Sunday, July 12, 2015

School work is all planned... The books are all order... School work starts in 5 weeks






Yeah I know, just 5 weeks. I'm wondering where the summer went, which is really saying something since our summer started in May. Oh and we do start our school work in August in case anyone is wondering.

I am doing things a bit different this year. I have written up the week to week plans a bit different. If you have been following this blog for a while, you may remember this...
And there was nothing wrong with this plan, but I just wanted to go more in depth, and also make time for homework (yes I know, it's all homework, because it's all from home), and study time. So now it's this...

with this schedule...


You may have noticed that every ones week plan is tailored to what they are able to complete, and that each subject (math, history, ....) is done on certain days of the week. We do it like that because it flows better that way (for us it does). My kids do a lot better when we start the week off with the subjects that we are going to need to study the most in, and take the most notes in. 

You may have also noticed that on the schedule I have over time work and a Saturday penalty. That's because there are two boys who live in this house that sometimes have a hard time keeping their mind on their work. I also have a boy who always gets done early no matter how much work I throw at him.

For anyone who is curious we do 36 weeks of school (if I tell myself 36 weeks, then it makes it really easy to schedule breaks for Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Easter), We usually start the 3rd week in August and finish the 3rd week in May (or that's the plan, it's not unusual for us to finish earlier).

I'm happy to announce that all of the homeschool books for this year are either here already or on their way, and should be arriving tomorrow.

The school books can get a little expensive, but I'm so happy that my 3 big money savers exist and really came through for me this year, Ebay, Amazon, and the legendary Curriculum Sale (where local HS moms sell the books they don't need anymore). 

After making up the list of books we needed this year (not counting the ones we already owned) it was going to be about $500 brand new from ABEKA (which is our choice curriculum). Well we only ended up spending half of that, when it was all said and done. :) This is something I really look forward to every year, the making of the list, hunting for the books at discount, and having them arrive. I'm not sure if other HS moms feel that way as well, but if I were to guess I would say that yeah they do.

Oh and I also have the reading / book report list for anyone who wanted to see...

Reading List 2015-2016 Homeschool Year

Darien
Walt Disney - Saving America’s Lost Generation
Animal Farm
The Princess Bride
The Time Machine
Bloody Jack
Earthrise: My Adventures as an Apollo 14 Astronaut
The Paper Magician
The Glass Magician

Zachary
Lily Renee, Escape Artist: From Holocaust Survivor to Comic Book Pioneer
Leonardo da Vinci: The Amazing Genius Inventor and Artist
Sherlock Holmes and the Adventure of the Six Napoleons
Abraham Lincoln For Kids
The Jungle Book
Mary Poppins
Half Magic
The 13th Warning

Nathaniel
Star Wars The Clone Wars: Operation Huttlet
A True Book: Volcanoes
Detective Dinosaur
Grasshopper on the Road
Star Wars The Clone Wars: Yoda in Action
Penguins
Scooby-Doo: The Haunted Hallowen Party
Super Twins Meet the Bad Dogs From Space


Darien is going to be an 8th grader this year, Zach is 6th, and Nathaniel is 3rd.
Olivia is going to be in Kindergarten, so yeah no reading / book report list for her, even though I'm sure we will be doing a lot of reading.

With my list I tried to do (well with the older two anyways) some non-fictions, and some classics. I also included things that I knew they would enjoy, and my husband helped with the list.

The book reports are just a part of all of the writing they are going to be doing this year. They will have one writing assignment every week, and it will either be a game review, where they pick a board game or video game and write a review on it (I will be posting all reviews on this new blog I made for them), an Essay like a personal narrative, fan fiction, or research report, and of course the books reports are thrown in there on certain weeks. This is my attempt to improve their handwriting, spelling and grammar. 

Lets hope it works :)

Oh and filing my Intent To Homeschool here in Utah was super easy. I had already found the paper work I needed to fill out for filing online (it was one page), and I got the address for the school district building. Before I left I pulled a folder with the kids' birth certificates, shot records, and prof of homeschooling for the previous years, and I didn't need to bring any of it. The school district building was the nicest one I have ever seen. Most of the time, they are in an old school building that are pasted their expiration date, and they smell funny. No not this one. It looked like an historic town building from the outside, and a fancy office building from the inside. Yeah WOW! Maybe the Mormon church is funding the school district or something. :)

So yes 5 weeks... Well here's to trying to enjoy the rest of the summer. Thanks for reading everyone.

2 comments:

  1. Exciting...I'm working on my lesson plans this week...

    ReplyDelete
  2. I don't know why, but I like doing that (working on lesson plans), even though it's a lot of work :)

    ReplyDelete