I’ve laid out our philosophy of education and where each of the kids is at…now I’m going to show you our course of study for this year and the materials we’ll be using.
What if more really is more?
You hear a lot that less is more. When you try to do too much, you actually learn less and risk burn-out.
While that can be true, there’s nothing wrong with shooting high, as long as you recognize that you probably won’t accomplish everything you’re aiming at.
Stretching yourself (and your kids) is a good thing. A strong foundation is necessary, but it’s a mistake to only lay foundational bricks. Look at it this way---if a kid thinks all he has to aspire to in math is to memorize his math facts, why would he?
If all there is to history is to fill in the blanks on a timeline, what motivates him to pursue that knowledge? If language arts is about circling nouns and underlining verbs, where is the art?
And so we lay it on thick around here, meaning we like to build in plenty of opportunities for going deeper, wider…wherever our path leads us. A blogger I know, Lisa at Golden Grasses, calls this “lasagna learning.”
I’ve always naturally done this---we have a base, our spine, whatever you want to call it, and then we have all kinds of extras. Some of them, I “schedule” in and then others are there to entice inquiring minds.
So, without further ado, let’s get to what we’re doing this year.
I don’t tend to think out my plans in terms of “subjects” (or at least I try not to), but our state requires us to teach 8 subjects yearly, so I’m going to to lay out my plans here in those terms to try to keep things simple (ish). This is the framework, there will be extras worked in as well.
All Together
History-Creek Edge Task Cards (Ancient World) and our awesome at home ancient world history library. Each of the kids will actually be using these independently, but they will all be using them.
PE-Family Time Fitness (but not every day, because they like to go for walks and ride bikes, too). I actually won this program last year and it looks fantastic (I get tired just thinking about all the activities). David, Mary, and Emma will also be playing soccer with a local homeschool group.
Art and Music-Harmony Fine Arts’ Ancient Art and the Orchestra
Grammar and Writing-We’ll be pursuing the Brave Writer philosophy of writing with help from the Writer’s Jungle. We’ll also be using Write-On and the Big Bad Grammar Slammer from Learn for Your Life. We will also be participating in National Novel Writing Month.
Bible-Come and See Genesis
David, 8th Grade
Religion- Faith & Life Series book 8
Math- Rod & Staff 8th grade. This is a new one for us and you’ll see that I’ve decided to go with R&S for all the kids this year. It’s a curriculum I’ve avoided in the past without taking a close look at it---I tend to avoid Christian math programs and I really didn’t realize how this program is set up. I’m actually excited to be trying this with my kids. I also love the price. We just found that that we’ll have the opportunity to review VideoText Algebra Online, also, and we’re excited about that.
Language Arts- Art of Poetry and possibly Latin Alive! plus various literature selections
History and Geography-The Human Odyssey Vol. 1 and Philosophy Adventure
Science and Health- Exploring Creation with General Science
Electives- Computer programming with TeenCoder C# and scouts
Mary and Peter together
Religion-Faith and Life series book 4
History-Story of the World Vol. 1
Science and Health-Mr. Q’s Classic Life Science
Mary, 4th Grade
Math- Rod & Staff 4th Grade
Language Arts-copywork, Syllable Savvy 4, Latin for Children A, Story Writing Club, and book club
Electives-handicrafts and computer programming with Logo Adventures
Peter, 3rd Grade
Language Arts-copywork, Syllable Savvy 3, book club
Electives-scouts and extra drawing
Emma, preschool
Logic of English Foundations A (review coming) and sundry fun things
What are your learning plans for this year?
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Wow! You're doing a lot. I am curious to see how you like David's science. I considered it, but it seemed too textbook science for me. You be my product tester and report back next spring... okay?
ReplyDeleteYes, I know you mean. Honestly, as he approaches high school, I can see a lot of value in using some textbooks, but I know that David also has an investigative nature and he's good at applying what he reads about (the book is likely to be a jumping off point for him). I also wanted to make sure he got a general overview of science---I'll let you know how it goes. ;)
ReplyDeleteIt does seem like a lot, doesn't it? I think everything complements everything else pretty well and the kids are excited about what they'll be studying.