Our Year At A Glance

I am so excited for our school year to start!  I just wanted to share what the boys will be learning about, a few of our curriculum choices, and some of our plans for the upcoming school year 2011-2012.

Both Isaac and Nate are doing nearly the same things.  As they are only 5 months apart in age, their "grades" have kind of merged, and their skill levels are very similar.  This makes it pretty easy and fun for me!  At the end of last school year, I sat down and asked both boys what they wanted to learn about.  Those ideas combined with grade level standards, and a few ideas of my own, and here is what I came up with...

BIBLE

Character Building - I worked really hard this summer putting together a 12 week Character Building Bible study.  It is mostly based off of the book,  A Child's Book of Character Building, but has other components as well, including more Bible stories, memory work, songs, crafts, movies, and other games and activities to enrich their experience.  It is a 4-day-a-week plan with an optional 5th day for review and crafts.  I found these cute Character Building Movies by Alpha Omega, and they compliment each week of study perfectly!

We will review the Nativity Story for the month of December, and start up the new year with a Bible Basics study.

LANGUAGE ARTS

Sequential Spelling - This is new for us this year.  It is basically teaching rhyming words and word families through a spelling test every day.

A Reason for Handwriting - Another new one.  The kids' copy work is based off scripture verses, which they practice first, and then are encouraged to re-write on special paper, and share it with someone else.  I loved this part of the approach...Sharing God's word with others!

BJU Reading 1 and 2 - Classic literature with lots of comprehension activities.  We are also starting book reports this year too, as they become more comfortable with their writing skills.

BJ Booklinks (we have 3 of these to do) - These will be a fun little break from "normal" school to do a more comprehensive,unit study type approach.  All components are included; literature, science, math, art, and history.

MATHEMATICS

Horizons Math 2 - We are making the switch over from Saxon Math, which seemed way too repetitive and easy for Isaac last year.  I dont' want my kids to be bored during school, especially math, as I fear they will start to dislike it.
Money Unit - A compilation of activities and tools to practice money skills.  I made most of these last year, and they will still work for this year too.  Practice makes progress, right?
Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace Jr. - We wanted to instill a strong spiritual foundation for our kids' money management.  This kit should be a great start!

Time Unit - A compilation of activities and tools to practice time telling skills.  I made most of these last year, and they will still work for this year.


SCIENCE

Rather than purchasing a science text this year, we are approaching this subject on a unit by unit basis.  These are all special requests by the boys (except for the manners one....that is necessary!), and I searched all summer for various materials for each unit.  They have also requested more experiments, which we will do several over the coarse of the year.

Human Body Unit
Health, Nutrition, Safety, and Manners Unit
Solar System Unit
Weather Unit

HISTORY/GEOGRAPHY

A Winter's Promise - This is a lovely curriculum that is literature based.    So much more interesting than a boring text book, the kids will learn history through a series of stories and a few projects to make history come to life. (Our set is an older one, and we will be selective about what we are using from it.)  We will make a timeline for the school wall with these wonderful Timeline Figures too.

ART - As usual, I've included art projects  about once per week.  Two of the older three love to paint, color, and sculpt, so art is really fun to do with them.

MUSIC

Both boys will start Piano Lessons with me next month.  They are really excited about this!  Our house is flooded with music all throughout the day, whether it is from my I-pod, or a certain princess who sings at the top of her lungs.

PHYSICAL EDUCATION

This is an area I hope to be able to improve upon from last year.  Our new house provides us with nice walking sidewalks, and a park very close by.  We will combine that with the wii, xbox k'nect, and lots of indoor games I found this summer.  I would love to sign all of the kids up for a gymnastic class/tumbling class if budget allows for it too.  I am not yet ready for competitive sports and the commitment they involve.


FIELD TRIPS

We will do these about 4 times this year, maybe more.  Here is what I have planned out....

Denver Museum of Nature and Science - We all love this museum.  So much to see!
Cheyenne Mountain Zoo - Can't wait to go see this zoo!
Focus on the Family Kids Korner - We've been once before, but since it's free - got to do it again!
Pioneer Museum - Saul and I went here the year before Isaac was born.  Since we are working through Early American History this year, this seems a good fit.

SOCIAL ACTIVITIES

Since we are Homeschooling, not Car-schooling, we are home most of the time.  We do however participate in and host our own  Play Dates.  The kids are also in Sunday School/Children's Church every Sunday morning.  I assure you my kids are not socially awkward, or introverts.  In fact, quite the opposite is true around here.  They all make friends easily, and are able to manage not to be social misfits!

That pretty much sums up our plans for the year.  You'll have to check back often to see what we are up to next!