Well, we are almost to the beginning of the school year again and unlike in years past I am not really prepared. I was a teacher for 12 years and I spent most of my time preparing for the school year the last week before it started and with homeschool it seems like I was always planning. But our life took a turn this year and we actually had a very tough year from October 2017 to the present. Many different things affected our family including death of 2 loved ones, a fire and a possible big change. These kids have been resilient, but I feel like we fell off the wagon so many times and I never really got back up. Needless to say, we just abruptly ended the school year and I took a lot of time off this summer working on projects around the house and praying!
I really did love Heart of Dakota which is what we used last year. But it seemed like too much for my kids. I thought when I initially started homeschooling I planned everything out from K-12. Well, almost. But each year it has been different and I don't know why. This year is even more different. We thought we might try a different school route with the kids, but it didn't happen right at the time we thought. I ended up not even really thinking of what I wanted to use for homeschool. But we didn't finish some things like math and there were many things I wanted to do, but never got around to them.
So this year it will be very simple.
Here is The Plan:
My son is 9-
*Language Arts 3 from Easy Peasy (free)
*Reading- I will choose 4-5 chapter books for reading and discussion. See Read Aloud Revival PDF. We will also be doing vocabulary with these books.
*Math- Finish Math Mammoth 3, Xtra Math (free) (Drill) and Math Playground (free) (play games a few times a week for 30 min)
*Introduction to the Bible from Heart of Dakota- under self study
*Read through John
*Cursive- finish our book from Intoxicated on Life
*Science- Thunderbolt Kids (free)
*History- Portraits of Integrity from Character Concepts
*Typing- Dance Mat Typing (free)
*Keys for Kids- daily devotion as a family
*Memorizing- I chose a few things for him to memorize this year: the Preamble to the Constitution, States and Capitals, Prepositions and the Gettysburg Address.
My daughter is 7:
*Reading/Language Arts- I just discovered Reading Eggs works really well for her and it includes spelling, vocabulary and comprehension. It's a subscription service, but you can have a free 4 week trial (they do not collect your credit card unless you order).
*Writing- We are finishing a handwriting book and will work on handwriting by writing spelling words or copying sentences. We will use Activity Mom's Drawing Through the Alphabet (free) to create a picture and write about it.
*Math- Finish Math Mammoth Grade 1, Xtra Math, and Math Playground (so many fun game possibilities).
*Science- books at library, Netflix videos
*History- Portraits of Integrity from Character Concepts
*Keys for Kids- daily family devotional (free)
*Piano- Pianimals (I bought this set awhile back but she really wants to learn so we are going to try to make it work this year.)
*Typing- Dance Mat Typing (free) She tried it this summer and did really well and it will help with Reading Eggs as she needs to type a lot.
We will be doing a variety of these everyday. We also have Awana on Tuesday nights, library days, biking, park days (meeting up with other homeschoolers) and cooking. We will also have daily chores and other skills that include getting a basic routine.
I will be writing out their assignments in a notebook inspired by Sarah at Read Aloud Revival. I have actually been using this method, but I also used another book as well. We'll just keep it simple with this and see how it works. I also have a binder for each child for things I've copied off that they need.
I will also be reading through the Christian Heroes series from YWAM (I have about 40 of them) during lunch time and various other books that strike my fancy.
Here's to a new school year and whatever may come!!
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