Oh, and have I mentioned we'll be bringing a new baby along for the ride, too?
A few of you have asked about the method to my madness (kindly, not using those words). So, I thought I would share with you today what my plans for next year are looking like so far. I'm going to link this up with Simple Homeschool's Curriculum Fair.
How I Plan
I'm relying on my trusty File Crate System, with a hanging file folder for each week of the year.
I have purchased the Weekly Homeschool Planner from Homeschool Creations and am finding it helpful and easy to use. I appreciate that there are separate forms for planning preschool and I'm using those to plan for Max.
You can read about our homeschooling style, the mix in our "smoothie" and more by visiting this page here.
There are seasons of life where we are more "out of the box" homeschoolers and seasons where I write our own lessons and we forge our own paths. The upcoming homeschool year, for example, I'm going to be using a lot more preplanned lessons from various resources.
Geography - Instead of one main lesson block, we'll be studying this all year long. We'll start with a few weeks on local geography and maps and then continue with Road Trip USA from Confessions of a Homeschooler.
Math - We'll keep up our daily "mental math" exercises (no pressure, oral problems where Jillian calls out the answer as fast as she can) and will also do three main lessons using Christopherus' Fourth Grade Mathematics.
Norse Myths - following an example I read in Christopherus' Curriculum Overview, we're going to take this block pretty easy. I plan on leaving it up to Jillian to decide if she wants to do a main lesson book of illustrations and copywork to go along with our reading from D'Aulaires Book of Norse Myths or if she just wants to read and enjoy the stories. We'll do one main lesson block on Norse Myths.
Man and Animal - We're going to do two main lessons from Christopherus' Human Being and Animal materials. We will also use the free resource from Confessions of a Homeschooler, Expedition Earth: Discovering God's Animals.
Artist Study - We're going to use Confessions of a Homeschooler's The World's Greatest Artists Unit Study, Vol. I
Music - when I was at Blissdom this year I won Quaver Music's Homeschool Program and am looking forward to using it with the kids next year. Jillian has also expressed an interest in learning how to play the piano, my instrument of choice, so we'll be starting piano lessons in fourth grade, too.
Handwriting - Jillian loves to do workbooks and can certainly use the extra practice on her handwriting. Toward the end of the third grade we discovered A Reason for Handwriting and will be continuing this series in fourth grade.
We'll also be doing lots of reading out loud and independent reading. A resource for booklists that I have used for years is The Waldorf Student Reading List. Carrie, of The Parenting Passageway, recently put together a pretty good list of books for Fourth grade - lots of helpful suggestions there.
Max is showing some signs of being ready for kindergarten, but he just turns five in June, so I want to keep things very relaxed. We'll be dipping in and out of Oak Meadow's Kindergarten, thanks to a kind friend who is going to give us theirs when they are finished with it (thanks, Jamie!).
I'll also be adding in enrichment, as needed, from 1+1+1=1's Raising Rockstars Preschool. We'll continue to explore our Little Acorn Learning themes, as well.
Again, we'll be very informal, as I'm not a believer in pushing early academics. However, I have come to value and see the wisdom of having some structured play ideas and weekly themes that help hold our household rhythm.
We'll continue to use Little Acorn Learning's Monthly Childcare Guides, as I have been a big fan of this program and we've used it since it began.
I think these plans, along with our library card, living history museum, and zoo membership will keep us more than happy and busy during the coming homeschool year.
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