Our 2013-2014 School Year Plans
I know I am posting a lot this week- bear with me! There are a bunch of fantastic Homeschool events running as everyone gears up for back to school, and I don’t want to miss out! Besides, who doesn’t love hearing about curriculum? This is my favorite part about homeschooling, when everything is new and fresh. The kids are excited, I feel well rested, and I feel like I can handle anything!
Some of you who follow my Facebook page may be a little surprised here, because just a couple weeks ago, I posted that we started a new school year. And we did, for like two days. And then, something happened, and we have a new plan.
Long story short, our local school has a wonderful option of allowing Homeschooled children to attend school for just “specials”. This means I can bring the kids for an hour or two a day, and they can take classes like Music, Art, PE, Spanish and German at no cost to me. I’ve been in and out of the office a million times trying to work out the details, but I feel comfortable now saying that my kiddos are going to try this out. It will be a very different “normal” for us, but I am optimistic that it will work. Worst case scenario, we give it a try, and we end up deciding to not continue after the first quarter.
With that in mind, we are changing from a year around schedule, to a traditional school schedule, following what the public school here does. It’s given me another month of summer vacation, and no one here is complaining! Until School starts officially, the kids are doing light summer work. Bug is working on Time 4 Learning’s 3rd grade program (review coming soon!) and Beast Academy 3A . Mr. Man is finishing up Handwriting Without Tears Kindergarten, and is working with me and Super Star Speech.
Without Further Adieu, our 2013-2014 School Year Plans
Bug 2nd Grade (ish)
Oak Meadow Grade 3– We will continue using this for Social Studies, Science, and the Folk Tales- basically, everything but the Math section (because Bug is more advanced than it)
Moving Beyond the Page Literature Units, select from 7-9- We will use these slowly, aiming for about one each month or two. They cover literature, grammar and writing.
Logic of English Essentials– Bug has officially finished his first time through this program focusing on reading, so we are doing it again with a spelling and grammar focus.
Prima Latina– Latin
Singapore 3B and Beast Academy 3B– let me tell you how excited we are to be DONE with Singapore 3A. Long division and multiplication tables are enough to make me crazy- But Bug mastered it!
Mr. Man Kinder
Moving Beyond the Page 5-7 and/Or Oak Meadow 1. Oh my decisions, decisions!
Handwriting Without Tears Grade 1
Singapore Math 1A
Logic of English Foundations A
Song School Latin 1
Emmy- Tot School
Flowering Baby 2-3
Before Five in a Row
Field Trip Friday
We will continue exploring Europe’s Medieval history, and do our unit study that incorporates Story of the World 2, Passport Middle Ages, and Living Books.
Unit Studies
I am easily distracted, so we do a lot of unit studies on top of the above listed to keep me feeling like everything is new and fresh. We’ll continue with the Schoolhouse Review Crew as long as they’ll have us, and explore a lot of units with them, and do some Five in a Row units to break things up every now and then.
Extra Curricular Activities, Sports and other Fun Stuff
Bug is moving on to Tap II this year, and Mr. Man will do Tap I. Bug will continue attending the Art classes I teach at the USO. Mr. Man will join me when he turns 6.
I am not sure what “specials” the kids will be taking at the school, but right now, I am thinking they’ll do PE, Music and Spanish. It will depend on the timing of the classes, so I won’t be able to make this decision until the school calender comes out!
Both Boys will play Baseball in the spring (Mr. Man can’t WAIT to be on a team that plays “real games” this year!).
Both Boys are continuing with Adventus Piano. Bug is on level 2, and Mr. Man is just getting started!
I’m linking up with the “Not Back to School Blog Hop” from iHomeschool- Check it out!
We are using Passport Middle Ages this year too. I hope it is a lot of fun. Have never looked at moving beyond hte page. I will have to check it out. I have a 3rd grader as well. Have a good year!
It looks like a wonderful year and what a neat opportunity for the special classes.
Popping in from the blog hop.
Thanks for Stopping by!
What is Flowering Baby? I might have to look that up for my nearly-2-year-old who is already counting forwards and backwards to ten and knows some letters and shapes. We were going to just do stickers and coloring, but he’s acting like he wants me to move forward with more!
Flowering Baby is a really gentle tot curriculum. I like it, and it’s inexpensive (you can get it from currclick). I’m planning on using it until Emmy is 3, and then she’ll do Before Five in a Row.
That’s great that you can do something like that! I hope it works out wonderfully for you all. 🙂
Have you found Super Star Speech to be effective? Planning to start it soon with my son.
So far, so good. It’s reassuring to me to have. My little guy isn’t as far behind as I thought he was. Only time will tell how effective it is, but I am really happy with my purchase!
Great list! Are you on the School House Review Crew?! I just might have to pull out Flowering Baby to use with my 2 year old daughter for tot school !
I am! 🙂 Thanks for stopping by!