Showing posts with label Not Back to School Blog Hop. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Not Back to School Blog Hop. Show all posts

Tuesday, August 6, 2013

Not Back to School Blog Hop 2013 : Curriculum

Wow-it's that time already?  I am not in the mode yet but have done most of my purchasing for the upcoming school year-thankfully.


Curriculum:
12 year old son

This year I again (sadly) only have one student-my son and I are heading back to our roots this year with doing our own thing (verses using a pre-planned curriculum like we used last year). I am excited about that because even though we learned and expanded our knowledge using the other style, it just left us without much 'us'.  I don't know even how to describe that really, but we kinda like doing our own thing on our time schedule.  It is how I began homeschooling way back in the early 90s and I missed it. We missed using our workboxes too. Probably me more than him tho. I saw how he began to wander and 'escape' the second I left the room b/cuz he didn't have those boxes filled with his activities and he needed to wait on me for much of the lessons so-as you can imagine [an active boy] took any chance he could to go MIA as long as possible.  Workboxes equal order around here and even tho they can be a pain to fill day after day-it is worth it in the long run....but that is another post...

I copied/pasted the post I did recently on what we have planned so far.  I still don't know about the math or the Bible or the artist/musician studies.  I am hoping to have that figured out by next week so I can order those and be ready to roll after Labor Day when we start. 


Here is what we're gonna do this 
coming 2013-14 school year:

*Beautiful Feet:  California History and Westward Expansion
Beautiful Feet Website

*Beautiful Feet:  Geography study using Hollings C. Hollings books.  

*Apologia Exploring Creation with Zoology 1 and 2 plus the notebooks 1 and 2.  

*Italic Handwriting by Getty-Dubay.
Getty-Dubay Website


image from Scholar Pub. site

*Phonics Road to Spelling and Reading Level 2.
This is a continuation to the first level that has been working for him. I am holding off starting the Little House study til September. With his dyslexia we are a bit behind but this year we're gonna power our way to his reading more smoothly and efficiently and get him caught up to where he needs to be. :)

image from Common Sense website

*LLATL Purple level.

*Math-Still TBD

*Artist/Musician study: TBD  

*Nature Study: TBD 

*Latin:  Prima Latina and then quickly move to Latina Christiana 1
Memoria Press website

*Bible:  TBD still working on this


And of course we'll get back to our workboxing to pull this all off!  Which means I need to get a general plan on what I want to put in those for each month (extra stuff like seasonal lapbooking/notebooking, projects, etc.). 

*I also need to sit down and tweak the history out b/cuz the Cal. History and the Westward Expansion co-exist and even tho there is a little ditty on how to combine those-it is not detailed enough for me...so I need to sketch out something so I can stay on target and add a few extra things (like more study on the railroads per his request and such)...and whatever else that needs to be done.  I simply haven't had any time to truly do this...so it is my goal here to get this all figured out so I can get the last minute things ordered, do some pre-work to have it ready to go and so forth.  

And that folks is where I am at right now.  Frankly, it is the beginning of August and I am still on vacation (from my problems....or in this case-homeschooling) LOL  I will get serious soon enough.

You can read the whole post I wrote on the Heart of Dakota and this year's choices here.  See you next week!


Monday, August 27, 2012

Not Back to School Blog Hop- Week 4 - A Day in the Life

This is the hardest post to write for the Blog Hop.  Honestly, each day around here is usually different than the one before or the one yet to come. When the kids were little, we did our best to maintain a regular schedule but since they became teens/adults (say for our youngest), that went out the door.  And since my husband travels for at least 12-14 days per month-things can get nutty. Sometimes when we can, we'll tag along with him and car/hotel school.  We have to be very flexible and we have been doing this for so long that it is second nature to us now. Generally I shoot for the basics and get ecstatic when we go beyond that.

My general schedule:
This is to be read in a somewhat joking manner as I truly love being a mom and having the privilege of being their main educator. It is truly a blessing and one I wouldn't trade for the world...but you have to have humor when you homeschool, so here you go...

-Spring out of bed all chipper and ready to tackle the world (boy do I wish. Sometimes I pray for a 'school closing' [and actually call one when need be] and at times I get up hoping that it is the FUN DAY I have some great situation/field trip planned that will whisk us off our 'normal' and refresh us with a "Wow that Awesome!" kind of a moment." Otherwise, I will trudge head downstairs then

-Check my mail/FB and other 'puter things (I can do this in 15 mins or less usually) and slug back a cup of coffee to start my morn.

-Stuff workboxes (if I haven't done that the nite before) and look over the general plan to see if I need to have any other supplies, books, etc. ready to go for the day's lessons.

-Eat breakfast (I need to wait for a bit before eating due to the thyroid med I take) and pray.  Yes-gotta pray people-I am telling you our days go so much more smoothly and without as much 'drama' if I pray for willing/content/right-hearted students and for me to not want to run away...so that requires patience, love, kindness and fortitude.

-Ring the bell (aka: in mom talk that means to shout out to the kids upstairs to get moving and get down to start). This indicates it is time to get up, take care of personal biz, eat and be all excited and ready to tackle the day's schedule.

-Once we have settled, we do a morning prayer, then we start up.  The workboxes are a life saver here because they can start on their work immediately and I don't have to have my brains explode trying to answer a zillion questions in regard to what they are suppose to be doing. Helpful hint: I put the stuff in the first two totes that can be done without my help so that I can gather my marbles together before I start losing them.

-Then I work with the student who needs direct instruction first to get them started to I can move to the other one(s) on a rotating basis. OK this will be different this year. I will only have the boy-so I guess my rotating days have come to an end...for now.

-End whatever we're doing by lunch and feed the troops (who can really do this themselves) and this is where I try to catch up with the hubby (when he is home) or I just 'zone out' for a bit (usually means getting some chores done or checking the 'puter or hiding away in my room for a moment of solitude).

-Wrap up whatever we didn't get done in the morn right after lunch so that the majority of the afternoon is 'free time'.  Especially since I need time to work on some projects that need to be completed (scrapbooking/sewing/creating material for the boy to use for learning, or for writing blog posts such as this.) Weather permitting, I have the kids get outside or go do something (like bike).  This is a very Charlotte Mason moment.  One I love and will cling to with all my might.  All of it people-unless I need them to get some cleaning done or assist me with some project-then they are called to duty first.

-Declutter school area/any project areas and set up workboxes/material for next day (if I am not doing errands or have other things to attend to). My main goal this year is to definitely have this done each afternoon.


For the Student

We're using the Heart of Dakota study this year, so it is pretty much laid out for us.  I just have to decided the order we want to tackle the material and to avoid boredom or burn-out I try to vary the order a bit a few times per week.

One thing I found is that the study has science almost 4x per week and that is just too much.  I feel like I am rushing thru the material and he is not getting the main gist of it. SO, I am moving it back to what I have always done and we find best suits us-2x per week only. This is a general listing of what I like to get completed:

Math: 4-5x per week

Science: 2x per week

Language Arts: HW 2x per week, reading 5x per week, copywork (depends) but usually 2-3x per week,  dictation 1-2x per week, notebooking (depends) but usually 2-3 per week. LLATL-prob'ly 3x per week depending on what the lesson requires and our schedule.

Bible: 5x per week

History:  4x per week

Fine Arts: 1-2x per week for Great Artist study. 1x per week for Great Musician study [these fall under a 6 week long study].  Varies on art activities which are based on what is going on with the history/science studies. Nature study depends on the weather and my motivation-goal for this year at least 1x per week.

Lapbooking:  1 per semester. This is usually an on-going process related to the science or history. At times, I also will add a shorter lapbook study in sometime during the semester, if the boy asks for a particular one.

No foreign language this year (at least not this first semester) because he needs to get more fluent in his reading which is our main goal for the year.

Thanks for stopping by and I hope to see you around this year! Blessings for a great new school adventure!
You can link up to the blog hop here:

Not Back to School Blog Hop



Monday, August 13, 2012

Not Back to School Blog Hop - Week 2 - School Room area



Week 2: The Education room
First I need to point out something-I have been (officially) homeschooling about 18 years now and well-you have to understand-this is a process [getting a room like this] and in no way, shape or form did we always have an area solely dedicated to our schooling stuff.  We usually (depending on where we lived) just had totes with books crammed in them, stuffed where ever I could tuck them and a few little book shelves with the current material on them.  We worked at the dining room table, the couch, the floor, their bedrooms (usually on their beds), out on the deck or even up in the play structure's loft area (oh how I miss that thing as we moved and gave it away).  It is not about where you homeschool, it is about homeschooling period. Keep that in mind as you go thru all the wonderful posts and pictures from other homeschooling fams. Everyone has different budgets, and space to dedicate to this stuff.  Remember that whatever works for you and your family is all that matters.  


Not Back to School Blog Hop

As for us this year-we are down to one student. So I have not made too many changes since last year-say for rearranging a desk and putting the workboxes closer together.  I have to get the rain gutter book shelves up (still have to get the supplies) to go over where the workboxes area and then I am calling it quits.

And yes-I cleaned the room prior to taking pictures
-it never looks this tidy-ever 
(outside of this photo shoot).  

 View looking directly in (this is the 'library/office' area of the house)-you see right upon entering so I try my best to keep it cleanish and all-but honestly, we are busy learning and that can get messy...
I have the desk that backs up to the white board. I also have two totes loaded with the main books/supplies I will need (to carry out his education this semester) sitting on the window area by my desk for easy access.  Obviously, a lot of it will go into the workboxes but I need a 'home' for those so I can keep track of them. The other desk will be a 'carry over' spot and right now I have the (SL) laminated map there for him to write on as we go thru our world geography.


Finally got the rain gutter shelves up. This is one 10' piece cut into 2. I only put 2 holders per length [not cheap] and have it so they are in somewhat from the edges-so I will only put lighter books on the ends to keep from stressing the shelves out.  The kids keep laughing at me about these [which is their humor and I am not taking it personally and neither are the shelves]. They say if we ever need a spare gutter they know where to go, or if it starts to rain in the house they can grab these to help...but honestly, I don't think they look goofy or cheesy and they hold a lot of books, so I am quite pleased with the results.

And that is our school room area.  We still migrate to the kitchen for science and art projects and the couch serves our main area for the much of the history and bible lessons-so we do some work here and move around during the day.




Monday, August 6, 2012

Not Back to School Blog Hop -week 1- Curriculum choice



Curriculum Picks:  2012 
Approx. 5th/6th grade 
on most stuff for our son
(our last student of 4-first time in
 over 18 yrs to have only one student!)

We are continuing on with the Heart of Dakota: Creation to Christ program that we started this past spring. We made it to week 8, so we'll do a quick review the first week, then move on to week nine's lessons.  I have several posts referring to our experience up to about week 6 so you can check those out too, if you'd like.  I have those links at the bottom for ya.  

HOD C to C covers his science, history, geography and Bible.  I chose to do my own math, Lang. Arts and writing programs over what is listed. Well I will use a bit of the writing b/cuz I have the material from reviewing it a few years back but he simply is not ready for much of this....


106461Math is a mix up this year, as he'll wrap up his Abeka 4th grade math and then most likely I will switch him into the Saxon 54 that I have or I may be able to put him in the 65-I will know once we get to that point.  It all depends on his progress.  This age is tough because I do not want to skip over the building blocks for the higher math-just to say we're at a certain grade level.  I want to be sure he knows those basics inside and out before moving on. 

The Phonics Road Level One - Complete Package
Language Arts Mix and Match:  I am doing a mix of a couple things for his lang. arts this year.  I usually hold off on formal lang. arts until the reading skills are sufficient but due to my son's dyslexia, we're a bit behind.  He will still be working on his reading comprehension and fluency (we'll prob'ly keep using the Phonics Road to Spelling and Reading level 1 flash cards and word lists until he has a much better recall of what the sounds are). Anyway, we'll be using these goodies (and I may be able to jump him into the purple after we touch upon some of the subject matter in the orange) for his lang. arts-
Italic Handwriting D* and  Italic Handwriting F**
*linked to my Amazon Affiliate link



Italic Handwriting Series Book DItalic Handwriting Series Book F

Additional goodies:

Keeping with our Charlotte Mason methods-we'll also being doing Nature Study (using all the guides/books I have already), hopefully 2 artists and 2 great musician studies (we need to do Renoir because we simply didn't get to him last semester, still undecided about the other artist), and I haven't figured out the composers yet but will probably do Brahms and Mozart because I have the material sitting on the shelf and am trying to not buy more than I have to. 

Science is covered in the HOD study, and originally he didn't want to cover the human body, but I am going to go ahead and cover what the study does. In addition to the Apologia Land Animals (set with ST and NTBK) study, we'll continue using the rest of the snippets from the Considering God's Creation workbook (notebooking pages and some mini-lapbook components) to add in some hands-on activities which relate to the critters (and I have some things I have made which will also be another post down the road).  I will also use the Great Science Adventure Human Body and Senses to create a nice lapbook to go with the human body study.

Great Science Adventures Discovering the Human Body And Senses  Considering God's Creation Set
Considering God's Creation image from Eagle's Wings Website

Dr. Fry: Computer Keyboarding
for typing skills-I am pulling this off the shelf for him to use.

Copywork will be a part of the LLATL and poetry from the HOD study but I will also have him work on the 
Nature Lessons for Copywork (Thematic Copywork Lessons)
(which obviously will be a part of his NS)

Extra Geography:

the states are done, so we're moving to world geo

I revamped the geography center board from the states material to world continents/countries. We'll be starting in Asia/Europe due to the connection with the HOD C to C curriculum.  The science work I made to match the animals of the world will also be a part of this since it requires placing critters on the continents they are most usually found (I hope to have the specifics are posted on my What's in the Box? blog soon but the geo board post is up)....and BTW, I have oodles of ideas and other links on this blog-you don't need to be a workboxing fam to use these ideas....:)

OK, well this is really long.  I will do more posts on what we're using as the year progresses.  Here is the link to the 3 other HOD posts for those who are interested.


Thanks for stopping by!

**And yes, some of the links are affiliate links to Amazon.  Not all are.  Anytime you purchase thru our affiliate link-we earn a wee bit and will take that $ and donate it to an orphan/their forever family. Thanks.

   
     




          


Monday, August 9, 2010

Not Back to School Blog Hop-My Classroom week 2

OK, week 2 and it is all about the classroom area/learning area. Well now folks-before I go any further you need to understand something.  I have not always enjoyed the benefit of having a space I could call our "classroom" and in fact, it only within the last 2 years or so that I have had one that I am satisfied with, and actually enjoy.  You see, I have been doing this for so long, and due to space limitations of the homesteads over the years-have had to adjust and make do.  So here I am today, with the almost (cuz I am lacking the table area and rain gutter shelves and a few odds and ends) perfect room for us.  So please don't feel sad that you don't have something like this.  For years I had to run to the basement, find the right tub of books, heave it out into an open area, dig thru it and pull out what we needed, then heave it back into the pile, run back up stairs and try to teach.  Usually at that point, my students had gone AWOL or just lost interest...and we would sit around the dining room table and clutter it up faster than the shelves are cleared out at a Kmart Blue Light Special event! LOL.  We have shifted and tucked books into any nook and cranny we could find, moved and repositioned areas-to try to get a somewhat helpful area for it all- and usually it was not a success.  SOOOOO, this is a room that has been 16 ish years or so, and the sad thing is, I only have 2 students left to enjoy it.

OH, and we do not use only this room-we move to the "office" which is our couch for a lot of the read alouds and activities, the kitchen table (when Dad doesn't have it all jumbo-gumbo'd up with his office work/puter) and yes-we even school in the teacher's lounge (IE: my bed) so this is our central station, then we scoot out during different times, to get a change of scenery.  

The tables are MIA at this point (taken prior to purchasing them) but they are there now, so once I get them cleaned up enough to see them (not the piles of books and junk on them) I will post it.

so this is what you see when you turn to the right upon entering our home-not the most ideal location, but it was the only free room. So much for my stance on keeping the library a retreat room for adults-LOL.  We just rearranged the room within the last month or so and if you wanna see what a nightmare that was-then check out this post I wrote earlier this summer, it gives you a glimpse of just how many books one can squeeze on those shelves!  LOL

There will be a table (from IKEA and a couple chairs dead center there-so it won't be so roomy.  This is not a huge room, so it'll be tight, but it is nice to have the area dedicated-mostly so I can find the stuff rather easily.

Those shelves on the left-that is my teens workbox system (IKEA Trofast series), then those 3 cabinets under the dry erase board are where I hide all my science goodies, math/reading stuff, then my paper cabinet which is loaded with spiral ntbks, cardstock, glues/painting stuff, folders, loose-leaf paper, and my collection of construction and drawing papers. That is my favorite cabinet!  
yes, this is blurry for whatever reason-I think I had it on the wrong setting but cuz the sun is up front on the house now-the flash won't work and so what I get is a dark shot...but I have included one that is a bit less fuzzy.  The TV will be used on occasion for history videos and such, then I have an old fashioned radio that plays cassettes cuz yes-some of us still have those (and I refuse to buy a new CD when I already own it in a cassette form cuz I only have one main student left-my teen has already used those such things), and those 3 totes are where I am storing my current FIAR books, lapbooks, and State Study materials/books.
our goal is to create a window seat and curtain-but alas, there is not enough time right now...so it is an all-purpose shelf.  This faces the front of the house, we get a pretty view most of the day til the sun comes in and blinds the snot out of us...[UPDATE: I laugh at this part-what's there now- a discombobulation of a laminator, a radio, several 3 ring binders for my son's stuff, and a couple piles of stuff....so as pretty as this looks here-this is not how it looks now].

found these babies at the Dollar Tree-wasn't that nice of them to stock their shelves with these fold-able totes that just happen to match my decor?  [UPDATE:  these are no longer used for this stuff-the lapbooks are in 3 ring binders, the other stuff in various areas and these have workbooks and projects stuffed in them].

The section with the teacher's shelf and another shelf is on the other side of the window, but right now it is a total disaster, so no pic.  Sorry.

OK, so you have moved from the front look to the right around the room-after my work area is the large opening/door that is open to the front hall (bath across the way-very handy for potty breaks and with the front door there, I can make a mad dash outta the house and off to the looney bin when things get tough) and are now looking at that wall on the left of the first pic.  This is where a 5 ft section X 2, of the rain gutter shelving units will go.  I want to display the history and science books that we will be using or are extras discussing the subjects we are studying.  That little curved shelf to the right, is where I have some of those mini-totes which hold my son's readers, misc. stuff and the bottom has my boxes with my cards for their schedule books.  Their number cards and schedule books are temporarily in their dump/finished work holders til I figure out where they will live.  

UPDATE (Nov. 2011):  I have IKEA tables but not the fancy ones I wanted, instead we bought the $20 ones that have a white top and black pole legs.  They are perfect and light weight enough for my need to constantly move stuff around.  We bought some black rolling chairs from them too.  I actually bought 4 tables, but it was too crowed in this tight area so I took one out so we now have a bit more room to walk around.  We still have not put up any gutter shelves. OI.  Just not enough room...and I don't see where I could put some outside of over the IKEA shelves. That still may happen-not sure.  


I just didn't get to organizing much this past summer and so the classroom is a bit of a mess.  Not something I am proud of and it is rather embarrassing b/cuz as I already pointed out-it's the first room folks see when entering the house. Perhaps over Christmas break I can figure that out.  What I need is a room double the size-I have too much school stuff!  LOL  But seriously, a big room where I could have some areas specifically set aside would be awesome. But this is a good set up for now and I will continue to dream.  


Anyhoo-that is our education area.  Of course, the couch wins every time and lately the kitchen island has become rather popular for science experiments, crafts and other fun time activities.   





Sunday, August 1, 2010

The "Not" Back to School Blog Hop-Week 1, Curriculum Choices


This is the first time I have taken part of this fun blog hop and am looking forward to reading what others are going to use (nosy I guess? LOL). 

I have 2 students this year-one Jr in HS and the other will be in mostly 3rd grade materials.  I will start with the high schooler and then do the boy's materials. 

HS Jr Girl:

 

Math: Life of Fred-Beginning Algebra this year.  We will focus on math the entire school season, and do the Advanced Algebra level, once the first book is completed. After struggling terribly with just about every curricula for it-we took the year off (outside of some minor math projects, etc) to recoup.  Her career choice is not math dependent so we do not need to have her complete Calculus prior to graduation-we'll be satisfied with a good general knowledge of algebra and then focus her Senior year on consumer math.


Science:  We just need to wrap up a couple more modules of her Apologia Biology to be done.  I had hoped to get this completed over the summer, but after the crazy busy year we had, esp. the spring, along with a couple trips-we didn't get to it.  We will also be working on her science notebook (general post about it) (and also, you can read about the additional post about some pages we included too) like before. Then once done-we'll not do science until next year.  We need to make the math priority-so outside of nature study projects, that will be it.


History:  We will pick up where we left off in the All American History Vol 2 book that we started last fall. We do a variety of activities, such as notebooking, projects and such to go with this. 




Geography: Continue with Mapping the World by Heart. We started it, then had to set is aside, and altho she knows the basics, I would like her to have a better detailed knowledge than she does, so we'll give it another go.  Plus, I am covering the US States with my son, so she will do a lighter level of it as a refresher [since we haven't done it in several years with her].  The maps we'll use are from a great map set by HS in the Woods-their Olde World Style US Maps.  I love these, and they will make a lovely notebook from it.  




Language Arts:  Continue wrapping up the Learning Lang. Arts Through Literature-Gold/American series-we have just a few more sections I want to hit.  Once done-we'll move on to the Brit. Lit or focus more on the writing criteria.  I want her to have one good research and one good essay done by the year's end.  This will require time to do the research/reading/actual paper(s)...so that is our focus.  I will also have her do the Advanced Winston Grammar series...I like to spend time on the structure and details closer to when the student will need to take the ACT tests-we work on it generally all through the school years, but this series is excellent and really keeps it fresh for that testing purpose. 




 She will also work through a couple ACT Prep books a few times per week, to start getting her into that mode.  We use the Real ACT Prep Guide and the Procrastinator's Guide to the ACT 2011 (altho we have the 2004 book and it'll have to do).  With all the good literature my kids read, the narration, and copywork-they have a pretty good prep for this.  Our goal is not to have them get a perfect score-but take it to help with poss. scholarships and over ride some of the entry level courses colleges have as prerequisite...sometimes they can jump ahead to the higher levels simply by their scores. 



Like I mentioned-we do copywork from various sources and this year-we'll include Queen's Copywork for girls and the Thematic Copywork Lessons-Lessons from Leaders (which actually is for the history lessons).  


Bible: I saved this one for last, because I simply do not know exactly what I am doing here-I have a couple ideas, and will have her read literature based on Christ and his life and so forth-but have not made my final decision-so this remains as my last hurdle to tackle when it comes to her line-up.


We'll also throw in 2 artists/musicians to study as well (for both kids to do).  That is on top of working on getting her driving time in for driver's ed, and the usual life things.  


We do NOT do every subject every day (except for Bible/Character study)-I try to do keep it so it doesn't become so mundane that they fall asleep whilst doing their lessons.  By having history/math and L.Arts on some days-science/copywork/nature study/etc. on the others [or whatever] it helps avoid the boredom.  


Remember too-in college and lots of high schools now a days-they do not have the same subjects every semester/all year long (math, science, history, lan. arts) but rather do a semester's worth of whatever and may not hit that subject again for another year or 2.  So don't feel you have to do every subject, every day, every year during the high school years!  You don't.  In fact, by not doing so-you will give your student a better idea of what they will experience in college.  Sorry, just had to point that out.  If you have a high schooler or will soon-you are welcome to download the notes on a lecture I presented-it offers up more ideas/links/helps on schooling your teens...you can find that on our HOPE Ministries site.  


As for my 3rd grade son:



Science:  We'll continue wrapping up our study of Apologia's Exploring Creation with Astronomy.  I don't push a ton of science in the earlier years-formal that is, so we are taking our time.  We have to finish Mars and the rest of em.  I also have him working on continuing his Lapinder on it (first post) [another post] in conjunction with our Science Center activities.  We will also have some projects through our FIAR Bk 4 studies too.  My goal is to do much more nature study too.  So I will work that in when ever I can.




Math:  Abeka Arithmetic 3, various games, math living literature [list of books and another list], little tie in activities [great site: Home Education Resources and Enchanted Learning (membership is so worth it) and Homeschool Share (lapbook and FIAR projects, plus check the Workboxables cuz there are lots of ideas there too) to just list a few].




History:  LOVE, LOVE Beautiful Feet Books history programs! We'll be continuing on with this series-Early Am. History with our notebook too.  Since he is young enough-we stroll through at a leisurely pace and truly take the time to enjoy this stuff.  We'll be picking up with George Washington (which is awesome cuz last summer we visited his house MT. Vernon)...we'll probably do some crafts, mini-projects and such done along with it.  


Geography:  We'll be starting the Study of the States.  Now, this is a bit early on the scale of when others start this, but we're going to only cover 25 this year.  We'll visit each state and mull over them a tad, create our notebook and do various projects with it.  He will have a much more detailed notebook than Sissy's and we'll do lots of puzzles and such too. We will use the maps by Homeschool in the Woods mentioned above.  I have a whole geography post that you can read, It's all about the States on my What's in the Box? blog-it give more details on what I am using.  Oh, read the comments section too-a gal linked in another help to go along with it as well. 


Language Arts:  We do a mixture of things-mostly though my precious boy needs to have some major reading skills/spelling skills work.  Being that he is dyslexic-this has been a true struggle-so we'll focus most of our time on improving and working on this vital area.  


We use All About Spelling and their All About Readers (along with Hooked on Phonics-I have an older set, but hey it works, so we piggy back it with other basic readers I have collected through the years).  

Getty-Dubay Italic Handwriting and Memoria Press' Copywork books (he is on book 2). I may throw Copywork for Little Boys from Queens HS in there after he completes the third book.  I reviewed those MP copywork books and love em...so we'll continue on with where we last stopped.


We will also be doing lapbooks (most are from Homeschool Share) to tie into our Five in a Row BK 4 (digital downloads) studies (but I am mostly just doing my own thing using the lapbook info for ideas) and the  books. I have one download but simply do not want to drop that kinda cash right now...these are side dish studies. I will use what I can find for free and work around others' ideas to get a mini study for now.  I am planning on one book per month.  


We also do narration too.  


Bible:  Again-I am unclear as to what exactly we'll use as our backbone material.  I want to work on character study this year with him and have a few resources but am unclear as to what that all entails right now.  So like his Sissy-I have to figure this out (and soon) too.  


So there you have it-the basic layout for the kids this year.  And as past experience has taught me-the best plans can be laid to waste due to well,  LIFE...so I keep an open mind and stay flexible.  I also am reviewing again for The Old Schoolhouse Magazine on their Homeschool Crew, so I will add in the goodies we get, as well.  You can read about the products I have reviewed on my 1 of 100 (plus 25) TOS Crew Reviews Blog.  There is lots of info for ya there.  


Thanks for stopping by!