American History Plans

Painting by Benjamin West

I am not finished with the rest of my plans yet, but decided that I would just share what I have now and post more later. We are doing an overview of American History the rest of the year after deciding to drop MOH. I also found another Ancients program that just looks soooo good and decided we'll start the four year History cycle with that instead. The program we are going with (God willing!) is Heart of Dakota's: Hearts for Him through Time. The book choices are awesome and I think I need to really learn to just let the planning be done for me. With the amount of "meat" that is in HOD's "Hearts for Him" I don't think I will feel the need to add anything to it, which will save me time and time is going to be awesome next year since I am planning on teaching my dd to read.

Now as for this year, I am trying to just do a quick overview, but as most of you know, I tend to be a little over ambitious with my planning and scheduling. I am learning to find a happy-place with it and don't expect to get it all done anymore. Hallelujah! I just schedule what I would like to do, and then go with the flow. These plans don't feel like to much to me but hey, I don't know any better..lol.

History Plan for The Colonization Period:
(of course we may not get to all of these but I want to provide quite a few books and let my ds choose, hopefully he WILL get to them all):

Read Aloud:(from Google Books) " The Story of the 13 colonies" by Guerber(we'll read this aloud everyday until finished, after lunch) Goal is to finish it in 4 weeks. (about 11-17 pages per day)

Independent Daily Reading for Big A:

The Lost Colony of Roanoke by Jean Fritz
Roanoke: the lost colony: and unsolved mystery from history by Jane Yolen & Heidi Yolen Stempie
Squantos Journey by Joseph Brushec
You wouldn't want to be an American Colonist: a settlement you'd rather not start by Jacquline Morley
If you sailed on the Mayflower in 1620 by Ann Mcgovern
Who's saying what in Jamestown by Jean Fritz

Just for fun. DVD's
Who's that stepping on Plymouth Rock DVD
Drive Through History- American History
America's explorers and pioneers-Dvd

Handicrafts/Art/cooking
weaving found here
tin work out of pie plates
Cooking- johnny cakes, new england cookies also trying some of the foods from here.
drawing/painting silhouettes

Composer-
William Billings
His story is very tragic and we are looking forward to learning more about him.
Here is a sample one of his hymns called "Jesus Wept" and another that is called "An American Hymn"


Artist-
Benjamin West
Biography and obituary found here

Article from The Pennsylvania Magazine of History (google books)about Benjamin West's family

Some books about him that we'll be reading:
Benjamin West and His Cat Grimalkin by Marguerite Henry
The Boy Who Loved to Draw: Benjamin West by Barbara Brenner


We started reading The Story of the 13 colonies yesterday and so far Big A loves it! I'll post our science plans soon....

Plans for our 3rd term -

Ever look into the mind of a home school mom......that is what it looks like...........
I have been working on our 3rd term of school for the past few days and thought I would share what we will be doing for the last 12 weeks of our school year focusing on our main subjects in this post. I will share my plan for History, Science and the extras throughout the week as I finish planning them. I hope to make the rest of our year flow better with shorter lessons ( by setting time limits), reading good books, and incorporating more arts and crafts while letting the little ones tag along.

Math- Daily flashcard drill of the basics- addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. We will also continue with Rod and Staff and finish about 3/4 of the book. We are beginning chapter 9 this week and will just continue with one lesson a day. We've had to stop several times to go back over things that seemed to be forgotten.

Bible- Big A is continuing with his study of the book of Acts with Rod and Staff Bible Reader and nurture series (BNRS). I do plan on changing some of the way we are doing this and for the most part will be dropping the workbook. We will do some of the activities in them (including mapping Paul's journeys) but I am not going to require ALL of the work to be done as I once was. I want him to enjoy his study and not be burdened down by the busywork.

Spelling- There are about 10 lessons(starting lesson 24) left in his R&S workbook and Big A will finish this a little earlier than the rest of his subjects.

Grammar, narration, poetry, picture study- All of these are covered lightly in Big A's Language Lessons for the Elementary Child. He is on lesson 98 and will continue with about 2 lessons a day to finish this book in June.

Penmanship- Big A is starting to understand cursive writing and is continuing to work hard at learning how to write it. I don't know if it's his being left handed or just trying to still fine tune those fine motor skills that weren't mastered in preschool- 1st grade in Public School *rolls eyes*, but he continues to struggle with writing. I think there has been some improvement though and am happy with the progress he has made.

Reading- This term I am going to have him reading various American History books and some character training type books. I will share the American History books in a later post.


I'll share the rest of my plans later this week for History, Science and the extras. Have you posted your plans for the rest of the year? I'd love to see them!

Nearing the end of our second term of the school year

Here are my thoughts as we have only one week left before we begin our third and last term of this school year (we have three terms of 12 weeks each, you can see our schedule here). I do think we are going to go a little beyond the ending date I have there just to finish some more of our history up but other than that we are right on track for the most part.

Here's how our 2nd term has gone:

Math- Biggest A seems to really enjoy doing math. We are going to finish about 3/4 of his book from R&S this year. He will have mastered a lot of his math facts including long division, multiplying and dividing fractions. He also has learned how to accurately measure things around the house from windows for curtains and measuring in baking and cooking. I also have him helping at the grocery store to add in some living math where I can.

Bible- He finished his study on John and recently started the book of Acts. Even though he has learned a great deal with R&S BNRS this year, I will not be returning to it next year. We have something else in store but will explain that in another post later. I felt safe going with a workbook for checking for reading comprehension this year but do not enjoy it at all. I may decide to only have him do certain parts of it in term three and just add more discussion and narration. I am feeling more led that way anyways...

Read Alouds:
We have done too little reading aloud. This next term we are going to read more instead of making sure the workbooks get done.


Grammar & Spelling:
We got rid of R&S English. My ds just wasn't retaining anything. R&S has a lot of oral drill and unfortunately my ds is a visual learner with some auditory processing issues. He has been working in his Language Lessons for the Elementary child though and I have been having him do a grammar worksheet here and there for review and to aid in retention.

He is zipping along in his R&S spelling another one of his strong subjects. Next year will be less listy and more dictation.


History:
This has been a difficult subject because I tend to over plan and if I don't have a plan, well we just dont do it. Weird I know. We are moving along nicely now, but the beginning of the term was hard. I do know we'll finish this book (using it as a read aloud with a few projects thrown in here and there) and it will give a great biblical overview of the ancient times.

Science:
Biggest A loves science..he is a self started when it comes to this subject and in this term I just have let him go. I haven't sat him down to fill in a workbook or even made do anything really scheduled. He is drawn to the sciences and I am trying to provide whatever I can to encourage that. He's been on a "weather" kick for most of this year so we bought him a few things for Christmas that he uses daily. The weather kit we bought has a ton of projects including making your own rain gauge (that he checks everyday) and a weather journal (that he writes in everyday). We also got him this weather pocket guide that he takes it with him wherever we go to check on cloud formations and the like. Right now he is showing an interest in how magnets work so we are going to start looking into that. We are also reading through Apologia Astronomy and notebooking from that.

All of our extras just have been done here and there, nothing really scheduled so I want to make sure I get them in more next term also (if I could just pull away from all of the "workbookish" stuff we'd have time ;) I am going to spend the next week scheduling in a composer study, some poetry and more art! We NEED it this time around! I also know that with Spring on its way, we are going to be spending A LOT more time outdoors so my review of our next term will look much different than this one (can we say nature notebooks anyone?)


Time is FLYING this year! I am already working on our plan for next year! I am so excited to share with you what we are going to be using (God willing) and a back up plan soon to come should that not be economically feasible ;P

Preschool activity rotation

Having two little ones and trying to homeschool a 4th grader has been challenging to say the least. I have always loved the idea of activity bags, centers, and just plain getting messy for little ones (yes, I am the type of Mom that doesn't mind letting her kids play in the mud) and have often found that the messier the project the more fun it tends to be, although I don't look forward to the clean up ;p

I sat down and wrote out a rotation of activities I would like my little ones to be doing while I am busy with cleaning or schooling my 4th grader. Here's what it looks like for my 3 yr old( some are appropriate for the 1 yr old as well). Included are some activities for fine motor development and life skills. For the most part we will fit all of the activities listed into each day. Each of them will probably get her attention for about 30 mins (more or less) and I can use that time to teach a math lesson or get a room cleaned etc. The one yr old will be another post..lol...he can play with legos etc, but at this point he is just mama's tag along and hangs out in his highchair or on the floor near wherever I am working for now.


Monday:

• playdoh with cookie cutters, plastic knives, rolling pin, etc
  
• Legos
• Lacing blocks
• "wash" the windows (give the 3 yr old a spray bottled with water and a rag)

Tuesday:

• Paint (watercolors or tempera)
• wooden blocks
• gallon sized ziploc with 3 oz dixie cups and assorted beans to sort.
  
• "sweep" the floors

Wednesday:

• Scissors and scrap paper (let her just cut away!)
• Finger paint with pudding or washable paints
• Lauri A-Z puzzle
• "fold" her baby's clothes
  

Thursday:

• Chalk and chalkboard or dark construction paper
• shaving cream on table (just spray, spread and let her draw in it)
• Make cornstarch "goo"
• "cook" in her kitchen or knead bread dough (just dough I've made up from ours)

Friday:

• Free drawing with big brother
• Various Flash cards (matching, sorting, or just looking at)
• Bean bags thrown into a pie plate ( I plan on sewing some of these soon)
• "Wash" dishes in the kitchen sink (fill wash tub with plastic cups, bowls and let her go for it!)

Saturday:

• Work on family photo album with Mom or make her own scrapbook
  
• Bake something with Mom from her R&S cookbook
• Help pull weeds from the garden and harvest food
• "clean" her room

If you have any other activities that your preschooler enjoys, please share!

Beginning of the week ramblings

This week we are back at it. We had a nice break last week only to return to the new week with sickness . All 3 of the babes have colds (hopefully that are short lived) and strangely just came out of nowhere on Friday after we left a swim party. I guess we'll just move about our day as normal as possible.
This week we are going to be doing some things that are new and different and cutting back on things that need to be done more carefully and less hurried. The first thing that I have changed up is our English curriculum. After reading "A Charlotte Mason Companion" over the summer I have found myself really disliking the approach I was taking with mostly textbooks. The amount of work in the text was becoming a burden and I really don't feel like I should be trying to instill proper usage of grammar at this point in his education, that will be something we hit harder in Middle School when he is able to retain it better. I would like for my ds at this age to learn how to narrate what he has read, make up a story for the things he sees or hears, and most of all, be able to tell about it in his own words, whether it be orally or written. We will work on all of those things with our new English Language Lessons for the Elementary Child Vol 1.
This will cover grammar, copy work, narration (oral and written), picture study, and poetry all in one. The lessons are short (anywhere from 5-15 minutes) and seems to be comparable to our Rod and Staff English in Scope and Sequence which will be set to the side for now. This week will be a trial week for us and I will know by the end of the week whether or not I'll shelf Rod and Staff for the rest of the year, or if I will add it in to our school a few times a week as a supplement to the Queens. More than likely it will be shelved. It just doesn't fit our homeschool anymore.

4th Grade Plans Completed!

I know I posted some of these not too long ago, but I am posting them again in detail and will post them on my sidebar for future reference:

4th Grade:


Main Subjects:

Math (R&S) Daily + Flashcards for daily drill

R&S BNRS/ Bible(R&S- 2 lessons/week) Mon-Thurs
Early Church history/Theology- Friday in place of BNRS as an independent read (DS will read The Bible Smuggler, The Beggar's Bible, and Hero Tales) and will also do written narration after reading,

Spelling/Dictation- He will do spelling 4 days a week this year on Mon-part A, Tues-B, Wed-C, Fri-test and dictation (Scripture memory verse of the week)
Copywork/penmanship- Mon- R&S penmanship (cursive), Tues-poetry (copywork), Wed- His name (cursive), Thurs-spelling Words (cursive)

English- (R&S) Mon-Thurs , Supplemental R&S worksheets if need review, if not then letter to family/friend and mad libs or phonics game on computer

Ancient History- Mystery of History Volume 1 as a read aloud, Book of Centuries (timeline) and mapwork. Any projects called for will be done with dad. Read aloud from Bible Chronologically starting in Genesis during Family Worship in the evening. Ancient read alouds and supplements (see family circle time)

Science/nature studies- Apologia Astronomy as a read aloud and keeping an Astronomy notebook. Projects/experiments done as called for in book. Also, interest led science read alouds (during family circle time) and nature walks throughout the week (gardening at the moment so they will participate until the winter or late fall) Also daily weather reports and keeping a chart of the moon phases.

Health/PE: R&S Health (1/2 lesson every Friday) and Whole Health( a curriculum I am testing for a friend) will be discussed throughout the day as we prep meals and more formally once a week. Of course outside playtime daily!

Family Circle Time:
Daily:
Recite pledge, Sing Hymn (not sure how often we'll learn a new one yet?), Recite scripture memory verse (from ancient OT readings), Habit/Character training readings (wee lambs, Wisdom and the Millers, Little Jewel Books, Big thoughts for little people, etc),
Art/ Picture Study: Art pacs (for drawing)on Fridays, Picture study (one artist every 6 weeks) talked about and shown on Monday and displayed.
Music/instruments/composer study: Music (listening to composer during art)Fridays, Composer books checked out if they are interested, piano (alfred books) ALL on Friday
Poetry- Memorize one poem from A Childs Garden of Verses or other books (recite daily) 1 every 6 weeks.

This is how our read alouds are going to be scheduled: (1 ch a week from each)
Monday- DD's (3) choice of book
Tuesday- American History Read Aloud (starting with explorers)
Wed- Interest led science read aloud (right now its weather)
Thurs- Ancient read Aloud (starting with The Childrens Homer ,Carmi in Judea,)
Friday- Ds's (4th grade) choice ( i will let them pick from a few books)

We are going to be using alot of time to learn habit/character training throughout the day. I am also going to have a half hour set aside for handicrafts.

NOW to get my MOTH schedule and cleaning list printed....I will be ready to go starting Monday. Even though we started school 2 weeks ago it seems like we haven't gotten much accomplished....so I am happy to at least have a plan. I am going to enter this all into my corebook tomorrow (I already have them printed and in a binder).

Let's try this again.

So you all remember what happened last week right...well today is really the first day of school. We are going to be starting out slow with just the basics and will ease back into the rest when our routines are more in place. We are going to intergret alot of Charlotte Mason's methods in our school this year but as you can see we will still be using a textbook approach with our 3r's along with having alot of fun with preschool.

4th grade:

• Rod and Staff Math (daily)


• Rod and Staff English (4 x week)


• Rod and Staff Bible Reader and Nurture Series (including workbooks) (2 1/2 lessons a week)


• Rod and Staff Spelling (3 days a week w/dictation once a week)


• Rod and Staff Penmanship (1 day a week) with copywork assigned on 0ther days

We are also using Rod and Staff for health. For science we are using Apologia Astronomy along with some interest- led ,science based read alouds. As for History, we will be doing a few things. First we are using Mystery of History Volume 1 for ancient history. I am also planning on adding in some living books/read alouds for early American history and possibly some notebooking or lapbooks.

I am also adding in some other misc things like typing (using typing instructor and various free typing lessons online), learning hymns, picture and composer studies, art using artpac, and music.,...I'll post more on those as we come to them.

I am also loosely starting preschool with my 3 1/2 year old tommorow...but I will write a seperate post on that :)

This year is going to be very busy and exciting! We are using a couple of different approaches and I feel like they are getting a great, well rounded education.