First Day 2016-17

Our first day of school was last week and this is our picture to memorialize.

Julia absolutely did not want to be left out of the picture and I thought it rather appropriate to include her :)

Kailyn: 5th, Louisa: 3rd, Julia: along for the ride

Great Finds

I really hit up the library book sales last month. There were a few big sales and some small ones too! Thought I'd share with you my great finds!!

Goodbye Mr. Chips, James Hilton
Journey to the Centre of the Earth, Jules Verne
David Copperfield, Charles Dickens
Dog of Discovery, Laurence Pringle
The Saturdays, Elizabeth Enright
Follow my Leader, James Garfield
Magical Melons, Carol Ryrie Brink
The Pushcart War, Jean Merrill
Sacagawea, Judith St. George
Thomas Jefferson, Father of Democracy (Landmark)
Lincoln and Douglas, The Years of Decision (Landmark)
Sam Houston, The Tallest Texan (Landmark)
Joan of Arc (Landmark)

{Those Landmark books were $1 each. Wow. }

And look what I got for FREE today:

Henry and the Clubhouse, Beverly Cleary
Beezus and Ramona, Beverly Cleary
Amelia Bedelia and the Baby, Peggy Parish
Little Town on the Prairie, Laura Ingalls Wilder
The First Four Years, Laura Ingalls Wilder
These Happy Golden Years, Laura Ingalls Wilder
Penrod Jashber, Booth Tarkington
Best Friends for Frances, Russell Hoban

I can't even handle it that these Little House books are basically getting tossed. Do kids not read these any more? I have a bad habit of rescuing them though I do try to restrain myself. I am saving them for my grandchildren.

And don't you love the Frances books?!  They crack me up.

Have any of you found anything awesome at book sales this summer?

Year 5 Planning

So, here are my Year 5 plans for 2016-17! So glad to be finished!!!! It's such a relief to know I have every day planned out and that I don't have to think any more about curriculum!

For Bible, as explained with my last Year 3 post, we are going to finish our Picture Smart Bible survey and then start reading through Bruce Ware's book. We'll also be reading from the OT & NT 4 days of the week. They will also have personal Bible reading/devotional time in the afternoons or evenings.

Math- Horizons Math, book 5

History- Ambleside Year 5

Geography- Ambleside Year 5

Shakespeare- We'll be reading Twelfth Night, As You Like It and Comedy of Errors.

Natural History (Science)- Like I mentioned in the previous post, I have given much consideration and thought to the science approach, and am going to veer away from AO (not completely) and follow what Nicole recommends over on her blog. I am actually using her brand new elementary science (Astronomy) for Term 1. For Term 2, we are going to study Engineering using this book (I think Kailyn will really like this one):

For Term 3, we will be studying Weather, using this great book by Eric Sloane:

 We will also be reading books on our specific special studies and trying to do consistent experiments/object lessons.

I am still keeping the Nature Lore book that AO has chosen (The Christian Nature Science Reader 5) and will have Kailyn still read through Great Inventors and their Inventions. She will also be reading Wild Animals I Have Known during her free reading time.

Bible Memory- Together we will be memorizing 1 John chapter 3, Psalm 8, The Nicene Creed and 1 Peter chapter 1.

Literature- Ambleside Year 5

Grammar- Simply Charlotte Mason's Spelling Wisdom and Using Language Well. We'll also be doing regular dictation exercises.

Poetry- Ambleside Year 5

Foreign Language- we used this book for Latin last year and still have quite a few lessons to work through.

 We'll also be learning Spanish together (both girls) during Circle Time. I found this book (Spanish in 10 minutes a day) for $1 at a book sale that I plan to start with and then supplement with other online resources.

 

I am also looking at Speekee-Spanish for kids. It's a rather inexpensive monthly subscription and looks to be decent.

Nature Journaling - we'll be continuing this but more like the suggestions of scientific observation from John Muir Laws book.

 

This is such a cool book. Highly recommend it if you want to get you or your kids started with nature journaling. I am now realizing what a proper nature journal should be and how closely tied to science it is. He offers free lesson plans on his website as well that I want to try and implement once a week or so.

Composer Study- We'll be studying George F. Handel, Amadeus Mozart and Frederic Chopin.

Artist Study- We'll be studying Leonardo da Vinci, John Constable and Edgar Degas.

Hymn Singing- I listed all our hymns for 2016-17 in the previous post. Basically one hymn a month.

Folksong- We'll be going back to our American Folk Song book and continuing to work our way through it. The girls get such a kick out of those old songs. Their personal favorite is "Greensleeves." :)

That wraps up Year 5 planning for 2016-17... we'll be starting soon!