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Sarah M
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| Posted: April 18 2009 at 8:22pm | IP Logged
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Connections wrote:
| ] If you can continue to be relaxed with math- you said you have not done much formal math yet- you may find that is all you need, too. |
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Oooh, Tracy. You know me so well  . After you posted that, I thought to myself, "yeah, you know...why on earth do I feel like I have to buy a program at all??? So I dug out my Ruth Beechick 3 R's Math book and looky-there, she doesn't recommend starting with a textbook until 3rd grade. And she has so many practical suggestions... so I'm thinking I can combine this with some waldorf math stories and just follow in the same vein we did this year. Why change something that's working, right?
Bookswithtea wrote:
| Sarah, you know what SL is best for? Read-Alones/Readers! Seriously, I don't even consider SL with elem. students, but I do love having a set of readers for the child to get through in a year. |
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Thanks, Books- that's exactly how I think SL's suggestions will work for us. I 'll it as a booklist, and then got the books from the library.
Elizabeth wrote:
For me, springtime means some sessions with a Sonlight catalog and some sessions revisiting the
Christopherus Overview. |
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missionfamily wrote:
Our focus will be picture book lists and main lesson book plans that are focused on exploring each continents geographical and cultural features, with a focus on a few countries...and a science trail featuring the animals and habitats of those places.
The missionary focus will provide a faith focus for the year. |
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I just finished re-reading my Christopherus Overview. Man, I love that book.
The plans sound so very lovely, Colleen & Elizabeth- I can't wait to see them! I saw
this on the CHC website last night, and my curiosity was piqued. It might dovetail nicely with your plans...
PDyer wrote:
| Nature study ideas from Handbook of Nature Study blog, delight-directed ideas from Serendipity or whatever strikes our fancy |
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I plan to use this blog as the basis for our Nature Study. I love her ideas/layout!
Thanks for the lively discussion, ladies- this is fun!
ETA: sorry for the long post  . I really missed all this discussion during Lent, apparently!
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trish
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| Posted: April 20 2009 at 1:32pm | IP Logged
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Elizabeth wrote:
Bookswithtea wrote:
missionfamily wrote:
We've chosen Sonlight's Core 5 for our older elementary children, but we'll be spinning it with a Serendipity twist. Because it's focus is the Eastern hemisphere and it is missionary/geography based rather than history, it seemed like a natural tie-in to take our little ones on a tour of all the places the big ones would be going.
Our focus will be picture book lists and main lesson book plans that are focused on exploring each continents geographical and cultural features, with a focus on a few countries...and a science trail featuring the animals and habitats of those places.
The missionary focus will provide a faith focus for the year. |
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Are you going to share your plans anywhere for this? I've got an older child doing core 5 next year and would love to see what you've got planned! |
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With God's blessing, it will all be up on Serendipity over the course of the summer and fall. We're going to post our Civil War plans in the very near future and then wrap up American History and move on to this study. It's all in draft format and we've been working on it over the course of the last couple of months. Katherine has already begun her Sonlight Core, so she's gearing up, particularly since both she and Colleen are hitting major nesting right now. We'll have booklists and some main lesson ideas much like the Native American unit looks like. Then, as we learn with our children, we're going to try to update the Serendipity photo albums frequently. We expect that our studies will look a bit different in each of our houses. We will share as much as we are able. |
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Oh!!!! How exciting!!! My dd is doing core5 too (thanks for helping me books!!!) next year. That will be great.
We just started doing the Native American Unit. It's a real winner here. Never have I seen such wide eyes on my little boys while reading to them. It's got ahold of them quickly!! 
__________________
~ Trish ~
Wife to Les
Mom to 8 Wonderful Kids
+AMDG+
Saintly Soaps
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LisaD
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| Posted: April 20 2009 at 2:05pm | IP Logged
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I won't have a 2nd grader next year, but I do this year. We have been pretty happy with what we've done this year.
Religion: F&L and Baltimore Catechism FHC prep.
Math: Abeka 2. DS is pretty quick at math, and has done well with Abeka. He wants to use Teaching Textbooks 4 next year.
Science: A Science 2 U course at our local Homeschooling Resource Center. This month the focus is space. Both my 4th grader and 2nd love these courses.
Language Arts: Primary Language Lessons, CHC Spelling, CHC Language of God, literature from Sonlight lists and MODG lists.
History and Geography: Map Skills, a little study of US states, reading from DK books, Famous Young Americans stories, etc. This has been the least formal of our subjects.
Music: Let's Learn Music book 2, Choir.
P.E.: Fencing and Karate.
I really hope to integrate more art and history into our plans for next year!
__________________
~Lisa
Mama to dd(99), ds(01), ds(03) and ds(06)
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MNMommy
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| Posted: April 20 2009 at 9:01pm | IP Logged
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After reading the lists, I'm worried that I'm not planning enough for my 2nd grader. Here's my list:
RightStart Level B/C
Writing With Ease Level 2
FIAR
Read alouds and alones (not sure where the list is coming from)
CM Composer and Artist Study
Piano lessons
4-H
FHC Prep (not sure what this looks like yet)
Liturgical year celebration at home
4Real Nature Study (we live on 5 acres in the country)
Next year I have a 2nd grader, K, 3yo, and 1yo. I think I'll have a tough time getting through this list, so I don't know how everyone does it.
Jennifer
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dawn2006
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| Posted: April 20 2009 at 9:20pm | IP Logged
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Here's what I'm planning/looking at:
for sure:
Language Arts: CHC
Math: Singapore
Music: Bastien Piano Basics Primers A&B
Looking at:
History:History Links- history unit studies, Catholic
Science: Great Science Adventures, science unit studies, not religious
The History Links site mentions that some families alternate a units of history with units of science. I like that idea. Off too look at the Handbook of Nature Study blog....
ETA: I forgot about the religion. My parish does FHC in third grade so I think I will follow the Catechism stuff in CHC along with I don't know what. I want to contact the Rel. Ed. director at my church and try to be streamlined with what they are doing. Beyond that, focus on liturgical activities throughout the year and learning important prayers.
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Dawn Farias | wife to Ariel | mom to Gabriel 9, Daniel 7, Elizabeth 5, and Michael 3 | blogger at Be Absorbed | native Texan but currently living near Seattle
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Sarah M
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| Posted: April 20 2009 at 9:36pm | IP Logged
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MNMommy wrote:
After reading the lists, I'm worried that I'm not planning enough for my 2nd grader. Here's my list:
RightStart Level B/C
Writing With Ease Level 2
FIAR
Read alouds and alones (not sure where the list is coming from)
CM Composer and Artist Study
Piano lessons
4-H
FHC Prep (not sure what this looks like yet)
Liturgical year celebration at home
4Real Nature Study (we live on 5 acres in the country)
Next year I have a 2nd grader, K, 3yo, and 1yo. I think I'll have a tough time getting through this list, so I don't know how everyone does it.
Jennifer |
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I think you've planned plenty! Your plans look lovely. And here's one thought that I keep in mind when I wonder how everyone does it: everyone doesn't. The best-laid plans often get thwarted right out of the gate. I am learning to keep things simple and to relish those teachable moments that come up in normal everyday living- the kind you can't plan for or schedule into a time slot.
If your list overwhelms you, I wonder...is there anywhere you feel you can pare down? For example, we've decided that read alouds and nature study are our absolute must-do's. I usually add in a math lesson, and then everything else gets covered through read-alouds. In your case, FIAR alone will probably cover a lot of ground!
We had some very rough spots this past year as I have realized that my perfectly-planned-CM days aren't what's in the best interest of my 7 year old. It's been the ladies here at 4Real who have gently nudged me back to reading aloud, spending time in nature, and letting go of my desire to 'do it all.' This has not been an easy lesson (or an easy winter) for me. I've struggled a lot. So I'm really simplifying my plans for next year- really simplifying. I figure, the less I have planned on paper, the less I'll stress about not getting to. Then I can focus on get our essentials done and then enjoying those wonderful spontaneous moments where the children follow their own interests and pursue knowledge for the love of learning.
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Bookswithtea
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| Posted: April 21 2009 at 5:52am | IP Logged
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MNMommy wrote:
After reading the lists, I'm worried that I'm not planning enough for my 2nd grader. Here's my list:
RightStart Level B/C
Writing With Ease Level 2
FIAR
Read alouds and alones (not sure where the list is coming from)
CM Composer and Artist Study
Piano lessons
4-H
FHC Prep (not sure what this looks like yet)
Liturgical year celebration at home
4Real Nature Study (we live on 5 acres in the country)
Next year I have a 2nd grader, K, 3yo, and 1yo. I think I'll have a tough time getting through this list, so I don't know how everyone does it.
Jennifer |
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Welcome, Jennifer. I love MN! 
You have a lot of littles in your house and a big list! I'm with Sarah...maybe consider combining. You could do a FIAR nature study in place of a FIAR study for a few weeks, and then return to FIAR? FIAR nature studies also include some composer study, so that wouldn't need to be a separate program, either. I think your FIAR books could count as your read alouds as well. I'm not at all familiar with the first two programs you listed, but there is plenty of meat in FIAR for narration as beginning writing, if they are both writing programs.
Maybe by combining you could shorten your list and feel a bit of relief?
__________________
Blessings,
~Books
mothering ds'93 dd'97 dd'99 dd'02 ds'05 ds'07 and  due 9/10
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MarilynW
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| Posted: April 21 2009 at 8:07am | IP Logged
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I don't have any second graders next year - but we are doing World Cultures/Geography etc - I have my initial plans up on my blog - Around the World in One School Year - and I have explained more in this thread
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Marilyn
Blessed with 6 gifts from God
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LisaD
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| Posted: April 22 2009 at 9:54am | IP Logged
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MNMommy wrote:
After reading the lists, I'm worried that I'm not planning enough for my 2nd grader. Here's my list:
Next year I have a 2nd grader, K, 3yo, and 1yo. I think I'll have a tough time getting through this list, so I don't know how everyone does it.
Jennifer |
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Speaking for myself, we don't do more than an hour a day of "formal" schooling. The only things we do every single day are math and reading. The rest is spread around on different days.
Your list looks like plenty to me.
__________________
~Lisa
Mama to dd(99), ds(01), ds(03) and ds(06)
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MNMommy
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| Posted: April 22 2009 at 8:23pm | IP Logged
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Thanks for the encouragement everyone. Some days I get tired (overwhelmed) with how much work these little guys are. My marriage gets stressed when I fall behind on the house stuff, so it's just a tough season all around.
Anyway, we are very relaxed in our schooling, sometimes too much I think. My list is long, but we rarely get to too much of it in any one day. Nature studies are like breathing to us, and reading and math are hit most days. The rest is extra, but I still want to get to it sometimes. I'm thinking of trying a loop schedule of some sort for next year. I have to think about it some more.
I love being here.
Jennifer
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4Real Forums : Living Learning
Topic: Plans for 2nd Grade...
