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JSchaaf
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| Posted: Aug 20 2006 at 11:23pm | IP Logged
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Just realized that should say THIS year...I'm starting to panic.  We head back to Texas in 3 days and "school" starts on the 5th (after a performance of SchoolHouse Rock-I don't know anything about it, but I'm going with our TORCH group so it must be ok).
Anyway...I don't have much planned. We are going to do morning table time of Math (Horizons 1), Latin (Prima Latina, mostly orally), Phonics (2 pages of Explode the Code daily), Writing (alternating handwriting with copywork), Reading (the girls will read aloud to me 10-15 daily out of ???) and Violin practice.
I plan on doing picture study and composer study-using the artist and composer of the month resources here on the boards.
Other than that, the plan was just to read aloud alot, and encourage the girls to read to themselves. But what to read? What order? What topics? How to evaluate what they've read?
I was thinking some ancient history (Greek Myths) and Early American history (explorers, pilgrims, etc) to cover history. Do I just read aloud? Do we notebook or do crafts or follow a curriculum? Which one?
Science-who knows? I want to do nature study but I think I need a little more guidance in this area. Should I plan something-like "Learn 5 Texas wildflowers" or "Learn about Mammals"? Should I make my girls keep a nature notebook if they have no interest in it?
I have SO MANY MORE questions-but these are the ones that have been running through my head this evening. I'm so overwhelmed and confused that I was contemplating ordering a complete packaged curriculum so someone else could do the thinking/planning. But I know that is NOT what I want and what my girls need.
Help!
Jennifer
PS Some info: Girls will be 7, 6 and 4 this fall. The two oldest are somewhere between 1st and 2nd grade and are reading well. The youngest is starting to learn to read and wants to be involved with whatever her sisters are doing. We have about a year before the new baby comes. Everyone will be at home this year-no more preschool!
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lapazfarm
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| Posted: Aug 21 2006 at 9:12am | IP Logged
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Sounds like you have all of the basics covered in the morning. You could just leave the afternoons open for a read-alouds and rabbit-trailing. My advice is to pick just a few things and plan for about a month's worth of fun afternoon activities. See how it goes, what they really took off with (or didn't), and then you can plan further from there.
Perhaps choose a book, such as little house in the big woods that can lead to rabbit trails in many areas -history, nature study, cooking, crafts, etc. Plan a few activities and be open to their own ideas. And do it for the first month. Then if they are loving it go on to the next, or if they are ready for a change of pace switch it up to something totally different, but still with lots of rabbit-trail possibilities, like Misty of Chincoteague or The Story of Ping.
I think with children the age of yours, it is best to let interest lead in areas of history, science, nature, etc. and integrate them if you can, rather than making them seperate formal subjects.
Hope that helps!
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Theresa
us-schooling in beautiful Fairbanks, Alaska.
LaPaz Home Learning
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hereinantwerp
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| Posted: Aug 21 2006 at 10:08am | IP Logged
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sounds like somebody hit the panic button  ,
I can relate!
My advice to you would be to just experiment and establish the morning routine (sounds like you have some great planning done there), and see how it goes--then, when you are comfortable with it and it's flowing well, worry about science & history. Until then, just read aloud some classic children's books and enjoy them. Oz or Little House or Ramona or Charlotte's Web or . . . whatever. My boys at that age have really loved the Little House books.
As far as WHAT to study, sometimes it helps me just to step back a minute and search my own heart. If the kids aren't clamoring for anything particular, What do I, as their mother, want them to know? Sometimes I will really have something on my heart, but I can't discern it until I've found a bit of quiet inside and separation from all the plans and ideas. For instance, I am realizing that I really want my 7 yo to learn a bit of his own country's history before he grows much older, even though we are here in Europe--so it's on my mental checklist to plan for that.
You can drive yourself nuts looking at curriculum plans and scope and sequences and etc. "Rabbit trailing", just going with what they are interested in, is wonderful too, though sometimes kids that age don't know what they're interested in until they are presented with something.
For science and nature at that age, we've really loved the "Let's Read and Find Out" series of books. These are just wonderful. So simple to read and implement, I mean you just open the book and read it--on all sorts of topics, and they are always in the libraries. It would be a simple way to start, then if they light onto a subject you could go more into it. I've been trying to collect these, they're very well written and always a hit with my son, and I'm surprised how much even I learn from them. Occasionally I will have him draw a picture or narrate based on them, and we put these in a science notebook, but he's REALLY wiggly--maybe that would work better for girls, however!
But in general that is how we approach science and history things--open a book and read, then have him narrate/"tell back" (that's really a struggle for him but we keep trying), then if he's up for it, he draws a picture or maybe copies a sentence or something for the notebook.
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Angela Nelson
Mother to Simon (13), Calvin (9), and Lyddie Rose (3)
my blog: live and learn
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TracyQ
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| Posted: Aug 21 2006 at 2:21pm | IP Logged
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This is a wonderful website where you could get some great units to do with your kids' ages.
Homeschool Share
There are wonderful literature based units there, and you could create great lapbooks for them. 
These ages are so much fun! I have a 16yo, 14yo, and 11yo now, and if I could go back and do it all again with them being your kids ages, I would in a hearbeat!
I SO MISS those days! (though I am grateful for the days we are in now as well).
Have a fun, and blessed school year!
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Blessings and Peace,
Tracy Q.
wife of Marty for 20 years, mom of 3 wonderful children (1 homeschool graduate, 1 12th grader, and a 9th grader),
 homeschooling in 15th year in Buffalo, NY
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JuliaT
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| Posted: Aug 21 2006 at 10:37pm | IP Logged
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This is how I handle the read alouds. We do read alouds in the afternoon. We do one subject each afternoon, for ex, we do history on Mon. Science on Fri. etc. All I do for the read alouds is ask for a narration, but the forms of our narrations differ. My dd may give me an oral narration or a picture narration. She may put on a puppet show of what we read or we might put on a play. She also may make something out of clay that was in the book, for example, when we read the myth of Phaeton, my dd made the sun chariot out of play doh.
We are reading Thornton Burgess' Animal Book for science. We are making an animal notebook for this. My dd will make a page for each animal. She will put in a picture or draw a picture of the animal then add pertinent facts about it.
I don't know whether these sort of things are what you are looking for but maybe it can get you started in the right direction.
Julia
http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/Juliainsk/
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Rachel May
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| Posted: Aug 22 2006 at 1:23pm | IP Logged
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Last year, even with a lot of required subjects to satisfy the state, I only planned reading, memorization, religion, math, piano, and occasional art. (Still sounds like a lot to me.) That took 1-2 hours. With library trips and field trips with Dad and observing the world around us, we fulfilled PE, science, health, and history. The thrust was good books and discussion and ideas from here. We did no organized sports or groups.
I was looking at those "What your _ Grader Needs to Know" books in May, and we hit all the milestones for the grade they were in and most for the next year too.
Elizabeth has book ideas on her site and MacBeth does too. If nothing comes to mind readily, I'd start there.
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Rachel
Thomas and Anthony (10), Maria (8), Charles (6), Cecilia (5), James (3), and Joseph (1)
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4Real Forums : Planning and Ordering our Days
Topic: Planning Next Year
