will keep plugging away at this until reading clicks.
- Song School Latin – for fun.
I think our plans are all finalized! I’m currently entering everything into a spiral bound planner so I’ll be all set for the new year. I’m hoping to start in September. We’ll be finishing our year all summer. We moved this year and have quite a bit left to finish up. My DC will be ages 13, 10, 8, 5, and 1.5 at the beginning of the year.
Our plans for next year are:
History: SCM Middle Ages, Renaissance, Reformation, & Epistles
Bible: We’ve been following 2 days OT, 2 days NT schedule and will continue with it. We read about 2 chapters a day (15 minutes). We also use the scripture memory system. We also add catechism to our memory work (10 commandments, Lord’s prayer, etc.). I still need to pick out hymns, but I try to use ones we often sing in church. I also want to go through a Bible storybook with my younger DC.
Geography: Visits to Europe, The Geography Book
Science: SCM’s Learning About Birds with Burgess, Woods Walk, Chipmunks on the Doorstep, Trees and Shrubs (Arabella Buckley), The Sandman: His Ship Stories, Bird Watchers and Bird Feeders, 365 Starry Nights. My plan here is to do the bird study 2x/week, read a living book 2x per week, and either a nature walk or night sky viewing on the remaining day. My goals for the year are to focus on birds, trees, and the night sky. The older two will be going through Exploring Planet Earth (Tiner) as well.
Habits: LDTR for Children–lessons on Attention, Truthfulness, and Outdoor Life
Art: Drawspace.com
Music: Still need to finalize our composers to study. Continue with piano lessons.
Handicrafts: Still organizing these. I’m pretty sure we’ll be doing some calligraphy, weaving, and gardening projects.
Shakespeare: Midsummer Night’s Dream
Foreign Language: Memoria Press Latin (I think), Rosetta Stone Spanish
Math: MUS, Your Business Math (pet store)
Language Arts: ELTL (we’ll be using levels 5, 4, and 2). This will cover picture study and poetry study as well.
Literature: I’ll read aloud the ELTL 2 books. The older two will have their ELTL books as well.
PE: Swimming lessons, Family Time Fitness (in the winter), bike riding/tree climbing/etc. (in summer).
Kindergarten/1st grade: My DD turns 6 in October, so I wasn’t sure what to do with her. She’ll be using the Wee Folk Art program. I may do some activities as our handicrafts so the older DC can join in. For phonics, she’ll be using the McGuffey readers, some inexpensive Starfall materials I picked up (workbook, blank journal, blank dictionary, take home readers, and jigsaw puzzles), Webster’s Reading Handbook, and Reading Rods. She’ll also be using Liberty Math K and some Rod and Staff preschool workbooks.
Something new this year will be individual planners. They’ll be keeping track of their individual assignments. I’m hoping to create some independence with the older 3.
HolliS, which spiral planner are you using and have you had success with it before?
I plan to write a blog post with our school plans and will link to it when I get it done. I am still planning now.
I’m using this planner: http://www.rainbowresource.com/product/sku/019784
I haven’t used it before, but I really like how it’s set up and the price was great too! In previous years, I’ve had a general outline for the year and then came up with weekly plans (or monthly plans). It was very easy to change things since they weren’t “set in stone”. I think having an official planner ready to go will keep me on track instead of constantly tweaking my plans.
Thanks, HollyS. This looks similar to what I use in Excel, so I will stick with that. Sometimes I wonder if there is something better though, you know? And sometimes I would like to get away from the computer. 😉
Our family uses Classically Catholic Memory in a co-op as a spine. This will be our fourth year in this co-op, and we correspond our homeschool history (Modern Times) and science (Botany and Anatomy) around it.
DS13 – entering 8th grade
*Religion – finish with Boy Scout Emblem for Scouts (he’s about 1/3 of the way into this now), complete SCM’s “Wisdom for Life” Proverbs study
*Math – Teaching Textbooks Algebra I. He started that this year and will continue working slowly throughout the summer.
*History – Modern Times; We are using Stories of the World/Nations as a family spine, along with SOTW Audio. I have created book lists for each child to supplement that spine.
*Science – still deciding on this one. He will do Anatomy in some context. I am going to talk with him about his options and see which most interests him.
*Language Arts – literature selections of his own; family read-alouds; he will be completing his second year of IEW; we are deciding on a spelling program, because prepared dictation wasn’t a good fit for him.
*Foreign Language – Latin II with a virtual learning academy here in NH; He completed Latin I this year (a freshman-level class) with great success, so he is excited to continue this.
*Foreign Language – he’s also enrolled in a homeschool class for ASL this fall. I just received the schedule last night from the instructor. It looks intense. He’s taking the class with some friends, so he should have fun with it, too.
*Others – we’re still hammering out Shakespeare (last year we did Macbeth), Artist, Composer. Poetry Study has worked really well this year with me reading a poem from “Favorite Poems Old and New” each week. Our co-op is also good for this. He’ll be memorizing 4-5 poems and famous speeches, including the Gettysburg Address and O Captain, My Captain.
DS10 – entering 4th grade
Classically Catholic Memory as a spine
*Religion – finish “The Bible Tells Me So” as a family; complete Cub Scout Parvuli Dei emblem; continue with weekly scripture memory
*Math – finish Teaching Textbooks 5; begin TT6; supplement with XtraMath.com cement the math facts.
*History – Modern Times; We are using Stories of the World/Nations as a family spine, along with SOTW Audio. I have created book lists for each child to supplement that spine.
*Science – Anatomy; we’re going to use Sassafras Anatomy with the logbook. I’ll supplement with the Anatomy Coloring Book, which he really likes.
*Language Arts – literature selections; family read-alouds; he is going to do a gentle introduction to IEW as part of our co-op this fall; English Lessons through Literature Vol. 3
*Other – we’re still hammering out Shakespeare (last year we did Macbeth), Artist, Composer. Poetry Study has worked really well this year with me reading a poem from “Favorite Poems Old and New” each week. Our co-op is also good for this.
DD7 and DD6 (entering 2nd and 1st)
Classically Catholic Memory as a spine
*Religion – Scripture Memory; finish “The Bible Tells Me So” as a family; working on a First Communion Prep for my older daughter.
*Math – we are using Math Mammoth; supplementing with XtraMath.com for math facts
*History – they’ll listen in on Stories of the World/Nations and SOTW Audio. I’ll do some read-alouds with them, too, as time allows.
*Science – Sassafras Anatomy with a lapbook for them
*Language Arts – continue with Explode the Code (which they love); read-aloud to mom each day; English Lessons through Literature Vol. 1 (they’ll listen to the selections on audio).
*Others – Piano with Children’s Music Journey; Favorite Poems Old and New; sit-in on family Shakespeare/Art/Composer studies (still deciding on these)
My plans are still a little rough, but here they are:
Ds11 (6th grade)
Bible-undecided. I want him to start daily readings, but until then I am considering using Bible in Two Years from Adventures in Mommydom. We will continue the Scripture Memory modules from SCM.Language Arts-Daily Grammar 5 from SchoolhouseTeachers.com; try moving into transcription (he has a handwriting delay which makes handwriting difficult, so we were still doing copywork this last year). Alternate transcription with writing prompts/lessons. Try Writing 8s from Dianne Craft again. We’ve had trouble staying consistent with it. Spelling City/1000 common words list.
Literature/Reading–choose from booklists I’ve created from SCM, AO, and other sources as well as his own interests
Math-continue planning our own. This year will focus on long division, fractions, decimals, word problems, area/perimeter/measurement (if we get to it), and elapsed time.
Science-ABEKA Health. We will be using parts of all the books (gr. 4-6), focusing on the human body. I will probably also be preparing him for “The Talk” that his father will give him in the next year or so. Supplement with other books or videos. One day a week we will learn or review material for his 4H contests (Forestry and Wildlife).
History-finish US History, focusing on wars/military, since he’s interested in that right now. Finish learning state abbreviations and begin learning capitals.
Foreign Language-undecided. He says he wants to learn French or German, but I’m having trouble finding a program I think will work for us in those languages. I want him to continue Spanish.
Character Studies-Max Lucado children’s books; Melody Carlson’s children’s books; Book of Virtues for Young People; Uncle Wiggly
Fine Arts-nothing scheduled. I will work in anything he shows an interest in.
Handicrafts–nothing definite. He says he wants to learn to sew, so I am looking for resources that don’t look too “girly” in that area.
Dd8 (in July). 3rd Grade with special needs.
Bible: Continue reading through our Bible story book. She likes to read it aloud, then I read the same story to her. If I use Bible in 2 Years with ds, I will add that in for her as well.Language Arts: she is very independent in this area. She likes to “do her own thing” by writing her own stories, so copywork is hit or miss (more “miss.”) I will continue to work toward more structure in this area.
Reading–picture books and select easy readers. She wasn’t interested in Little Bear, but may try Arthur the Chimp and a few others.
Literature-begin longer works with her. Possibilities include Little House in the Big Woods, Charlotte’s Web, All of a Kind Family, and the Paddington series.
Math–focus on multi-digit addition and subtraction, place value, and counting money.
Science–use The Let’s Read and Find Out series and similar books for Human Body, which will take about 2 terms. Then switch to either plants or earth and space science.
History–This month we began a study of the 50 states using a booklist I prepared several years ago.
Foreign language–nothing planned. She may watch Salsa as she takes an interest.
Character Studies–same as for her brother as well as Aesop’s Fables
Fine Arts–nothing scheduled. Will do art/craft projects as interest is shown.
Handicrafts-nothing scheduled. Will try to encourage her to use jersey loom or make jewelry
I’ve also just finalized our plans for the new year, which starts in late August for us.
http://marmaladesorrow.weebly.com/the-starling-school-2015-2016.html
I have a 6 year old year one daughter, a 4 year old tag a long son, and an 18m old daughter.
We plan on starting ASAP but are moving next week so we will see when that actually happens. I have 7 weeks in and week 8 for make up/off. We are doing 4 days a week and the 5th day is super light. We have 42 weeks scheduled and about 36 weeks of work to get done in that time.
I’m typing all this from memory because my school things are packed.
history/geography/bible: SCM Early Modern with basic map work. We will also do a family devotion.
memory: verse group 1, I added a couple and took out a couple. I “made an image” in the Bible app for each verse and had them printed at Walgreens as little 4″x4″ pictures and they are so pretty.
Science: 106 Days of Creation, 1 days a week, taking 2 years to go through it. Nature study minimum of 1 day a week and 1 journal entry.
Literature: aesops fables 3 days a week, and then working through the last 2 little house books, understood Betsy, wizard of oz, just so stories, and various fairy tales. 3 days a week, alternating days with Aesop
Character: 3 different habits in laying down the rails for children.
Missions: my sister in law is leaving in 2 weeks for and 11 month/11 country mission trip, we will learn about each country she visits, read her blog updates. Missionary stories with the Miller 1 time a week, Hero Tales when we finish
artist: da Vinci, turner, monet. We do a picture study the first week and the second week I have the kids draw the picture in various mediums. I love seeing what they come up with.
art: I am going to teach basic color theory, lines and then spend 1 term doing a big project
Music: hymn group 1, folk songs, composer. I have these picked but can’t remember off the top of my head.
math: math u see alpha.
Reading: easy readers every other day to work on fluency. Treadwell first reader and McGuffey first reader to work on stretching reading skills on the other days.
Copy work: going to try print to cursive proverbs, my daughter wants to learn cursive so bad so I figured it doesn’t hurt to try.
poetry: Robert Louis Stevenson. Just reading throug a child garden of verses.
I think that is everything. It ends up being about 80-90 min of work a day and I set aside 2 hours to get it done to allow for baby interruptions and snack. We will also be Doing a Lego and PE class at a co-op.
Hi ladies! It’s great to see what everyone is doing in their home schools. 🙂
I am down to homeschooling one and she is 13 and going into 8th grade. We are doing a mix of AO and SCM.
Bible-Penny Gardner’s bible selections, SCM’s Roman’s study and SCM’s Doctrine study.
Devotional-AO’s Fearfully and Wonderfully Made. This book is also about health. It’s wonderful! It compares the human body and how it works to the body of Christ. We are really enjoying it!
Math-Math U See pre algebra
History-A mix of AO and SCM books: Discoveries of the New World-M.B. Synge, The Awakening Of Europe-Synge, Famous Men of the Middle Ages and Famous Men of the Renaissance and Reformation-Shearer, Ivanhoe-Scott, The White Company-Doyle, Daughter of Time-Fey, The Once and Future King-White, A Taste of Chaucer-Tappan, The Magna Charta-Daughtery (sp?), The Hawk That Dare Not Hunt By Day-O’Dell, Louise Vernon books, Christopher Columbus book recommended by SCM and possibly In The Days of Queen Elizabeth by Tappan. She will also continue keeping her Book of Centuries.
Language Arts: 25 minutes a day reading classic literature, The History of English Literature for Boys and Girls (can’t remember the author!), Step by Step Grammar and GUM drops grammar, 2-3 written narrations a week averaging about a page each, Rummy Roots once a week for root word study, Simply Spelling for copy work and dictation.
Science-Apologia General Science, Eric Sloane’s Weather Book, a few Paul Fleishman books, Nature study.
For poetry we simply read poetry on a regular basis. We choose a hymn and sing it until we know it well for hymn study.
Geography:How the Heather Looks (author?) and weekly map drills on Europe.
Picture Study & art history: Constable, Turner, and Da Vinci picture portfolios from SCM. The Story of Painting-Jansen.
Composer Study: We are starting the year with Beethoven and using SCM’s new resource. We will choose 2 more composers to study later on this year.
Nature study once a week.
Logic: The Fallacy Detective-Bluedorn
Plutarch: We are studying Crassus using Anne White’s study guide from AO.
Foreign Language: We are using a free course for beginning French on youtube. I plan on using Getting Started with French when it comes out in the fall.
Shakespeare: The Taming of the Shrew.
Art: We are going to try our first project from Creating a Masterpiece.
Government and Economics: Whatever Happened to Penny Candy-Maybury
We may or may not begin reading Ourselves by Charlotte Mason this year. I haven’t decided whether I want to read it now or hold off another year or so.
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