2017-2018 Educational Plans

Hi Everyone!

Happy New Year to everyone! New year; new school/educational year or whatever you want to call it. Happy autumn anyhow! The colors are right around the corner. The early trees down the road are already changing. Ccrrazy!

Here's what our clan has on tap this year: (this might be a long post, so I'll jump right in without too much chit chat right away)

Math: Singapore 6 and Singapore 2 
Seventh year with Singapore for us. It works. This is likely our last year with Singapore for the boys. I'm planning for them to do Pre-Algebra through Teaching Textbooks next year. Teaching Textbooks is an interactive computer curriculum. I checked out the placement tests on the website and the boys will be good to go for next year. Honestly, they aren't too far off right now.

History: RC History's Connecting with History; Volume IV  American History
I must put right history right behind Math. Oh, how I LOVE this program. I love that I get to learn just as much as the kiddos! This year our subjects are more integrated more than ever. It's definitely an American-themed year. Our program encompasses a great deal and honestly we could reach even further than we do. Family read-alouds from a spine, fiction, non-fiction, primary sources, audio selections, picture books for Nutmeg, independent reading for the boys, book report/review/summaries, writing project, hands-on project, vocabulary, geography and extensive mapping skills, and "history night" where the kids share what they learned from the unit (seven units this year). This weekend we jump into interactive history with the Baraboo River Rendezvous. Yay! The kids are stoked! I've got my eye on some interactive history events for next summer as well.

Reading: Phonics Pathways (Nutmeg), for the boys this will be integrated through our history, geography, and writing programs.

Writing:
IEW US History-Based Writing Lessons (boys), cursive book (B), handwriting book and copy work (Nutmeg), journals, written narrations, Easy Grammar, oral narrations. 
Spelling/handwriting/punctuation through studied dictation (boys):
Every week we write a verse from the following Sunday's Scriptural readings up on our chalkboard. Every morning during Morning Time we recite the verse(s) together. I use a worksheet maker from worksheetworks.com to make a worksheet with the verse as copy work (all three kids). I still have the boys practice handwriting but in addition they are also using it for spelling words and punctuation practice. On Friday I read the verse aloud to the boys and they write it out exactly. This is basically their spelling and punctuation test for the week.

Geography: Geography Through Literature by Beautiful Feet Books
This is a new one for us. This simple booklet studies American (and world) geography through four of Holling C. Holling's Caldecott Honor classics. I chose not to buy the maps included but printed off some maps made by gracious bloggers who also did not want to buy the maps.






Nature Study 

Nature walks and journals. We'll also being watching our bird feeder this winter and drawing the various birds in journal. The kids have already learned a number of our aviary guests by name.

Science: Apologia's Swimming Creatures of the Fifth Day
Apologia has always been a winner for us as well. Fifth or sixth year, I believe. Nutmeg has the Junior Notebooking Journal. I'm hoping that Nutmeg (due to her characteristic enthusiasm) will help keep me up to date with what supplies we need for experiments this year. I'm pretty sure I can count on her for this task.

Memory: 
"Morning Time" continues to be a fairly consistent routine for us, especially considering it includes Shakespeare. Mr. Sage is our big Shakespeare fan. I think he told me about 100 times that he wanted to do The Tempest this year. So tempest it is. I found plenty of resources to help me out with this. We don't have the assistance of our trusty book How to Teach Your Children Shakespeare because the author hasn't included The Tempest  in his selections. We sort of know the drill anyhow, so we are set to go. We've got our resources all lined up (many thanks to our AWESOME library system) and our memory selections chosen. This isn't part of memory but . . . in a couple weeks we are going to see our first Shakespearean play. Yipee!!  It is the first play we ever studied, A Midsummer Night's Dream.
  For our memory time we'll also work on Latin prayers, Latin vocab, science vocab, history flashcards, states/capitals, and review from memory work from previous years.

Art: Artistic Pursuits
This is our second year using this program. I am quite pleased with the set-up. It is user friendly, requires minimal preparation, and is well-rounded. I'd write more about it my bedtime approaches. Perhaps another time.

One lesson in Nutmeg's next book. Often the lessons
include picture study: looking carefully at a work of
art and discusses its merits.

Music: 
I've written up a simple, laid-back plan for us using Charlotte Mason's principles. "Composer Study" Every one to two months we'll begin a new composer. First we'll read some articles and books about the composer, listen to some online programs about this composer ("Classics for Kids" website), and then listen to works composed by each artist.

September/October: Robert and Clara Schumann and Brahms (they knew each other)
November: Handel
December: Tchaikovsky
January: Vivaldi
March/April: Haydn

Nutmeg is also going to try starting out with six to twelve months of piano with Hoffman Academy. I'm hoping one of the boys might jump on board as well.

Faith: Gen2Rev Storybook, My Path to Heaven (boys), and daily scriptures readings (audio)
Last but certainly not least, right?! Of course this is incorporated into everything we do. All good gifts come from above. God is the author of all (even math!), so we see the thumb print of Him in everything we observe and study.
   We start out our mornings with a prayer, reciting our weekly verse(s), and listening to the audio daily readings off the usccb website. Sometimes we watch the video reflections as well. I emailed the USCCB to tell them it would be super if they would record reflections for children as well. Big task but it doesn't hurt to ask.
     We alternate between the readings with the Gen2Rev Storybook  that we began last year. New to us is that we'll be introducing the boys to their own quiet devotional time in the morning. They each have their copy of My Path to Heaven (based on a traditional Ignatian retreat, for kids) to slowly work through and will record their thoughts in their devo journals. I'm only asking them to start with 10 minutes of this when they wake up each morning. Doable, I think.
     Nutmeg is starting her preparations for her big sacramental this year. I've found some excellent resources to work through together. It's going to be an wonderful year!

Homeschool Classes: 
Well, I was unsuccessful in convincing the boys to run on the cross country team this year. Maybe another year. It's such a great opportunity. The boys will be moving up to the middle school class this year, so they've got some different choices available to them this year. Last year the middle schoolers put on a play at a local high school. Wonderful! My boys have already guffawed at the idea. I'm hoping they'll have a change of heart when they see the other kids enjoying it.
   Our class list includes: Gym, Basic Training in Holiness, Geography, Choir, and Art.

Other:
Junior high group at church, downhill skiing with Dad, lap swimming (Sage is going to see if he can improve his skills enough to try out swim clinic next spring), and . . .  xc skiing with Mom. I hope, I hope, I hope!  My plan is to hit the ski swaps in November and December to see if I can affordably outfit one or two kids to begin learning how to cross country ski this winter. We've got a ski team around here if they find they like the sport.
     I'm not sure if I'm forgetting anything. Hmm. Maybe. One other possibility is an art class for Sage at University of Wisconsin-Baraboo. They've got some after-school art classes for school-age kids. Sage is interested in art and this might be possibility for him. Oh right and typing. We are using typing.com for typing practice this year.

Latin: Getting Started with Latin by William Linney
Almost forgot Latin.  We got bogged down with Latina Christiana last year and I'm not one to beat a dead horse (boy that sounds terrible doesn't it!). The reviews on this book and accompanying resources at his website were overwhelmingly favorable. These lessons are short and sweet. Just what we need. Plus, I think the boys can do this independently if needed. I also picked up a Latin/English Prayer CD for free courtesy of the ministry through the Boston Catholic Journal. What a generous ministry! I printed out a few of the prayers, covered them with contact paper, and tucked them into the seat pockets in the car. Then when we hop in the car we can spend a short time memorizing the prayers. We still use the flashcards and previously memorized prayers from Latina Christiana.