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 ROUTINE6:00 (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.
Thanks for posting Angel! I sure appreciate hearing how you do it all. Encouraging and helpful! Especially like seeing what your daily schedule is like. Good to know!
ReplyDeleteLoved reading this and seeing all your resources you used. As always, I learn so much from you!
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