CURRICULUM AND SCHEDULE FOR MULTIPLE CHILDREN

Well it's that time again!!!! We, as parents are excited but also second guessing if we have crossed all our T's and dotted all our I's for this upcoming year. Looking at new curriculum can be overwhelming and also emotionally draining. However, the Good Lord gives us the endurance and the strength to get through and seek the best education for our children. But if you are like me and many, many other moms we are searching the internet and scrolling in and out of pages in magazines for that extra something. This month my focus is to help you with ideas and share a little about what we accomplish within our home. Juggling school schedules and subjects can make it tough to get through, and in most cases, covering a large amount of material with children of so many ages can be challanging. So many people ask "How do you find the time, with 10 and expecting 11?" So many things attribute to a school year running smoothly and scheduling is vital. Routine makes all the difference and of course, flexibility as well.

                                                First and foremost: Plan, Plan, Plan                   

• What is it you would like your children to focus on first thing?                         
• Can you group some of your children together?
• What is your objective for the morning, afternoon and end of day?
• Who needs the most time and who requires more independent time?

      * WHILE THESE THOUGHTS ARE FRESH IN YOUR MIND,

HERE IS OUR SCHEDULE*

                                                              MORNING ROUTINE

                                                               6:00 (Mom)
                                                               7:00 Older kids wake
                                                               7-7:30 Older kids beds and dressed
                                                               7:30 Older kids Breakfast
                                                               8:00 Chores older kids
                                                               8:00 younger kids wake
                                                               9:00 All chores done
                                                               9-9:30    Bible

                                                              AFTERNOON ROUTINE
                                                           
                                                              10-12:00 Little kids w/ Mom
                                                              Older kids independant study time- core subjects
                                                              LUNCH 12-1:00 / clean up
                                                              Laundry after lunch/ Naps / Prayer
                                                              Independent reading / Mom reads aloud
                                                             *Mom works with older kids*
                                                              Latin
                                                              History
                                                              Science
                                                              2:30 English
                                                              3:00 keyboarding

Everyone needs to be done with any work that requires moms time by 3pm. This allows me to be available to my husband after a long day at work and to start preparing dinner. If any of the kids have anything they didn't finish, they are expected to start back on their schoolwork around 7pm after several hours of free time and doing their evening chores.

                                                             * CURRICULUM*

Over the years we have used several things and tested the waters. Most have prevailed and while others crashed and burned. But homeschooling is all about trial and error. As no child ever learns the same as the next. We find it best to use our laser printer to copy almost all of our books, worksheets, etc. That also saves on cost when we buy the compatible ink cartridges from Data Bazaar. Also, we try to look for books that are a one time purchase like Spelling Power, or  Mystery of History. Of course, Ebay is great and also Amazon and most times Rainbow Resource which are all really popular sites. We basically use the same every year at this point, but i'll give you an overview of what has worked for us.

Math - Both Saxon (Teachers Cds) and Math U See  ( Sometimes we overlap the 2, to fill in any gaps in our day, just for extra busy work)

 Science - Upper grades Apologia, Abeka, Simple schooling PDF printable files ( This year its Equine Science)Christian Kids Explore, John Tiner Exploring Planet Earth and The World of Biology, Wonders of Creation Series, Biology 101 DVD'S According to the Days of Creation from Vision Forum, I Wonder Why books, Eyewitness books.

Spelling - Spelling Power and Spelling City online, All about Spelling
Even with Spelling Power we take a different approach- Mondays Type Words, Tuesdays Print Words, Wednesdays Cursive or ABC order or Use word in Sent., Thursday Pretest, Friday Test Spelling City

Phonics- The Ordinary Parents Guide to Reading, Alpha Phonics, Explode the code, Bob Books, McGuffey Readers

Handwriting - A Reason for Handwriting

Personal Finances - Money Matters for Kids, Money Matters for Teens
Your Checking Account, Lessons in Personal Banking

Language Arts - Shurley English, Easy Grammar, Jensen's Punctuation, Jensen's Format Writing, Learning language Arts through Literature, Analogies 1 by Arthur Liebman,

History - History For Little Pilgrims, Abeka, Mystery Of History, Story of the World, Bob Jones Geography,  A
History of Us Series, Jean Fritz books, World History Made Simple, Early American History The Teaching Company VHS, Diana Warring, Expedition Earth, a Journey through God's World

Economics- Money, Possessions and Eternity, Whatever Happened to the Penny Candy

Government- God and Government

Foreign Language - Foreign Lang. Learnables, Latin Prima and Christina from Memoria Press, ASL ( American Sign Language)

Bible - Roper Press, Little Hands to Heaven, Veritas Press, Studying God's Word and Leading Little Hands to God, The Teenage Years of Jesus Christ, Instructions In Rightousness, Proverbs for Parenting, How the Bible Came to Us. Bible Time for Kids from Calvary Chapel Curr @ http://children.cccm.com/curriculum/

Keyboarding- Mavis Beacon

* NEW THINGS WE ARE TRYING *

                                                 

This year not only did we start this blog in hopes that we would inspire but also are testing the waters with new curr. like TruthQuest for our bible time. We also have been so blessed to be a part of a coop once again on Tuesday's from 10-12. Here are some of the classes they are taking. Crafts, Beginner's Science, Footsteps of Marco polo, Entomology, Speech and Communication 101, Chemistry and Biology. I will be teaching a Sign Language class and one of my daughters will be assisting in a Crafts and Sewing class for Middle and High School Kids.  This year our older son is taking English Comp. at Trine University as a Middle College Course for his Jr. Senior Year. As always when you are a willing and able vessel the Lord will bless and use you. It's good for us to step outside of our comfort zone and learn to rely on Him, to trust that he will fill in the gaps in our school, in our parenting, and even in our time. I hope that some, if not all, the info i have shared blesses you. Always feel free to contact me or leave comments.