School Planning

I think I've already announced that my two oldest, who have been in a half day 4-day a week tutorial, will be home schooling full time next year. I'm really excited about doing this. They are on the same level in many cases, so this just makes a lot of sense this year. Here's what our proposed schedule looks like--don't worry, I know that it could all change with the say, adoption of a baby, or any number of other events. But I guess it never hurts to have a plan.
First off, the curriculum:
Both children will be using the Saxon 3 Math

It will be a bit of a review for the oldest and it may be a bit challenging for the boy, but I think both of those are a good thing right now.
For our language/history/geography and Bible, we'll be following this

Middle Ages, Renaissance, Reformation & Epistles

from Simply Charlotte Mason. This is a family curriculum and the hubby is going to join us for an hour after breakfast to read from the family reading

and to study the geography that goes along with the lesson. This curriculum also takes the family through the epistles using this GOAL study model:

Grasp this promise

Obey this command

Avoid this sin

Live this principle

We'll be adding an S for Savior to that as we discuss that on our own, we are unable to do any of the G, O, A, or L. We need our Savior and His death on the cross to enable us to be free from sin and able to do works of righteousness.
This curriculum also has a wonderful list of historical fiction to use for our literature. I'll be writing questions to use for reading comprehension for this. There will be read-alouds as well as individual reading assignments with this.

I really like this writing book

but when I saw the $30+ price tag, I thought that maybe I would try using my 4 years of education as an English teacher to give them writing practice. We'll be continuing some of the skills they are learning this year and adding to that--learning to use strong verbs, quality adjectives, -ly words, who/what/which/although clauses, etc. We'll work on outlines and using triads.

I'm also going to manufacture their grammar using bits and pieces of programs we've used in the past. (Mostly following the Shurley Grammar model)

We're going to use Discover Spanish, both the audio lessons and the interactive on-line program, for our Spanish lessons.

We'll be using the biology section of this experiment book to explore animals a little--we'll also be visiting the local aquarium once every two weeks for a little lesson.

My plan is to have two notebooks--one with our "school work" that is all guided and another with all the worksheets and assignments that will be "home work" done on an individual basis. The "home work" will of course be checked each day. This will keep the model that the kids have had this year--and, I think, make a lot of sense to them.

Here's what our two-week schedule looks like:


M1: 9am History-Bible/10am Math/11am Science Experiment/Home work for grammar and literature
T1: History-Bible, Math, Spanish, Writing, Grammar, Geography
W1: Bible/Swimming/Art/Choir/Reading/Homework
R1:History-Bible, Math, Spanish, Writing, Grammar, Geography
F1: History-Bible, History Project/Homework
M2: 9am History-Bible/10am Math/11am Science
T2: History-Bible, Math, Spanish, Writing, Grammar, Geography
W2: Bible/Aquarium Science/Art/Choir
R2: History-Bible, Math, Spanish, Writing, Grammar, Geography
F2: Free for group learning, field trips, etc.


So there you have THE PLAN. I'm sure you'll be very interested to see what actually comes of it when we start school in September!
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