Planning the school year

In our area of the country schools start much earlier than up north where we came from. Typically in Pennsylvania schools didn't start until almost after Labor Day. Here some are starting as early as the first week of August.

There is an upcoming curriculum fair this week, and I will be attending just to grab a few items that I did not order yet. Really, I only need a handful of things. I was reading on my friend Kris's blog how she is planning and getting geared up and psyched up to start the school year. I haven't really felt that yet.... I still feel like I am lingering in summer mode. The lazy days of summer, with no commitments or activities running us here and there. I like not being scheduled over the summer, and just hangin' out.

But, with schools starting in 3-4 weeks I felt like I needed to at least start planning our year. I had it generally mapped out in my mind and have already purchased curriculum accordingly. But I needed to take it a step further and see how it might all fit together in a day/week/month/year.

Unlike last year or even the year before, this year I have created a schedule. I tended to be less structured in the past, and the kids grade levels allowed me to do so. But as they advance each year, I am aware that I need make sure we are using all of our time to the best advantage and that all my course objectives are being met. The way I hope to accomplish this is with a finely tailored schedule. As I said, I have never done this, but I think it will work to help us stay on track each day. It's scheduled in time increments and of course subjects. I put it together in a Word Table.

I've also reviewed some curriculum and started my Lesson Plan for the first week. Somewhere I need to include creative writing as we will be using the Olympics as a unit study and one objective will be creative writing.

Here is what we are studying this year:

Bible- Devotions (yet to be determined and incorporated into a quiet time), AWANA verse memorization

Math- Math U See, plus Math Concepts worksheets, plus Math Detective from the Critical Thinking Company

Abeka Language, Spelling, Penmanship

Wordly Wise - vocabulary

Prima Latina- Introduction to Latin with DVD series and workbooks (I watched the DVD and while it can be a little dry, it is fairly short and taught in small increments. The kids should be able to pick this up.)

History- Sonlight World History 2, Story of the World Volume 2

Science- Sonlight

Literature- Sonlight Read Alouds, read over lunch each day..... but if I can find the book on audio CD I am SO using it! (Saving my voice). :-) I highly recommend the book Ginger Pye by Eleanor Estes on audio CD. It was awesome and we would listen to it on our long drives and then sprawled out on couches in the afternoon. We ALL loved it!

World Cultures- Konos Russia (For Around the World Day, and Olympics Unit Study)

Critical Thinking- Reading Detective, Building Thinking Skills Level 1, Dr. Funster's Thinks a Minute, Logic Links

Art History- Meet the Masterpieces - This is an OOP book that I got a few years ago. Like the first year I began homeschooling. It takes a famous painting and you learn about the artist, take a walk through the painting, do some fun activities correlating to the painting, and then gives other ideas to dig deeper into the subject matter.

Art/Craft- To go along with our Story of the World History Activities- 2 x a week.

Reading- Abeka and supplementary Sonlight Reading.

Okay, that's where I am right now. I'm praying for some direction with Bible devotion, and the enthusiasm on my part for school to begin. Making a schedule and writing a partial lesson plan definitely helped me to feel more organized. :-)