School starts today and this year I am ready and excited. I planned early and got everything organized. I need to make up for last year.
We had a lot of chaos in our lives. We moved three times and one move was to San Antonio, TX and back to Martinsville. Glad to be back and ready to make this school year great. JEM is starting 5th grade. She is getting so grown up.
I’m continuing to use the The Well Trained Mind as my guide for school this year and have everything all planned out.
I use Microsoft Word to make my “Homeschool Curriculum Plan” which is a list of all the subjects, with the books and short how to information, I will use for the year. Here is my list, (most is from the The Well Trained Mined by Jessie Wise and Susan Wise Bauer (I think this is the first edition):
Curriculum Guide–The Well Trained Mind by Jessie Wise and Susan Wise Bauer, Teacher resources pg. 279
Logic-3 hrs a week -Logic puzzles, Mind Benders and Red Herrings
Math-45-60 min. day Saxon Math 65, How math works and other library books
History-Ancients 5000 B.C.- A.D. 400 using Kingfisher History Encyclopedia, and Library resources,
- outline sections
- mark dates on time line
- map work
- written summaries
Language:
- Spelling-15 min. Spelling Connections 5
- Grammar-40min. Voyages in English 4
- Reading-30 min. Structured reading-Ancients 5000 BC-AD400 / 60 min. free reading
Writing-30-60 min. daily:Writing Strands level 3 and 4 three days, dictation twice week.
Science-1 hr 30 min. two days week-Biology, Eyewitness books, Janice Van Cleaves Biology for every kid
Latin-3 hrs week-Latin Christiana I and II
Religion-10-15 min. day-Seton Religion 5rd grade
Art– 1-2 hrs week -Art skills using- Drawing with Children, by Mona Brooks, study Ancient art history
- Read about artists from history
- Put birth and death dates on history time line
- write short biographical sketch
- Look at art, read about art, and color the art studying
Music-1-2 hrs week-books from library, Piano-Lessons with Grandma
We use a Microsoft Excel worksheet to keep track of what was done each week and has been a great way to teach JEM how to use Excel. She is able to edit the worksheet adding different fonts and colors to the subjects and information she enters.
She gets pretty creative and has also added shapes to each subject day to color in when she has finished the work for that day.
We just got Microsoft Office 7 and there are quite a few new things and differences than the 2003 version so we are both learning how to use it. She knows more than I do and shows me new tricks all the time.
Like the little stars. She showed me how to make them 3D with a shadow behind them. I never used that tool before. She just experiments and clicks on stuff to figure it out. Says the undo button is always right there if she needs it. Here is one of her schedules:
Adobe Master Collection is another wonderful program suite that she has learned to use just by playing around with. She used it to make her 4-H posters this year. The internet is a great place to find the answers to how to stuff.
When we wanted to learn how to make flash projects we just You Tubed it and sure enough about a hundred or more videos came up showing us how to do it. She has made several stick people movies with backgrounds and everything.
We even learned how to scan a sketch and draw over the top and color it in. I only put flat color on the drawing but she used different gradients, shadows, lighting and made the picture look really cool. She is my very creative and eager learner.
My son J was too, but has changed over the years. He is 16 now and a different story. A very long story. He and I at the last minute, decided that going back to school would be the best thing for him.
We just haven’t been able to homeschool peacefully for the last few years and so before our relationship gets any worse we decided to part ways when it comes to school . I’m so sad but I have to let him go and do what he has to do. He starts tomorrow on a Tuesday.
I almost for got my little MJ. She would be so sad if I left her out. She is 3 and will be homeschooling too of course. She gets so excited when we talk about school. I’ll ask JEM a question like “For school tomorrow do you want to…” and she chimes in wanting to know about her school too. So cute.
I set her next to sissy at the dining room table with her markers, scissors, crayons, glue and preschool books so she can do school too. I don’t have an official plan for her on paper. We have been doing school all the time she just doesn’t know it.
I did get her some special things when we got sissy her school supplies. I found a dry erase tablet with letters, numbers, and shapes for her to practice.
She feels very special to be at the table with sissy doing school. She talks too much though and we have to remind her of that when we are trying to read or discuss things. She tries to listen and will repeat things we read too. So funny.
Leave a Reply