Homeschool EOY Review & Plans for 2013-2014

While I have been making plans for our next school year, this is an easy time to evaluate what did not work for us this year.  Next year I will have a 5th grader, 1st grader, and a PreSchooler at home.

Bible

Last year we used Veritas Press for our Bible Curriculum.  While I was very happy with the curriculum, we have decided to try something different this year.  This year we will be using Bible Road Trip.  It is a free 3 year online Bible Curriculum.  This curriculum has Bible based novels that we will read along with the Bible Study.  We will also use the Picture Smart Bible curriculum with each book of the Bible.

Math

Saxon Math worked for us last year, and we will continue with it this year. Lyndsey will continue in Math 2 and move into Math 3.  Lauren will complete Math 6/5.

Language Arts

Phonics/Reading/Literature
Lyndsey will continue with Sing, Spell, Read & Write program.  This year she will be on Level 2 Grand Tour.
Lauren's reading will be historical novels and novels based on Biblical stories.

I am watching the videos for Teaching the Classics from CenterForLit right now.  I hope this teaches me how to help Lauren critically examine the literature we read.  I am struggling in this area because I just never learned how to see beyond the surface of the story.  We may start the Ready Readers which applies the Teaching the Classics approach to 10 classic stories on a K-3 level.  I think this would applicable to Lauren and Lyndsey.

Spelling
Lyndsey's spelling is included in her Sing, Spell, Read & Write program.
Lauren will use Growing with Spelling & Vocabulary.  Last year she used Phonetic Zoo.  We are just trying something new this year which hopefully will challenge her.

Grammar
Lyndsey- Some grammar is included in Sing, Spell, Read & Write.  She will continue in her Growing with Grammar Level 1 book that she started in January.
Lauren will switch to Growing with Grammar this year.  I really like the format of these books.

Science

For science we are going to stay in the Apologia family!  We loved our year long study of Human Anatomy.  This year we are going to use Exploring Creation with Botany.  We will again use the Notebooking Journal for Lauren and the Jr. Notebooking Journal for Lyndsey.  We will also use the lapbook that was designed to go along with the curriculum.

History

We will continue marching along in US History with The Time Travelers History Series from Homeschool in the Woods.  We only completed 3 of the 7 sections last year, so we WILL work really hard to finish the last 4!!  I had only planned to complete 4 so we did not miss the mark too bad!
Our topics this year will be..
The Early 19th Century
The Civil War
The Industrial Revolution & Great Depression
World War II
We did complete 3 American Girl studies last year-Kaya, Felicity, and Josefina.  This year we will also study the American Girl Historical Character that goes with each section of time.

Geography

We will continue to work our way through the United States while we learn basic geography.  We will be using the Discover America State-by-State Alphabet Series to learn interesting facts about each state.  We will continue making scrapbook pates for each state and cook a recipe from each state.  I covered 22 states last year, and I hope to finish to remaining 28 this year!!!

Latin

We will begin an introduction to Christian Latin using Prima Latina.

Music/Art/Typing

We did so good on the core subjects last year, but the extras were my downfall!  Music/Art/Typing did not happen.  I think my downfall was not having an organized curriculum for these areas.  This year I have regrouped, and I am moving forward with a goal!

Music
This year we are working through The History of Classical Music from Beautiful Feet Books.  We will have a posted timeline of classical music which I think will keep us motivated!  The curriculum is outlined day-by-day, and it tells me what to do each day!  We will cover this 2 times per week.

Art
Our art this year will be drawing the state flowers and coloring the many composers for music and history timeline pieces.  I will pull in any homeschooling coop opportunities that we can on the side.

Typing
Lauren started learning how to type on an online game program Always-IceCream.com.  She will continue advancing in this game format.  Then she will go to Typing Instructor for Kids.

Sports

Both the girls will continue swimming for the Barracuda Swim Team.  They will also continue with the weekly gymnastics classes and tennis lessons.  We are still trying to decide if they will continue dancing or play YMCA volleyball and basketball.

Our School Room

We started out the school year last year upstairs.  Lauren had her set up in her room.  Lyndsey had a set up in a big closet.  It worked ok, but I found myself going back-and-forth.  In February, we cleaned out the exercise room (which we don't use) and turned it into our school room.  We put the desks facing each other which gave us plenty of workspace for History and Science projects.

     I have tweaked the school room a little for this coming year.  I hope to post some pictures soon.  I have made the timelines for Music and History and the Books of the Bible.  We had to add another cabinet/shelf for storage, and I would like to bring our old computer into the room if JM finishes transferring the pictures off of it!  The computer/printer will be so handy to print off lessons, do internet searches, or work on internet review games while I am busy with the other child.  

Everything is ready for school to start!  I have lesson plans formatted.  I have preschool activities outlined.  Books are already in their desks and new colored pencils are ready to go.  I even have the first few weeks lessons and activities printed!  Now, I am going on a summer vacation!