It's the first time in fifth grade for my youngest son and the last time in fifth grade for me. In typical last-born fashion, he's a little spitfire. Full of fun. Fueled by cereal. He’s got a wicked pitching arm, likes his hair long and his playdates with friends even longer. I often say that energy drinks need to drink energy drinks just to keep up with him. He's always wanting to go, go, go!
If you need him, just follow the drumbeat. He loves hard, plays hard, and ends every day with a kiss on my cheek. Lucky me!
Here's what he'll be learning this coming homeschool year. Since we only homeschool 4-days a week, you can assume that each of these subjects will only be covered four times each week unless otherwise indicated.
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Content-rich Subjects
Personal Devotions- every day
Language
- LLATL Purple Book (Use coupon code unlikelyhomeschool at checkout to get 15% off your entire purchase from Common Sense Press, the makers of LLATL.)
- All About Spelling level 4.
- Read for pleasure. (every day)
- Read the following books that correspond with the LLATL Purple Book.
Farmer Boy by Laura Ingalls Wilder
Trumpet of the Swan by E.B.White
Number the Stars by Lois Lowry
Caddie Woodlawn by Carol Ryrie Brink - If he's not currently working through an LLATL suggested book, he will read a chapter from a book that I assign to him. These will be classics, biographies, or exceptional fiction.
Math
So, I'll be putting together a homespun unit with some public library resources, our lifetime subscription to Notebooking Pages, and the following books from our home collection.
- How to Think Like a Scientist- This is a must-read book for all elementary kids regardless of what scientific topic they are learning about, in my opinion. We reread it every few years.
Handwriting
Life Skills/Extra-Curricular Subjects
- Basketball through the Salvation Army- 1x a week from November-March
- Read a chapter from Boyhood and Beyond- 1x a week
- Clean his room and make his bed each day.
- Daily chores: sweep the music room, empty the dishwasher with his older brother, empty all the bedroom and bathroom trash cans
- Weekly Chores for his child-of-the-day privileges and responsibilities: help make lunch/dinner and do two loads of laundry (Wednesdays)
- Monthly Chores: dust the main floor with his siblings, mop the music room, plus randomly select and complete two chores from our chore jar one Saturday each month
Co-operative Learning
- Public Speaking
- Art
I love your idea for science and I’m curious how you put together your own curriculum. I also have a subscription with note booking and would love to use it more! Could you expand on that?
ReplyDeleteYou can read all about how I put units together here>>>
Deletehttps://www.theunlikelyhomeschool.com/2016/04/ultimate-unit-study.html
Just ordered "How to think like a scientist" from our local library, thanks for the suggestion. 😄
ReplyDeleteYou're welcome! I hope you and your kids enjoy it.
DeleteMy kids do bible together and my two youngest do art together but otherwise my 5 kids do not do subjects together. It is way more work for me but they don't like the same things or learn at the same pace. They are all in elementary school. I also make my own science curriculum. M
ReplyDeleteIf that works well for you and your home, I say, "Go for it!"
DeleteThanks for the book suggestions. Is there a level where LLATL becomes primarily independent? I have only used grades 1, 2 and 4.
ReplyDeleteI'm sure older kids can use it independently, but I prefer to do it with my kids. So I'm not really sure what level to suggest to you.
DeleteI'd love to know more about how you assign chores for your kids. I've struggled with this for years and worry that I've done my teenage daughter a disservice. I don't want to make the same mistake with my eight year old. Do you have a post on that topic?
ReplyDeleteLove that he chose basic chemistry! Will he read through all of those books, parts every day?
ReplyDelete