Homeschool Friday- Looking Ahead

I hope you all enjoyed the “Homeschool Portrait” that was just finished for the month of July.  I thought there was a lot of wisdom in there to share, and I certainly enjoyed it.  Thank you again to Karin, Carol, Diane, Laura, and Melissa!  I think I may do this again next summer.  We’ll see!

The beginning of school is just around the corner.  Knut and I finally settled on starting school the day after Labor Day just like all the other more traditional schools around here.  August is just too busy.

I thought today I’d give an overview of our curriculum choices for the next year.  This is what I always ask other homeschool moms, so it’s only fair that I share as well.  Silje is in “2nd grade” and David will do “kindergarten.” 

-Sonlight core C.  This covers Bible, independent readers, read-alouds, history and geography.  The level readers that I chose for Silje this year are the 4-5th grade as she finished the 3rd grade ones last year with flying colors, although the books this year seem so much longer!  For history this year we’ll be covering the fall of Rome through the Reformation.  Silje will be doing this part completely.  David will be doing the Bible and snippets of history/geography with us (such as the geography songs).  I’m hand picking his own readers and read-alouds from our personal collection and the library.  He’s not the outrageous reader that Silje started kindergarten as, but he knows over 30 sight words and can read pretty much any 3 letter words and many 4 letter words, so he’s not shabby in this area either.  My big plan for reading to him is to work daily through some great book lists I’ve found.  I don’t have any number of books in mind.  I just want to make sure we get him reading good books daily.

-Shurley English level 2.  This covers grammar and composition.  This subject is just for Silje.  This was one of Silje’s favorite subjects last year and we’re just continuing with it.

-“The Works” curriculum to cover handwriting, spelling and phonics.  Last year I was just “wingin’ it” with these 3 areas using a hodge podge of free resources, mostly online.  While I think we were doing fine playing it by ear, I was on the lookout for a program that would fit us and make my life a bit easier.  This program came to me highly recommended and I found the people at this booth at the homeschool convention to be so extremely helpful.  It’s like they knew my kids without ever meeting them.  We already started it last Spring so we have a taste of it.  Silje and David will both be doing the program…working at their own pace. 

-Saxon Math.  Silje will be doing the second half her level 2, and continuing onto 3rd grade math before the year is up.  David will start level K, working at his own pace.

-Rosetta Stone Chinese done on computer.  Silje will be continuing on as she is 1/4 the way through level 1.  David will only start if I feel his reading progresses far enough as the year goes on.

-“Prima Latina” beginning Latin.  This will just be for Silje this year.

-Piano will continue on for Silje, although with a new teacher since her previous teacher just got a full time teaching job.  David will join Silje in the K-3rd grade choir this year at the Center for the Arts.

-We’re moving onto Apologia’s textbook for botany this next year.  We’ll be doing the alternate chapter order for cold climates.  Silje and David will both be doing this study, although this year I splurged and got the companion “journal” with writing exercises in it for Silje, and I may pick up a sketch book for David so he can have a science journal as well and he’s just beginning to learn how to write.

–Supplements.
Here is a quick list of things that I’m throwing in there for the fun of it.  I’ve been collecting things ideas over the past year, and am realizing that we won’t be able to do it all.  Here are the things I’m hoping to squeeze in:
      1) The Story of the World vol. 2 and accompanying activity book.  I’m doing a bit of a switch-a-roo (that’s the technical homeschooling term) with one history book given by Sonlight.  Silje loves the Child’s History of the World, but upon looking at other books, I prefer the Story of the World series as I think it gives more interesting details and has some great activities that will go right along page for page with Sonlight’s other history books in that core.  Activities like cross words, cut out puppets, recipes to cook up from the place of the world we’re studying, coloring pages, fact cards…way too much to do but always something to do.  Since Silje has been sneaking the Child’s History of the World this summer and reading it independently, I figured that she could just read it for fun (as she’s already been doing) and I’m going to schedule in the Story of the World reading in it’s place.  Messing with the curriculum always makes me nervous, but I’m excited about this tweek.

     2) I found a bunch of unit studies free on this site with go hand in hand with several of the readers and read-alouds, and points in history that we’ll be studying this next year.  For instance, one of the books that Silje will be reading independently will be The Castle Diaries.  There is a unit study on this book where you learn how one would become a knight.  What was the code of chivalry and what did knights wear?  There are craft suggestions, feast suggestions, and background study music (Gregorian chants) suggestions.  There are optional lap books that can be made as well as diving into Scripture in what the Bible says about the armor of God.

      3) I splurged and picked up this book when the Usborne book lady came to our homeschool group last year.  (Now that’s a great place for a her.  Book saleswoman with parents with a serious book addiction.)  There are a ton of art projects in this book and we didn’t do much art last year.  I was hoping to find a curriculum for art at the homeschool convention, but decided to use this instead.  I did find a curriculum that I fell in love with, but thought it was too expensive, especially for an elective.  I’ll keep it on the back burner and maybe when the kids are older…

Now, there is no way we can do all of these activities, but I know that Silje loves projects like these, and this might be my ticket to David this year.  As I’m making up my first month’s schedule, I’m taking out all non-“core” activities (math, Chinese, Latin, music, Grammar, handwriting, etc.  Basically everything that is not apart of Sonlight core C) one day a week and replacing it with some fun activity from one of these 3 supplements.  Silje is always ahead in the non-core subjects, so I think we could spare about half a school day a week for more “activities.” (Or as I call it: “messy stuff”)

I am not big into the paper-glue-cutting-glitter-paint projects, but I don’t want my kids to miss out because I don’t like kids crafts.  I know.  You’re all shocked.  I’m committing to doing something outside the box once a week.  It’s a big step for me.

Knut mentioned a desire to study some of Luther’s Small Catechism with Silje during the end of the year when she gets into the Reformation.  I’m not sure when either of them will have the time for it, so I’ll let him take the reigns for that idea. She’ll study that at church during middle school, but I don’t think any of the ideas in there are above a young child.

I’m also planning a few field trips.  We’ll go to the Hjemkomst Center when we are studying Vikings as they have a scale made Viking Ship as well as a Stave Church.  Like last year, we’ll go to the Prairie Wetlands Learning Center with our homeschool support group a few times.  I’m extra excited this year to go there as our science focus will be botany.  All of us meet with our homeschool group twice a month where the kids get to be in classes with kids in their age group and learn fun, often seasonal things and listen to fun speakers.

I think it will be a busy year.  I’m so excited I’m getting giddy!

I’m mostly excited to return to the order and sanity that school brings to our day.  Because we are constantly interrupted by the little ones, school can last all day.  In reality, though, if you squished all the time that Silje spends “doing school” each day last year it added up to 2-2.5 hours.  This year we may be headed into the 3 hours a day area.  (Interrupted…these 3 hours will easily get chopped into little pieces throughout the day.)  David spent about 15 minutes a day last year doing his early readers.  This year I expect about 30-60 minutes of schoolwork for him, and about half of that will overlap with Silje’s schedule as they’ll be studying some of the same things.  There’s no way he can do that all at once unless he’s sitting on a ball so that will get spread over the day as well.

Paraphrasing Owen Wilson from Armageddon, “I’m either 90% excited and 10% nervous, or 90% nervous and 10% excited…I’m not sure.”