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10 Bright Stars
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| Posted: May 15 2008 at 2:53pm | IP Logged
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Hi all,
I need some tips on organizing and planning out my own curriculum for the coming school yeare. Due to some financial concerns, I am shopping my shelves for books that I have purchased in the past and not used etc. for the curriculum for the kids this year. I am purchasing my eldest son's curriculum from Kolbe since he is entering the 8th grade, and as the forunner, MUST have the new stuff. But, the 2nd, 4th and 6th grader can all benefit from Big Brother's left-overs and mom's curriculum mistakes or whatever you want to call them from the past. I do have a lot of good things lying unused on the shelves I just discovered.
Anyway, how can I go about building a curriculum from this material since I am still doing school with the little kids and I don't have a lot of free time? Have any of you all done this before? How did you go about making it workable?
Some of the resources I will use are Story of the World for my little girls history. I also want my 2nd grade girl to read all of the Little House Series books. I will have the boys doing Famous Men of Greece and Rome and they will also study "Archimedes at the Door of Science" and the Librarian Who Measured the World" etc. I am using CHC for my Kindergarten aged child. (I do have a plan for CHC's stuff) I also hope to do an in-depth study on dinosaurs with her. I really miss dinosaurs as all my boys are older now!!! So, I will try to find something to do with her on that.
I would share more, but this is probably enough for folks to maybe have some ideas on if you have the time.????  I plan on using E. Foss's Christmas unit study for the little kids since I have all of those books and never got around to it with my boys, and I also have Picture Perfect Childhood, and Loving Literature....Anyway, HELP!!!!!!!!!! I am feeling creative yet quite overwhelmed with this. If I am NOT organized, I tend to feel like I am on a merry-go-round; confused and like I don't know which way is up, so it is essential that I at least have a plan or frame with which to recalibrate.
I also really just want to get away from the workbooks this year. I think I have relied on them too heavily in the past, and the boys writing shows this fact!!! I have also purchased IEW from Anne on the 4 Real Forum (thank you Anne!!) and I don't really know what that will involve or how to go about using it. I have PLL and ILL availble for use for the younger kids. Anyone already made up lesson plans for some of this stuff that you wouldn't mind sharing with a mom of 8???? 
Anyway, just need a bit of a lifeline!! Thanks for any thoughts you all may have. 
__________________
Kim married to Bob (22y)
Mom of 11 blessings:
Bobby 19, David 17, Noah 14,
Mary 12, Gracie 10,
Isabelle and Sophia 8,
Gabrielle 6,
William Anthony 4, Joseph 3 and Luisa Marie - born in M
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Erin
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| Posted: May 15 2008 at 4:21pm | IP Logged
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Kim
Great ideas, I can tell one of the most important things needed for this to work you already have; enthusiasm.
You sound as if you already have some great resources, actually I have and have used many of what you share.
First you need to break your year down to bite sized chunks. I actually only plan a term (10 weeks) at a time but I can see benefits to getting myself more organised. But still break your year down first. Perhaps over there it would make sense to break down to your seasons, Spring Plan, Autumn etc. Then for example you can slot Elizabeth's Christmas unit under winter.
Using Story of the World with your girls I would also have the boys studying their books consecutively. For example when the girls are doing Greece the boys are studying Famous Men of Greece. This really helps the enthusiasm of the children flow and keeps mum sane. Also they read relevant literature at this time such as your Archimedes book.
PLL and ILL I have just used as written, maybe one to two lessons a week, I have been pretty relaxed with it. In fact my younger children have only done it verbally but then again that hasn't necessarily reaped the best benefits. 
You have a lot of great ideas but you need to give yourself timeto achieve it all in a relaxed manner. (Oh boy I should listen to my own advice ) So perhaps have a block (a season, a number of months?) where you leave Story of the World and the Ancients for the boys; and focus on the Little House. Perhaps the boys may be interested at the same time or may like to do American history or you could all follow individual rabbit trails here. This could be the block where you do the dinosaur unit with your Kindergartener.
As for IEW you could use it a few ways, you could have a block where you mainly focus on IEW and only do one or two other things as you indicate the boys may need an intensive. Or you could use it daily or only a few times a week. I'm unfamiliar with it myself so not too sure how flexible it is. But then again all of our resources should be made to suit us, not us be slaves to them.
Hope this is of some help? 
__________________
Erin
Faith Filled Days
Seven Little Australians
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Lauri B
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| Posted: May 15 2008 at 8:22pm | IP Logged
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Have you considered joining the Simply Charlotte Mason Organizer? You type in the books you're using and for whom, and how long you want to take to read each - semester, year, etc. The program generates daily and weekly schedules for you! It sounds like the best way for you to do everything you want with that many people. I'll post the link to it below:
SIMPLY CHARLOTTE MASON ORGANIZER FREE TOUR HERE
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hopalenik
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| Posted: May 16 2008 at 6:05am | IP Logged
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Thank you Lauri for that fabulous tool! I had never heard of it.
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Holly
Mom to dd 10, twins dd and ds (transplant as baby that failed 05/09, permanent dialysis patient) 8 , dd 5 and dd 3 1/2 and dd in Feb 2009. 2 I hope to meet in heaven.
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Anne
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| Posted: May 16 2008 at 6:50am | IP Logged
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Eight Wonders wrote:
I have also purchased IEW from Anne on the 4 Real Forum (thank you Anne!!) and I don't really know what that will involve or how to go about using it.
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Hey Kim, I think you will be very pleased with IEW. Has it arrived yet? I sent it out on Monday.
With IEW you can take paragraphs from their reading assignments as examples for them to make a key word outline. It is a very flexible program that will work with even the youngest of students.
I also use PLL and ILL. I feel these are a super resource for language arts as a total curriculum. You can add grammar if you feel you need to with library books by Brian Cleary these books are so inviting and humorus and the children just love them. We all giggle through the entire series. See thisCute site from the author of these books.
I think with a bit of scheduling and organizing you will have a super year for all. I love Lauri's site link. I had no idea this planner could do that. Cool 
__________________
Anne in TN
WIFE to Brett (91)
MOM to Rebecca(97), Catherine (99), Grace (99), Stephen (00) & 2 Angels in Heaven.
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10 Bright Stars
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| Posted: May 16 2008 at 7:14am | IP Logged
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Anne,
No, I haven't gotten it yet, but it will probably arrive any day now. Thanks again. I am really excited to watch and learn.  I will also take a look at the grammar books by CLeary as Grammar is one of the boys least favorite subjects.
Thanks for all the encouragement everyone and the link, Lori. That will be fun to explore this weekend. Anything to make organizing more helpful. 
__________________
Kim married to Bob (22y)
Mom of 11 blessings:
Bobby 19, David 17, Noah 14,
Mary 12, Gracie 10,
Isabelle and Sophia 8,
Gabrielle 6,
William Anthony 4, Joseph 3 and Luisa Marie - born in M
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4Real Forums : Living Learning
Topic: from scratch curriculum
