Every year I try to have my year planned out by the April and May sales. Every year I find myself in July or August with catalogues scattered across the dining room table with lists, tabs, and bent corners of magazines everywhere. This year I don’t have that wild-eyed, hair standing on end feeling I have in the past. This year I did better than I ever have but still I have a long way to go.
I only have some of my material bought and ready to go. Right after conventions season I got sick once more and landed in the hospital. That’s why the blog has been so quiet. I used that time for good though thanks to Deb Bell’s planner from Apologia. I have almost all my needs listed. Now its time to buy the books, art supplies, and a list a mile long of other great things for this coming year.
This year we are homeschooling from high school down to 1st grade. It chokes me up a bit to no longer have a preschooler or kindergartener. My babies are growing up.
This year I am changing how I generally homeschool. I have been sick quite a bit this year. In and out of the hospital leaving my wonderful hubby to try to keep the ship afloat. We felt that it would be best if I had a solid backbone of textbook/workbooks to our homeschooling. I am going to outline the general structure of our homeschooling year rather than bog you down with all the extras I plan.
Here’s the Laurie family 2013-14 year!
Science: (honesty note: Apologia is a sponsor of my blog because I love their product so much.)
Elementary Apologia science text/lapbook/journals (yet again)
Middle School- Apologia General Science audio/journal/text
High School- Apologia Physical Science audio/journal/text
Math:
Elementary: Horizons workbooks
Middle School: Student 1: Math-U-See Multiplication then to Division
Student 2: Math-U-See division (almost done with it) then a pre-Algebra course TBD
High School: Geometry (Calvert)
Language Art and Literature:
Elementary: Horizons Phonics, Pathway Readers
Middle School: BJU Language Arts
High interest books in enlarged print.
High School: Institute for Excellence in Writing or Alpha Omega/BJU, along with a series of literature books and projects.
Spelling:
Here is one area I have to look into more deeply. Recommendations so far have been Spelling Power, Sequential Spelling, and All About Spelling.
Writing:
Reason for Handwriting at the level appropriate for each child OR use copywork with highlighted paper/ raised line paper
Foreign Language:
Japanese (program??)
Fine Arts:
Everyone gets one semester of music appreciation and music basics.
All children able will have guitar lessons for at least 1 semester.
High school: Multiple theater shows and work or acting
All children will be using Creating A Masterpieces (honesty note: I will be review some of their material)
Lapbooks:
A Journey Through Learning has a great new line of special needs lapbooks that I can’t wait to start with the kids. (honesty note: A Journey Through Learning is a sponsor of my blog.)
Bible:
All kids have their own bible and we will read daily as a family.
Right now I don’t have a specific bible study we will be using.
Character and Life Skills:
Lapbooks if I can find the right ones or I’ll make my own! 🙂
Teen Planner from Apologia to encourage independence
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As you can see I have a path laid out for the family but it’s not a strictly structured year. I will have the lessons in general laid out but I keep lots of room for extras. A run to the library can send us down a rabbit trail for a week or more. That is what I LOVE about homeschooling.
On the other hand if one of the children experiences a regression or a behavior comes up that we need to address I can stop academics immediately and focus on the problem. Our flexible schedule lets us fit in the doctor appointments. Deal with any therapies needed.
I just read over my list and looked at my library shelf… reality is knocking on the side of my head saying BUDGET! <sigh> Okay so I will be bargain shopping and I will be happy to let you know any good sales, deals, and all around good stores as I find them.
A great place to shop online is Lamp Post Homeschooling Store (button on the right side, they are a sponsor) I have bought material from them and received the package promptly in great condition.
Another place is Queen Homeschooling is a great place to go for Charlotte Mason style homeschooling material. I am thinking about buying Life of Fred through them if we go that route after the current math books are done.
Homeschooling for us is learning freedom! We homeschool all year round 6 weeks on 1 week off. We are going to take the month of August off for a special project this year. We also take a couple of week of near Christmas and Easter. Other than that we take the slow and steady pace and enjoy every step of the way!
Here’s where to find the linky and lots of great ideas for curriculum choices!
I agree with you about Apologia. It’s the only science we’ve used beginning in Elementary.
We have a dd in elementary with special needs. I’ve found some wonderful Life Skills workbooks to teach her the use of money. They may have other workbooks for other topics, but we’re only using their money now. Market Math is the one we use. I found these at our local ACE, teachers’ supply store. Here’s a link: http://www.rempub.com/life-skills?page=1
The curriculum planning for my dd with special needs has become so easy for me since we started using Time4Learning.com. All the planning is done and the progress reports make record-keeping easier. I only supplement with reading,copy work and some hands-on science. She loves the animated and interactive lessons. Her fave subject is Language Arts. But the math has been helpful because when she gets an answer wrong, it will explain it in different ways to help her understand.
I wanted to also say that I like the lapbooks you mentioned and I’m checking them out right now at their site. I’m not very crafty, but I see at their site that they give great tips and basically outline everything I need to know. I think this will be something I will add to our homeschool. It will help her with fine motor skills among other things.
Thanks for sharing what you use! I’ll let you know how it works for us.
Hi Heather, love your blog! My son (going into 11th grade) used Irrashai for Japanese last year and will continue with it this year. There is a 30 minute video for each lesson, a textbook to read and a workbook, plus you can print out worksheets that go with the video. He’s really enjoyed it, usually there’s an element of humor involved though it can be corny at times too. Here’s a link for more info: http://www.gpb.org/irasshai The videos are all free, and I got the books from Amazon. I chose this over Rosetta Stone for this son because he does better with direct, incremental methods, and I’m not sure if RS would be a good approach in his case because it’s more discovery-oriented. If your son has a Nintendo DS, there is also a program for that–My Japanese Coach. My son uses it occasionally just for reinforcement, but mainly uses Irrashai. Hope you find something that’s a good fit for you!
You have some gems there I’ve been researching for my daughter’s high school curriculum. I can’t wait to see how they continue to work out for you.
Thank you for the great ideas! I will be looking into them.
God bless
Heather L