2012-2013 planning post

Warning:  very long post ahead! 

We're planning on starting our school year on August 27th and working for 34 weeks, finishing on or about July 12th.  We school year round, taking a week off every 4 weeks or so.  2 weeks at Christmas and Holy Week/Easter.  This year we have a family vacation planned to the Smokey Mountains to see fall leaves.  We school 4 days a week, taking Wednesday off.  This works extremely well for us.  It allows time to get work done, but a day for shopping, errands, doctor's visits, household projects, etc.

A few years ago, I got an idea off a blog about planning a school year with Post-It's.  I thought about it, and it just seemed like a really good idea.  I only had 2 students at the time, and it worked great!  The world has gotten more complicated :)

I have columns for each child on each day (Monday for each, Tuesday, etc).  In years past I've put the kids down the side and the days across the top.  Down the side are the times.  Each Post-It has the subject written on it.

This year when I went to plan, I was going to just lay out the Post-It's on the desk.  I finally got it cleaned off and it's big enough :)  But hubby was going to work on schedules for work and I didn't want him to mess it up to be in his way.  In looking around for another way to do it, I found a board that is going to be used for another purpose.  Perfect!

I was planning on making a household schedule after I got the school schedule done, but everything just started flowing.  So, I let it flow around the school schedule :)

The Plan...  (do you hear God laughing???)

The Professor ~ 4th grade (though he's doing mostly 5th grade work)
Math ~ Math U See level Epsilon.  The focus is fractions.
Religion ~ Faith and Life 4
      reread of Baltimore Catechism 1
      Stories of the Saints and celebrating the Liturgical year
      Catholic Tales for Boys and Girls
      More Catholic Tales
      Rare Catholic Stories
Science ~ Finish Physics
       Exploring Creation with Anatomy & Notebooking Journal  (I'm really excited about this program.)
       We ordered the lab kit from Rainbow Resources  so doing the experiments should be a lot of fun.                 There are a lot of supplies called for in this program.  I'm also thinking about getting models of the                 heart,  the eye, and the ear. 
World History ~ Connecting with History book 2  63 BC to 1066 AD.  He'll be working at the  Grammar
        level, reading lots of books and completing several projects.
American History ~ We'll be covering the 1600's and 1700's.  I have 5 units planned:
       American Government~ this is a brief overview of how our government works.  I'm going to tie it in with
      the upcoming election.
       The Colonists~ The Pilgrims as well as the other colonies that have settled here.
       Colonies ~ how the colonies were established.
       The Revolutionary War
       The Constitution ~ The conventions, writing, the signers. 

Geography ~ We'll be completing the rest of the states in order of statehood and completing our
          scrapbook(s).
Map Skills ~ level D
Writing with Ease ~ level 1  The Professor has been having trouble summarizing and narrating from his
          reading, though he answers questions without difficulty.  Hopefully this will help.
Grammar ~ Language of God level D
Vocabulary ~ 240 Vocabulary Words 4th Grade Kids Need To Know.
Art ~ Drawing Basics 
         ArtPac 2 

Velcro Boy ~ 2nd grade
Math ~ Math U See level Beta
Religion ~  Faith and Life 2
              Baltimore Catechism 0
              Celebrating the Liturgical year and Stories of the Saints
              Devotional Stories for Little Folks & Devotional Stories Too
             We'll also be preparing for First Communion, so I'm sure there'll be some projects :)
Science ~ Behold & See 2.  We've been using the Exploring Creation series with The Professor, but I 
             don't think it will hold Velcro Boy's interest.  In reviewing this, I think it's just perfect.  I'll also 
             supplement with other books and we'll be dong the experiments.
World History ~ Connecting with History book 2, he'll be doing the Beginner level.
American History ~ same as The Professor, just with books geared to his level.
Geography ~ Same and above, just doing a sticker book instead of a scrapbook and cooking projects!
Phonics ~ Reading Eggs
Writing with Ease ~ also level 1
Spelling ~ All About Spelling level 1
Art ~ Art Pac 1
          various projects I have around the house

Doodlebug ~ Kindergarten  (like the Professor, this kid is too smart)
Lucky little Doodlebug gets to walk the Alphabet Path (again)!!!!  I say again, because he tagged along when Velcro Boy walked it 2 years ago.  It's going to be so much fun (and work) and fun, but so worth it!
Math ~ Math U See Primer.  Since he already has a good grasp on the work in this level, I'm sure he'll fly
    through and move on to Alpha.
Religion ~ with Velcro Boy
Science ~ with Velcro Boy and alphabet themed reading
World History ~ with Velcro Boy
American History ~ with Velcro Boy (Doodlebug loves to read, so there's no getting rid of him when a book 
        is out)
Geography ~ with Velcro Boy
Phonics ~ Reading Eggs 
Handwriting ~ Catholic Heritage Handwriting level K 
Art ~ Glitter letters
           projects
          coloring pages (saints, virtues, and alphabet)
Alphabet Path ~ a new letter every week or so
          a Mrs. Applebee story
          An Alphabet of Catholic Saints
          My ABC Bible Verses
          different animals and topics each week based on the alphabet letter we're covering
          several kitchen projects

Pumpkin ~ 
learning to walk
learning to talk
learning to climb stairs
learning to dress himself
learning to feed himself
learning to handle a cup
learning not to eat the books!

2010-2011 School planning

I've been a bit very crazy busy lately planning for our new school.  I think I'm finally (?) done!  I'm sooooo happy!  We'll be going for 37 weeks, ending roughly July 23rd.  Obviously this is up to change :)
Ready?  Here you go...

~Our 3rd Grade year~

Grammar: Language of God level C
     3 times per week, 2 pages per day.  On the third day we'll only do 1 page, but I also found a Mad Libs
     Junior that looks like a lot of fun.  We'll work on those the third day.

Spelling:  My Catholic Speller level C
     3 times per week, 1 lesson per week.  We've already reviewed the first 5 lessons and he passed them all.
     I think we'll fly through this book as fast as the others.
     We'll alternate spelling lessons with Vocabulary lessons.

Vocabulary: We're still working on Scholastic's 240 Vocabulary Words 3rd Grade Kids need to Know.  Great series BTW.
     3 times per week, 1 lesson per week (or so).  We'll alternate with spelling.  Since we're starting halfway
     through the book, we'll finish it this year.

Latin:  Prima Latina
     2 times a week, 1 lesson every 3 days.  We started on this our first year of homeschooling, but didn't get
     too far before it became too much.  We'll try it again now that he's a bit older.

Art:  Art with a Purpose 1 & 2.
     2 times a week, 1 lesson per day.
     We're about halfway through level 1, so we'll finish it and complete level 2 this year as well.
     I also came across a cool website with art lessons.  We'll finish off the year there with some focus on
     Architecture (a favorite).

Geography:  We'll continue working through the states with the Discover America State by State series.  Another great series!
    2 times per week, 1 state every 2 weeks (some states we'll linger longer)
   This year we'll cover: 
4 Georgia
5 Connecticut
6 Massachusettes
7 Maryland
8 South Carolina
9 New Hampshire
10 Virginia
11 New York
12 North Carolina
13 Rhode Island
14 Vermont
15 Kentucky
16 Tennessee
17 Ohio
18 Louisiana

World History: We'll finish volume 1 of the Connecting with History series.  We covered the first 3 units last year, we'll cover the other 7 this year working twice a week.  We'll cover:
The Conquest of Canaan 1280-1220 BC
The Judges 1220-1050 BC
United Kingdom 1050-930 BC
Divisions of the Kingdom of Israel 930-722 BC
The Exile of the Israelites 722-538 BC
The Return to the Promised Land 538-430 BC
The Revolt of the Maccabees 175-63 BC
We will finish about 8 weeks before the end of our year.  I haven't decided if we'll start the second book in the series or just find something else interesting.  Maybe more science... :)


Piano: Learn and Master Piano.  We picked this up a while ago, but never started.  It looks like a great program.  We'll work on a new lesson every other week or so, depending on how long it takes him to get it.  He'll also practice several times a week.

Science:  We're still working on Exploring Creation with Astronomy.  This year we'll get through the asteroid belt, covering each planet, the sun and a few other topics.  We'll alternate this with The Way Things Work.  We'll spend more time with this than we did last year and we'll cover most of the book this year.  I'll supplement it with books from the library (and home) and some experiments and projects as well.  We'll also be working on a lapbook with astronomy.  Twice a week.

Map Skills:  Map Skills level C
     once a week, 2 pages per day

Music Appreciation:  I picked up Usborne Introduction to Music at a Scholastic book sale a while back.
     we'll cover about 5 pages per day once a week.   We'll listen to music appropriate to the topic of the day.

Art Appreciation:  M is for Masterpiece, an Art Alphabet
    once a week, alternating with music appreciation.  We'll cover 2 letters a week and study some specific
    topics:
    daVinci, Michelangelo, Matisse, Gaugin, Monet, Cassatt, Bierstadt, O'Keefe, Picasso, Rembrandt, Van
    Gogh, Homer.  We'll also take a trip to a local art museum, study painting techniques and photography
    with a focus on Ansel Adams.  We'll also study some architecture.

Math:  We switched from MCP math to Math-U-See this year.  I think it'll be a better fit for both boys.  Our speed through this depends on how fast he grasps the topics.  Hopefully we'll get through it this year.  4 times per week.

American History:   We made our may through the 1700's last year.  This year we'll cover the 1800's.  We'll work our way through:
Pioneer Days
Westward Expansion, we'll also cover Lewis and Clark
The Wild West and Explorers, the California gold rush and the Oregon Trail
Inventors (not isolated to this time frame, he's just showing interest)
Slavery and the Underground Railroad
Civil War
Transcontinental Railroad.
We'll do several projects as well as a lapbook on the 1800's.  Probably one on the Civil War too...

We'll be working 2 times per week


Religion:  Last year we used the Image of God series, the second grade book, and had fair success.  Some interest was expressed in doing something different...so I found different.  I stumbled over some resources here and there and found others...following the "rabbit trail", this is what I came up with.

4 days per week, extra for feast days that fall on non-school days

Baltimore Catechism level 1 tied together with stories from Angel Food for Boys and Girls, along with an activity from 100 Activities based on the Catechism of the Catholic Church once a week.  The other 3 days will consist of readings from the following books:
Devotional Stories for Little Folks
More Devotional Stories for Little Folks
Catholic Tales for Boys and Girls
More Catholic Tales for Boys and Girls
Rare Catholic Stories
St. Patrick's Summer Adventure Catechism
A Life of Our Lord for Children
The First Christians
Little Apostle on Crutches
Little Catechism on the Eucharist
Take it to the Queen
The Weight of a Mass.

These will be supplemented with various books about the saints, feast day activities, our Jesse tree and Jesus tree, Lenten activities, and Garden of the Good Shepherd (we might do weekly parties rather than an activity each day- it got to be too much toward the end).

I've mapped out the specific generalities of what we're going to do, but I'll write the specific daily lesson plans approximately 3-4 weeks at a time.  This worked really well last year, since things change and people get sick, etc.  We'll school for about 3-4 weeks, then take a week off.

It's been a lot of work, but I'm really excited about this coming year!