In spite of the fact that I’m supposed to be taking time off form doing schoolwork with the kids, I’ve been working bit by bit on planning for next year. My head keeps hearing ” fail to plan, plan to fail”. I truly want this year to be a wonderful year for us, even with all the chaos that is our lives right now.
So I’ve started gathering my forms for planning our year. my favorite resource is of course, Donna Young . From her cd and at times website, I’ve printed off a school calendar, attendance forms, a course of study, a quarter planner and subject pages. Oh yes, I forgot, I printed off monthly calenders for the kids, we write short notes on them for an idea of what we did daily.
I also started printing off things for their history course, I did decide to only do half of MOH this year, thereby easing my workload, guilt and letting us really delve into the ancients. There is so much fun stuff to learn for that time period.
So once I get this moving I will post some photos of it for you to see.
So today we met with our favorite teacher to go over our school year with the boys. We have always used her and love her so much, she can’t quit until my kids are grown!!!! I’m not sure I’ve told her that yet though 
As always she was impressed with how much we did this year. In spite of all the personal chaos going on in our lives for the last 10 months. My personal opinion of our year is both positive and negative. We truly did do a great deal of work, the boys were exposed to a great deal and a few things did stay with them. On the negative side of things, we were very stressed out, didn’t really enjoy our days, forgot much of what we covered and we didn’t have as much to show for everything we did do. After awhile the boys didn’t want to write or color or document anything of what we read for school. We took field trips but didn’t document them at all.
The teacher~ Diane, suggested we go back to writing one or two words on our daily calendar, we talked about how I’m concerned about the boys decoding abilities and she suggested using sequential spelling so we will be switching to this and see if that helps us. A plus is that both boys can do it at the same time. Another suggestion she had was only focusing on a few things this year until we get to some sort of mastery. Giving us a much needed reprieve from trying to do it all and then suffering from major guilt because we didn’t get it all accomplished. So I have some major thinking to do. We are taking off for the month of July to regroup. I’m hoping to take a trip to visit friends in Va and NC in early Aug. providing we have the funds, giving us a much needed break from the stress here. She also suggested covering something only once a month! I’m thinking that poetry might be that once a month thing. We are supposed to go back to the Ancients in history using MOH this fall but I’m seriously thinking of covering it over a two year period and really taking the time to delve deeper into it. Plus we have so many great fiction books that go with this time period that it would be a shame not to be able to read them.
She told me in front of the boys that the only thing she really requires on a daily basis is reading!!! Yea!!! Diane!!! So with that in mind, the boys won’t be allowed to not read daily and I can use her as my reason. I know evil mom, but we do what we must. Another suggestion was to go back to requiring the boys to write a bit more. She wants the Ark to write at least 1 paragraph with a topic sentence 3 supporting sentences and a closing sentence. At whatever frequency I decide, while Ace is to start learning that process this upcoming year.
So, my tentative plan is focusing on reading, writing, spelling, math on a daily basis, with a much reduced history and science. One thing I’m not sure I’m ready to let go is the boys Latin studies, I really want them to learn it, so that might be on our daily list. Another item I want is daily drawing, I think the boys like to draw and I want to encourage them in it. My only problem is that they don’t want to have any instruction, just draw. I would like to see their drawing improve.ONe thing I did this year was i had a self evaluation and had the boys look at it, the Ark filled his out and it was interesting to see what he felt he did. I think we will do one at the end of each semester to help evaluate us and hopefully keep us on track. Another thing Diane suggested was to make sure I write down our goals so I don’t forget them and freak out mid year. Which I definitely plan to do.
She loved our lapbooks but suggested that we only do a few minibooks and that the boys be able to pick out the minibooks that they want to do, so that they each are invested in what they are learning and giving them each a different look to their work but still learning about the same subject.
So that is the end of the year evaluation. We have some educational videos that we borrowed, I want the boys to watch and then notebook what they feel is important. So in August when we start again I will have a 6th grader, 3rd grader, 1st. grader and a preschooler. I need to make up certificates for them.
Check back for the schedule….
- A daily schedule for those who like to have a plan or would like their children to complete the book on their own
- Templates for written narrations, the notebooking activities and experiments
- Review Questions
- Scripture Copywork, with both print and cursive practice
- Reading lists and additional activities, projects, experiments for each lesson
- An appendix with beautiful, full-color, lapbook-style Miniature Books
- Field Trip Sheets to keep a record field trips
- A Final Review with fifty questions the students can answer either orally or in writing to show off all they remember and know at the end of the course.
We will be going back to schooling year round, since there is too much I want the kids to learn in a year. Ace will be doing latin starting next week, we had panned it for The Ark after 5 lessons because of his dyslexia, but now it is improving to the point where he shouldn’t get confused. So hopefully next week we will begin again. I told The Ark he had to listen in to review his vocab and the grammar. Then once Ace is on chapter 6 we will just keep going. I truly believe that our 2.5 months of summer vacation is outdated in our society. After all, adults don’t get that much time off unless they are public school teachers.
We switched Ace to MUS and I made him repeat the second grade math as he just wasn’t getting the concepts at all. So here we are after the first week of MUS and he really likes it, did his daily work without complaining and correctly in a decent amount of time!!!! He will not get a summer break for math since he now has to catch up. But as long it is continues this way I think he will be fine. I think the best difference is less problems and no pictures or color to distract him. Senory Integration Disorder is a different teaching challenge for me but I think we are finally getting it right.
The Peanut and the Princess still have way to much creativity going on lately. I won’t share the latest but it was interesting, just not as safe as I would like and I had to put a stop to it. *shakes head* where do they come up with these things? The Ark and The Princess want to start their MUS as well but I told them to finish what they have and take a short break from math, so we could do some other things for a bit. The Peanut told me today that he is going to bury me in South America. Why there I have no idea and we haven’t talked about SA for months now.
We took a hike this week and had a great time but the kids were sad to come home. I hope to be able to take a hike every other week. Since we are doing Zoo 1 we are paying lots of attention to birds these days. I really need a better lens for distances though. I am going to price them but it will be awhile I think before I can get one.
We have listened to the Magician’s Nephew on cd in the van while driving to the kids chiro appointment and now have new Jonathon Park cd’s to listen to. After that we might listen to the other Narnia cd’s and we have Island of the Blue Dolphins, the Sign of the Beaver, and a couple of other’s that I can’t remember the name of right now. I’m really trying to get them to look at learning in a different light.
Well, I’m off to unwind it has been crazy here lately.
Yesterday, our box from Rainbow Resource Center came and the kids were excited. The Ark immediately had to look at the prepared slides in the microscope, Ace went for Zoo 1 by Jeannie Fulbright and was able to read some of it on his own. He is excited to do Zoology, but he must finish Astronomy first. I love what I’ve seen in the Mystery of History. I will be looking through everything in more detail after my finals on May 07. Our Sonlight box is due to arrive tomorrow sometime. We probably won’t get the books from amazon until next week or even the week after, I spent way less there and they are taking the longest to get it out. *sigh*.
In the meantime we are working on our schoolwork and putting things into our portfolios to show our favorite evaluator this summer. I still need to order the math curriculum but I am waiting for the boys furniture and then will transfer the money for both all at once.
Mystery of History Vol. 1 Reproducibles CD
Mr. Popper’s Penguins
Harmony Fine Arts
Mystery of History Volume 1 Audio
Birds
Meet the Great Composers Book 1 with CD
Meet the Great Composers Book 2 with CD
Adam and His Kin
Writing Strands 1 Book and CD
Exploring Creation with Zoology 1: Flying Cre
Reason for Handwriting C Student Workbook
Mind Benders Beginning 1
Mystery of History Vol. 1 Creation-Resurrecti
Latin for Children Primer A Activity Book
Veritas Phonics Grade 1 Student
Mind Benders A1/A2 Software
Mind Benders A3/A4 Software
Latin for Children: Primer A Text
Horizons Health Teacher’s Guide Grade 2
Horizons Health Teacher’s Guide Grade 5
Horizons Health Teacher’s Guide Grade K
Greek Town – Qty:1
Here Comes Silent E
Mystery of History & Enrichment4You.com Vol.
Draw and Write Through History Greece & Rome
Big Screen Microscope Prepared Slides
“Stellaluna”
“Aesop’s Fables Coloring Book (Colouring Books)”
“Favorite Poems for Children Coloring Book”
“How to Draw Birds (How to Draw (Dover))”
“Stonehenge Complete, Third Edition
“Black Ships Before Troy: The Story of ‘The Iliad’
“The Children’s Homer: The Adventures of Odysseus and the Tale of Troy”
“Build Your Own Stonehenge (Running Press Mini Kits)”
“Mummy Math: An Adventure in Geometry”
“Tirzah”
“The Last Quest of Gilgamesh (The Gilgamesh Trilogy)
“The Revenge of Ishtar (The Gilgamesh Trilogy)”
“Gilgamesh the King (The Gilgamesh Trilogy)”
“Jonathan Park: The Hunt for Beowulf (Jonathan Park Radio Drama)”
“What’s Your Angle, Pythagoras? A Math Adventure”
“Jonathan Park: No Looking Back (Jonathan Park Radio Drama)”
FEELY BUGS
CHILDREN’S BIBLE FIELD GUIDE
KINGDOM STRIKES BACK, THE
INSIDE, OUTSIDE, UPSIDE DOWN
GOONEY BIRD GREENE
MATHTACULAR PRIMARY A
1+2 TIME LINE FIGURES
AUGUSTUS CAESAR’S WORLD
6 TIME LINE FIGURES
MATHTACULAR 2
MATHTACULAR 3
SONLIGHTER CLASSIC MEMBERSHIP
GOLDEN GOBLET, THE
WESTING GAME, THE
OTTO OF THE SILVER HAND
TROJAN WAR
MASTER CORNHILL
FAVORITE POEMS OLD & NEW
I, JUAN DE PAREJA
EAGLE OF THE NINTH
SECOND MRS. GIACONDA, THE
SINGLE SHARD, A
BEYOND THE DESERT GATE
GOD KING: KING HEZEKIAH
FLAME OVER TARA
SHAKESPEARE STEALER
SAMURAI’S TALE, THE
BRONZE BOW, THE
ADAM OF THE ROAD
SHADOW OF A BULL
PHANTOM.TOLLBOOTH, THE
GREAT & TERRIBLE QUEST, THE
MARA, DAUGHTER OF THE NILE
BEDUINS’ GAZELLE, THE
GREEK MYTHS, D’AULAIRES
MYSTERY OF ROMAN RANSOM
LEONARDO DA VINCI – LANDMARK
HITTITE WARRIOR
ARCHIMEDES.& THE DOOR SCIENCE
IDES OF APRIL, THE
MARY BLOODY MARY
LUTHER
PROUD TASTE SCARLET & MINIVER
BLACK HORSES FOR THE KING
CATHERINE CALLED BIRDY
THERAS AND HIS TOWN
The only thing I need to add is their math from Math U See, I will probably buy that tomorrow. There are a few books on this list we won’t cover this upcoming year as they are geared for the medieval ages but Sonlight covers ancients and medieval in one year and I don’t. But it is cheaper to buy the books all at once and save them for the following year if need be. This list does not count the books I will read with Ace and the Princess, they were too young the first time through the ancients and will be hearing it for the first time. As I get a plan together I will add in the other books. But first I need to see how things flow with what is coming.
I am taking a much needed break from studying for my classes to talk about some of my thoughts for next year. While I love Sonlight and have used it exclusively since The Ark was in preschool we are taking a bit of a deviance this year and only using part of it. One of the reasons is because I didn’t like Children’s History of the World for younger grades and I switched it to Story of the World by Susan Bauer. Well here we are getting ready to go into our second rotation of history and Sonlight uses SOW but we have done them. So we are going to Mystery of History with Sonlight Readers and Read Alouds. I had already left Sonlight’s science since I’m not fond of it, we are doing Astronomy, will finish Botany this summer and then go to Zoology 1 this fall. If we get through it on a good pace, we will move onto Zoo 2 next spring.
The Ark has been flying through Saxon math for the last two years but I want him to have a solid foundation in fractions since they are so important in Algebra and I want to wait for his brain to hit the logical thinking stage before we hit algebra, meaning not earlier than 8th grade. While Ace and the Princess have been doing Horizons Math. Ace has the hardest time getting through that work, I guess it is not hands on enough for him so we are switching all three of them to Math U See. I like their newer program, so we will see how it goes. The Ark was complaining a bit until I explained how Algebra is mostly fractions and then he realized that he really needed to get fractions down pat.
The next change is grammar, the kids hate it. So we are going to take a year to do more hands on things with it as well. Starting with reading GrammarLand
We will also do Hands of a Child ’s Operation: Grammar and Mission:Paragraph Island Rescue for lapbooking. For writing we will use Writing Strands for all 3 of them.
I had panned Latin for The Ark since he was still struggling with his dsylexia. We are adding in Ace and will start it back up in the fall.
For Art and Music we are doing Harmony Fine Arts, with Artistic Pursuits and Meet the Great Composers.
Of course we will be doing swim lessons, swim team for the boys,bike riding and hiking this summer, as well as lots of playground time while we are waiting for swim team and swim lessons to be over.
My Daisy girl (Kendra’s nick name from a friend) and The Ark are going to camp in June. I’m helping out with VBS again in June.
I have some books at my amazon wish list that I want to add into our homeschooling. I will post them as i buy them. I found some really great math stories and will probably get the ones that fit into our ancient history theme.
Ok, enough of an update for now.
Today was a beautiful sunny day in NE Ohio and it wasn’t too cold for a change so we went to the metroparks and went on a tour of maple sugaring. First thing though you need to tkae cash with you so that you can sample the maple sugar…
Then the tour guide comes up and it was a friend of ours from our church!!! So he leads us off to learn all about sugaring. Did you know that 5% of the maple sugar comes from NE Ohio? No??? Either did we, last year they collected 118,000 buckets of sap from the metroparks. They are doing well this year as well. So the first thing we saw was……
Sinzibukhud~ Native American for maple syrup. Next on the list was of course the buckets that were used to catch the sap and did you know that the sap is clear?
The story of hte next picture is in question but The Husband says he thinks that the Pilgrims would trade the big metal pot to the Native American’s for maple syrup.
I loved the next photo, if you use your imagination you can pretend for a few seconds that you are back in time.
They had a small drying something or another for drying skins.
The was elk, coyote, raccoon, deer, muskrat skins that I can remember. I didn’t realize how big muskrats can get.
Trough that the Native American used to use to turn sap into syrup, they used to heat up rocks and then throw them into the sap.
The back of the drying rack.
We finally made it to the colonial ages….
Unfortunately by this time the kids were restless and and there was a huge crowd by the boiler so we packed up the kids without any photos of that. All in all it was a great day. I almost forgot that when we first got there we saw a red headed woodpecker. I’m still lamenting not having a better lens to get a great photos of him.
