Planning Year 6 (Form II)

And now we are getting to Louisa and all the wonderful books in store for her. When I look at the curriculum lists for my girls, I am kind of in awe of all the learning they get to do! What a privilege to learn with real, living books and ENJOY learning all the while!

So, here are the plans for Year 6 - this is all thanks to Ambleside Online, with a few tweaks here and there specific to Louisa.

Planning Year 8 (Form III)

It's that time of year where the planning is in earnest! How am I typing Year 8?! I really am amazed that we have made it this far... when we very first started homeschooling, my thought was to take it a year at a time and don't commit for the rest of our lives but now I don't see any other way for our family. It really is a blessing despite the challenge of five children and all the work it takes to make it happen smoothly.

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!

Year 3 Planning

I'm just about done with planning for the 2016-17 school year!!! Yay!!! My girls will be following Ambleside Online's Years 3 and 5 pretty closely. I am making a few minor (and some major) changes and am looking forward to sharing how it has all worked out. If you're not a homeschooling mom... feel free to tune out at this point... no offense will be taken :)

These are my plans for Year 3:

Bible- We are finishing up the Picture Smart Bible survey that we started last year. Then, after we finish, we will read through Big Truths for Young Hearts that we will all read together during our Circle Time every Friday.

Math- Horizons Math . We used it last year and liked it just fine. Lots of repetition.

History- Ambleside Year 3

Geography- Ambleside Year 3 (We chose the Komroff book for our main read and will use the Freedman book as a supplement/resource)

 

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

Natural History (Science)- I have been listening to A Delectable Education podcast over the summer and am going to be following their suggestions for the sciences. It has caused much weeping and headaches on my part but I think I am finally content and at peace with what I have decided. Anyways, instead of doing one Nature Lore and then a science book, I am having L read two Nature Lore books all year long. If you are really curious which books I picked out, email me... otherwise just go here to pick from Nicole's fabulous list.  :) We are also adding in Special Studies books (changing from term to term and to be read in free time).

Bible Memory- Memorizing Scripture was so good last year! For this next year, I have picked 1 John chapter 3, Psalm 8 and the Nicene Creed, and lastly, 1 Peter chapter 1.  I know the Nicene Creed isn't Bible but Psalm 8 is short and I wanted to fit a creed in. :)

Literature- Ambleside Year 3

Grammar- We'll be using Spelling Wisdom & Using Language Wisely from Simply Charlotte Mason.

 

Poetry- Ambleside Year 3

Foreign Language-  Spanish! Using as many free resources as I can find.

Nature Journal- We are implementing more dry brush drawing and a more scientific approach to Nature Journaling this year. To inspire us, we are going to buy these for each of us:

Winsor Newton Sketchers Pocket Box Set

Composer Study- I've picked different composers for my girls to study than the AO rotation. For what it's worth, we chose Handel, Mozart and Chopin. I mainly picked these because I want to cover the majors before moving to the lesser known composers. I also tried to pick a famous composer from each of their time periods but that also had good, living books for us to read.

Picture Study- I've also chosen different artists for us to study this year, based on our time periods but also I tried to pick artists from the portfolio choices that Simply Charlotte Mason has provided. I chose Leonardo da Vinci, John Constable and Edgar Degas (he was not one of the portfolio options but oh well).

Hymn Singing- I have a list of hymns (different than AO) that I want the girls to learn and put them on a schedule, so the next 8 hymns we'll learn are: A Mighty Fortress is our God, What a Friend We Have in Jesus, O God our Help in Ages Past, Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence, Great is Thy Faithfulness, Praise Him, Praise Him, O Sacred Head Now Wounded, and O For a Thousand Tongues to Sing.

Folksong- We have an American Folksong book that we are working our way through and we will just continue with that instead of the AO rotation.

Hope I'm not forgetting anything but I think that's it! Year 5 plans will be posted soon!