Beautiful Feet Modern American and World History Update...

We are a little over half way through our Beautiful Feet Modern American and World History study (lesson 65 of 117) with only a couple weeks left of our academic school year.  The program is fabulous!  The books are incredible!  However, as previously mentioned, the readings are long and I've had to split the lessons in half so we are not making the progress I'd hoped.  Fortunately, our kids love history so much that in our discussion on how to proceed, they were quick to jump at the chance to continue over summer....now that says a ton about the program if you ask me ;-)

The books we've read so far are:

Across Five Aprils by Irene Hunt
The Perilous Road by William O. Steele
Frederick Douglass Fights for Freedom by Margaret Davidson (subbed for Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass)
Carver: A Life in Poems by Marilyn Nelson
Theodore Roosevelt by Genevieve Foster
The Wright Brother: Pioneers of American Aviation by Quentin Reynolds
Sergeant York by John Perry
The Singing Tree by Kate Seredy
Rascal by Sterling North
Gladys Aylward: The Little Woman by Gladys Aylward
Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred D. Taylor
House of Sixty Fathers by Meindert De Jong (currently reading)

As I was typing this list, I immediately began to feel sentimental.  My memories are fond.  I was thinking about a favorite and couldn't narrow it to one book.  I can totally see how the folks at Beautiful Feet had a hard time making the final cuts.

In looking at the books ahead, we've read Twenty and Ten by Claire Huchet Bishop and The Little Riders by Margaretha Shemin in the past while using Sonlight so I don't plan to re-read them, although, they are excellent books.  Riley remembers both.  Ruben was sketchy so I may have him read them independently.  I have also heard fabulous reports on Snow Treasure by Marie McSwigan and will consider substituting it depending on how I feel the coverage is after skipping the above two mentioned books and also considering time.

For more information on our study, you can read my Getting Started post here and our Term One Review here.  There are also samples of numerous notebooking pages at both posts as well as the linked books above.  Overall, we are loving this BF study and not only will continue, but also recommend it!  

Beautiful Feet History of Science Wrap-Up....

We wrapped up our Beautiful Feet History of Science last week.  I mentioned in the past that we used an original guide, not the newest History of Science pack, which, by the way, I was able to view at the Great Homeschool Convention and it looks great as well.   I love that they added a book about DaVinci by Diane Stanley and another about George Washington Carver.

Anyway, I digress.  The original BF Science guide that we used had sixty-seven lessons, which allowed us to work through two lessons per week, a very doable pace.  We read books about great scientists like Archimedes, Galileo, Benjamin Franklin, The Wright Brothers, Louis Pasteur, Thomas Alva Edison, Marie Curie, and Albert Einstein.  The Picture History of Great Inventors by Gillian Clements, allowed us to discover many other inventors/scientists even though we didn't do an in depth reading/study of them.  In a one to two page spread, listed chronologically, The Picture History... covers the lives and work of over 50 inventors throughout history.

The BF History of Science also offers plenty of opportunity for experiments and hands on learning.  My kids are not big on science experiments so they did balk a bit at these.  I didn't make them complete all of the experiments, but at a minimum, they were required to read through them.

In addition, there was a good amount of notebooking.  You may remember from my first post about BF History of Science, that I created notebook pages for each of my students and bound them prior to beginning.  This is not necessary, but the kids really did like them.  They enjoy having a record and being able to look back through their work.  It's also good for review.  For other BF guides, we've simply used sewn composition books for our notebooking exercises.

Overall, we really enjoyed this fabulous study!  I believe it's intended for use with students in grades 3-7.  Riley and Ruben are in 5th and 6th and I felt this was an excellent and appropriate age for this study.  Younger students may enjoy the experiments more.  Older students may get more out of the notebooking exercises.  Speaking of which, I will leave you with more samples of our notebooking pages....

2015-2016 Term 2 Review...

Last Friday, we wrapped up Term 2 of this 2015-2016 school year.  You can see our Term 1 here, including changes I made to original Back to School 2015-2016 curriculum.  Below are books and resources used...

Church History

Trial and Triumph by Richard Hannula - continue to read aloud

Missionary Study

George Muller: The Guardian of Bristol's Orphans by Janet and Geoff Benge - completed audio

Advent Study

Jotham's Journey, A Storybook for Advent by Arnold Ytreeide - read aloud

Modern American and World History

The Wright Brothers: Pioneers of American Aviation by Quentin Reynolds - read aloud
Sergeant York by John Perry - read aloud and watched movie
The Singing Tree by Kate Seredy - read aloud
Rascal by Sterling North - read aloud

Story of the World, Vol. 4, The Modern Age by Susan Wise Bauer - Riley and Ruben will continue to listen to audio

The Story of Mankind by Hendrick Van Loon - Riley will continue reading independently

Geography

Studied countries as they come up in our reading

U.S. map work – learn 50 states - Riley will move on to state capitals for Term 3

Exploring Our State – Wisconsin - Riley and Ruben took turns reading aloud from an old textbook 

Natural History

Wild Animals I Have Known by Ernest Thompson Seton - read aloud

History of Science

Benjamin Franklin's Adventures with Electricity by Beverly Birch and Robin Bell Corfield - read aloud

Pasteur's Fight Against Microbes by Beverly Birch and Christian Birmingham - read aloud

The Story of Thomas Alva Edison by Margaret Cousins - read aloud

The Picture History of Great Inventors by Gillian Clements - continue to read aloud 

The New Way Things Work by David Macaulay - continue to read aloud excerpts 

Apologia Land Animals of the Sixth Day - Riley will continue to read independently

Biographies

Passion for the Impossible: The Life of Lilias Trotter by Miriam Huffman Rockness - Riley completed independently

Alexander Graham Bell Invents the Telephone by Katherine B. Shippen - Ruben completed independently 

Plutarch

Aemilius Paulus with study notes from Anne White - read aloud

Artist/Picture Study

A Weekend with Winslow Homer by Ann Kay Beneduce - read aloud and studied misc. artwork

Literature

Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens - Riley, Ruben, and I are reading independently, then coming together for discussion.  We only got about half way this term, so we will continue into third term

The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien - listened to audio and watched movies

Miracles on Maple Hill by Virginia Sorensen - read aloud

The Princess and the Goblin by George MacDonald - Riley completed independently 

Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll - Riley completed independently 

Riley and Ruben are both continuing with math and Using Language Well.  Riley is working through All About Spelling Level 4.  She completed Poetry for Young People: Carl Sandburg by Frances Schoonmaker Bolin and Steven Arcella.  Ruben finished tutoring at the Children's Dyslexia Center.  He also finished The Logic of English Cursive Handwriting and studied misc. poetry of Eugene Field.  Each will be assigned a new poet for Term 3.  Ruben will begin a new cursive book.

In addition, we saw the play Number the Stars based on the book by Lois Lowry and listened to a WWII veteran speak.   We watched the movie Catching Faith and the kids participated in the church Christmas play.  They also completed the first semester of choir in December and just last week started back in the spring semester of choir and art classes.  All in all, I'm please with their accomplishments and look forward to Term 3, not only to wrap up the closing of our official pencil/paper school year, but the coming of spring! 

BF Modern American & World History Term One Review....

After finishing our first term of the 2015-2016 school year, I thought I'd give an update on the Beautiful Feet Modern American and World History study we're using.   Part way through the term, I gave an introduction/overview of the program.  Since, we finished up the term on lesson twenty-seven.  I originally scheduled history three days per week, hoping to finish the term with lesson thirty-six.  However, the assigned readings are very long so I had to split some of the lessons over two days.  At this point, it looks as though the study may take more than one school year to complete unless we add history a fourth day per week.

So far, the books have been wonderful!  We've read five books in their entirety, including: Across Five Aprils by Irene Hunt, The Perilous Road by William O. Steele, a Frederick Douglass substitution, Carver: A Life in Poems by Marilyn Nelson, and Theodore Roosevelt by Genevieve Foster.  We've also read assigned chapters of A Child's First Book of American History by Earl Schenck Miers.

As noted, I did substitute one book.  The BF study uses Narrative in the Life of Frederick Douglass by Frederick Douglass.  However, after reading aloud the Preface and a Letter, I could see the kids were not ready for it.  After a bit of research, I opted to substitute Frederick Douglass Fights for Freedom by Margaret Davidson.  I think Douglass' original Narrative... is fabulous, but I felt it was more suited for upper middle school or high school.  The kids will definitely be reading it at some point down the road.  For now, Davidson's book was a good fit!

Here is a narration Riley wrote after we read Frederick Douglass Fights for Freedom...

Frederick Bailey was born in February 1818, no one knows the exact date, he was a slave.  Frederick wanted to be free.  He decided to run away to the north.  Frederick disguised himself as a sailor and got aboard a train.  He rode the train to New York.  He found a safe house there.  While in New York, Frederick got married.  He and his new wife moved to Massachusetts.  Frederick changed his last name to Douglass to be safe from slave catchers.  He was an abolitionist.  He fought for freedom for the millions of slaves that were not free yet.  He and his wife Anna, and their five children, ran a safe house on the Underground Railroad.  Frederick gave many speeches against slave owners and even talked to President Lincoln.  He died February 20, 1895.  He was seventy-seven years old.  

The kids are not loving A Child's First Book of American History.  However, I think it does a great job of filling in the gaps.  It's sort of a spine book and Daugherty's illustration are a treat.  Across Five Aprils is still my favorite with Foster's Theodore Roosevelt falling second.  We learned a great deal about Roosevelt from this Initial Biography.  I highly recommend it and am thrilled to see Beautiful Feet bring it back in print!

Overall, the study is going well.  History is still the kids favorite subject.  Below are a few more samples of their notebook pages....

Today, we are back from break, starting term two with The Wright Brothers, Pioneers of American Aviation by Quentin Reynolds.  I haven't done much reading on the Wright brothers and am looking forward to learning more about them :)

2015-2016 Term 1 Review...

We finished up term one of our 2015-2016 school year this week.  I'm really looking forward to having next week off! Overall it went well, but there are a few things I'm changing, namely our Bible study.  We also finished up a couple subjects so I'm working to fill in gaps. Here's the lowdown...

Circle Time (Family Study)

History
Beautiful Feet Modern American & World History (3 days/week)
TruthQuest History for Young Americans II & III (supplement)

I was hoping to get through 3 lessons per week in the BF Modern American guide.  However, the assigned readings are quite long, especially in addition to our other readings so two lessons per week became the reality.  I will write more about this in a separate post. And, truth be told, I rarely cracked the TQ History guide. Since we were having trouble finishing our BF history reading, there was no need to add more. We will continue with the BF study with a goal of 2-3 lessons per week, using the TQ guide for reference.   

Bible Study
TruthQuest History - Beginnings (4 days/week)
Herein is Love, Genesis, A Commentary for Children by Nancy Ganz (3/4 days/week)

This study completely fell by the wayside around week four of the term.  A combination of the Bible, Beginnings, and commentary was overkill.  The kids would rather read straight from the Bible and forgo all the commentary...surprise, surprise (ahem).  

Church History
Peril & Peace, Volume 1: Chronicles of the Ancient Church by Mindy and Brandon Withrow (supplement)
Trial & Triumph by Richard M. Hannula (2 days/week)

Once again, reading from both proved to be too much.  We will continue to read from Trial and Triumph two days per week, scrapping the Withrow series.  

Missionary Study
Hero Tales & YWAM missionary books by Benge (1 day/week)

We started by reading about Dietrich Bonhoeffer from Hero Tales.  After completion, we started listening to a YWAM audio on George Muller.  We are enjoying it!  We listen to a chapter a week while traveling to choir.  When this book is finished, we'll listen to another biography.  

I shared my notebook regarding Charlotte Mason's method on teaching Knowledge of God a couple of weeks ago.  From now on, we will stick to Charlotte's plan for Bible Study including reading directly from the Bible, continuing Trial and Triumph for church history as well as some sort of missionary story.

Composer Study - Johannes Brahms (1st term - 1 day/week)
The Young Brahms by Sybil Deucher

We finished this excellent book!  I hope to rotate to an artist study for Term Two.

Science
Beautiful Feet History of Science (2 days/week)

It's going well!  You can read more here.  

Natural History
Wild Animals I Have Known by Seton (1st term - 1 day/week)

So far, we read half the book which included four animals.  We will continue this into Term Two, finishing up the final four animals.  

Geography
Beautiful Feet Geography (finish from last year - 1st term - Minn of the Mississippi by Holling C. Holling - 1 day/week)

We finished Minn, which concluded our Beautiful Feet Geography study.  I will be writing a separate post on this wonderful program.  I'm looking into a CM type geography study to finish out the school year.  This will include map work for North America and possibly a state study of Wisconsin.  I'm still working out the details, but will let you know what I come up with.

Plutarch
Timoleon (finish from last year - 1st term - 1 day/week)

We have one lesson left of Timoleon and then will continue the second term with the comparison of Aemilius Paulus.

Picture Study
Health
Nature Study

The kids (mostly Riley) completed a weekly nature study on their own.  We did not do anything for picture study or health.  As mentioned above, I plan to replace our composer study with a picture/artist study for Term Two.  I've also decided to hold off on health until next year when we study the human body for science. 

RileyAnn Year 6 

Alexander Graham Bell Invents the Telephone by Katherine Shippen

Carry a Big Stick: The Uncommon Heroism of Theodore Roosevelt by George Grant 

Captains Courageous by Kipling

Riley finished the above three titles this term.  I have chosen three new titles for Term Two.  She will also continue to read from the following three titles throughout the school year until they are completed:

The Story of Mankind by Van Loon
Story of the World 4 by Susan Wise Bauer
Apologia Land Animals of the Sixth Day

She finished her study of Robert Frost using a book from the Poetry for Young People series and will start a new poet in Term Two. 

When I backed out of  Michael Clay Thompson Language Arts for Riley, I decided to plug in Simply Charlotte Mason's new Using Language Well.  It's an English and grammar program with writing points to aid in written narration/composition.  It accompanies their Spelling Wisdom program.   Riley is also still working through All About Spelling.

She is absolutely loving Simply Charlotte Mason Business Math - Pet Store!  As a matter of fact, she's nearly done so I'm looking at what to do next.  She's also working through the Life of Fred series and Fractals, Googols, and Other Mathematical Tales by Theoni Pappas.  

Ruben Year 5

Ruben is working his way through Story of the World 4 by Susan Wise Bauer on audio.  He listens to the assigned chapters on the way to tutoring.  I am looking into books I can assign him to read on his own for the second and third term.

He is also studying Using Language Well & Spelling Wisdom by Simply Charlotte Mason.  It's been a very gentle introduction to English so far.  I have not started a formal spelling program with him yet because I don't want to interfere or cause confusion with his tutoring at the Children's Dyslexia Center.

Ruben also finished Poetry for Young People - Walt Whitman so we'll start a new poet for second term.

For math, he was using ST Math and Life of Fred.  However, ST is not working out for him.  He loves Fred, but I'm not confident that it's enough.  Once again, I'm researching math for both our kiddos.  

In summary, the books we read together this term include:

Across Five Aprils by Irene Hunt

The Young Brahms by Sybil Deucher

Minn of the Mississippi by Holling C. Holling

Archimedes and the Door of Science by Jeanne Bendick

**Trial & Triumph by Richard Hannula

**Hero Tales, Volume II

**A Child's First Book of American History by Earl Schenck Miers

Buffalo Bill by D'Aulaire

Go Free or Die: A Story About Harriet Tubman by Jeri Ferris

Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame

**Wild Animals I Have Known by Seton

The Perilous Road by William O. Steele

**George Muller by Janet & Geoff Benge

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain

DaVinci by Mike Venezia

Frederick Douglas Fights for Freedom by Margaret Davidson

Along Came Galileo by Jeanne Bendick

Carver, A Life in Poems by Marilyn Nelson

A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens

Theodore Roosevelt by Genevieve Foster

** Denotes books we didn't read in their entirety. 

In addition, we saw the play Alice and Wonderland, went on a church hayride, participated in the 5th/6th Grade Socratic Book Club I'm leading, and visited Sea Life Aquarium.  The kids take part in a homeschool choir and we attended a few field trips including a Civil War presentation and a hydro plant tour. Now that I'm looking back, I conclude it was great term!

Beautiful Feet History of Science...

As you may know, we are using Beautiful Feet History of Science this year (5th & 6th grade).  The guide was recently revised, but I have the older edition.  We are about twenty lessons in and it's going well.  We complete two lessons per week.

The study uses a mix of living books, experiments, and notebooking.  There are also discussion questions, vocabulary words, and timeline figures.  So far, we've read Archimedes and the Door of Science and Along Came Galileo, both by Jeanne Bendick.   I love the living book approach of these books!  They are truly a mix of history and science.

Our kids like notebooking.  So at the beginning of the year, I went through the guide and created notebook pages for various activities that I wanted them to do.  Then, I used the ProClick Binder to spiral bind the pages into a book.  They are loving it and I'm impressed with the way they're turning out.  Here are photos of some of their pages completed so far...

What are your favorite Beautiful Feet products?  Please leave a comment below.  

First Week of 2015-2016 School Year in Review....

This was our official first week of school here on Drywood Creek.  You may remember the Curriculum Choices I posted on Monday.  Now upon reflecting back, Mon-Thurs went well considering I didn’t feel as prepared to begin this year. Friday, I had appointments so our school day was non-existent, but it was OK since I intentionally schedule a light day Friday for these occasions.  We don’t have real Labor Day plans other than haying, canning, and housework, so we’ll probably do a bit of history reading over the weekend to keep “on track”.  I typically do a bedtime read aloud and we’re in between books so I can easily plug it in there.


Something that worked this week…

Math!! This has always been a huge source of tension in our home. We have bounced and jumped programs too many times. Unfortunately, I have instilled math anxiety.  Anyway, I’m taking a different approach this year to try to build back their love of learning.  RileyAnn, 6th grade, is working through Life of Fred and Simply Charlotte Mason’s Business Math. She voluntarily did an hour of math one day because it was fun.
 
Ruben, 5th grade, also began LOF as well as continuing with ST Math.  He is dyslexic and hates ALL things “school”….except me reading aloud to him. Well, the second day, he picked up Fred and read it himself, continuing the 3rd and 4th day! It was so awesome to see him put forth effort and enjoy it.

Something that didn’t quite work this week….

As you know, I’m a huge Beautiful Feet fan!  This year we’re using the BF Modern American and World History study three days per week. Monday, we started reading Across Five Aprils by Irene Hunt. BF has scheduled 2 chapters per lesson. Well, if you’ve read this book….which is wonderful, by the way….you know that the chapters are extremely long! Two chapters is averaging 35-50 pages, which takes over an hour, definitely not in line with Charlotte Mason’s short lessons. We will continue, but I need to figure out a way to break these lessons up.

One snag that I ran into while planning that I’m still working out….

Last year RileyAnn completed Michael Clay Thompson’s Town Level in 5th grade and I thought it was wonderful! This year I planned to continue with the Voyage Level for 6th grade. I borrowed as many books as possible and purchased the rest. Unfortunately, I didn’t really look at the content until last Saturday night, when I realized there was a huge step in the composition piece!  It looks more in line with high school.

After sleeping on it, I decided to hold off on the next level of MCT, but now I have no grammar/English plan for her. I’ve started Using Language Well with Ruben and could plug her into that or I have Simply Grammar that I’m considering. Both appear to be review from MCT, but maybe this isn’t necessarily a bad thing. I would also like her to work more on written narrations so maybe I’ll just focus on this. Decisions, decisions....

Have you started the 2015-2016 school year?  If so, how's it going?  Feel free to leave a comment below. 

Back to School, 2015-2016 Curriculum

It's official, today was the first day of the 2015-2016 school year here at Drywood Creek.  It went fairly well.  I can see there are a few things that will need to be adjusted in our Circle Time.  The reading was just too long....but, I'll save that for another post.  Without further ado, here are our 2015-2016 curriculum choices....

Circle Time (Family Study)

History
Beautiful Feet Modern American & World History (3 days/week)
TruthQuest History for Young Americans II & III (supplement)

Bible Study
TruthQuest History - Beginnings (4 days/week)
Herein is Love, Genesis, A Commentary for Children by Nancy Ganz (3/4 days/week)

Church History
Peril & Peace, Volume 1: Chronicles of the Ancient Church by Mindy and Brandon Withrow (supplement)
Trial & Triumph by Richard M. Hannula (2 days/week)

Missionary Study
Hero Tales & YWAM missionary books by Benge (1 day/week)

Composer Study - Johannes Brahms (1st term - 1 day/week)
The Young Brahms by Sybil Deucher

Science
Beautiful Feet History of Science (2 days/week)

Natural History
Wild Animals I Have Known by Seton (1st term - 1 day/week)

Geography
Beautiful Feet Geography (finish from last year - 1st term - Minn of the Mississippi by Holling C. Holling - 1 day/week)

Plutarch
Timoleon (finish from last year - 1st term - 1 day/week)

Picture Study
Health
Nature Study

RileyAnn Year 6 

Story of the World 4 by Susan Wise Bauer
Carry a Big Stick: The Uncommon Heroism of Theodore Roosevelt by George Grant (Term 1)
A Passion for the Impossible: The Life of Lilias Trotter by Miriam Huffness Rockman (Term 2)
Never Give In: The Extraordinary Character of Winston Churchill by Stephen Mansfield (Term 3)
The Story of Mankind by Van Loon
Alexander Graham Bell Invents the Telephone by Katherine Shippen (Term 1)
George Washington Carver by David Collins (Term 2)
Albert Einstein by Cwiklik (Term 3)
Apologia Land Animals of the Sixth Day
Captains Courageous by Kipling (Term 1)
Literature ?? (Term 2)
Literature ?? (Term 3)
Poetry for Young People - Robert Frost (Term 1)
Poetry for Young People - Carl Sandburg (Term 2)
Alfred Noyes (Term 3)
Michael Clay Thompson Voyage Level - We opted to hold off on this for the year.  I'm still trying to figure out what else to plug in.  I just may have her focus on written narration.
All About Spelling (finish Level 4 & begin Level 5)
Simply Charlotte Mason Business Math - Pet Store
Life of Fred

Ruben Year 5

Story of the World 4 by Susan Wise Bauer (audio)
Variety of living books and audio books
Using Language Well & Spelling Wisdom by Simply Charlotte Mason
All About Spelling Level 1
Poetry for Young People - Walt Whitman (Term 1)
Childhood Poems by Eugene Field (Term 2)
Poetry for Young People - Emily Dickinson (Term 3)
ST Math
Life of Fred
Tutoring at the Children's Dyslexia Center (2 days/week)

In addition, I have also started a Socratic Book Club for 5th/6th graders in our area.  We will meet monthly to discuss great literature, including...

September - Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame

October – The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain

November – A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens

January – The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien

February – Miracles on Maple Hill by Virginia Sorensen

March – Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe

April – The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett

These books will be our bedtime read alouds for the year.  The kids will also participate in our local homeschool choir and art classes.  

Have you kicked off your 2015-2016 school year?  Feel free to leave links in the comments section regarding your curriculum choices for the year.  

2015-2016 Circle Time Planning

Now that I have books chosen for our 2015-2016 homeschool year, I'm trying to create the schedule.  Last night I worked out our "Circle Time" subjects, or subjects we want to do together as a family, Cindy Rollins coined this "Morning Time".  I took little squares of paper and wrote each subject/book title that I intended to use as well as creating Mon, Tues, Wed, etc., headers.  This I learned from Sonya Shafer while watching the Simply Charlotte Mason Learning and Living DVD series. 

Once all the little papers were written, I could easily manipulate them and place them under a day of the week accordingly.  For example, I knew I wanted to spend three days per week on Beautiful Feet's Modern American and World History study and two days per week on Beautfiul Feet's History of Science study.  These were easily plugged in across the top, altering days.

Next, I plan to study the book of Genesis using the TruthQuest Beginnings guide, along with church history and some missionary stories.  I've chosen the Nancy Ganz commentary, Herein is Love, as the spine of the Genesis study and plan to spend four days per week on it.  The church history and missionary study will rotate with Beautiful Feet's Geography, which we're finishing up from last year.  I will be combining readings from Trial & Triumph by Hannula and the History Lives series by Mindy and Brandon Withrow.  I know the Geography study will only take one day per week, as well as the missionary biography.  A dear friend told me about the YWAM missionary stories on audio.  Since we'll be traveling to choir on Thursday mornings, I thought this the perfect time to pop in a YWAM missionary audio, hence the reason I plugged it into Thursday.  I know the BF Geography study is a little heavier than reading a chapter of church history and given the fact that Ruben has tutoring at the Children's Dyslexia Center on Mon/Wed, I plugged it into Tuesday, one of our days we get to stay home all day!

Lastly, I looked at what I call the, Charlotte Mason Enrichment, that I wanted to incorporate into our Circle Time this year.  I'm outsourcing choir and art, but I still want to do composer and picture study at home.  In addition, I plan to carry on our Plutarch Study from last year, as well as adding Wild Animals I Have Known by Seton, a recommendation from Ambleside Online Year 5 for Natural History.  I simply placed these four items on a different day each week.  Then added Health and Nature Study to our light day, Friday.  This will be a time for outdoor recreation and exploring nature.

Put into table form, our Circle Time week will look something like this....

Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday
History	Science	History	Science	History
Bible	Bible	Bible	Bible	Health
Church History	Geography	Church History	Missionary	Nature Study
Composer Study	Plutarch	Natural History	Picture Study
Tutoring		Tutoring	Choir

Stay tuned for our full list of 2015-2016 curriculum as we begin our first day of school next week....