The boys are taking it easy today and the two little ones are playing nicely so I am getting our school calendar planned out. I can really only do now through the end of 2013 since we won't know until January what the husband's vacation will be. As of now, our OFFICIAL school year will start July 29th and end May 30th. That includes 3 weeks off in September, 2 weeks off at Thanksgiving, 3 weeks off for Christmas, and an undecided week off for spring break. I've also looked up all the one day student holidays our local school district has and written them off our calendar as well so if the opportunity arises, they can spend some time with their friends. If not, we'll work those days, too. I anticipate that we'll do some school time in June and earlier in July, too, when the boys get bored or complain about it being too hot. I would like for us to be year round but I really want to be flexible during the summer months. Any weeks we do before the official start day will get taken off later in the school year whenever James gets time off. We just need to be flexible for his vacation time and still get a minimum of 36 weeks of school time in.
I am really enjoying the Debra Bell Ultimate Homeschool Planner! It is really making it easy to see the year at once and get everything planned out.
Photo by Chunky Monkey Photography
Sunday, May 19, 2013
Wednesday, May 15, 2013
3rd/6th Grade Plans
We are wrapping this school year up next week! Our first year of homeschool down! Woo-hoo! I've already got most of their 3rd and 6th grade curricula ordered and some of it has already arrived. We are making one big change so far. This year, the boys shared one core from Sonlight (Core D: American History, Part 1). This was mostly done out of fear... I feared I would not be able to do two completely different lesson plans while managing a preschooler and a 1 year old. Also, it saved us money. The change? We are splitting them up. I don't regret putting them together but I do feel like Nelson would benefit from being more challenged which would be too challenging for Henry.
Henry is going to go back one to Core B+C. This will give him an introduction to world history. He is moving up to 3rd grade readers and language arts (also through Sonlight) and Singapore Primary Mathematics 3. He started the math this week and will likely work on it through the summer. He went ahead and started his next level of Handwriting Without Tears (cursive), too.
Nelson is skipping Core E and moving up to Core F. This includes language arts and readers as well as history of the eastern hemisphere. He is moving up to Singapore Primary Mathematics 6 which we also started this week. It has pre-algebra which I love!
I am still undecided on science. I think they will be sharing science again. If so, we'll start Exploring Creation with Botany from Apologia and move on to Zoology. If I seperate them, I'll have Nelson do Sonlight's Core F Science which is human anatomy. You can get it customized for boys or girls. He is getting to the age where I think anatomy would be good for him... you know, with puberty coming up and all. Pardon this interruption but... Oh my! I really cannot believe my husband and I have to start thinking about puberty and all the talks that come with that. Where has time gone? James has had a few small talks with Nelson but not ALL the specifics yet. Back to curriculum. For P.E., they play sports when they are in season (baseball and basketball and sometimes football). Outside of that, we get lots of outdoor playtime, bike riding, nature walks, and when the weather or heat don't allow for it, we do an excercise video together. The one we like the most is the Advocare Workout Series - Can You 24? What I like about it is, each routine is only 24 minutes but we all FEEL it, you can watch the instructions on how to do each move before you start the workout which is GREAT for kids and clumsy adults like me, there are different levels and many different routines, and you can do one routine or do an hour of them or anything in between. (shameless plug - I'm a distributor so that link will take you to my order page. I wouldn't recommend it if I didn't believe in it!)
We are still on the fence with electives. Music lessons? Foreign language? I don't know. They will definitely do things like that in later years but right now they do so many life skills with their dad on his days off and they will be learning farm life as an "elective" now that we have our land. That may be it for this school year.
The boys are both interested in doing school work throughout the summer but we are undecided on official year round school or traditional school calendar. We may just do school work when they feel like it during the summer... you know, when it's blistering hot outside and we're bored is being said... and just get a little ahead. Or we may plan out an actual year round schedule. I don't know yet. We are definitely taking the month of September off so we will at least be starting the official school year early.
Soooo..... there you have it. Our plan for 3rd and 6th grades!
Oh! I almost forgot! I bought everything through Sonlight and Apologia last year. This year I shopped around and found great prices on our math curriculum at Love to Learn. They have great shipping prices and I received the order quickly. I will also be ordering Henry's next handwriting book from there. I found Nelson's complete Core F used and it worked out really well! I saved money and everything was in great shape when it arrived.. like new! The previous owner made copies so I recieved all the original consumables too. Check out Homeschool Classifieds to see if you can find what you need! Just be sure to communicate with the seller and ask questions to make sure you'll be getting what you need. Amazon is an authorized seller of Apologia and you can get free shipping through amazon so that is where I bought our Botany books.
I would love to hear what your plans are for the next school year and where you do your school shopping! So leave a comment below! :) Happy Homeschooling!
Henry is going to go back one to Core B+C. This will give him an introduction to world history. He is moving up to 3rd grade readers and language arts (also through Sonlight) and Singapore Primary Mathematics 3. He started the math this week and will likely work on it through the summer. He went ahead and started his next level of Handwriting Without Tears (cursive), too.
Nelson is skipping Core E and moving up to Core F. This includes language arts and readers as well as history of the eastern hemisphere. He is moving up to Singapore Primary Mathematics 6 which we also started this week. It has pre-algebra which I love!
I am still undecided on science. I think they will be sharing science again. If so, we'll start Exploring Creation with Botany from Apologia and move on to Zoology. If I seperate them, I'll have Nelson do Sonlight's Core F Science which is human anatomy. You can get it customized for boys or girls. He is getting to the age where I think anatomy would be good for him... you know, with puberty coming up and all. Pardon this interruption but... Oh my! I really cannot believe my husband and I have to start thinking about puberty and all the talks that come with that. Where has time gone? James has had a few small talks with Nelson but not ALL the specifics yet. Back to curriculum. For P.E., they play sports when they are in season (baseball and basketball and sometimes football). Outside of that, we get lots of outdoor playtime, bike riding, nature walks, and when the weather or heat don't allow for it, we do an excercise video together. The one we like the most is the Advocare Workout Series - Can You 24? What I like about it is, each routine is only 24 minutes but we all FEEL it, you can watch the instructions on how to do each move before you start the workout which is GREAT for kids and clumsy adults like me, there are different levels and many different routines, and you can do one routine or do an hour of them or anything in between. (shameless plug - I'm a distributor so that link will take you to my order page. I wouldn't recommend it if I didn't believe in it!)
We are still on the fence with electives. Music lessons? Foreign language? I don't know. They will definitely do things like that in later years but right now they do so many life skills with their dad on his days off and they will be learning farm life as an "elective" now that we have our land. That may be it for this school year.
The boys are both interested in doing school work throughout the summer but we are undecided on official year round school or traditional school calendar. We may just do school work when they feel like it during the summer... you know, when it's blistering hot outside and we're bored is being said... and just get a little ahead. Or we may plan out an actual year round schedule. I don't know yet. We are definitely taking the month of September off so we will at least be starting the official school year early.
Soooo..... there you have it. Our plan for 3rd and 6th grades!
Oh! I almost forgot! I bought everything through Sonlight and Apologia last year. This year I shopped around and found great prices on our math curriculum at Love to Learn. They have great shipping prices and I received the order quickly. I will also be ordering Henry's next handwriting book from there. I found Nelson's complete Core F used and it worked out really well! I saved money and everything was in great shape when it arrived.. like new! The previous owner made copies so I recieved all the original consumables too. Check out Homeschool Classifieds to see if you can find what you need! Just be sure to communicate with the seller and ask questions to make sure you'll be getting what you need. Amazon is an authorized seller of Apologia and you can get free shipping through amazon so that is where I bought our Botany books.
I would love to hear what your plans are for the next school year and where you do your school shopping! So leave a comment below! :) Happy Homeschooling!
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