And then there were four.
From here on out, my homeschool will get smaller and smaller. My daughter graduated last fall and my oldest son will soon follow in the next couple of years. So, it is with a mix of excitement and sadness that I make curriculum plans for a pared-down homeschool.
Like in years past, we will adhere to a four-day-a-week schedule. When reading through our curriculum choices, you can assume that the following items will be used four days a week unless otherwise indicated. An item with an asterisk is new to us this year.
With the exception of science, we will do all of these content-rich subjects together. Core (skill-oriented) subjects like language arts and math will be done individually according to grade level. (I will be sure to share those in the coming days.) Technically, I don't homeschool with grade levels, so the following group subjects can easily be adjusted to meet the needs of a wide range of learners.
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Morning Time- every day
Our morning time is a non-negotiable in the schedule--an immovable anchor for the past 12 or so years that has helped to create calm in the daily chaos. While some moms pack their Morning Time full and overflowing, I like to keep it simple. I only include the things that will build our faith and our relationships with God and each other. I figure if I can start our day peacefully with this short but very intentional benchmark, I can count the entire day as a success even if the rest of it gets derailed.
Plus, I'm a firm believer that Morning Time should only contain the most important things. If I jam a million things into that time, then I'm basically saying that everything is equally as important, inadvertently making everything unimportant.
And like Charlotte Mason, I don't feel like kids should sit for hours doing lessons. I try and keep each part of our day short. Do I read aloud a fun fiction book to my kids? Yes. Do we combine content subjects like history and science and nature study? Yes. But I place those activities in the day at other times. Because, in my opinion, they are not the most important things. Bible/Faith building and pleasure reading are my TOP 2 and so I put them first and set them apart in our agenda.
Some of the resources in our morning basket will be done daily, while others will be done in a "loop" (Not sure what a loop is? Be sure to check out The Quick-Start Guide to Brave Homeschool Schedules for more info).
To be done daily
- Call to worship- I'll use Spotify to play the entire audio of The Is Amazing Grace by Phil Wickam.
- Practice the verse of the week from our Fighter Verse pack and review previously learned ones from the Fighter Verse list.
- Learn a new hymn each month. On the day that the hymn is introduced, we will read about its writer from Then Sings My Soul, Book 1, and then do a short MadLib just for fun.
- Review one old hymn and/or praise and worship song from our homemade songbook.
- Review previously learned manners with 100 Manners to Teach Your Kids Before They Turn 18 list and then begin Manners Made Easy for Families.
- Read/Answer one question from The Complete Book of Bible Trivia.
- Each Friday, one of my kids will give a short devotional to the family during our Morning Time. I’ll assign them a verse the previous Friday, writing the reference on a notecard along with the following 4 questions: WHAT is the verse? WHAT does it mean? HOW have you lived or not lived out this verse in your life? (Share a personal story.) HOW can we apply this verse to our lives?
To be placed in a "loop"
Bible
The Children's Bible in 365 Stories- 2x a week*
The Children's Bible in 365 Stories- 2x a week*
Theology/Christian Living
Case for Christ for Kids- 1x a week
Missionary story
Jesus Freaks- 1x a week
Jesus Freaks- 1x a week
Science- 2x a week
For the fifth year in a row, my house will be divided for science.
- My oldest son will be doing the Biology Distance Learning course from BJU Press (4x a week)
- My middle son will be doing the second half of Earth Science with BJU Press Distance Learning. He started it last year (an entire grade level early) and hopes to complete it for 8th grade this year. (4x a week).
- And my youngest two boys and I will be finishing the Sonlight Science C we began last year which focuses on meteorology, geology, and mechanical technology (2x a week). I appreciate the Charlotte Mason (living books and notebooking) approach to science that Sonlight Science offers.
History- 2x a week
History should never be studied using a dry-as-dust textbook, in my opinion. It should always be learned through living literature, field trips, videos, and conversations with the real, flesh-and-bone people who lived it.
This year, I'll use the Children's Encyclopedia of American History as a spine to keep us moving forward and to connect the dots between major events. We'll read a section and then layer our learning with more detail using the rich living books found in my trusty Truth Quest guides to create homespun American History units. We will be picking up from where we left off last year at the War of 1812.
(A quick note about DK books: These are secular sources that often tout liberal agendas. Since I know early American history fairly well, I feel confident in my ability to sift through any ideologies that would be considered revisionist history. However, I would not recommend DK history resources to all homeschool families.)
This year, I'll use the Children's Encyclopedia of American History as a spine to keep us moving forward and to connect the dots between major events. We'll read a section and then layer our learning with more detail using the rich living books found in my trusty Truth Quest guides to create homespun American History units. We will be picking up from where we left off last year at the War of 1812.
(A quick note about DK books: These are secular sources that often tout liberal agendas. Since I know early American history fairly well, I feel confident in my ability to sift through any ideologies that would be considered revisionist history. However, I would not recommend DK history resources to all homeschool families.)
I'll also use the following resources:
- Notebooking Pages- This is an absolutely excellent resource for Charlotte Mason notebooking. I highly recommend purchasing the lifetime membership!
- our family timeline
- Timelines of World History- This is a visual timeline that will help my kids see what was happening in other parts of the world during the same time as the event we're reading about in our Truth Quest books.*
Extracurricular Activities
Following our afternoon read-aloud time each day, which generally happens right after lunch clean-up, my sons and I will do one of the four extracurricular activities together. Since we only do each resource one time a week, we don't usually get through them in one school year's time. So, many of them are carry-overs from last year.
Creative Writing- Monday
Squiggles- These open-ended drawings were all the rage in the mid-80s when I was in school and are slowly finding their way into the writing world again. To make our squiggle picture stories, I'll use a permanent marker to draw a simple design or unique mark somewhere on a page of their spiral notebook/writing journal. I'll then challenge the boys to turn the notebook page in any direction and use the mark to make a complete picture. Then they'll have to write a story, using their drawing as the illustration.
Art- Tuesdays
Discovering Great Artists- In this study of the great masters, we will learn proper art terminology, basic techniques, and creative style. In addition, we will be introduced to some popular artists and their most famous works.
You Are An Artist Clubhouse- We have a membership to this online chalk pastel art course. We'll complete a chalk painting every now and then to add variety to our art time.
Presidential Study- Wednesday
Along with many living picture books, we will use the following resources as spines to help us learn about the presidents from Abraham Lincoln onward. We will then compile the information we learn in a Presidential notebook that we have been adding to since last year.
Documentaries- Fridays
On Fridays, at the close of the school day, we will kick off the weekend with a documentary or How It's Made type show together, watching 30-minute increments for a couple of weeks until we've completed an entire video. Then we'll move on to another one the following week.
National Park Trips- throughout the year
Because my youngest son will be in fourth grade this year, we were able to qualify for the Every Kid Outdoors initiative through the National Park Service which granted our entire family a free annual pass. We've already visited a few historic sites and museums on the East coast and hope to hit quite a few more in the coming school year.
Cooperative Learning- 2-3x a month
We've been members of a local co-op for the past two years and will continue with that monthly enrichment throughout the coming school year. My kids will take two grade-level appropriate classes taught by other homeschooling parents each semester for a total of four classes each during the entire year.
2021-2022 Curriculum By Grade Level
Stay tuned in the coming days. I'll be sharing the curriculum that I've chosen for the individual core subjects for the following grades:
Thank you for sharing! I’d love to see a list of documentaries you’ve watched in the past and recommend!
ReplyDeletePerhaps I'll put together a list sometime soon. In the meantime, we really enjoyed the Operation Ouch videos on youtube.
DeleteThank you for sharing
ReplyDelete! I’d love to see a list of documentaries you’ve watched in the past and recommend!
Thank you so much for sharing!
ReplyDelete