Originally posted on August 16, 2009
...and I'm still putting the finishing touches on everything we'll need for tomorrow. My lesson plan is done, now it's all organizational. Pictures will be forthcoming. :)
I'm so excited to start school with Rachael tomorrow - and she's excited too. She watched me getting everything together tonight and asked to do some right then and there, but I told her to wait till morning. How I hope she'll always love learning this much! Maybe if I play my cards right...
For my fellow homeschoolers, homeschool-curious and interested friends and family, I thought I'd recap our final curriculum choices for the 2009-10 school year.
BIBLE: Rachael absolutely adores her God's Little Princess Devotional Bible, so we'll be reading it for our daily devotions. She's outgrown our old devotion book, God and Me, but I may let her read a daily devotion to Milly from that. We'll be going back through the A Beka Bible curriculum from last year, to brush up on our memory verses and the doctrinal drills. We'll need something else later in the school year, and I'm open to suggestions.
MATH: Doing a bit of review and the last few lessons in Math-U-See Primer before moving on to Alpha. Must find a way to make skip counting by fives make sense to her...
LANGUAGE ARTS: I read so many awesome things about Learning Language Arts Through Literature that I just had to go with it this year, and I can't wait to dig in. We went with the red books this year, which is geared toward second grade, but I think it'll be just right for Rachael. I also have a reading list for the year typed up and ready to go, and I'll probably add to it - as will she. She's moving steadily through the American Girl books, and loves several other "chapter book" series as well (Judy Moody, Junie B. Jones, Amber Brown, etc.) so there will be some solo reading time each afternoon during which she can read whatever she wants (and give me a break - hopefully during Milly's naptime!) But I digress. LLATL covers reading, grammar, spelling, handwriting, phonics...it's pretty all-inclusive, but we're adding to it anyway. We'll be learning spelling words from The Natural Speller (this little book has spelling lessons for kindergarten through high school - check it out, homeschooling moms!) and I'm hoping that Handwriting Without Tears will live up to its name...whenever it shows up. Not terribly impressed with shipping time from the company, but I've heard good things about the curriculum
SCIENCE: We'll be learning all about the planets, sun, moon and stars using Apologia's Exploring Creation Through Astronomy. This one is going to be fun! Our weekly homeschool co-op is also using an Apologia book, Exploring Creation Through Botany - which we will likely use full-time and explore more deeply next school year. I'm also borrowing an idea from another homeschool mom and having her make a nature journal - she'll have to go outside and find something to draw in it every day. Or most every day. We'll see how it goes.
HEALTH: I may have underestimated her by ordering the first grade book from Horizons Health. But it'll be a quick, easy once a week (or so) lesson for her.
HISTORY: Brushing off The Story of the World: Ancient Times. This will most likely be another once a week topic, as I'll be teaching from this book in our co-op. We may expand on it at home, though, as there are so many wonderful activities that go along with each chapter.
THE BOOK OF VIRTUES: This is a free (although thorough!) unit study available online at Shiver Academy. It is a 20-week unit study on the book by the same name, focusing on self-discipline, compassion, responsibility, friendship, work, courage, perseverance, honesty, loyalty and faith. I have a feeling we're going to be going through a loooooooot of printer ink with all the great pages included in this study, but it will be well worth it.
OTHER: Rachael is a little fascinated by all things French (thanks, Fancy Nancy!) so we'll be dabbling in Muzzy French this year. Obviously, not pushing the foreign language at age 5 1/2! Art will be covered at our co-op, although she'll have plenty of opportunity to create her own masterpieces at home. The kids will be doing P.E. at co-op as well - the older girls especially are aiming toward next spring's Presidential Fitness Challenge, and we'll be working toward the Shape Up! Girl Scout patch as well. I'm still not sure what we'll do about music - Kindermusik is just SO expensive, as are piano lessons and, well, nearly everything musical. Worst case scenario, I guess we'll just listen to the radio and dance, a lot. ;)
Needless to say, we won't be doing ALL of that EVERY day.
Wish us luck tomorrow as we dive into the new school year...and check back for an update soon!
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