Homeschool Planning

I am devouring this book!! There is so much planning and preparing to do for the upcoming school year. I know it seems there is time, but there are books to order and schedules to plan. It has been a great learning experience, this book. So much I wish I had realized a few years ago...but, like my children, learning is a process.

I have made out the schedules for the kid's school days. They each have a copy protected in a plastic sleeve to keep in their bins. They love having their own copy!

I still need to formulate my own schedule of books to use in what order, lessons to plan out, etc. I really can not do that until my book list is finished, ordered and received. So far I have as follows....(this is laid out here more for me than for my readers, so feel free to skip this)
Bible for both children will be an actual series of Bible study books for kids, in addition to our Bible's of course. The first book in the series is....
I am familiar with the content of this author, so am comfortable with what is being taught. We will follow the outline and write in the study guides.
Math for each child will be Saxon, at their own individual level. Also, cooking dinner once a week for Charlotte...the entire meal from bread to beverage. This includes planning, shopping, preparing, setting the table, and clean up.
Read Aloud will be with both children and include a variety of books, such as "Charlotte's Web", "Little Britches", "Little House on the Prairie series", "The Secret Garden", etc.

Charlotte will be reading Anne of Green Gables for literature and writing essays along with it. Because Charlotte tends to "skip" pages, she will be reading into a tape recorder and then at bedtime she can listen back and read herself to sleep! I will check to be sure all pages are being read. Zachary will continue in Phonics, including 380 sight words. He will be independently reading a series of books at his level, which I have yet to find.
Spelling for both children will most likely be natural speller. I am flip flopping in my planning between that and Spelling Power. Since I have two children with spelling problems, it seems Natural Speller is more problem friendly. Grammar for Charlotte will be Simply Grammar, and Zach will do Copy Work using scripture and poetry.

Science is on Monday and both kids will be doing the My Body book. They will have a life size outline of their own body, and each week we will add a different organ, muscle, or bone, and learn about that system. It will be quite hands on and hopefully FUN!

Geography on Tuesday's and Wednesday's. I am quite excited about this and, like Science, we will be doing it together as a group. Cheryl recommended this book (and the My Body book) as she will be doing it with Will. It is an incredible find. The book is called The Magic Map and is copyright 1927.I was able to find a wonderfully maintained copy for $16. It is the story of a boy named David who travels the world through a magic map. He meets Compass, Latitude and Longitude, and Western and Eastern Hemisphere. It will be a great adventure for us and I am looking forward to starting it...I am restraining myself! My copy also has an inscription which says,

"To Coral, x-mas 1928, Love Mother and 'Daddy'"History...another group study. I am also thrilled with this...my favorite subject is history AND my favorite history subject is the American Civil War. This is the area we will "dabble" in. Nothing too deep as my kids are young, but enough to educate them on American Slavery, and some Civil War heroes. Abraham Lincoln, Ulysses S. Grant, and Robert E. Lee will be looked at. The book list for this study is growing everyday...living books will be in abundance on this topic.
Along with book studies, Sweetheart and I will be taking the kids to Galena at the end of September to visit Grant's home, and to go through the museum there. I can't wait to share it with my kids. We will keep Kyle home from work that day so he can join us. Also, a trip to Springfield, Illinois is being planned for the Spring. An overnight will be fun!!
Next is Fine Arts, which includes music, art, and poetry. We will be looking at music from the Civil War era, including slave songs. Poetry will be the words and writings of this time also. Art will be a study in textile art which was very popular during this time in our country...you just KNEW I would get quilting in there somehow!!!!

Computer and Arts and Crafts will round out our week of learning. The kids will be learning about the wonders of e-mail and hopefully have a couple of e-mail buddies for a once a week letter.Our library. When Sweetheart built this bookcase for us, I feared I would not be able to fill it. Now I need to thin it out. I plan to move my quilting pattern books back to my sewing room. I will leave the quilting books concerning quilt history in the family library. Also, my personal library of spiritual books will need to be moved to make room. I have the entertainment center in my bedroom, which has a wonderful section of shelves. What a mess it is right now...
I plan to organize this and move those books that are in that category to this place. I am not doing a Dewey decimal system by any means, but I would like the family library in some sort of order by subject matter. So that is the planning and prep work I have done so far. I am looking forward to placing my Amazon order and getting my books in order to complete the planning for our new upcoming school year. I am enjoying reading other blogs that are sharing there prep and planning for the new school year!!