A New Season: Plans for Fall Semester

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Those of you hanging out with me on Facebook have heard we have some new plans in the works for this school year. Where we live, the local school district has a wonderful policy that is very supportive of homeschooler. We have the right to have our children participate in specials if we’d like, and also other activities, like extra curricular activities, lunch time, and field trips. I’ve been feeling really overwhelmed as I try and get both boys the attention they need, and giving Little Miss her time too. None of my kids are old enough to really work independently, and I have been feeling a lot of pressure to figure out how to do this, without giving up any of the things I want to cover with the kids.

So, we have made the decision to take advantage of specials. The neat thing is, I wanted a tutor for language and a teacher for music, and now my taxes get to pay for them, instead of an added expense. I’m so excited about the possibility of this being a wonderfully fun year. Right now, we are committed to the first quarter (9 weeks) and if it doesn’t work for our family, we can re-evaluate. But- the school and teachers have been wonderful, so other than my crazy busy schedule, I don’t see any reason for this not to work out for us!

Meet my Big Kids, and check out their plans!

Bug has a full plate!
For the next 9 weeks Bug has:

Logic of English Essentials (to teach spelling and grammar)- One lesson a week

Moving Beyond the Page Literature Units for Morning Girl and Charlotte’s Web- I love these units- they are creative, easy to teach, and thorough- it’s an easy way to teach literature! I’m really glad I found them.

Singapore Math 3B- Paced as we go! We’re also adding in the Challenging Word Problems and Tests at this point

Oak Meadow 3- We’re at lesson 6, and are doing almost all of it, except for the spelling and math sections

Prima Latina– One Lesson a week, with the cursive book for extra practice

Bridgeway Academy- Once a week Bug will take a distance class on the Middle Ages

His “extras” include:

Spanish twice a week at the school
PE once a week at the school
Music once a week at the school
He’ll be at the school for a total of 4 hours a week

Swim Lessons, Dance: Tap II, Contemporary I, Piano at home with Adventus

Mr. Man has a lot of FUN planned:

Logic of English Foundations A- paced as we go!

Singapore Math 1A- paced as we go!

Song School Latin– this is so much FUN for him, we listen to it in the car, and he does the worksheets at home

Oak Meadow 1- I love this program, It’s so nature centered and wonderful! Starting from the beginning! 

Mr. Man’s “extras”:

Mr. Man is spending a little more time at the school than Bug- he will attend for lunch and recess 4 days a week, and take Spanish, PE, Music, and “Counseling” (basically, character education). He’ll be there for a total of 9 hours a week.

He also takes Dance (Tap I), Swimming Lessons, and Piano with Adventus.

All together as a family:

We still value our independence and I believe strongly in learning through doing. We will continue to do weekly field trips around Europe, with the occasional longer trip! I’m hoping to maybe make it to Poland or Prague next month, and we already have tickets and hotel booked for Budapest in October.

Our weekly field trips will be castle focused for the next 9 weeks, to go along with the Bridgeway Academy class, and our in-depth Middle Ages study I put together using resources from Passport Middle Ages and Story of the World (you can download the reading list and curriculum plan here!).

Nature Studies are still rolling along here, thanks to the wonderful training we received in noticing the world around us last year. The Nature Connection will always be a staple in our home (if you haven’t picked up this inexpensive, wonderful curriculum yet- It’s 10 dollars!, you really should!)

I am still teaching Art Classes with the USO, but Bug’s dance classes run at the same time as my class, so for the first time ever he will not be attending (sad day!). We’ll just do my lessons at home. (If you want to see how I teach art without breaking the bank, you can see our routine here.)

Little Miss has been enjoying “school” here and there also, so I am hoping to get in a better routine of Before Five in a Row with her. Otherwise, we just count a lot and read tons of books and play and paint and have FUN!

Lastly, I’m sticking with the Schoolhouse Review Crew as long as they’ll have me, so you can expect to see us use (and fall in love with!) lots of other programs along the way.

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A very special thank you to Britney Brown Design Photography who made the beautiful graphics for this post, and took Bug’s back to school picture. She does amazing work, and those of you who are local should check her out, and book her ASAP!

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