What We’re Up To: Spring Semester School Plans
This school year is just chugging along! I really can’t believe how fast time has been flying. I feel like I *just* scheduled our fall semester yesterday! But- I ran out of plans, so it’s time to sit down and get more work in my planner. Not much is changing this spring, which is a HUGE relief. I feel like we spent our first few years homeschooling swapping curriculum left and right, but this year, I’ve found my groove, and have learned what works!
We started this new plan last week:
Bug’s Plans-
Oak Meadow Grade 3: We are little over half way through the second trimester. We’re learning all about maps, and deepening our study of cultures, enjoying folk tales, learning more about plants, and this week, we’re going to marble some paper. I am still very much enjoying the rhythm Oak Meadow gives to our day!
Teaching Textbooks 5 and Beast Academy 3: Bug’s moving on up in the math world. I am excited that the days of memorizing math facts are behind us, and we get to move on to manipulating numbers and have some FUN!
I am not 100 percent certain Teaching Textbooks is the right choice for him- but we are giving it a try. He was going to start Singapore Math 4 (which I love) but he’s getting to the point where his handwriting abilities are slowing him down and leading to tears when he has too much writing to do. I gave him placement tests for Teaching Textbooks, and this is where he landed (he aced TT4, and from the looks of it, he knows that level) which surprised me. It’s worth a try, even though I am not sold on the program. I am hoping it will ease his stress, and hopefully maybe even save him (and I!) some time. Fingers Crossed!
Beast Academy is mostly for fun, and for the puzzle/problem solving skills. I think it will keep him engaged- plus we both just love the guides, and he never had time to use them in the past with all the time he was spending on Singapore 4.
In my head, I think he’ll probably zoom through TT5, and when he’s done with it, we’ll go back to Singapore 4. Hopefully his handwriting will have caught up with him by then!
Nancy Larson Science 2: We finished our Physics unit, and are now moving on to Earth and Space Science. Bug is excited to finally get to dig into the rock collection! This has been going VERY well for us so far. It’s easy for me to get done, and it’s the perfect amount of information to cover “in class.” He still digs into his science encyclopedias to learn more when the day is over, but Nancy Larson Science is feeding his need for more science in a way I can easily manage.
Classical Academic Press Writing and Rhetoric Fables: I noticed Bug is struggling to find main ideas and summarize stories when he needs to sit down three times a week to do his summaries for Oak Meadow. He’s a VERY detailed little guy, and I wanted something to help him “get to the point” and weed through the information to write in an organized way. This semester long program is classically inspired which means he’ll really get a grip on these skills. It’s pretty easy to use, and has the bonus of being based on Fables, so it’s doubling as a little character education for us. I’m VERY pleased with it so far. (It’s new- check it out here!)
Homeschool Spanish Academy: I pulled Bug out of his Spanish class at the local school. It was pretty good, but not *great* so I didn’t want to keep sacrificing our time at home for it twice a week. Instead, I signed him up for weekly tutoring with Homeschool Spanish Academy. He gets half an hour a week on Skype with a very sweet teacher who can work with him at his pace. I am sitting with him during the lessons, and am working on reviewing what he learned between lessons.
Dance- Bug is getting ready for recitals in both his Tap and Contemporary classes. He still is very much loving dancing!
Mr. Man’s Plans-
Logic of English Foundations: Mr. Man is moving on to level B, and is now reading basic phrases and words. I am SO proud of the progress he’s made. We have so much fun with our reading time each day.
Singapore Math 1: Basic math skills are coming along! In December, he taught himself to count to 100, and he is very proud of his new found skills!
Oak Meadow 1: We are loosely using this level to guide his weeks. I love how nature centered and fun it is. The conversational methods really appeal to him because he abhors busy work. This is NOT a worksheet kid (unlike Bug, who could do them all day long!)
Both Boys:
Latin: We’re still doing Latin together as a family. I am working on my own skills with Getting Started with Latin. Bug is using Prima Latina, and Mr. Man and Little Miss enjoy singing along with Song School Latin.
Field Trip Friday Unit Studies: We’re moving on from the middle ages to the Renaissance and Reformation and on to Modern History. Bug is going to read The Whipping Boy and Charlotte in Giverny and we’re going to learn more about what life was like back then, and travel to some palaces and museums around our home. We’re heading to London in March, so I am hoping to cover enough British history for it to be a really rich experience for the kids when we go.
Specials at the School: I am cutting back this semester a little on the boys specials to try and find a better balance for our family. They will continue to attend for PE and Music. I think two classes a week will be a better fit for us than four! I loved being able to send them, but we need more time at home to better balance the things I want to make sure they learn.
Art: With our upcoming move, I need to use as much of my open art supplies as possible!! So- we’re going to be painting…. a lot.
The only other thing I am changing is I am trying out the new Homeschool Planet online planner through Homeschool Buyers Co-Op (free to join- lots of good deals…. I spend tons of money there LOL) . The first month is free, so I figured it wouldn’t hurt. I plugged in our first month before we went back to school, and it’s been great to just print off our to-do list this morning. I think this is about as good as we’ve ever been as far as staying on track with our lessons, so I am REALLY happy with it so far!
Wish us luck! Do you have any new plans for Spring Semester?
