Okay.. because it’s homeschool planning time, I thought I’d put my plan out there and hope to get some feedback on what people think.
As a basic framework, I’m somewhere between The Well Trained Mind and Sonlight (not that they are that far apart in philosophy… really) and we use workboxes (8 slots per kid per day) to “organise” it all.
Everett, Grade 10:
Sonlight Core 200 - 5 days a week
Latina Christiana - 5 days a week (one long day and 4 review days)
Rosetta Stone French - 5 days a week (doesn’t take long each day)
Life of Fred Advanced Algebra (moving on to Geometry when completed) - 5 days a week
History (Middle Ages through Early Reformation) - Civilizations 2 pgs X 3 days a week with outlining, History of Art 2 pgs X 2 days a week with outlining
Great Books (following TWTM, ending with a Shakespeare unit in the late spring) - 3 days a week
Science (suggestions welcome, was considering Apologia Biology, but he’s supposed to be doing Earth Science and Astronomy but I don’t know of any curriculum at the highschool level for that) - 2 days a week
Grammar (Latin Road to English Grammar and read through the Elements of Style) - 5 days a week
Writing (working on his novel) - 5 days a week
McKenzie, grade 8:
Sonlight Core 5 - 5 days a week
Latina Christiana - 5 days a week (same as Ev)
Rosetta Stone French - 5 days a week
Bible (Grapevine level 4, Old Testament) - 5 days a week
Math (suggestions welcome, can’t really afford Teaching Textbooks again this year, but was thinking Math-U-See might be as effective and cheaper in the long run… opinions? LOF won’t work with her) - 5 days a week
Grammar (same as Ev) - 5 days a week
History (1850-Present using DK History of the World, if I can find a copy) - 3 days a week with outlining
Science (supposed to be computer sciences and physics, TWTM) - 2 days a week
Art (using Spears Art Studio and various prints) - 2 days a week (one for arts & crafts and one for a CM style picture study)
Music (Simply Music piano course) - 5 days a week - (Composer study and Listening to a classical piece) - 2 days a week (yes, I know these are going to overlap… but Kenzi can do music practice after “school”)
Greyson, Grade 1:
Sonlight Core K - 5 days a week
Bible (Grapevine Beginner OT) - 5 days a week
Math (Math Mammoth and RS Math Games) - 3 and 2 times a week (MMx3, RSMGx2)
History (Story of the World, Ancients, with a notebook page) - 2 days a week
Science (suggestions for following TWTM year 1 welcome) - 3 days a week
Music (Simply Music piano course) - 5 days a week
Reading (Rocket Phonics) - 5 days a week
Grammar (First Lessons in Language) - 3 days a week
Art (Spears Art Studio) - 2 days a week
Spelling/Writing (Explode the Code, All About Spelling) - 5 days a week
Chaeli (TECHNICALLY too young for formal school, but so she doesn’t feel left out), Junior Kindergarten:
Sonlight Core K - 5 days a week
Reading (Rocket Phonics & SL K Reading) - 5 days a week
Math (number readiness and Right Start Math Games) - 3 and 2 days a week
Bible (Grapevine Beginner Old Testament) - 5 days a week
Memory (games and verses/poems) - 5 days a week
Writing (Get Ready Set Go for the Code) - 5 days a week
History (Story of the World, Ancients) - 2 days a week
Science (Nature Study, Classification concepts) - 3 days a week
Basic Skills (cutting, colouring, etc) - 3 days a week
Art (Spears Art Studio K) - 2 days a week
I still need:
Math for Kenzi
and to buy:
First Language Lessons Vol 1
The Well Educated Mind
DK Encyclopedia of Science
DK History of the World
Grapevine Level 4 Old Testament
SO… any thoughts? BTW, to all my friends in the planning stages, I am praying for clarity of mind, availability of resources, and courage… and I’m praying that the Lord blesses your homeschool year so abundantly - I hope you will pray the same for us!
Blessings!
26. July 2009 at 15:47
Are you not using connect the thoughts anymore? I found your blog through their yahoo group and i would be interested in hearing your reasons for moving on.
Thanks,
Cindy
27. July 2009 at 10:59
I have not completely stopped using Connect The Thoughts (they link to me?)… but as a core, no… we are not using Steven’s materials any longer.
My husband and I decided (after he expressed concerns to me) to go with something more Christ-centered in content rather than “neutral” (which doesn’t exist, and although Steven has taken every effort to make his curriculum unbiased, there are small areas in which his personal bias shows through).
I could have “tweaked” the curriculum myself and made it acceptable to my husband, but the whole point was to save me work (I have, as you see, 4 students this upcoming year) and NOT have to customize stuff. Right now we are still using the wonderful text that Steven introduced us to: Civilizations Past and Present, and may be still working on some of the writing courses in the future… but as for using it for history and science and the likes, no… we really wanted a curriculum that reflected better our Christian values and beliefs.
I still think Connect the Thoughts is an excellent curriculum, it just didn’t meet our personal needs anymore… but I’d highly recommend it to anyone, especially brand new homeschoolers who are still trying to “find” themselves. It is thorough, easy to follow, independent, and trains children well in the art of “read and FULLY understand”… which is an expression I still use with my kids in other subjects like maths and music… and to go back to where your last point of understanding was and to move forward from there is good advice for anyone of any age working on any project! :o)
I hope that helps!
Blessings!
9. August 2009 at 09:23
I see you have blogging children, me too. My Moni has a fun blog called From the Learning Room for other homeschool kids to get to know each other through. I’d like to invite you to check it out. http://fromthelearningroom.blogspot.com She uses it for memes and other fun education posts.