We started our new school year yesterday. There have been several noticeable changes. Of course, it has only been 2 days but I'll take any change that I can get.
First, we are coming off a 6 week break. Everyone is rested and happy. We picked up where we left off in November. Literally. But I did tweak the schedule a bit. One example of this would be that read a loud is rotated now. Logan does it on Monday then Madison on Tuesday. This freed me up to get to the together stuff. You know the stuff that we never get to because I became overloaded with other stuff. One of my goals this year is to get us on track with our together stuff.
Second, I have upped Logan's academics. He is beginning 7th grade. We only have 2 years until high school here. I have to be careful that I don't push him too far though. I do believe that his zone of proximal development has increased while his work load hasn't gone along with that. I have done a great job of making him feel competent and he trusts me. Now, I have to lead him to his Higher Calling. To say that scares me to death is an understatement.
Madison is another matter entirely. She still needs to feel competent in school. She doesn't feel as smart as Logan. I need to spend some time this year building her confidence in her academics. She was delighted to learn that she is a 3rd grader now. She is in her zone of proximal development now. I need to stretch her just a bit. Just a bit......... Remember Penny, just a bit! This year will be about keeping her on track and encouraging, encouraging, encouraging.
With that said, here are our 2010 plans for now. We are going to take a break in April. At that time, I will again tweak the schedule and make any necessary adjustments. At that time, we are, for the first time ever, going to take end of term exams. I'll post more on that later.
2010 TERM 1 PLANS History- We are going to finish up Story of the World Vol. 1 the move on to Tapestry of Grace. I plan on doing it for 2nd term then deciding which one we like better. I really think it will be Tapestry but I have not given SOTW a fair shot yet. So, in the interest of fairness, we will finish SOTW. Really, we have gotten to ancient Greece and Logan is really interested. I am really going to try my best to do the projects and reading better. Science- We are finishing astronomy. There are only 5 shuttle launches left in the space program and we live in Florida. It would be unconscionable if we did not go to see at least one shuttle launch. We are planning on seeing both a night and day launch this year. We can see the shuttle right after launch from our house but we want to see one up close. Plus, we can see Kennedy Space Center as well. BUT I am not doing the astronaut training. Blech! Narration- this has changed a bit. We are finishing The Horse and His Boy by C.S. Lewis. What has changed is that Madison gives her oral narration but Logan has to write a minimum of 3 sentences as a written narration. You know what? He did it beautifully. Just a reinforcement of my theory that he is ready for the next level. Bible- We continue to read through the Old Testament. I let this fall by the wayside last year. Not this year. We are reading it chronologically. We finished Exodus yesterday and read Psalm 90 today. Then we move on to Leviticus. I simply need to be more disciplined in this area. Both children enjoy it and listen intently. They orally narrate after this. One change I did make was to go with the NIV translation and leave the KJV for now. My ultimate goal is to read through the entire Bible together. We have also added prayer time at the end of our readings. Math- We continue to use Singapore math. I love this program. It works phenomenally well with my 2 visual kiddos. Copywork- Logan will finish Psalm 23. I don't know about Madison yet. I am still thinking this through for her. Read a loud - Logan will continue on with the Harry Potter series. Madison will read the Dr. Seuss series after she finishes her Learn 2 Read Bible. Remember our goal of building her confidence. This is below her actual reading level but we are not going for fluency here just confidence. Free reading- These will change weekly according to what we are doing in History and Science. Music - We are going to learn all about Mozart. We will listen to the Magic Flute first. We never got around to him last year. Art- This is the same as music. We never got to it. We are sticking with Salvador Dali since we can go to the Dali museum in St. Pete. Nature- We are going to learn and observe an orange tree for the next few seasons. Since we live in Florida, this is a no brainer. Spanish- We use Rosetta Stone for our foreign language. I have found some other websites for this. I need to make it more visual and hands on for my kiddos. Hmmmmm? Typing - Logan will get to 10 wpm and Madison to 7 wpm. Both children would rather not do this so we are looking for success here not necessarily progression. I may change them both over to Mavis Beacon instead of the Spongebob one that we currently use. Handicraft- We are making Dresses for Africa and Britches for Boys as we continue to learn to sew. It's our service project as well. PE - We technically don't have to do this as Logan has physical therapy and Madison does dance and gymnastics which covers it for us. We are however going to start the Couch to 5K program together. It should be fun. 50 State Fridays- I totally stole this from Kris over at Weird UnsocializedHomeschoolers. You do a different state every Friday. Plus, my mom purchased a great See the USA? series for us. The kids are excited to start this Friday. Now, don't think that we do all this every day. Oh no! Some things we do daily. Some we do only once a week. Some things are absolutes and some are fun but important. You have to have fun too. So there you have it. Our 2010 Term 1 plans. I have this term scheduled to end around Easter. It looks really good written down. The key will be the follow through. Wish me luck!
First, we are coming off a 6 week break. Everyone is rested and happy. We picked up where we left off in November. Literally. But I did tweak the schedule a bit. One example of this would be that read a loud is rotated now. Logan does it on Monday then Madison on Tuesday. This freed me up to get to the together stuff. You know the stuff that we never get to because I became overloaded with other stuff. One of my goals this year is to get us on track with our together stuff.
Second, I have upped Logan's academics. He is beginning 7th grade. We only have 2 years until high school here. I have to be careful that I don't push him too far though. I do believe that his zone of proximal development has increased while his work load hasn't gone along with that. I have done a great job of making him feel competent and he trusts me. Now, I have to lead him to his Higher Calling. To say that scares me to death is an understatement.
Madison is another matter entirely. She still needs to feel competent in school. She doesn't feel as smart as Logan. I need to spend some time this year building her confidence in her academics. She was delighted to learn that she is a 3rd grader now. She is in her zone of proximal development now. I need to stretch her just a bit. Just a bit......... Remember Penny, just a bit! This year will be about keeping her on track and encouraging, encouraging, encouraging.
With that said, here are our 2010 plans for now. We are going to take a break in April. At that time, I will again tweak the schedule and make any necessary adjustments. At that time, we are, for the first time ever, going to take end of term exams. I'll post more on that later.
2010 TERM 1 PLANS
History- We are going to finish up Story of the World Vol. 1 the move on to Tapestry of Grace. I plan on doing it for 2nd term then deciding which one we like better. I really think it will be Tapestry but I have not given SOTW a fair shot yet. So, in the interest of fairness, we will finish SOTW. Really, we have gotten to ancient Greece and Logan is really interested. I am really going to try my best to do the projects and reading better.
Science- We are finishing astronomy. There are only 5 shuttle launches left in the space program and we live in Florida. It would be unconscionable if we did not go to see at least one shuttle launch. We are planning on seeing both a night and day launch this year. We can see the shuttle right after launch from our house but we want to see one up close. Plus, we can see Kennedy Space Center as well. BUT I am not doing the astronaut training. Blech!
Narration- this has changed a bit. We are finishing The Horse and His Boy by C.S. Lewis. What has changed is that Madison gives her oral narration but Logan has to write a minimum of 3 sentences as a written narration. You know what? He did it beautifully. Just a reinforcement of my theory that he is ready for the next level.
Bible- We continue to read through the Old Testament. I let this fall by the wayside last year. Not this year. We are reading it chronologically. We finished Exodus yesterday and read Psalm 90 today. Then we move on to Leviticus. I simply need to be more disciplined in this area. Both children enjoy it and listen intently. They orally narrate after this. One change I did make was to go with the NIV translation and leave the KJV for now. My ultimate goal is to read through the entire Bible together. We have also added prayer time at the end of our readings.
Math- We continue to use Singapore math. I love this program. It works phenomenally well with my 2 visual kiddos.
Copywork- Logan will finish Psalm 23. I don't know about Madison yet. I am still thinking this through for her.
Read a loud - Logan will continue on with the Harry Potter series. Madison will read the Dr. Seuss series after she finishes her Learn 2 Read Bible. Remember our goal of building her confidence. This is below her actual reading level but we are not going for fluency here just confidence.
Free reading- These will change weekly according to what we are doing in History and Science.
Music - We are going to learn all about Mozart. We will listen to the Magic Flute first. We never got around to him last year.
Art- This is the same as music. We never got to it. We are sticking with Salvador Dali since we can go to the Dali museum in St. Pete.
Nature- We are going to learn and observe an orange tree for the next few seasons. Since we live in Florida, this is a no brainer.
Spanish- We use Rosetta Stone for our foreign language. I have found some other websites for this. I need to make it more visual and hands on for my kiddos. Hmmmmm?
Typing - Logan will get to 10 wpm and Madison to 7 wpm. Both children would rather not do this so we are looking for success here not necessarily progression. I may change them both over to Mavis Beacon instead of the Spongebob one that we currently use.
Handicraft- We are making Dresses for Africa and Britches for Boys as we continue to learn to sew. It's our service project as well.
PE - We technically don't have to do this as Logan has physical therapy and Madison does dance and gymnastics which covers it for us. We are however going to start the Couch to 5K program together. It should be fun.
50 State Fridays- I totally stole this from Kris over at Weird Unsocialized Homeschoolers. You do a different state every Friday. Plus, my mom purchased a great See the USA? series for us. The kids are excited to start this Friday.
Now, don't think that we do all this every day. Oh no! Some things we do daily. Some we do only once a week. Some things are absolutes and some are fun but important. You have to have fun too.
So there you have it. Our 2010 Term 1 plans. I have this term scheduled to end around Easter. It looks really good written down. The key will be the follow through. Wish me luck!