Monday, September 29, 2008

Week 5: Sept 29- October 3

Religion & Bible

Reading

Writing
Psalm chapter 1. Write a verse daily and illustrate what it means to you.

MaTh
sums of 100
adding 3 number sums (example: 10+5+5)
number patterns



Science
Earth's Structure
-faults
-earthquakes
-focus
-prediction
-volcanoes
*dead or alive?
*formation
*supervolcanoes

Experiment: making a volcano


Language/Spelling/Grammar

History & Geography
Anglo-Saxon England c.500-1100
extra reading: King Arthur

Art & Music Appreciation
choir

Physical Education

Monday, September 22, 2008

Week 4: Sept 22-26

Religion & Bible

Reading

Writing
daily copy work from favorite book passages

MaTh
Review: adding double digit sums
adding double digit doubles

Science
Earth's Structure
-layers of the earth
-plates
-new features
-types of rock

Language/Spelling/Grammar

History & Geography
Vikings 750-1100
 - at home: farm life, homes, crafts, feasts, death and burial
 - abroad: raiding, exploring and trading and settling
 
Art & Music Appreciation
choir - Handel's Messiah for young voices. Concert will be Dec 14.
*side  note: this is a community choir in our area. I highly recommend- if at all possible- to get your homeschooler involved in a group choir. Last year one of my friends offered choir to our homeschool group and we were not able to join at that time. Fortunately, a local church opened their children's choir to the community this year. The children learn to sing parts with a group. Of course if your church has a children's choir, all the better!

Physical Education

Monday, September 15, 2008

Week 3: Sept 15-19

Religion & Bible

Reading

Writing
daily copy work from favorite book passages

MaTh
Review: 
adding doubles
memorize doubles
story problems

Science
Life on earth
-looking at the past
-developing life
-the age of reptiles
-the age of mammals
-modern extinction


Language/Spelling/Grammar

History & Geography
The Rise of Islam c.600-750
The Arab World c.750-1260


Art & Music Appreciation

Physical Education

Monday, September 8, 2008

Week 2: Sept 8-12

Religion & Bible

Reading

Writing
daily copy work from favorite book passages

MaTh
Review:
Using graphs
number line
story problems

Science
Life on earth
-looking at the past
-developing life
-the age of reptiles
-the age of mammals
-modern extinction

Language/Spelling/Grammar

History & Geography
The Barbarian Kingdoms c.500-800
Return to Christianity

Art & Music Appreciation

Physical Education

Friday, September 5, 2008

First Term, Week 1: September 3 - 5

Religion & Bible 
weekly Scripture memorization
family devotions and discussion daily
religion as it comes up in History

Reading
reading aloud 20 minutes, daily

Writing
daily copy work from favorite book passages

MaTh
Review: Odds and evens
Recognizing patterns and concluding the next pattern
Story problems

Science: Earth Science
The Early Earth
- Truth of the creation of the earth: Genesis 1 and 2
- theory of the birth of the earth (evolution)
*early life
*ancient history
*changing climate
-the shape of the land
-studying the past

Language/Spelling/Grammar

History & Geography: Medieval World
The Byzantine Empire - Europe c. 500-1450

Art & Music Appreciation

Physical Education

Thursday, September 4, 2008

A weekly schedule

Our week looks something like this. I don't have specific times because our schedule is flexible, but we get most done in the morning. The kids are up between 7:30 and 8 and do their devotions and chores in the morning before breakfast. Lessons usually begin by 9.

Monday:
 
Bible 
- begin memory verse for the week
Math
Spelling
Grammar
History/Geography
Piano practice
Reading

Tuesday: 
Bible
Math
Writing
Handwriting
Grammar
Science
Piano practice
Reading

Wednesday: 
Bible
Math
Spelling
Grammar
History/Geography
Piano lesson
Reading

Thursday:  
Bible
Math
Writing
Handwriting
Grammar
Science Experiment
Piano practice
Choir (winter term)
Reading
Music

Friday:  
Bible
Math
Spelling
Grammar
History/Geography
Piano practice
Library
Reading
Art

Wednesday, September 3, 2008

Grammar School: Second grade lesson plan

Language
- spelling workout 10-15 minutes daily
- begin cursive penmanship
- 30 minutes daily reading or making notebook page
- first language lessons 20 minutes daily
- 10 minutes daily on memory work
- 30 to 60 minutes daily for fun reading

Writing
- simple letters to relatives and friends twice a week
- write from dictation 3 days a week 10-20 minutes

Mathematics
-math lesson (learning a concept or doing a drill) 30-40 minutes daily

History
- study medieval-early Renaissance times (400-1600). 60 minutes 3 days a week.
- read biographies and easy history books to the child; ask child to tell you what you've just read
- make notebook pages together for the history notebook
- great men and women to cover:
Saint Augustine
Attila the Hun
King Arthur
Mohammed
Charlemagne
Alfred the Great
Leif Ericsson
Edward the Confessor
Genghis Khan
Dante Alighieri
Geoffrey Chaucer
Jan van Eyck
Johannes Gutenberg
Christopher Columbus
Leonardo da Vinci
Amerigo Vespucci
Nicolaus Copernicus
Michelangelo
Ferdinand Magellan
Martin Luther
Raphael
Nostradamus
John Calvin
Hernando Cortes
Tycho Brahe
Walter Raleigh
William Shakespeare
Galileo Galilei

Science
-study basic earth science and astronomy. 60 minutes 2 days a week.

Religion
- learn about world religions through the study of history.
- learn the basics of the family's faith for 10 to 15 minutes a day as part of family time.

Art
- 1 hour per week doing picture study, reading art books, or an art project

Music
- at least 1 hour per week listening to classical music
- continue piano lessons, practicing 20-30 minutes daily

These guidelines are taken from The Well Trained Mind

Tuesday, September 2, 2008

A Starting Schedule

After some reflection and prayer, we have decided change the education schedule of the little gray schoolhouse and move to trimesters or terms which is to say, go year round with homeschooling.
This is a major step for me - I have completely left the institutional education box. I had already planned and laid out half the year when I really felt the tuggings at my heart. Two weeks before we were to resume fall lessons, the decision was made and the old schedule scrapped. 

I am still balancing a Charlotte Mason method with a more structured classical education. Our mornings will be structured and our afternoons and evenings will be free.
One option is:
Sept, Oct, Nov - first term
December off
Jan, Feb, March - second term
April off
May, June, July - third term 

Another option is: 
School   September through mid -October
Break     one week off
School    Late October until Thanksgiving 
Break      week off
School    Early December
Break      three weeks off for Christmas and New Year's
School    Mid-January until late February or early March
Break      Two weeks off
School    Late April, May, on through summer
Breaks   Anytime during the summer, whenever vacationing, visiting or entertaining, etc.

Monday, September 1, 2008

Sources


Religion & Bible:
The Holy Bible, New Living Translation

Reading, Writing, Language/Spelling/Grammar : McGuffey 
The McGuffey curriculum is a complete, integrated language arts curriculum. It is designed to teach vocabulary, reading comprehension, spelling, penmanship, and grammar.
Primer
Progressive Speller 
Phonics Made Plain 
Reading Workbook Series 2: teaches and drills phonics along with reading comprehension, accenting, word studies, main topics, cause and effect, summary and conclusion, comparison and contrast, truth and pretense, and much more.
Writing Workbook Series 2: concentrates on more advanced handwriting and grammar. Children learn to write sentences with full punctuation along with greater depth in sentence types, sentence structure, parts of speech, double negatives, contractions, subject/verb agreement, cursive writing and much more.

MaTh: Saxxon

Science: Usborne Science Encylopdeia

World History & Geography: Story of the World, Usborne Encyclopedias of World History & World Geography
U.S. History: I haven't decided yet.

Art & Music Appreciation: Usborne Book of Art and Usborne First Book of Art. 

Poetry: various books of poetry