Last Day of School!

Drawing by Big A of his character "Super Doggy"

Friday was our last day of school! Not officially in terms of the "school year", because I decided this year we'll school year round, but last day , nonetheless. With the new baby coming mid-Dec. we'll need to get a head start for days being taken off. Big A's 4th grade curriculum is done and we are going to shift to doing some "Summer Fun School". There are some things I would like to work on with him before he starts his 5th grade curriculum in August , and there are some things that I would have liked to do that we were unable to get to for one reason or another. My main focus this summer , however, will be habit training, tying heart strings, and just having fun with each other..so all that I plan has room for change :)

The plan is to start Tomorrow ,June 1st, with our version of "Summer Fun School", take all of July off, and then restart back up in August. The best part about it all? I will be using things that I have acquired for free over the last couple of years and not buying a single thing. We area also utilizing our library for all of the reading programs that he is involved in along with what we have on hand. I'll share the links and what we are using as I get them better organized. What? You all don't have a "general" homeschool folder on your computer that has like 200 PDF's from various free sites? LOL .

So far this is what I am planning. This week is really a week off but thought that these would be simple enough and fun enough to not seem like work :)

For Everyone: (Family Circle Time)

Daily Discoveries June Thematic Learning Activities for EVERY DAY
(this was a free download from Currclick during their Mothers Day giveaway! It contains a theme for everyday....we intend on doing some if not all of it everyday!

Wisdom and the Millers- read aloud

Character/Habit Training Focus- (I am waiting to order Laying down the Rails from Simply Charlotte Mason, but until I do, we are working on getting our morning routines down this first week.)
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Big A things will be done fairly independently and will start with what I have listed first. I doubt we'll get to these this week (other than the Bible Reading and summer reading program readings) but this is the basic plan we'll follow this summer.....

Bible: In addition to a study of Matthew that we are doing as a family, Big A will be reading his Bible daily. He will also be memorizing verses for his Sunday School class and copywork of scripture.

Reading: Big A is signed up for the various Summer Reading Programs that I posted here. Just for the month of June he will be reading 8 books for one program. I am not sure what the requirements are for the other programs just yet, but my guess is he will be reading one book a day that is grade level or higher of his choice. I am also having one assigned book (Daniel Boone) for the month, and at the end we will have a summer movie fun day (popcorn, ice cream sundaes) because our great friends at the Laurel Wreath sent us the first season of Daniel Boone to watch! Thanks!

Cursive: Though Big A is writing some things in cursive, I would like for his penmanship to be much neater and for him to take more care with it. He will be doing some free copywork that I have download from the various free downloads from currclick.com and other sources.

Copywork: "A Classical Reading and Writing Copybook covering The Westminster Shorter Catechism", various other cursive copywork programs that I have.

Grammar: Editing his own stories from books that he has been writing. Making sure his grammar is correct in his copywork. I may also throw in some dictation to get him used to more than 2 sentences to prepare him for next year's curriculum.

Math: Flashcards, math bingo, and computer games just to keep his math facts fresh in his mind. Charting our gardens progress, seeing how long it will take for certain things to be harvested etc.

He may get to some of that....We may drop some of it. I am trying to Simplify and we'll see how he does with those first....or I may change my mind. We'll see after I am done organizing my stuff ;p

So for now, that is the sorta organized plan....subject to change as I see fit. What are you doing this summer? Are you out or are you still continuing along?