Ready for School...Home School!

I spent the past month organizing the entire homeschool year for each child and we're ready to start next week. Joseph and Grant are in 5th grade this year, Hans is in 2nd, and I'm starting Austin in Kindergarten even though his birthday is two weeks past the district's Kindergarten deadline. He is SO ready and it would be silly of me to hold him back when he's so eager to learn.

For all those who wonder how I run our homeschool, here is a run down of my plan for the year.

Joseph and Grant:

Math: Saxon 65 (5th grade book). Includes a daily lesson and homework.

Language Arts: Learning Language Arts through Literature (5th grade book). This covers reading, grammar, spelling, etc... We will be doing a daily lesson out of this book.

History: The Story of the World, Volume Two: The Middle Ages. We have studied American History every year since J and G were in Kindergarten, so this time I decided to focus on World History. The boys wanted to skip ancient civilizations and go straight to the time of knights and castles. We're already having a lot of fun with this curriculum (It looked too exciting to wait until next week!). The ancient civilizations will have to wait until next year.

Science: The Kid's Science Book. This year we will be focusing on light and physics. Our science lessons are every Tuesday and include lots of experiments.

Creative Writing: Just Write! A book that encourages young ones to write creatively through different writing exercises. Creative Writing lessons are every Wednesday.

Journal: Every Thursday the kids will write a journal entry. We have a tradition of binding their entries every year and the kids LOVE reading through their old journals.

Art and Music are pretty random. We do art projects whenever we feel like doing them!

Hans:

Math: Saxon 2 (2nd grade book). He does a lesson and homework three days a week (MWF). The other two days are for practicing math facts on the computer, through flash cards, or on his Mathshark electronic game.

Language Arts: This year my goal is to drive reading home for Hans. He's really good at sounding out his words, but my goal is to get him to read fluidly and enjoy the subjects of the books as he reads. We will continue working through the Explode the Code workbooks. He is currently in book 3 and the goal is to get through book five by the end of the year. We will also keep focusing on phonics and finish the Happy Phonics program this year, which includes spelling lists.

History: I Love America is a curriculum I used with Joseph and Grant when they were in Kindergarten. Hans missed out on it because the past two years he participated in an Early American History program that I used with Joseph and Grant. It's time to recycle this curriculum for Hans and Austin. We have a weekly lesson every Monday.

Science: The World God Made is another one that I used with Joseph and Grant before Hans was in school. Just like the above history program, it's time to recycle it for the younger kids. It covers the 7 days of creation and talks about the things in nature that relate to that day. For instance, water, land, sun, moon, stars, plants, animals, etc. Lessons are every Tuesday.

Journal: Hans will also write a journal entry every Thursday.

Austin:

Math: Saxon 1 (1st grade book). The first grade book starts out so simple, we just do a couple lessons a week to get about a third of the way through the book and finish the rest in first grade.

Language Arts: The goal with Austin is to get him sounding out words and reading basic beginning readers by the end of the year. This shouldn't be hard because he started sounding out some words last spring. He is starting the Explode the Code workbook primers. We haven't even formally started school and he already does several pages out of his workbook every day without anyone asking him to. We are also going to begin the Happy Phonics program this year.

History: Same as Hans, above.

Science: Same as Hans, above.

Austin won't start a journal until first grade.

We start doing our schoolwork around 9 a.m. and usually finish between 11 a.m. and noon. It goes by really quickly when you are working with each child one on one. They do their homework assignments during that time, so that means they get to play and be little boys for the rest of the day.

While the boys are doing school work, I keep Jennabee occupied with puzzles, coloring, and toys. The boys also take turns playing with her. Ada usually takes a nap during school time or plays with toys while sitting on the floor nearby. Nothing ever goes as smoothly as planned, but that's the way life is. Somehow we make it through the rough patches everyday and it all works out. I love teaching my kids and learning with them.

If you have any questions you want to ask me about homeschool, now is the time to fire away! I know a lot of people are curious about my decision to teach my kids at home. My next post is going to feature answers to "Frequently Asked Questions".