2012-2013 School Year Planning

I've been planning for the upcoming school year for some time.  I love researching curriculum and planning.  If there was a way to make money at it, I'd be rich!  Truth be told, I'm actually a better planner than teacher. Praise God for His gift of grace.

I just watched a free seminar from Home Educating Family Convention.  It was an interview with Linda Lacour Hobar, author of The Mystery of History, regarding To Grade or Not to Grade.  She described people as being on a spectrum from thinkers to feelers.  I'm one of those check off the box thinkers.  So I need a boxed check off planner.

Last year, I bought this wonderful resource from Simply Charlotte Mason titled Planning Your Charlotte Mason Education.

  

For anyone planning their homeschool whether Charlotte Mason or not, this is a wonderful resource.  Sonya Shafer gives you five simple steps for planning your school year, starting with the big picture and ending with your day.  There are lists, timetables, schedules, and charts.  It's great!   From this resource, last year I created this lesson plan page to document our studies.

Date	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday
Bible
Character Study
History
Timeline
Geography
Math
Science & Nature Study
Writing & Copywork
Spelling
Oral Narration
Art & Picture Study
Handicrafts & Life Skills
Music Hymn & Composer Study
Reading & Literature
Poetry
Physical Education
Field Trips & Misc.

This year, I've streamlined the lesson plan page, cutting what didn't work and adding a few new things, including color as you can see below.  

RileyAnn 3^rd & Ruben 2^nd             2012-2013                 Term:                          Week:            

Date:	Day 1	Day 2	Day 3	Day 4	Day 5
Bible
The One Year Bible For Kids
Parables From Nature (29)
History/Geography
Mystery of History Volume 3 (84)
Timeline
Galloping the Globe
Activities & Mapping
Math
MUS Gamma
MUS Alpha
Science
Nature Portfolio Through theYear 60
Burgess Animal Book for Children 40
Language Arts
L L for the Very Young Vol. 2 (180)
Explode the Code 4, 5, 6
Pictures in Cursive C, D, E
All About Spelling Level 2 (25)
Reading/Literature & Composition
Copywork/Narration, Recitation
All About Reading Level 1 (49)
All About Spelling Level 1 (24)
Getty Dubay Level B
Read Alouds
Poetry
Art, Picture Study, Handicrafts, Life Skills, Music, Hymn, & Composer Study

It's still a work in progress as I add and delete things, but I feel it's a good start.  

I should mention, before I arrived at this stage, I started with a 3 ring binder and one of these sheets as a header page for each child.

Subject	Resource Ideas
Bible & Character Study
History
Geography
Math
Science & Nature Study
Language Arts & Phonics
Writing & Copywork
Spelling
Reading, Poetry, & Literature
Art & Picture Study
Music, Hymn, & Composer Study
Handicrafts & Life Skills
Misc.

Behind each header sheet, I added a couple of sheets of lined notebook paper, as well as Tables of Contents from a variety of potential curricula, and book lists for the history time period we plan to study.  From there, I compared content and narrowed down which resources I thought would work best for each child.   Upon finalizing resources, I added them to the header sheet.  I then use these header sheets to plug in subjects and resources on the lesson plan page (colored above).  

When I'm finished, I will print 36 lesson plan pages to 3 hole punch and bind as our planner for the upcoming school year.  Notice how I labeled the days 1 - 5, rather than by specific dates.  This allows us flexibility when life happens.  I did include a box in the top left corner to add dates as we complete the assigned days.  I use this box as my attendance record.  

I also left a blank for term and week.  Last school year, we completed our 36 week school year in three 12 week terms.  The girls liked this, so we will do it again this year.  


NOTE.....I've been combining Riley and Ruben's plan, keeping Angel's separate.  At the high school level, we have different expectations and keep a more formal record with grades for transcript purposes.  I will blog about that as it evolves in the future.  


Let me know what you think.  How is your planning going for the upcoming year? 

Raised Beds

I've always wanted raised garden beds, but we never got around to it.  Alas, this year The Farmer found time.  He and Angel built four of them.

Since I'm expecting a baby next week, we decided to let the kids plant and maintain the gardens this year.   We're starting smaller to keep it manageable for them.  After putting the beds in place, The Farmer poured black dirt.  Riley and Angel worked on spreading it. 

So far, it's been a great project.    They were able to choose what they wanted to plant, within reason ;-)  They sowed and weed (without being told).  The produce is growing and they're very excited about it. 

I love looking out the kitchen window and seeing the fruit of their labor.  It's also been a wonderful botany lesson. They came to me a few days ago wondering why the carrot seeds have not yet erupted from the ground.  After re-reading the package, they learned that when sowing carrots and radishes together, the carrots will sprout when the radishes are ready to harvest.  

Yesterday, the zucchini flowered after a very hot muggy weekend and rain showers.  Every day there is some new discovery.  It's great!!  God is good....

Slip and Slide

Warm spring days and sweet summer fun...

....spent cooling off in the afternoon sun :)

Sheep Shearing

Ah....summer's near, the grass is green and it's that time of year to shed our winter coats.

Last fall, we sold down our flock, keeping 3 ewes.  Thus shearing was a bit less this spring.  We borrowed the clippers from in-laws.  One early May Saturday morning, Jen and Angel set to work.  

Unfortunately, as they were shearing, they made a discovery.  We actually have 2 ewes and 1 wither.  Apparently, upon loading lambs last fall, a ewe was accidentally loaded and a wither was left.  We chalked it up as anatomy lesson.  

"Enthusiasm without knowledge is no good; haste makes mistakes."  Proverbs 19:2