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!

Summer break & George Washington

We have been enjoying our summer break but Louisa asked me this morning if we can start school again at the beginning of August! I was pretty surprised but she said she misses it and likes it. But, we aren't ready (I'm not ready!) to start yet. We have about four weeks left till we officially begin.

I thought I would post some pictures from a day trip we took to visit George Washington's headquarters (when we were in NJ). He wintered in Morristown, NJ over the winter of 1779. They have preserved the "mansion" he lived in (along with all his commanders and staff) and it really is beautiful.

Louisa was given the privilege of unlocking the front door so we could all enter. She had a massive key.

This was George & Martha's room

We took a peek in all the rooms and tried to imagine 40 or so people living in this little mansion. 

It was fun for Kailyn and I to tour the mansion and learn more because we had read about it during our Year 4 history readings but things like this always help history come alive.

Some things to know if you decide to visit:

• There is a great documentary video that you can watch while you are waiting for your tour to start.


• It's a National Park, so if you have a fourth grader, you can get in free!


• Parking is free.


• Tempe Wick's farmhouse is within a close driving distance and provides more living history!

Almost done!

I can't believe it's here but next week is our last week of school! It's gone by so fast! We just have four days left but they both want to continue over the summer with some sort of school. I told them we could do some light work but I think we need to enjoy the summer together! We can always do nature journaling, too. Perhaps math could be continued over the summer and possibly Latin, but we shall see.

As I've thought about our first year of homeschooling, I have realized a few things:

1. Our family is stronger. The girls have a greater appreciation for each other, because when you take away the extras (even though they are good things, like friends, and extra-curricular activities), they are more grateful for one another. Not that they don't participate in extra-curricular things (they do!) and don't have friends but I think sometimes it can be easy to focus on those things when going to school every day.


2. I daresay, my kids are smarter and have learned more! I am pretty impressed with Ambleside Online's curriculum... their website isn't anything to write home about and it probably turns some people off but if you look past that and read up on what the AO advisory team has done, then you will see the benefit of such a rigorous curriculum. The books they have chosen have been a challenge for my kids and I am so grateful since they weren't being challenged to their full capacity at their old school. Their world has been opened through reading good, quality literature and living books.


3. I am a sinful creature. My sin has never been more obvious to me than it has every day this past year of homeschooling. My weaknesses and faults are magnified when I am trying to teach and train my children. It has been very humbling and eye-opening and has taught me to cry out to the Lord on a continual basis for forgiveness and wisdom. This is one benefit I did not see coming but it has been good for me even though it is extremely hard. I didn't realize how much I would benefit from homeschooling. I was simply looking at it as a great thing for my kids but I can see how God has refined and will continue to refine me through it. Not fun, but good.