Jump to content

Menu

Asynchronous/Accelerated Plans for Next Year


SeaConquest
 Share

Recommended Posts

I enjoy reading the plans threads on the different boards, but feel like I can't really post on any thread. I thought it might be fun to have a plans post for the more asynchronous/accelerated kids here.

 

My DS5 will technically be in K with our charter next year, but we have the following plans:

 

Math:

MM2

Singapore CWP2 (about 6 months behind)

LOF Cats and Dogs

Zaccaro Primary Grade Challenge Math

Living math books from the amazing Living Math Yahoo Group: http://www.livingmath.net/ReaderLists/tabid/268/language/en-US/Default.aspx

 

History:

History Odyssey -- Middle Ages

SOTW2 audiobooks

Adventures in America

Living history books, drawing inspiration from HO, SOTW, AA, and this family: http://airskull.com/story-of-the-world-volume-2-the-middle-ages-book-list/  

 

Reading: 

Finishing up the Progressive Phonics Advanced Readers and all of the Nora Gaydos and Bob books by end of summer

Evan Moor Reading Comp 1-2

Moving into Grade 2 leveled readers, perhaps the Elson and Free & Treadwell Readers if they aren't too boring

Junior Great Books and other read-aloud books from Ambleside Online and Sonlight 

 

Writing/Spelling:

WWE1

AAS2-3

Singapore Sentences to Paragraphs 1

Evan Moor Daily Paragraph Editing 2

Evan Moor Language Fundamentals 1

 

Logic:

Analogies for Beginners

Logic Safari books

Mindbenders book 2

 

Science:

Mr. Q Life

Sassafras Science (if the grammar errors don't drive me batty) Anatomy and Botany (already doing Zoology)

Living science books from this list: http://www.nsta.org/publications/ostb/

Summer science camps, perhaps some life science kits (will probably delegate this to my DH)

 

French:

Continue CNED with Grandma (native speaker and retired teacher), French reading with DH.

 

Spanish:

Probably just continue with Spanish TV to maintain. Perhaps some easy Spanish language books/workbooks. Not sure I'm ready to begin formal Spanish grammar. Thinking about Galore Park down the road, but am open to suggestions.

 

Hebrew/Judaism:

Sunday immersion class

 

Music:

Weekly Ukulele lessons and beginning music theory class

Classics for Kids podcasts

 

Art:

Monthly drop-in classes (I suck at art)

 

Musical Theatre:

Winter and Summer Camps

 

PE:

Soccer (Fall/Spring)

Surf/Swim (Year Round) 

Tennis (Summer)

Sailing (Year Round)

 

 

 


 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

DD 9

 

 

The Easy Stuff to figure out (AKA-the stuff that she'll do all day whether I assign it or not)

 

Math-AOPS Introductory Algebra, Math competitions (plus Mathletics for review and because she likes it)

 

Science-Uzinggo high school science, Local Middle school general science lab class, independent research and participating in group research with herpetology mentor, auditing college zoology classes via distance learning.

 

Latin-Continue Cambridge, National Classical Etymology Exam, Probably National Latin Exam (she's still eligible for the ELE, but I'm inclined to bump her to the NLE and see if we can justify listing high school credit for Latin)

 

Music-Continue piano and music theory/literature, possibly begin preparing for AP music theory exam (more for validating high school level work-and also because I think that when she wants to start taking college on campus, academic music classes would probably be a good place to start, because a) they're only offered at the state U and 4 year private schools in the area, not the CC, and b) Since that's my former department, I know most of the people in the area who teach them and who would likely be a good fit).

 

 

 

The harder stuff to figure out

 

Athena's Academy History (SOTW 3/4)-this is easy for her, but she has never yet been able to do book 4 of SOTW (or any modern history)without getting really, really upset. I'm hoping that doing it with other kids, most of whom she's been in class with already, with the discussion with other people her age, will make the difference. I don't feel like we can really move into secondary level history until she gets past that emotional hump.

 

Literature-Still going back and forth on this. She needs to ramp up writing requirements, but that's happening in science, and, just like with history, she struggles emotionally with a lot of middle grades books. We may try the ONline G3 LL 7/8 class-I think she can handle the books in it, and, again, having the group discussion may help to bridge her over to harder content and to more "Real" humanities study.

 

Language arts-MCT Voyage level, although LOF LA is kind of tempting because DD loves fred and does it independently (and it's much more doable in a car driving to do field work or to meet with the research team), and MCT really can't be.

 

Spanish-This has kind of stagnated into reading books and trying to keep Duolingo Green. She's beyond most basic Spanish books, but without conversational practice, it really isn't going anywhere. Maybe "So you really want to learn Spanish"?

Greek-Continue slogging through Athenaze, or possibly "So you really want to learn Ancient Greek" if I can find it. She wants to learn Greek, and she's pushing towards it, but honestly, I'm not sure it's worth the time it takes.

 

Art??? Who knows?

 

PE-continue rec cheer and tumbling, although I'm thinking we may need to move to a different tumbling gym-DD's class time and coach has changed twice since the end of December, which isn't good for a kid who tends to anxiety and doesn't trust herself physically to start with.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yay! So glad you started this- It doesn't seem to fit to post these schedules on the regular grade page-

Moving into 3rd grade - DS will be 8

 

Language Arts

MCT Island level

 

History/Geography

History Odyssey Ancients Level 1

History Odyssey Middle Ages Level 1(we spent the last 2 years doing Trail to Learning Paths of Exploration and Paths of Settlement, so time to get the rest of the world, and since they're kind of basic for his level we'll go through much faster)

 

Math

Planning to start Singapore Dimensions/Discovering Math 7A.  Wish I could find someone who used MIF Course 1-3, because MIF was actually a little easier to use (we switched this year).  Thoughts?

 

Science

Mr Q Physics, then...

Need to decide whether to do advanced chemistry or advanced geology (already covered elementary chemistry, earth science, and biology).  Any suggestions?

 

Spanish

Using Spanish for You, but HATE it (totally disorganized, very hard to use).  Wondering if Galore Park SYRWL Spanish will work?

 

Charter School 2 days a week covers: Art, Music, *more* science, Spanish, some kind of unit study (sign language right now), and Lego Robotics

 

Other

Piano lessons

Soccer

Golf

Swimming

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Dd9:

 

Math - AOPS pre-A and/or Dolciani pre-A - trying to decide if I should sign her up for an online class.

 

Chinese - class/tutor

 

Latin - keep working through LNM

 

Grammar - R&S 7 or maybe 8 - we skipped from FLL4 to R&S 6 this year and she is bored with all of the review.

 

Writing - WWS2 and maybe Cover Story for fun

 

History - read through History of Us/various biographies, maybe do VP's self-paced courses (last two)

 

Science: astronomy class and Plato science

 

Lit: not sure yet

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Everything's up in the air right now because we're not sure that we'll be able to continue HSing, but keeping fingers crossed, here's what I'm leaning towards.

 

Oldest DD (7th):

-finish EPGY Beginning Algebra, most likely start EPGY Geometry. Not my first choice, but they are more likely to get accepted by a B&M school for placement purposes than Singapore DM. If she does the EPGY Geometry, I'm going to have her work through the algebra portions of DM 8 as a way to review and extend her understanding.

-continue on with Sadlier-Oxford Vocabulary Workshop. She'll probably be in book F by the fall.

-most likely IEW Windows to the World

-medieval lit using Greenleaf Guide and also selections from EMC Masterpieces "Literature and the Language Arts: World Literature" textbook.

-K12 Human Odyssey Vol. 2

-finish Critical Thinking Press World History Detective

-Walch World History Map Activities

-physics using some combo of Hewitt's "Conceptual Physics", Singapore "Physics Matters", and possibly Exploration Education Advanced Physical Science. The original plan was for her to do the Hewitt book but I'm considering using that with DS and she objects to being in the same book as her 3rd grade brother. So I may have her do the Singapore book assuming she has enough math to get through that.

-continue on with Science Olympiad team.

-most likely American Sign Language 1 at community college.

-art through local arts education program

 

 

DS (3rd):

-continue on with Singapore textbook + CWP + IP and Beast Academy. I'm guessing he'll be in SM 4B by the fall and BA 4A&B. Might have him do the RFWP Problemoids 4 book if he outpaces the publication of BA.

-Evan-Moor Daily Language Review Grade 4 and probably also Daily Paragraph Editing. With DPE, he'll do the parts of the 4th grade book that his sister hasn't completed, and then move into the 6th grade book that I have on my shelf.

-All About Spelling 6 and then 7. After that, I'm planning to move him to Spelling Power.

-he should be done with CE2 sometime in the early fall, and I'll likely switch him over to S-O VW. Not sure yet which level. His sister started with Level B (7th grade) after CE2 but his vocab isn't as strong so I might have him start at Blue (5th grade).

-finish up Practice Town, might have him start in on 4Practice 1 since I have that on my shelf.

-writing I'm having the hardest time deciding about. I'm seriously tempted by the new CAP Writing & Rhetoric series, but I've got a TON of writing books on my shelf already. EPS' "The Paragraph Book" series I think would be really good for him (probably will either skip book 1 entirely or just quickly run through the highlights) followed by Scholastic "Paragraph Writing Made Easy". Killgallon's "Sentence Composing for Elementary" is something I want him to do at some point, but I'm not sure if he'll be ready for it this fall.

-Classical Academic Press' "Reading and Reasoning" series looks interesting and I might give that a try.

-SOTW Vol. 2 and the part of Vol. 3 that goes along with the material in K12 HO V2, SOTW tests

-MP Famous Men of the Middle Ages and Famous Men of Modern Times sets.

-finish up Song School Latin 2, start Latin for Children A. If LFC is a bust for DS like it was for DD, I might try Latin's No So Tough Level 3.

-physics TBD. This year he's used some of the Hewitt Conceptual Physics book to help with Science Olympiad and that actually was a good level for him. So I might have him do the rest of the topics in that book. Oldest DD was NOT happy about that idea, so I may have him try Exploration Education Advanced Physical Science instead. PLATO high school physics might be an option as I think he'd like the videos but I'm not sure whether the math in that might be too advanced.

-continue on with Science Olympiad team.

-group intro to piano and art through local arts education program.

 

If they do wind up going into a B&M school, I will "afterschool" in math and vocab for both, and history, Latin, and writing for DS.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Can afterschoolers post too?  We are wrapping up this year's plan for the next couple months and will be starting the new stuff come summer.

 

Latin: GSWL and Minimus 2

Greek: Code Cracker, Greek for Children 1

Language Arts: FLL 3 after finishing Latin and Greek ?

Math: Education Unboxed, Life of Fred; Beast Academy for DD and DS  ?. .

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Ours is very much up in the air too.

 

I am preparing to plan by semester/ quarter instead of by year, similar to how Coursera, AoPS and community colleges schedule classes. Planning for 10-12 months in advance doesn't seem to be the most efficient way for DS because there are always different things he becomes interested in. We will still homeschool year-long but instead of juggling 8-9 subjects, we will try to focus on maybe 4 things at a time, and for example, 2 or 3 of those might be outsourced. We will follow the schedule of the outsourced classes then let everything else be interest driven and take stock and re-assess every quarter or so. I'm going to stop feeling guilty about not finishing things. Wish me luck with that lol!

 

DS wants to continue with OSU's German 2 and that's the only subject we know for sure. He was enrolled for 2013-14 and completed only three chapters due to all the other things he has his fingers in. Fortunately, OSU is flexible with time taken.

 

We plan to stick with his math mentor for as long as we can afford him. Currently they are working on abstract algebra together. They might continue into 2014-15 or might move on to something else.

 

I am also considering continuing with Elocution. We tried it these past two months, culminating in an oral presentation and DS really enjoyed reciting from A Midsummer Night's Dream. Considering organizing something on a frequent basis so that he and his friends can get together and recite poetry or passages to one another. Fingers crossed.

 

Since OP mentioned asynchronous in the thread title (apologies OP, I do understand it might not be what you really meant), these are the areas I really feel we should be working on at home. The absent-mindness is past hilarious right now and I'm only half joking. :) Not sure if we will complete any successfully:

 

1. Sarcasm 101 -- how to detect sarcasm thrown your way and what to do about it. Bunny trails will include The Artful Comeback and How To Read People.

 

2. Hold On to Your Pens! -- how to keep your pens, erasers, rulers etc on YOUR desk, NOT the carpet/ floor. How to save your parents' money by not constantly donating said stationery (knowingly or unknowingly) to other students in an IRL class.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

My son 7.5 will change gears on some things very soon.


Math: Math Mammoth 4, Life of Fred Ice Cream (to whatever he gets to, then back up and repeat.)


History : Story of the World Medieval, second round.


Science: Elemental Science Chemistry


Grammar: Hake 6 ( Going to check this out, if it isn't a good fit will look at Junior Analytical Grammar.)


Writing : Writing with Ease 4, or Writing With Skill 1 ( Need to see if he is ready for WWS. )


Latin: Lively Latin 2


Spanish: Getting Started with Spanish.


Tons of literature.


 


DD almost six.


Math: Math Mammoth 2, Life of Fred Edgewood and up.


History : Story of the World Ancient


Science: Elemental Science Biology


Grammar: First Language Lessons 3


Writing : Writing with Ease 2


Latin: Getting Started With Latin


All About Spelling 3


Tons of literature.


Link to comment
Share on other sites

DS will be 10 and after schooler

Math- AOPS finishing intermediate algebra and may start pre Calculus
Science - really gonna start algebra based physics. We planned to do this year,.. Never happened
Vocaburary - word wise
Read whatever he want to read
Violin- orchestra

DD will be 6 also afterschooler
Math - SM 4b/5a text IP/CWP 3.. We just start 4a.. And going to start IP 3.. Not sure how that gonna work.. We might go a lot slower than planned.
RSO - earth
Vocaburary - word wise
Read whatever she feels like.
Violin

DS's plan is really the best scenario. He had a such busy schedule this year we ended up only did about half what we planned. and his tennis coach wants him to compete next year. It really gonna be wild.

 

 

Stupid me didn't mention the asynchronous. DS is weak in grammer and writing... I wonder where did that come from.    I didn't do much about those and not plan to. 1. I can't.. I am weak in grammer and writing . 2. since he is afterschooler, I will leave those to his teacher. DD is weak in fine motor skill. There is also nothing I can do with it, She like lego and draw, So I will just make sure she has lot of those

 
Link to comment
Share on other sites

DD will be 4. I make plans and she tramples them, either by blowing through stuff I thought would take a long time or by losing interest and causing me to shelve everything! But here's my very loose plans.

 

Reading: currently at second/third grade level, will use library books at her level with a long list put together from every reading list I can find

Writing: Getty Dubay if she ever shows interest in printing again

Spelling: we'll finish AAS1 soon and move on to level 2. Switching from the letter tiles to her typing the spelling words and phrases has saved this program for us!

Math: RightStart B and continuing Life of Fred as a read-aloud

History: pre-history using the Charlie's Playhouse timeline and Usborne Encyclopedia of World History as our guides

Science: a subscription to Magic School Bus kits, lots of living books from the library, probably add in Snap Circuits or other kits. I need to get a decent microscope. Science is her first love and no matter how much I come up with here she will want more.

Spanish: I'm lost on this one. She already knows all the vocabulary covered in most kindy and early elementary programs, but isn't ready for the writing in older-kid programs. CDs from JosĂƒÂ©-Luis Orozco? I think we'll start reading longer picture books fully in Spanish.

Art: considering the preschool level of Artistic Pursuits, but don't know that I want to add an art curric to our lineup quite yet. Otherwise continuing the free-form art she does on a daily basis.

 

She will continue violin, gymnastics, and swim lessons as long as she wants them. Though having just purchased a new violin for her, that one may be less optional until I feel we've gotten our money's worth out of the instrument!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1. Sarcasm 101 -- how to detect sarcasm thrown your way and what to do about it. Bunny trails will include The Artful Comeback and How To Read People.

 

2. Hold On to Your Pens! -- how to keep your pens, erasers, rulers etc on YOUR desk, NOT the carpet/ floor. How to save your parents' money by not constantly donating said stationery (knowingly or unknowingly) to other students in an IRL class.

 

To continue this line of thinking:

 

ds 13:

 

1. Compromise, speaking nicely, and persuasion without argumentation.  Believe it or not we have invited a thought-he-was-but-tested-not aspergers 16 year old to play D&D every Saturday!  This requires lots of patience on my part (and dh's) and lots of wine for the adults!  But it is working for both the 13 and 16 year old. In a quirk of fate, my ds10's greatest skill is his empathy/social skills so he teaches the others boys.

 

2. Time management/paper management.  Yes, this is an ongoing issue, but we are making headway

 

3. Grey thinking.  This is my black and white boy. LOTS of discussion required.

 

ds10:

 

1. Developing habits.  He can't ever seem to remember to brush his teeth, make his bed, or put away his laundry.

 

2. Working independently. An ongoing issue for this very laid back boy. He likes me to sit next to him, so we are working to build up his tolerance for independent work.

 

3. Motivation.  This child is my contemplative thinker and would quite happily sit and think all day.  We are working on a little bit more output.....

 

4. Also working like Quark on keeping all pencils on the desk, and fewer bathroom breaks.....

 

In contrast, our academic plans are so boring.  We are so predictable....

 

Ruth in NZ

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The Barracuda is going to be 10 in October. He is not amazingly fond of math, but really into the humanities. He wants to be a community organizer when he grows up so we have a pretty large focus on language (English and others), history, and civics.

 

Spelling: Sequential Spelling 7

Grammar: Easy Grammar 9

Vocabulary : MCT Word Within a Word??? This one is still up in the air. We might hold off on vocabulary until next year when we are done with formal instruction in both spelling and grammar. It seems like a lot to me, but the boy can get obsessive sometimes and I try to roll with it.

 

Composition: Classic Rhetoric through Structure and Style, grant writing and speeches for his non-profit

Literature: Figurative Language and Literary Analysis through short stories for the first half and either Classics of British Literature or early Transcendentalists and nature writings for the second

 

Math: AoPS Intro to Number Theory and AoPS Intro to Algebra (He wants Geometry, but we'll see)

Science: Finish up Apologia Chemistry and Thames & Kosmos Chem 3000, then Earth Sciences

Geography: Countries of the world, historic places, and landforms

History: British History/ Omnibus II reading list

Social Studies/Civics: Running and growing his non-profit

 

Music: Drums, ear training, and any music theory I can manage to sneak in

 

Latin: Jenney's Latin

Spanish: Workbook in Everyday Spanish and library books. We are mainly just creeping along with this one. His motivation is mainly just niggling interest in languages and this one is easily accessible.

Greek or Japanese: He is trying to talk me into these one of these two. I feel exhausted just thinking about it! He will most likely begin using resources through an online course he finds or the library for the first year.

 

Asynchronous learning: combing his hair and bathing regularly so he doesn't look homeless, taking a breath before answering someone's question so he doesn't panic and start spewing random babble incoherently, and changing his clothes regularly.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Asynchronous learning here-Telephone conversations 101, hair brushing/braiding (and/or, finally accepting that you can't have waist length hair if you can't manage it yourself), situationally appropriate clothing (like "you usually don't wear frog-print PJs to the mall when you're going to see girls from your cheer team, even though at our homeschool co-op it's perfectly acceptable attire".)

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I've been tenatively planning, but there are a couple subjects I'm not sure about.

DS 7-

Literature: I made a list of lit to read based on Great books academy and ambleside that we will continue to work our way through. 

Grammar:  we are finishing up Grammar Island I don't know if I will continue with MCT or not.  We love Island, but I read mixed reviews on here about the upper levels.

Spelling:  We play around with Spelling Power, randomly when we feel like it.

Writing: IDK.  Help!  :lol:

Math: Singapore, I'm guessing we will be starting 3B, perhaps 4A.

History: SOTW 2 (We do this lightly, basically read the book and do the mapwork.  He rabbit trails on his own

Science: Projects and notebooking

Latin:? Minimus Secondus? IDK.

Art: We do a homeschool art class through the Art Museum.  He also plays drums & Suzuki double bass. 

PE: Takes swimming lessons and plays soccer.

 

My 3 year old twins are in Montessori Preschool, next year they will continue.  We do BOB books and other fun stuff in the afternoons, but I don't plan anything for them.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Grammar:  we are finishing up Grammar Island I don't know if I will continue with MCT or not.  We love Island, but I read mixed reviews on here about the upper levels.

Really? I usually hear mixed reviews of "Island" and positive reviews of "Town".

 

ETA: My oldest did "town" plus CE2. She'll most likely do Magic Lens 1 and Advanced Academic Writing this spring. My DS did "island" except for the poetry and has done some of the "town" level (finished CE1 & Grammar Town, in the middle of Practice Town, holding off on the other books for now).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

We chose to school year round seven days on seven days off and one or two hrs. a day.  The two hr days are either when he does Great Courses math, or when he asks for an extra subject.  (After last years school problem, his asking for extra work is a huge win).  Ds will be 7 at the beginning of next schoolyear.  I think he'll still be using the same books next year.  Every school day he does either the next assignment in The Complete Writer, HWT 5, or a book report.  He does Singapore math, BA, Great Courses mastering the fundementals of math, or CTC math online.  I'm thinking about buying an algebra book and starting very slowly. Then he does one of the following subjects in rotation: Usborne World History, American geography (tracing maps), MCT Island, spelling.  He just started Skyppe piano lessons with grandpa.   I plan to add content subjects after he's literate in the three R's.   He reads books for an hour at bedtime because it makes him sleepy. I will need to buy more grammer next year.   It's a toss up between Analytical Grammer or MCT Town.  His handwriting is much faster now.  He can copy a page or two of subtraction with carrying problems and answer them while I wash the dishes.

 

 

His unschool weeks I encourage him to do something productive.  He does art, Ukelele, eeme electronics, snapcircuits, sometimes he asks for a schoolbook and does a little.  I bought the folio society fairy books and read to them while they color during unschool week.

 

 

I think the asynchronisity in our case is in the academics, teaching grammer and composition before finishing spelling, mixing maths instead of sticking with a sequence, well, adding in a mix while marching through the sequence.

Personal development.   If I see or hear something wrong I cover my eyes or ears and count to five and it needs to have stopped when I look again.  I think that's just personal growth and development, not really asynchronisity.  He needs to be taught this kind of responsibility and self control along with his academics.  I don't know if that's asynchronisity, just development.  It's that he's growing past the stage where I tell him how to fix his behavior and now I just make it clear that he's accountable for it.  This is a different stage than previous years.

 

 

Dd will be 4 next year.  I'm iffy about her schedule.  Dd, being a second child, has more programs than Ds did.  She has readingeggs, ctc math, and HWT K.  She schools once or twice a week right now.  I'm not as worried about getting her on a schedule since I know I won't be sending her to school.  She reads cvc books, but adds stuff that's not there.  "Kim has a hat", and it's a purple hat and it's her favorite hat because it's purple.  The cat gave her the hat."  I think she'll be reading books soon. 

 

 

 

She did take aways the other day on ctc math.  She can copy her letters and has almost finished HWT K.  I know what to teach her, just keep going with the three R's.   I just don't know if I should give her more of a schedule since she won't be going to school.  Ds's old schedule wouldn't work for her because the work she's doing is different than what he had at that age.  I might just change her schedule from one or two random days a week to three set days a week at a set time.  I can't believe how big they're getting.  She gets to join the t-ball team this summer.  That's a huge milestone.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Current After-schooling (very relaxed & eclectic) Plans for DD4.5

 

1. Math: SM1A & may try LOF Apples again (often 1/2 in Spanish)

2. Music: Violin and Piano (Music for Little Mozarts 2); DD listens to music ALL THE TIME, often classical; as it gets warmer, music festivals

3. Spanish - lots of books, need to do more music, she's asking for Rosetta Stone a lot lately, playing board/card games in Spanish; conversational

4. Writing - this seems to have finally taken off. She's seriously been able to write all her letters for 2.5 years, but fell into a perfectionist hole and is now reemerging. She wanted to start cursive at 4.0 which we did for awhile, but I've started focusing on print again to help her gain confidence. It's working and she's writing at school now finally. I just restarted HWT in Spanish with her, so that keeps it fun and covers two things!

5. History - SOTW1, she's reading the MTH books over and over, so getting lots there

6. Geography - we've had great success with studying a new country about 1 per 4-8 weeks. We're on Mexico now and heading to the Yucatan for a week at the end of the month. When the travel doctor asked her what she's going to do in Mexico on her trip she answered 'get more books in Spanish!' Ummm....that is seriously NOT the main goal goof!!

7. Ballet - her passion and focus - this is seriously significant exercise at home as she spends ~ 2 hrs a day dancing in the house. A class once a week, and her teacher agreed that she could come in to watch an older class, so we might try that.

8. Swim lessons at some point

9. Reading - she's going up a grade level about every 4-8 weeks lately, so who knows? I just keep putting a wide variety of books in her path. She's reading 3rd-6th grade level books currently, mostly fiction.

10. Spelling - ugh...we haven't worked on this much. I need to figure out my strategy. I asked her school to work with her on this one, so they're doing better. Maybe 1st grade level?

11. Science: I focus a lot on the animal kingdom with our geography studies given I'm a wildlife biologist. She's often asking astronomy and physics questions, but we could do more projects at home.

12. Art: We've fallen out of regular art efforts. She's finally initiating drawing on her own more, which goes along with the handwriting surge. Lots of interesting detail in the drawings I wouldn't have expected. It's a pleasant surprise!  I need to clean up our art space and encourage it more if she's interested

 

So my goals are in general:

See if I can bring up her writing and spelling so there's not such a differential between reading and writing/spelling levels

Help her cruise along in math. She's good at math, but needs the stepping stones laid out for her. A little at breakfast most days goes a LONG way

Help her deal with strong emotions. Me reacting calmly is definitely helping here...

Get outside more!!!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

DS will turn 8 this summer

 

Math:  finishing up MM 3A now, so we will just keep trucking along with that

Also going to add Beast Academy

 

Science:  Doing BFSU now, will do Mr. Q Physics starting this summer

 

Language Arts:  Just started Write Shop Primary Level B and Dianne Craft's Writing 8 Exercise

He reads and spells on a 4th grade level, so we are just doing lots of reading and focusing on catching up in Writing.

 

History:  Diana Waring's History Revealed - RRR w/ the Elementary Activity Book

 

Latin:  English From the Roots Up flashcards

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

DD6

 

Language Arts : She's reading mostly Sonlight's 4th grade readers at the moment, will go where she leads though

                        : Own spelling - she is mostly a phonetic speller and knows a lot of rules so working on the Dolch words that she does not know in a phonetic                                                         way since she will use these words a lot.

                        : Writing - Just working on stamina as she is churning out her own writing and we just work from there - teaching any punctuation that comes up, paragraphing as she writes enough and so on. May switch to Bob Jones writing and grammar grade 3 if her stamina improves and she needs it as we have it available

                        : Grammar - grammar land for now. Will decide more when that is done.

                        : Literature: I have a lot of books around to read to her, but have to somehow stop her asking for others before I can choose as I am getting hoarse by the end of the day if I have to read too many - and while she is capable of reading many of them, she loves being read to and needs someone to read the classics to her.

 

Math : Life Of Fred - she is just finishing Cats now, so will just keep going.

         : Singapore 2a/b - she is busy learning multiplication facts so once those are down things may speed up - will have to see.

       

Science: BFSU1 - I think we will finish this this year some time and then decide further

 

History: SOTW 2

 

Gymnastics: She is doing well here, though it is turning into a lesson in social skills since she struggles with the inattention of the kids in her group. 

 

Swimming: Need to work on strokes - it is getting a bit colder now though so this will be the end of the years job.                

 

DD2

 

Is blending and reading some. Starting early phonics - she can blend cvc words so far. She seems more keen on phonics than the elder who learnt mostly by sight - my younger needs more of a combination.

 

Gymnastics and Swimming

 

Math: counting to 20 and beyond, playing with numbers and starting addition word problems (none of this written of course)

 

Learning to use scissors.

 

Still potty training - sigh.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Really? I usually hear mixed reviews of "Island" and positive reviews of "Town".

 

ETA: My oldest did "town" plus CE2. She'll most likely do Magic Lens 1 and Advanced Academic Writing this spring. My DS did "island" except for the poetry and has done some of the "town" level (finished CE1 & Grammar Town, in the middle of Practice Town, holding off on the other books for now).

Good to know. I think I read it on the k-8 board a few times, that's what I was remembering.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well, my kid isn't terribly accelerated, but I didn't feel comfortable posting in the 2nd grade thread.

 

Math: Oy! When I first learned of BA I thought, "Oh good, my kid is young enough that all the books will be out for him." But then I looked again, and thought he'd be ready for them by Fall. Well, I looked again, and he'll be ready about as soon as I get an order put in and they arrive. So, we'll start 3A soon and probably be in 3B by Fall.

 

- LOF - I don't know where to go with this. My kid does ask to do it every day, so there is that. It will be good for review practice, I suppose. Are there any books in the later Elementary or Intermediate level that should/could be skipped? Especially if already doing BA?

 

 

Spelling: Continuing AAS. We'll be in 4 or so by Fall. It's a bit overkill for him, he automatically spells just about everything correctly on the first try. But I'm learning a lot from it.

 

 

Writing: We'll begin the Writing Station portion of AAS in 3. Would that be enough for now? I would like to start CAP W&R with him eventually, but writing is easily the thing he struggles with most.

 

 

LA: Probably start MCT when we're done with FLL1/2. He grasps grammar pretty well already, but what is the month that comes after April again? And I want him to start applying his knowledge more. We'll see if 4-level analysis works.

 

 

Reading - Probably continue pulling from the TOC list of LLtL. 

 

 

Latin - SSL2. Maybe add in a grammar program at some point. LFC or PL. I'm tiring of the vocab-only approach, and since he has good grammar skills I think we can move a bit sideways there. We'll see.

 

 

Science - Continue Mr Q with ES & Bill Nye videos. He likes it.

 

 

Dutch: Not sure how the Language School will continue to work out. He may need to repeat his Groep. It's "on-grade-level" and he's quite rusty. Continue doing work at home.

 

 

Handwriting: Start cursive. We've been doing D'Nealian this year because I wanted to get him away from ball-and-stick. It's worked somewhat, but not completely. Cursive will either complete my goal or show it to be an utter failure.

 

 

Geography: Ha! I'll have to come up with something.

 

 

History: Continuing my self-made plan.

 

 

Piano: Have to decide whether to stick with Alfred or switch to Faber.

 

 

Music/Art Appreciation: ?? Maybe as I get further on in history I'll just cover this there.

 

 

Something for Critical Thinking. I need to have some more fun browsing.

 

 

Drawing: He loves drawing Angry Birds, even though he's pretty bad at it. Will have to find something else he likes that has 2-D characters.

 

 

Probably continue Ninjitsu lessons. Maybe start Cub Scouts.

 

Oh, and Faith&Life - probably going on to grade 2. I would like to do some Bible reading as well, but I haven't figured out a good way to key that with the S&S of F&L.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

My first thought reading through this thread is that you all are accelerated too, I'm not ready to think about next year yet!  I only plan about 6 months in advance.  Where we're at right now most things are probably going to be 'do the next thing' for the next while, even if it whizzes by fairly quick.  Except I suspect DS is going to finish MCT Town level and CE1 by summer, he's racing through it.  And I don't know what will come after that, I don't know if it'll be right to move to straight to Voyage, or if I should find something else, or just piece together like I did before. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I like playing along in the threads, though. Last time I did was about mid-summer 2013. I then ran across my post 3-4 months later and thought, "Well, those all sounded like such splendid plans at the time!" Maybe I'll find this post next August and have much fun laughing about where DD is versus where I predicted she would be. :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

oh, my, next year we are going to be pretty straight-up.  Not very Exciting.  I hope. 

 

I've spent a lot of energy this year trying to figure out some "tracks" that work well for us on average.  So for A., who will be 9yo and in 4th grade, our sources are (Good Lord willing & the creek don't rise):

 

AoPS, Calculadder, Singapore MathSprints for maths.

Ambleside Online Year 4       as our spine for everything else, incl. science.  Plans to boost science are still vague but will be necessary. 

Great Books/Angelicum 4    literature to be added, probably philosophy, Draw Write Now from there. 

I may cut down on AO's history to allow A. to do Pandia Press' History Odyssey on grade level, or to add a Classics course (classical culture history/mythology). 

Evan Moore Geography 5.

Harmony Mom Fine Arts:    we sub this for the AO artist & composer study.

The various " ____ for Children"        poetry books are serving us well this year, we'll probably use those.

Shakespeare: the Animated Tales    to supplement AO Shakespeare. 

IEW Poetry Memorization.

 

Writing & Grammar from :

* Peace Hill Press

* Classical Writing

* Michael Clay Thompson

* perhaps adding Wishes, Lies and Dreams. 

* Presidential Penmanship, Science Italics (adapted for our style) for handwriting + work samples to give our charter school. 

Use a bit of literary discussion a la Teaching the Classics. 

 

Latin:                      finish GSWL. add: ???  maybe do Galore Park + something; Artes Latinae and Visual Latin are on the radar.  No CAP languages here for sure. 

Spanish:                 finish GSWS.  Move onto Duo Lingo and prob. Galore Park Spanish. 

I have abandoned hopes of beginning ancient Greek next year. 

Classical piano:      this takes up a chunk o'time, my friends!!!  I had no idea when we started his lessons this year.  ah well. 

Drawing:                Draw Write Now, Complete-A-Sketch, Draw 50 ____.  We cycle through these, try to do something each day.  Would like to add Augsberg and/or Kistler some year.

Physical:                aikido.  Adding swimming lessons, perhaps team (at a VERY low level of competition!); Royal Canadian 5BX; some bodyweight exercises. 

 

 

N. will be K4.  Doing :

Great Books/Angelicum Preschool year, more or less, with

MEP Year 1                     maths and when we start MEP Y2 I plan to add SM maths. 

All About Reading

Ambleside Year0             literature.

Evan Moor                      spell/write skills

Kumon books, eventually Zaner Bloser K handwriting I hope. 

Sandbox Scientist          for science, 

Art for the Very Young.

Montessori Geography if we have time. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Some of us also just keep going all year, so our "next year" plans start happening in just a few months!  We just keeping plugging on and starting the next level when we finish one, and take short breaks throughout the year for holidays, vacations, etc.  So they all really start and finish at different times.  But otherwise, continuing with lessons keeps my DS7 on an even keel- we usually even take an *easy* set of some kind of workbook pages along when we're on vacation and need to re-center.  Our life skills project for the year is not crying and running away when you're frustrated or upset, but figuring out how to work through emotional upset or being anxious.  Oh, and shoe tying - getting it right the first time, not the 4th.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

DS 7 year 3 (I think that's grade 2?)  we school year round and start in January so we've not long started the year

 

Maths: LoF fractions will be finished in the next week or so - I anticipate decimals and percents will take another 6 - 10 weeks and we'll just keep moving on through if he keeps understanding.  The Arbor centre books when they get here.  Kumon word problems Grade 5 (nearly done) and then 6.  Probably Alcumus before year's end (can't justify postage on the AOPS books, but we'll use the website until I find a cheaper way to get the books here). 

 

Science: continue assorted Ellen McHenry, lots of reading on interest topics.  Still debating Sassafras, although that'd be combined with DD. 

 

Spelling: AAS 7 has about a month or maybe two to go.  Not sure where to go after that.  Lists from writing.  Possibly Phonemic Zoo?  Maybe english from the roots up

 

Foreign Language: duolingo french, german, spanish.  german lesons with a friend.  Latin with sister (finishing song school with her, and minimus on is own)

 

Writing: self made programme, focus on descriptive writing atm, friendly letters, will move to narrative form soonish.  Basic 5 paragraph essay model.  Kumon writing grade 5 (nearly finished) and grade 6.  Topic writing, book reviews. 

 

Reading / Grammar / Vocab: he's addicted to SRA reading power builders.  He'll finish the set this term then it'll be project based learning. 

Handwriting: getty dubay book F

 

Lots of unit studies along with DD - Winter Olympics, finger printing, human body (again) are in the pipeline, who knows where they will lead me.  Various hotdots sets and stile books. Considering the Big History project.  Coursera as suits.

 

DD (4): she'd be year 1 in April (does that mean K in September?)

Miquon (orange atm, at current pace she'll cover four or five books this year), Dreambox (done K and 1, starting 2) Kumon Time, will move on to Kumon word problems at some point.  Well start life of Fred when she's finished the red book.

 

Science: tag-a-long with big brother... lots of Suzys world and she's already addicted to "the way things work" and the magic school bus

 

Spelling: AAS 1.  Esssential lists 1 - 5

 

Writing: interest based, sentence level atm.  Kumon Writing grade 1 will be finished this term - we'll move through grades 2 and probably 3 this year

 

Reading / Grammar / etc: intrepica (or whatever it's called now).  Walnut readers.  SRA Power builders.  Lots of reading to and independent reading.  Jolly phonics hot dots cards.  STILE tray language books

 

Handwriting: Getty Dubay B (will be finished this term) then C.

 

Hotdots cards on various topics and assorted STILE books.  Unit studies with DS. 

 

Outside: piano ad recorder lessons, choir, martial arts, rock climbing, swimming (both).  Penguins, recorder ensemble, trampolining (DS), gymnastics (DD)

 

 

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hmmm, I'm always hesitant to post on this board...:)

 

Here is what I'm considering for 6th grade:

 

  • Singapore Math 6 along with MEP and geometry from Patty Paper, Hands-On Geometry, etc. I'm not really sure where do go after Singapore 5 is complete this year.
  • Science to include biology topics such as entomology, microbiology, classification, etc. I'm still really working on this. She still has a huge interest in astronomy and physics, so I may need to keep this going too. She is interested in everything in science.
  • French 2-she has been keeping up with her older sister but I will separate them this fall for some aspects of French...I will be using Breaking the Barrier with them and many supplements
  • Latin-she would like to try First Form, but I may try something else with her
  • English-I am at a loss here...I may be using the thread for those who do not use a curriculum...she is well past needing work with narrative style writing. I will be focusing heavily on grammar this year...I'm looking at KISS, but I'm not sure
  • Literature will include books such as North and South, poetry, Robinson Crusoe, Treasure Island, Persuasion, Ivanhoe, and whatever else is interesting for us...I would like to do a  theme study for her, but I'm not sure yet. We will be starting a George MacDonald study soon. Once this is finished, I'm not sure what we will do.
  • History will follow two threads with one being for the ancients and the other for American history. I will add primary sources, documentaries, etc. once I see where we are in the fall.
  • The arts for us will include watercolors, drawing, artist study, composer/opera study and piano lessons
  • She would like to start ballet again and I would love to find archery lessons for her too.
  • We will be going through The Magic and Medicine of Plants and keeping a sketchbook together along with my older daughter for nature study.

 

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

My ds5 will be doing

 

Math mammoth 2

Bfsu 1- finish the second half

Connecting with history 2

Classically catholic memory beta

Iew bible heroes

Discovering great artists

Making music, praying twice

 

My primary goal for him is to start doing oral narrations. I am hoping the iew method will be a fun intro.

 

My 3 yo will be doing

Rs a

Aar 1

Art and music with big bro

A montessori faith formation 1x per week

 

My primary goal for her is to lose the pull ups...sigh.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1. Sarcasm 101 -- how to detect sarcasm thrown your way and what to do about it. Bunny trails will include The Artful Comeback and How To Read People.

 

2. Hold On to Your Pens! -- how to keep your pens, erasers, rulers etc on YOUR desk, NOT the carpet/ floor. How to save your parents' money by not constantly donating said stationery (knowingly or unknowingly) to other students in an IRL class.

I missed this the first time through! Please let me know how these studies go, as ds will hopefully be ready to begin these as well sometime. ;)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have to spend our charter school stipend by the end of Feb. and then the next ordering window doesn't open until June (and I'll receive those books in August). So I need to order ahead to make sure that I have enough materials on hand to get us through the summer. Though with us possibly needing to leave the charter and return all non-consumables and unused consumables, I'm hesitant to spend it on stuff that I might need to turn in.

 

If we do continue to HS, most of what they'll be doing in the fall is a continuation of what they're doing now.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have to spend our charter school stipend by the end of Feb. and then the next ordering window doesn't open until June (and I'll receive those books in August). So I need to order ahead to make sure that I have enough materials on hand to get us through the summer. Though with us possibly needing to leave the charter and return all non-consumables and unused consumables, I'm hesitant to spend it on stuff that I might need to turn in.

 

If we do continue to HS, most of what they'll be doing in the fall is a continuation of what they're doing now.

When we were with our charter, I would always use left over money on either fancy science kits or art supplies. Neither had to be given back, and we could stockpile them for the future. Thames & Kosmos have awesome science stuff.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'll have a 7th grader, 5th grader, and 1st grader this coming year.  We tend to go wide and deep in our approach to learning.  Here are our tentative plans:

 

7th grade

Math: Art of Problem Solving Introduction to Algebra, ZomeTools

 

Science: Miller Levine Biology (finish) and Hewitt Conceptual Physics.  Engineering Everywhere units with brother.

 

History: Documentary-focused early modern world history with McDougal Littell Modern World History book and the PeopleĂ¢â‚¬â„¢s History of the United States by Zinn.

 

Geography:  Africa (countries and culture) unit study, Human Geography by Norton

 

Language Arts: Classical Writing Poetry for Older Beginners, NaNoWriMo, HarveyĂ¢â‚¬â„¢s Elementary Grammar 2, Classical Writing Diogenes Maxim, Movies as Literature, Excellence in Literature as a literature guide only. 

 

Reading: Autobiography by Ben Franklin, Poor Richard, Julius Caesar by Shakespeare and Merchant of Venice by Shakespeare, short stories, Robinson Crusoe, Further Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, Around the World in 80 Days, Prince and the Pauper, Little Women, Last of the Mohicans, Call of the Wild, Great Expectations, Pilgrims Progress, The Man in the Iron Mask

 

Foreign Language:  Arabic for Life, Introduction to Spoken Standard Arabic a Conversational Course on DVD, Sahlawayhi 1, New Practical Chinese Reader 1, Athenaze 1, Contacts by Valette.

 

PE:  Running, Swimming, Nutrition and Fitness study

 

Fine Arts:  Mel Bay guitar, Music Ace Deluxe, The Phonics of Drawing 

 

Bible:  Read through Bible (1/2 way this year), 52 names of God study, OT types and shadows study

 

Logic: (finish) The Examined Life Advanced Philosophy for Kids, Perplexors, Traditional Logic 1

 

Computer:  Typing until 50 words a minute, Codeacademy

 

5th grade

 

Math: Art of Problem Solving Pre-Algebra, ZomeTools

 

Science:  Cells Â Ă¢â‚¬â€œ Ellen McHenry,  Engineering Everywhere units Ă¢â‚¬â€œ Urban Landscapes, Insulated Homes (with older brother), Engineering Adventures units Ă¢â‚¬â€œ Rockets and Rovers, Bubble Wands, Aid Drop Packages, Earthquakes, Recycled Racers, Invasive Species (with younger sister), Chemistry Ă¢â‚¬â€œ Ellen McHenry 

 

Computer: Codeacademy, Typing (up to 50 wpm)

 

 

History: Documentary-focused early modern world history with McDougal Little Modern World History book and the A PeopleĂ¢â‚¬â„¢s History of American Empire by Zinn.

 

Geography:  Africa (countries and culture) unit study

 

Language Arts:  Classical Writing Aesop B, Rod and Staff English 4, NaNoWriMo, Handwriting, AVKO Individualized Spelling, Sadlier Oxford Vocabulary Workshop Grade 5 Ă¢â‚¬â€œ Blue, Movies as Literature (with brother), Practice visualizing chapter books (Trumpet of the Swan, Old Yeller, Tuck Everlasting, Anne of Green Gables, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, Cheaper by the Dozen, Wizard of Ox, I Am David, The Call of the Wild, Black Arrow, Little Women, War of the Worlds, The Prince and the Pauper, Around the World in 80 Days, Return of the King)

 

Foreign Language:  Alif Baa, New Practical Chinese Reader 1, Contacts by Valette, Learn French with Vincent on Youtube Unit 1, DuoLingo, Athenaze 1

 

PE:  Running, Swimming, Nutrition and Fitness study

 

Fine Arts:  Mel Bay guitar, Music Ace Deluxe, The Phonics of Drawing 

 

Bible:  52 names of God study, OT types and shadows study

 

Logic: Orbiting with Logic, Grid Perplexors, Philosophy for Kids

 

 

 

1ST GRADE

 

Math:  Singapore 1B and 2A

 

Science: Microscope exploration, Rock On Geology game, Engineering Adventure units with brother, Magic School Bus unit study

 

Geography: World poverty unit study, Africa (countries and cultures) unit study

History:  Story of the World 1 audio with activity book

 

Language Arts:  Explode the Code workbooks 4+, Write About My World, Just Write 1, Handwriting, Mad Libs, Rod and Staff Spelling, Reading (Sonlight readers)

 

Read Alouds - Stuart Little, Little House in the Big Woods, Little House on the Prairie, James HarriotĂ¢â‚¬â„¢s Treasury for Children, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, Prince Caspian, Mr. PopperĂ¢â‚¬â„¢s Penguins, Peter Pan, The Reluctant Dragon, American Tall Tales, Now we are Six, Heidi, Runny Babbit, James and the Giant Peach, Just So Stories, The Jungle Book, Lassie Come Home

 

Foreign Language:  Finish Hey Andrew Teach Me Some Greek 1 and start Song School Greek, Arabian Sinbad DVDs and game, Arabic alphabet apps and start Alif Baa, My First Chinese Words, Mandarin videos, and apps.
 

Fine Arts: Music Ace Deluxe, The Phonics of Drawing

 

Bible: OT audio Bible going to sleep at night, OT Bible stories, Participate in Names of God and OT Types and Shadows study with brotherst

Logic:  Dot to dot and maze books, apps

 

Computer:  Dance Mat Typing, Scratch

 

PE:  Swimming, Ballet, Nutrition and Fitness

 

They will all do some cooking competitions too.  They love anything to do with cooking and baking.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Next year dd (6)

--LA: Continue with MCT. We blended Island and Town this year but didn't get around to Music of the Hemispheres or Caeser's English so we will do that. And more literature.

--Science: eclectic--a little physics, a little chemistry, a little astronomy/earth science, dissections, experiments. Her and her dad are going to do the catapult thing and probably a potato cannon.

--History: ??? I don't know. I'd like to do living books but haven't gotten to what I want to do.

--Math: LoF and finish 3a of Singapore. We are going to go deeper right now. We are also going to play with the Basher Basics Algebra and Geometry book.

--Handwriting: still working on spacing and sizing. continue working on cursive. She loves the New American Cursive so we will finish this book (1) and move on.

--Life Skills: baking, laundry, etc.

--Extras: Coding on the computer and typing. We will do play time daily.

--Fine Arts: seeing plays/productions a couple times a month and continue piano lessons.

--Languages: Spanish via Rosetta Stone. Latin here and there

--Vocabulary: as she reads and anything we come across in other classes.

 

We are moving in December most likely so trying to keep things simple and easy

Link to comment
Share on other sites

DD will be 4. I make plans and she tramples them, either by blowing through stuff I thought would take a long time or by losing interest and causing me to shelve everything! But here's my very loose plans.

 

Reading: currently at second/third grade level, will use library books at her level with a long list put together from every reading list I can find

Writing: Getty Dubay if she ever shows interest in printing again

Spelling: we'll finish AAS1 soon and move on to level 2. Switching from the letter tiles to her typing the spelling words and phrases has saved this program for us!

Math: RightStart B and continuing Life of Fred as a read-aloud

History: pre-history using the Charlie's Playhouse timeline and Usborne Encyclopedia of World History as our guides

Science: a subscription to Magic School Bus kits, lots of living books from the library, probably add in Snap Circuits or other kits. I need to get a decent microscope. Science is her first love and no matter how much I come up with here she will want more.

Spanish: I'm lost on this one. She already knows all the vocabulary covered in most kindy and early elementary programs, but isn't ready for the writing in older-kid programs. CDs from JosĂƒÂ©-Luis Orozco? I think we'll start reading longer picture books fully in Spanish.

Art: considering the preschool level of Artistic Pursuits, but don't know that I want to add an art curric to our lineup quite yet. Otherwise continuing the free-form art she does on a daily basis.

 

She will continue violin, gymnastics, and swim lessons as long as she wants them. Though having just purchased a new violin for her, that one may be less optional until I feel we've gotten our money's worth out of the instrument!

 

See if you can borrow a really good scope. I thought I needed a really good one at 4 for my science lover, but have been able to put off the purchase for a few years now. I bought a travel bag for someone elses (very nice) scope so I could use it now and then. I've really needed it maybe two times in the last four years.

 

A nice smallish duo scope with batteries is good for taking along and is much easier for little hands and eyes. I love it because I don't have to micro manage kids using it. We also have a couple of cheapish "field scopes" and "pocket scopes" because I do lots of hands-on science for kids at work.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm kind of taking it month by month.  We homeschool year round and take breaks when we need to - my husband works in the entertainment industry (movies/tv) - so we have opportunities to take time off at odd times - so anyway, we school when daddy is working and then when he's off, we have our breaks.  

 

For my DD (4) - she will be 5 in June and would be starting Kinder in public - the only thing I plan to work with her on is reading.  She is very strong-willed, and I think focusing on this one thing will be all she will allow us to do. ;-)  

 

She currently reads at a 1st/2nd grade reading level, so she is ahead, I guess.  But anyway - she needs some time to process through some emotional stuff (she has severe anxiety, and is figuring out a lot of other things).  She watches over the shoulder of her big sister, and picks up a ton... In my State (CA) - kinder isn't required, so I feel like I have an extra year before I need to ramp up with her - I tend to be pretty relaxed - so I am fine to wait and let her move at her own pace.

 

For my DD (7) - she will probably be doing Calculus by next Fall - not really (she hates math) - but I don't know.  She burns through curriculum like nobody's business. I am having a hard time keeping up with her - and I try to buy curriculum that can be resold or is fairly  low-cost bc she will go through a whole year's curriculum in a few months - so anyway - I am always looking for new things for her to do.  I am thinking of the Stanford Epgy classes (open enrollment), lots of reading good books, some wriitng, and I like the Veritas Press history class right now - but it's $200 per  course, and she could go through all five years in a year - so...maybe I'll consider something else.  Hahahaha.  She is also doing Rosetta Stone Latin and Spanish, piano practice (30-45 minutes/day), Theatre, and Swim Team (5 days/week).  

Link to comment
Share on other sites

DD will be 4. I make plans and she tramples them, either by blowing through stuff I thought would take a long time or by losing interest and causing me to shelve everything! But here's my very loose plans.

 

Reading: currently at second/third grade level, will use library books at her level with a long list put together from every reading list I can find

Writing: Getty Dubay if she ever shows interest in printing again

Spelling: we'll finish AAS1 soon and move on to level 2. Switching from the letter tiles to her typing the spelling words and phrases has saved this program for us!

Math: RightStart B and continuing Life of Fred as a read-aloud

History: pre-history using the Charlie's Playhouse timeline and Usborne Encyclopedia of World History as our guides

Science: a subscription to Magic School Bus kits, lots of living books from the library, probably add in Snap Circuits or other kits. I need to get a decent microscope. Science is her first love and no matter how much I come up with here she will want more.

Spanish: I'm lost on this one. She already knows all the vocabulary covered in most kindy and early elementary programs, but isn't ready for the writing in older-kid programs. CDs from JosĂƒÂ©-Luis Orozco? I think we'll start reading longer picture books fully in Spanish.

Art: considering the preschool level of Artistic Pursuits, but don't know that I want to add an art curric to our lineup quite yet. Otherwise continuing the free-form art she does on a daily basis.

 

She will continue violin, gymnastics, and swim lessons as long as she wants them. Though having just purchased a new violin for her, that one may be less optional until I feel we've gotten our money's worth out of the instrument!

 

Jackie, have you seen The Private Eye? I wish I had heard about and used it with DS when he was younger. He is past that stage of interest in nature/ art/ science right now so it won't work for us atm but I was wondering if it's something you might want to explore for your DD.

What others have said:

http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/topic/156274-the-private-eye/?p=1511774

http://athomescience.blogspot.com/2010/03/private-eye.html

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 months later...

Hope it's ok to bring this old thread back. Just got done planning for this summer and next year. I'm going to use the upcoming pre-K year as a trial period before making a decision on schooling for my extrovert and sweet DS who just turned 4 last month, whether public kindergarten/afterschooling or full-time homeschooling. My objective is to do school with him for an hour or less a day (when he begs) and keep learning gentle and fun.

 

Most of all, I'll focus on helping DS improve his verbal skills, both in English and Korean. He seems advanced in reading, writing and math compared to his peers so I'm not worried about those, hoping adding Singapore supplements and various workbooks will slow him down. DS is currently half way through Hooked on Phonics 1st Grade and almost done with Singapore Earlybird B and HWT K workbook. Next in line for this summer are HOP 2nd, BOB Books Set 5, Singapore 1A. HWT 1st and Kumon writing practice books. We're also going to try LOF Apples and see how it goes. From this fall, we plan to work on HOP Master Reader, FLL1, AAS1-2, WWE1, Spectrum LA K, Spectrum Sight Words K, Evan-Moor TFB, Singapore 1B+IP1A/B+CWP1 and Korean phonics. For social studies and science, we will just continue to read aloud the books available at our local public library. DS will keep playing soccer and swimming, and I hope to get him started with piano lessons next year. DS doesn't like coloring or anything related to art & crafts and neither do I so... we'll substitute art with field trips to the art museum. We'll also make most out of our memberships to children museum, science museum, zoo and aquarium.

 

For my introvert and strong-willed DD2.5, we'll continue to keep it unstructured. Both of my kids are late talkers and my DD is receiving speech therapy. She somehow taught herself all letter sounds and numbers up to 20, to my surprise, but seems not ready to sit at desk and do school with me for another year or two and I won't push her. To come up with creative activities for her is my most challenging daily task thesedays.

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Ok, a few revisions-DD decided to do the Classical Etymology class online in the fall, so she'll do LL7 at home and maybe do LL8 online in the Spring. We also decided on LOF LA because it's Fred, and it's independent, which isn't a bad thing.

 

She's doing a self-study on state history/geography this summer because "EVERYONE does state history in 5th grade", She's also working through LOF Advanced Algebra right now, with Geometry on the shelf as her "Fun summer math". Plus science, always science.

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

We are going to be continuing to HS next year, thank goodness!

 

A few "tweaks" to what I posted earlier:

 

-I've decided to add Didax "Daily Mental Math Grade 5" for DS. He could use more mixed review than just doing the Singapore end-of-chapter reviews on Fridays. The Didax book is cheaper than Evan-Moor Daily Math Practice.

-I'm going to be using the free Glencoe Spelling Power worksheets rather than AAS 6 & 7 with DS.

-I'm going to be trying Vocabulit E instead of Sadlier-Oxford Vocabulary Workshop Blue. Vocabulit has always been a program I liked the look of, but it seemed too easy for DD. DS doesn't have as large a working vocabulary as his sister (he skews more towards STEM), so I think it would be good for him.

-DS absolutely *LOVED* John Hudson Tiner's "Exploring the World of Chemistry" with the MP study guide, so he's going to be doing the Tiner physics book with the MP study guide. He's also going to be reading Joy Hakim's "Einstein Adds a New Dimension" and doing the MBtP unit study.

-I'm toying around with having DS watch the lessons in this Coursera course: https://www.coursera.org/course/bigbang

-I'm leaning towards getting EiL British Literature rather than the Greenleaf Guide to Medieval Lit.

-We'll be studying MacBeth with Parallel Text Shakespeare (DD) and the Edcon Classic Worktexts Shakespeare (DS).

 

Physics and writing I'm still trying to figure out.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

My kids decided to keep working on their stuff so now I have to re-do my plans for next year (not that we ever completely follow my wonderfully made plans anyway).

 

ds 10

 

Language Arts programs are his weak point

 

a variety of different lit studies from MBtP and Angelicum Good Book Studies as well as a few that we haven't nailed down what we'll use.

Easy Grammar 5

The Essential Essay and Note Taking by Start Communications

R&S Spelling 5

 

AoPS into to Algebra

Drafting (through a tutor here)

LOF

 

The Rainbow Yr.2

Whatever else he finds and wants, usually books having to do with physics and chemistry. I'm giving him one more year of doing what he wants before we head into Alberta Education for his diploma.

 

SOTW

Canada: A People's History

 

Home Art Studio

Piano

Hebrew

A variety of learning games

Typing and I promised him another computer course of some sort but I can't decide.

 

 

dd9

 

FLL4

Lit studies from Angelicum Good Book Studies, MP, and MBtP

R&S spelling 4

 

LOF

MM5

BA 4A

 

EM Daily Science

K-Nex kits

CKE Physics

Winterpromise Horse

Ollo Robotics Kit

McHenry Elements

(she finishes things quick and gets board with too much of the same thing but doesn't like to be over challenged so it's a balancing act with her)

 

Canada Geography 2

R&S History/Geography 4

SOTW

Canada Floor Map

Canada: A People's History

 

Home Art Studio

Piano

Choir

Drama

Riding

Hebrew

learning games

typing

 

 

ds7

 

MPtP 7-9 concept 1

Lit studies from Angelicum

FLL2 (he has no interest in grammar at all)

Copywork in cursive until his speed and consistency is better

 

 

BA 3A

MM 3A

LOF

 

RS4K Middle School Biology

K-Nex kits

Ellen McHenry Carbon Chemistry

Whatever else he decides he wants

 

Canada Map Book 1

SOTW

Puzzle Globe

 

Home Art Studio

Piano

Choir

Drama

Hebrew

 

My youngest is my wild card. His fine motor skills are behind and his speech is super slow, but he is constantly wanting things that are way above his comprehension level. He is a little like a mini explosion in that there is very little direction to his desires so he's hard to plan for. My oldest is predictable and has liked the same sort of things since he was little. My dd is consistent and learns whatever I throw at her. The youngest is neither and I am always guessing and trying to decide what to push and what to leave or whether to let him run in 20 different directions or limit him to a few.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'll start by saying that I'm impressed that all of you had a plan for next year done in February. My planning motivation has been really lacking lately so I'm glad this thread has been resurrected so I can make a list of our tentative plans for the summer. We have had a lot of travel breaks and have been a bit inconsistent with our schedule for too long so this summer I'm planning to do "school" for a few hours most week days. 

 

Math  - finish honors problems for MUS pre-algebra (we're done with the book but saved the honors problems for the end), finish BA 3D (this is her review/fun math) and start AOPs pre-algebra and LOF pre-algebra (for fun...she asked to keep going with the series).

 

Science - finish the book we've been neglecting for the last year and a half.

 

History - complete the activities for SOTW 2 as a review and do more of the supplementary readings. Be ready to start SOTW 3 in the fall

 

Latin - finish LFC A and start B

 

Language Arts - take a summer writing class (checking in to several local options), finish current vocabulary from classical roots (can't remember which book we're on), finish figuratively speaking and come up with a plan for next year because I currently have no idea what we're going to do.

 

Bible - complete indĂƒÂ©pendant study that goes with Bible Bee materials

 

Spelling and Geography - begin self study for both subjects because she wants to compete in both the spelling bee and geography bee

 

Typing - complete the online program she has been using off and on for the last few months

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm glad this thread has been resurrected. Maybe by posting here I'll consider some of these plans final. (Says the woman with seven different browser tabs open to yet-untried programs ...)

 

DD 8, Gr. 4 (LA-intense kid)

 

Math: Singapore using HIG/TB/IP/CWP on level. I've been surprised this year to watch math morph into something that is essential for her well-being, so we'll extend/stretch with BA, LoF, Zaccaro, Khan, Penrose. I also hope to nail multiplication math facts as per Ruth's post earlier today. I have a feeling that math is going to have me on my toes this year.

 

Literature: Continue having her read widely and discuss books with us.

 

Shakespeare: She needs this for her well-being, too, hence its place as a stand-alone subject. Unfortunately we're starting to bump into the limit of kid-appropriate plays for her. We may try Taming of the Shrew; otherwise, maybe we can revisit some of her favourites in a new way. Any Shakespeare ideas are welcome!

 

Vocab: Caesar's English (CE)

 

Academic Writing: Writing & Rhetoric 2 & 3. Maybe incorporate the rest of WWE 3 for the dictations. 

 

Creative Writing: Give her daily downtime to write what she wants.

 

Poetry: Continue memorizing poems monthly (she adores this) and dive into MCT's Building Poems.

 

Grammar: MCT Town (finish); Killgallon (Grammar for Middle School); possibly some goofy punctuation practice because it's fun for her.

 

 

DD 7, Gr. 2 (On level, barring any surprises)

 

Math: Singapore 2, Miquon, LoF Elementary

 

Literature: Read, read, read. Huh, now I'm writing this, I guess she's probably a bit advanced here (she's got her nose buried in Return-to-Gone-Away right now). Nonetheless, I think we're still fine with the "read good books" strategy in this area.

 

Spelling: AAS 3/4

 

Grammar: ??? FLL3? MCT Island?

 

Writing: WWE 2

 

 

Together 

 

Science: BFSU 2 as our framework, hitting a lot of the physical science and life science this year. I'll add in some in-depth units using Ellen McHenry Elements and Botany, plus TOPS corn & beans. DD8 will continue reading independently in science (although I'm still looking for appropriate books). I need to allow time for her to learn more about oceans, and for DD7 to continue with her rocks and volcanoes passion.

 

History: SOTW 4. 

 

Geography: Canadian geography -- probably Oh, Canada!

 

Latin: Struggling here. DD8 is ready to move on, but it's easier for *me* to have her and DD7 working with the same program. Right now I'm hoping to keep her happy with SSL2, but I have my doubts.

 

French: Continue with French studies with my amazing French-teacher mom.

 

Music: Piano lessons

 

Art: Mark Kistler; some art studies with DH

 

 

There. I'm done. It's official now, right?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Things have shifted a bit from February. There were compromises made by both of us. Negotiations have now closed. We have a plan!

 

Spelling: Sequential Spelling

Grammar and Writing: weekly essay

Literature: Literary Analysis using short stories and Intro to Literature

 

History: Ancients using Omnibus 1 Reading List

 

Math: AoPS PreA (finish up), Counting and Probability, Geometry

Science: Apologia Chemistry and Chem 3000, focusing on environmental chemistry/earth science

 

Latin: Jenney Latin, oral work using Lingua Latina 1

Spanish: Workbook in Everyday Spanish (finish up), Breaking the Spanish Barrier, oral work with Getting Started with Spanish

Greek: Athenaze Book 1

 

P.E.: Swimming and Running

Civics: Non Profit work and building a kids campaign

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I like playing along in the threads, though. Last time I did was about mid-summer 2013. I then ran across my post 3-4 months later and thought, "Well, those all sounded like such splendid plans at the time!" Maybe I'll find this post next August and have much fun laughing about where DD is versus where I predicted she would be. :)

Didn't take until August! Just found my post and we've already changed half the plans! We just "officially" started kindy with my 4yo at her request.

 

-Reading: mom-made list

-Math: RightStart B, Dreambox, Time-Life I Love Math series, MathStart series

-Science: BFSU, The Private Eye (thank you, quark!), The Happy Scientist videos (I think quark gets credit for this, too), Lego Education Early Simple Machines, and the local children's science museum (I'm pretty sure she would be happy if school was 75% science)

-Spelling: AAS 2, and likely 3

-Spanish: Salsa, DuoLingo, and probably something else after done reviewing basics with Salsa

-History: mom-made prehistory year

-Art: Artistic Pursuits pre-k, The Private Eye

-Music: The Story of the Orchestra, violin lessons

-Handwriting: StartWrite software, learning print and cursive concurrently

Link to comment
Share on other sites

DD9 just started homeschooling in late February, so the Fall will mainly involve finishing up what we started this year.

 

ELA:

MCT Time Trilogy, finish CE I, then do CE II, along with the end of Grammar Town

WWS, continue level 1

book club

 

Math:

Finish AOPS Pre-Algebra by Thanksgiving, maybe start Intro to Algebra

Cryptoclub, Zaccaro books, logic puzzles

math club

 

Science:

DD will be doing several science camps over the summer

Alice 3 programming

studying Horticulture and Anatomy

 

History:

continue world history survey, covering 1800-present

unit study based on Downton Abbey

lots of visits to local museums and historic homes, including Newport mansions

 

Languages:

French at home

Latin class

 

Art:

weekly art museum class

 

Music:

fiddle lessons

 

PE:

Irish dance

swimming

 

Misc:

sewing lessons, to help with her dance costume, and to make a matching dress for her stuffed bunny

wiring dollhouse for lights

working her way through a French cookbook (she made crepes again this morning)

wants to start a "real" business

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

 Share

Ă—
Ă—
  • Create New...