Second Quarter Overview

2nd Quarter December 1-February 6
One week break for Christmas- Dec. 22-26

BIBLE
In Bible, we'll be studying Genesis using Explorer's Bible Study, Discovery level, Genesis book.

Second quarter will focus on Lessons 10-18; Genesis 12 through Genesis 24

Answering the questions orally has been working well so we will continue in this fashion. It makes using Explorer's Bible Study more like a discussion which we both enjoy.

MATH
In Math, we're trying Math on the Level as our new math program. We are still using Times Tales which we started at the end of the first quarter for multiplication and division facts.

LATIN
We are continuing our Latin studies with Prima Latina happily.

LANGUAGE ARTS & WRITING

We started Primary Language Lessons by Emma Serl, Updated by Margot Davidson during the last portion of our 2nd grade year. We will continue to work through the book this year with great pleasure. Hillside Education has released an Answer Key and Teacher guide free of charge as a .pdf file.

We will finish with Primary Language Lessons in about 30 lessons, then we will start Writing Tales 1 by Amy Olsen. We are still using Writing Aids by Tapestry of Grace just not as our main program.

PHONICS

We are continuing on with the Explode the Code series, we will finish Book 7 and start Book 8 this quarter (see further below). After we finish Explode the Code, Camille will start Simply Spelling by Laurie Hicks.

I use the Teacher's Guide for Explode the Code because Camille gets much more instruction than just using ETC as a workbook.

I'm considering trying ABeCeDarian Student Workbook B-Short Version for Camille, her reading fluency has grown tremendously but she still stumbles a bit. During our break between 1st and 2nd Quarter we are both reading Swiss Family Robinson, she's reading the Classic Starts version and I'm reading the unabridged version. I think we're finally at a turning point in her reading skills.

POETRY MEMORIZATION

We are continuing our poetry memorization with The Harp and Laurel Wreath by Laura Berquist. This quarter we will be memorizing Animal Crackers, Christmas Carol, Furry Bear, The Wind, and Stopping by the Woods on a Snowy Evening and adding to Camille's growing poetry notebook.

This year we are learning about simile, metaphor, onomatopoeia, and alliteration through our poems and Writing Aids.

HISTORY, GEOGRAPHY, WORLDVIEW
We are cheerfully continuing our history studies with Tapestry of Grace, this year we'll be using Year 3 Redesign. We will also be using Tapestry's Writing Aids, MapAids and Evaluations.

For the second quarter we will be studying the great movement West, Australia and various American presidents.

We will creating a display board for Australia, including ABC book of Australian animals, continuing our President card bank, and learning all about the West. We will be doing activities from Hands-On History: Pioneers and Interactive 3D Maps: American History. When we study Mexico, I'll get a piñata for the kids to demolish for sweets.

SCIENCE & NATURE STUDY
We are studying germs and microbes, which is where Head to Toe Science by Jim Wiese ended with. We will use Magic School Bus World of Germs kit with other books before reading Exploring the History of Medicine by John Hudson Tiner. For more details.

In our nature studies, we're working on completing the Georgia Junior Park Ranger program and filling in My Nature Journal by Adrienne Olmstead.

INFORMAL LOGIC
Once a week, Camille will continue working in Building Critical Thinking Skills Level 1.

COMPOSER STUDIES & PIANO LESSONS
This quarter we are reading about Johann Sebastian Bach. Camille is continuing her private piano lessons and has a recital on December 5th.

ART INSTRUCTION- DRAWING

Drawing With Children has been replaced with Draw Squad which we love. I loved Drawing With Children in theory but there was a gap between the theory and actually doing it. We are both enjoying Draw Squad.

My Method: Planning a TOG Unit

We're currently on a two week break from our lessons, and I'm planning out the 2nd quarter of our year. Yesterday I planned 9 weeks of TOG in about 45 minutes and a friend who struggles with organization said she wants to be able to do this too. So, I'm posting every step I take in preparing a TOG unit (minus the TOG curricula details). A disclaimer- I am only doing this for 1 child, if multiple children, a spreadsheet could be made for each child if this process is appealing.

1. Pick the level of study: LG, UG, D, R. Choose your books based on what you feel your child will do best with.
Right now I'm blending LG and UG to help transition Camille to UG by the end of the year. I cannot give details (titles) but overall I'm picking UG literature and geography and using LG selections for everything else. She's also in Level 2 of Writing Aids.

2. It helps to have in mind how your week will flow.
I know when I'm picking items to include in our week, I factor in how much time it will take to accomplish it. If it seems too much, I won't include it on the spreadsheet. I still filter things out as we do them but being able to filter some just for the spreadsheet helps.

3. Read the Introductory notes for the Unit.
This will provide an overview of the unit's objectives and help set a frame of mind as you're making your choices.

4. Create your spreadsheet.
This can be done Excel or any other program you have to make tables or spreadsheets. I use Appleworks b/c I'm on a Mac, although this is an old program. Microsoft Works should have something similar. Here is a sample spreadsheet with all the details taken out.
I love having a spreadsheet, it becomes my 'cheat' sheet and the only time I have to open our Tapestry unit is to read the Teacher's Notes.

5. Print out Student Activity Pages, MapAids (if you use it), Evaluations (if you use it)
I go to the Loom and print out the Student Activity Pages for each week as well as any maps from MapAids we'll need and Evaluations that I want to use. I also print out the page for Fine Arts & Activities most of the time and highlight with a highlight marker activities I think we'll do that are suggested.

Usually the Geography activities are listed under Fine Art so I'll also highlight those. I put these in Camille's notebook with her Student Activity page and map from MapAids. To save paper, I print the activities on 1 side of a piece of paper and the SAP on the other side.

I also photocopy anything we'll need from Activity Books or Dover coloring books we're using- paper crafts or any prep work I can do ahead of time. If I choose to go ahead and cut items I put them in a page protector within her notebook to keep them safe. I don't tend to do this although it does save time when I do!

6. Collect your books and materials on one shelf
This is a time-saver for me, I have one place to go for our materials.

Now TOG is a do-the-next-thing subject for us, with just a little bit of planning.

Both Camille and I can look at the spreadsheet to see what needs to be done in a week's time. I do not schedule out daily assignments but we still get everything done in a week. At times we drop activities or books to read. Here's look into what we currently do weekly:

MONDAY
Start reading the Core Book
Start reading the In-Depth book (if there is one)
Reading the Read-Aloud selection at bedtime

TUESDAY
Finish the In-Depth book
Dd8 starts reading the Literature book (if she didn't start on Monday due to length)
Start working on Map Work /Writing Aids or other Project (if any)
Reading the Read-Aloud selection at bedtime

WEDNESDAY
Finish Core book if haven't
Keep reading Literature book
Work on Map work/Project
Reading the Read-Aloud selection at bedtime

THURSDAY
Finish Literature reading, work on SAP
Finish any other reading for the week- I usually divide it up by days (dividing # of pages by # of days)
Work on (finish) map work/project
Reading the Read-Aloud selection at bedtime

FRIDAY
Finish up day for anything lingering
Reading the Read-Aloud selection at bedtime (most of these last more than 1 week)

2nd Quarter Life Science

From December 1-19th, we're studying GERMS

Then Exploring The History of Medicine by John Tiner. Dec. 29th-Feb. 6th

Click on picture to view larger.
We will use History of Medicine, Eyewitness Medicine and Famous Experiments. I aligned Kingfisher Science Encyclopedia and How the Body Works because I wasn't sure which I'd use but clearly Eyewitness Medicine is perfect for Exploring the History of Medicine.

Simplicity works, who knew?

In front of me, other than my computer screen is the bulletin board that has our human body lessons planned out, our year at a glance and our first quarter spreadsheet as well as our daily routine that I refer to. I love my spreadsheets that I can glance at and know what to do next without having to drag out a notebook or the actual books and do on the spot planning.

I reworked Camille's Nobility Record to have check boxes and listed out what she needed to do in a day, including chores and areas that needed focused on with her behavior/character. I've been revamping that 1 form every week for the last 4 weeks. I'm done.

Today, I put notebook paper in the front of her first quarter notebook and wrote: Monday, November 10 at the top. Then I wrote, Independent Work and listed out what she could do on her own. Under that I wrote out Together Work, Chores and Errands.

With just a pen and paper, I can write out as many details I want or just do the broad strokes. I can list the things that we need to do after lessons such as errands so that she understands that we have other stuff to do. It also provides me clarity. Who knew it could be so simple? (Rhetorical!) We crossed out what she/we did as the tasks were accomplished and each day I will write down what needs to be done the next day. No fancy form to print out, no spreadsheet finagling.

Oh, Times Tales was great today- Camille went through Part 1 and memorized all the little stories and best of all- had fun. She can't wait to do it again tomorrow. Also Danny is drawing faces! Not only that, he is speaking in longer and more complicated sentences, truly communicating. I wish I knew if it was maturity or the effect of preschool (or a combination) but I won't linger on that too long, I'm just happy to see him progressing!

A fabulous friend (everyone should have a friend like this) sent me her copy of Math-U-See's Beta TM, DVD and Student Text, Camille and I will work on a few lessons. The ones from Beta I want to try with her are:
Lesson 12- Adding Money; Mental Math
Lesson 13- Column Addition
Lesson 14- Measurement, 12 Inches = 1 Foot
Lesson 15- Perimeter; Fact Review

We're going to start tomorrow and then do Times Tales afterwards, I want to see how we like Math-U-See. It presents concepts in a different way than Camille has been taught, which I think will be good for her and me.

Our Curricula Overview

If you wish to see it full size, click the picture.

Our mapped out curricula/subjects, some things are to be decided.
The curriculum does not dictate our homeschool, these are the tools we're using to accomplish our goals.
Which means just because we use the curriculum, it doesn't mean we're using it exactly the way the curricula creators intended. For example, we tailor Tapestry of Grace for us. Yes, I'm a tweaker.

About the curricula:

Our K-8 Science, see post here

Horizons Preschool: A complete preschool program that incorporates Bible, Math, Phonics, Handwriting, Social Studies, Science, Language Arts, arts and crafts, music, story times, field trips, and other exciting learning activities.
This complete curriculum contains 180 lessons within two Student Books, two Teacher's Guides, a Sing Along Music CD, and a Resource Packet, which contains basic flashcards and other manipulatives. See my post about Horizons Preschool
We've used this informally since Danny is attending a Montessori preschool.

The Harp and Laurel Wreath by Laura Berquist
Poetry and Dictation for the Classical Curriculum
This book contains poetry by Robert Louis Stevenson, Henry Wadsworth, Longfellow, Robert Browning, William Shakespeare, G.K. Chesterton, William Butler Yeats, Robert Frost and many others. The poems are divided by stages, Early Years, Grammar Stage, Logic Stage and Rhetoric Stage. Dictation exercises for Grammar through Rhetoric are included as well as addition memorization selections. In the Rhetoric stage poetry discussion questions are included with each poem (answers provided). This is an amazing resource for K-12 in regards to poetry.

Leading Little Ones to God by Marian Schooland
This classic devotional book covers all the bases for establishing a strong Christian foundation for your young ones. Leading Little Ones to God uses simple, conversational language to discuss such matters as the nature of God, sin, salvation, the Christian life, the church, prayer and the Second Coming. This book contains eighty-six sections, each followed by discussion questions, a suggested reading, a hymn, and a prayer. We read the hymn as a poem but Sonlight aligns Sing the Word- A New Commandment CD, I think reading the hymn is enough.

We will follow this up by using Kenneth Taylor's books: The Right Choices; Big Thoughts for Little People.


Galloping the Globe by Loree' Pettit and Dari Mullins, Geography Matters
Word searches, mazes, maps and more…clues, puzzles, and animals galore! What an enchanting way to learn geography – a unit study/discovery learning resource entitled Galloping The Globe. This geography based curriculum is geared towards the K – 4th grade children. It can be used from 1 – 3 years and covers all 7 continents. Incorporating the student notebook approach, Galloping The Globe integrates 8 categories of learning activities: Basic Geography, People/History, Literature, Science, Activities, Internet Sources, and Bible. See more at Geography Matters.

Themes to Remember by Marjorie Persons
I have already posted about this, please read it here.

Sing, Spell, Read & Write
To come when we have the curriculum, possible 2009-2010 school year.

French Songs & Games
Our favorites are Lingua Fun French, Twin Sisters French, French for Children, Hop, Skip & Learn French, Bonjour Les Amis DVDs, and classic children's games using french words like Memory, Candyland and Chutes and Ladders.

Picture Study
This consists of using various children's art books that have the child look at a painting and either do a find/seek for items within the painting or offers questions that make a child look closer at a piece of work. We also have the game Art Memo (from RainbowResource.com) which is the game Memory but with art.

Fables, Fairy Tales and Folklore
Danny's kindergarten year will be filled with stories and we'll read through a few titles throughout the year and possibly into first grade:

1. The Complete Fairy Tales of Charles Perrault
2. Favorite Fairy Tales Told Around the World
3. The Stories of Hans Christian Andersen: A New Translation from the Danish

and other books we have on folklore, American and otherwise.

Dinosaurs
In kindergarten, we'll learn about dinosaurs as Danny's interest takes us. We already have a lot of books, games and activities about dinosaurs that we'll use from a summer study Camille and I did.

Explorer's Bible Study
This is a non-denominational, yet thorough Bible study product, I've written about it here in more detail.

Language Lessons for the Very Young by Sandi Queen
This delightful introduction to the language arts is the answer to what our Charlotte Mason style customers have been asking for! Introduces a student who has mastered the art of learning to read to the skills of picture study, narration, copywork, poetry, grammar, capitalization, punctuation, and more - all with a gentle, twaddle free approach. Full-color fine art throughout makes this consumable book for ages 5-9 a delight for the eyes as well as the ears. A varied approach gives the student something different each day, alleviating the boredom that often comes with those repetitive, dry grammar books you'll find elsewhere. Perfect-bound paperback workbook offers 180 daily lessons - one for each day of the schoolyear. See it at Queen Homeschool Supplies *We are not using this as consumable and I am changing some of the exercises to better suit us. The only reason I'm using this is because it is the only product on the market like this for first grade that I know of that fits what I want for my kids.

more curricula information to come...

Our 4th Grade Science

After much deliberation and prayer, as well as bugging other homeschoolers, we have finally devised a plan for 4th grade science that we are excited about.

Fourth Grade: This year we will explore topics as they interest us as we read The Storybook of Science by Jean Henri Fabre. Topics range from ants to metals.

Milestones in Science by Thames & Kosmos will provide more information and experiments covering the accomplishments of over 140 scientists and civilizations. Great Inventors and Their Inventions by Frank Bachman will supplement.

Nature walks & studies will continue. The little details such as how we will keep a science notebook, whether we will profile the scientists we meet and learn about is still up in the air.

Animals in 5th Grade

I've been thinking about what we'll be using next year in 4th grade for science lately and I've been tremendously blessed as all the options that I'm considering are in someway or another on their way to me. A generous fellow homeschooler has allowed me to preview her copy of The Elements: Ingredients of the Universe by Ellen McHenry, I purchased a used copy of God's Design for Chemistry: Properties of Atoms and Molecules for less than half the retail price and I have a few books coming from the library via interlibrary loan so I can have all the options side by side and make a decision about our 4th grade studies.

A friend recently asked me about studying biomes, which is what we'll be doing in 5th grade and as I was providing her links and resources it dawned on me that I didn't know what we were going to do! Before I put that thought off thinking it's too soon to develop a plan for 5th-8th studies, I realized that what we do in 5th and up will determine how I need to approach our studies in 4th and even now in 3rd. I don't want 5th grade to be *BAM*, now you're in 5th grade you need to start doing this and that. I want 4th grade to be the bridge between what we're doing now and what we will be doing. A perfect example is science vocabulary, if I expect Camille to write out 5-10 words and their definitions a week in 5th, I want to start her out with 2-3 words a week now in 3rd or 4th.

I looked at all the major curricula available on the homeschool market. I gave everything a chance and I could not find something that covered animals in a way that would be challenging to us that would hold our interest for an entire year and still allow us to read living books or provide enough hands-on, learning through doing type of approach. I decided that I'd make our own and build all the major different habitats in whatever ways we could. I found the book Habitats by Pamela Hickman at www.christianbook.com for $2.99 and decided that would be our real life application. The only thing left to do was to find a spine to use for the nonfiction information. I also decided that I needed to find a new spine for Danny since when Camille is in 5th, he'll be in 1st and we'll being doing our science together.

Sitting on my shelf from a sale purchase I made last year was Animals Alive! An Ecological Guide to Animal Activities by Dennis Holley. Dennis Holley is a biology teacher for grades 4-12 and has won two prestigious awards for his alternative curriculum used in Animals Alive! On the back of the book the story of a court case where a judge ruled that a girl would not be obligated to dissect a frog is presented with the challenge of whether or not the same lessons can be taught without killing animals.

The author warns that this book was not written to be fully integrated with any other subject area or any specific grade level.

Each chapter of the book addresses a major phylum of animal and presents information about :
-phylum's classification
-diversity and distribution (anatomical characteristics and habitats)
-collection of specimens
-maintenance of specimens
-health and safety issues concerning the specimens

-Teaching Strategies which include:

Observation: Observe and investigate the structure, movement, feeding, behavior/response and reproduction/growth of the specimen
a. Under behavior and response, students will explore geotaxis, thermotaxis, galvanotaxis, phototaxis, magnetotaxis, hydrotaxis, thigmotaxis, chemotaxis, rheotaxis

Ecology: investigating the habitat and surroundings of the animal and discover its place in nature.

Integration: Activities to integrate what the student has learned with writing, fine arts, social studies (history and geography), and societal/environmental issues. Math skills are also used when possible including constructing and analyzing data tables and graphes, measuring, calculating, and problem solving.

Chapter questions, activities and challenges are designed to be used in hands-on experiences in which students are actively involved in scientific investigation. When possible, they follow an inquiry-oriented approach designed to develop the following science process skills:

1.Observing
2. Measuring/Graphing: learn to make, record, and display quantitative information
3. Comparing/Contrasting: will learn to identify distinguishing characteristics among objects or events.
4. Sequencing: will learn to put events in order
5. Prediction: will learn how to propose possible outcomes
6. Experimentation: will learn how to design experiments to test their predictions
7. Analyzing/Reasoning: will learn how to explain the meaning and importance of data gathered or facts given.
8. Drawing Conclusions: will learn to make general statements about particulars.
9. Modeling: will learn to construct physical or mental models.
10. Communication: will develop skills for conveying information in oral, written, or pictorial form.

Holley says that "although some factual background is necessary, try to maximize thinking and minimize memorizing. Let process lead to content when possible. For example, allowing students to first work with live animal (process) and then discussing specific facts about the animal (content) will make the facts more understandable and relevant because students will have seen the animal live, up close, and in action."

A sample chapter, condensed.

Section One: Lower Invertebrates
2. Sponges

I. Classification is presented as Kingdom, Subkingdom, Phylum, and Classes
II. Diversity and distribution
III. General Phylum Characteristics
IV. Specific Class Characteristics

a. Class Calcarea
b. Class Sclerospongiae
c. Class Demonspongiae
d. Class Hexactinellia

V. Importance of Sponges
VI. Collection of Species
VII. Maintenance of Species
VIII. Health and Safety (Teachers, Students, Sponges)
IX. Teaching Activities
X. Habitat

a. Sponge Habitat
b. Sponge Habitat Comparisons
c. Land Sponges
d. Different Forms for Different Folks
e. Walk a Mile in My Shoes: Have students try to put themselves in the sponge's place by having them react orally or in written form to the following questions:
__1. Would you rather be a marine sponge or a freshwater sponge? Why? (Acceptable answer given.)
__2. Would you rather be a sponge with long spicules or one with short spicules? (Acceptable answer given.)
f. Muddy Water=No Sponges
g. Sponge Structure
h. Sponge Size Comparisons
i. Sponge- One or Many?
j. Green Sponges?
k. Sponge Regeneration
l. Sponges Come Together

XI. Feeding

a. Sponge Food
b. How Do Sponges Get Food?
c. Fabulous Filter
d. Is It Food Yet?
e. Attack of the Hungry Encrusters

XII. Reproduction and Development

a. Sponge Reproduction
b. Smoking Sponges
c. Gemmules- Why and Why Not
d. Observe Gemmules

XIII. Integration with other Subject Areas

a. Writing: report in which they explain which sample was the natural sponge and which was synthetic.
b. Fine Arts: Have students paint a picture of a sponge using a natural sponge, or, write a song or poem entitled "I'm Just a Lowly Sponge."
c. Social Studies:
__1. History: Why did it take so long to discover that sponges are animals? (Possible answers provided)
__2. Geography: Where are sponges harvested today? In the past?
d. Societal/Environmental Issues:
__1. Have students respond either orally or in written form to the question, How can studying reaggregation behavior of dissociated sponge cells be useful to humans? (Answer provided.)
__2. Why can sponges be thought of as biological apartment houses (or shopping malls)?

IXX. Release of Specimen.

We're not planning on maintaining a sponge specimen at home but this can be overcome by providing videos and I will be tapping into a few of our local resources like the University's aquarium for help. If we can collect a specimen, it will probably be successful due to the help of professionals. Hopefully I will gain a few professional advisors when I complete a Master Naturalist course next Spring through a local college.

Other likely specimens we will be exploring at home are: Planaria (after discussing it with Carolina Biological Supply), Earthworms, Land or Aquatic Snails, Spiders, Crayfish, Sowbugs or Pillbugs, Ants, Butterfly or Moth, Crickets, Mealworm Beetles, Goldfish or Guppies, Toad or Frog, Green Anole, Tortoise (already have one), Zebra Finches (not recommended in book but we already have them), Rodent (hamster, mice, gerbils). Um, the rodent one is the only one that will have to be carefully considered. Smile.

For supplies, of course we'll need habitats to house the critters for observation. It is my plan to only use animals that can be released back to the wild or in the rodent department, back to its original owner. A compound microscope is needed as well unless the activities involving one are skipped. There are so many components to this curriculum that I don't feel as if I've even scratched the surface of the treasures it holds!

I am ecstatic about using Animals Alive! for our 5th grade year, I think it will be an experience that the kids will remember for a long time. Check out Animals Alive! by Dennis Holley from your library or you can purchase a copy at Amazon or Barnes and Noble online.

4th Grade Science Thoughts

I've been bit by the "what to do next year" bug mainly because I want time to find the resources used instead of buying new as much as possible. The longer period of time I have to find used resources, the better.

Next year in 4th, I want to cover physical science and chemistry in one year. I loosely made our science sequence plan based on theory we may use Prentice Hall Science Explorer for 5th-8th. That plan is not set in stone because there may be different curricula that is more appealing for us at that time or I may just find that using a textbook is too stifling. Most importantly, I want to provide our children with a solid science education, especially since I feel it is likely Camille will have an interest in the science field.

In choosing science curricula, my main objective is to find something that will ignite a love of learning about whatever we're studying. Academic level is the second objective, then ease of use for me. Of course, the tone of the material is important and usually weeds out certain curricula- we do not wish to have propaganda either way that any creation theory (evolution, young earth, etc.) is an undisputed fact. I also tend to lean towards well put together curricula that is visually appealing, easy to use with a solid structure and sequence.

I chose God's Design for Life: The World of Plants by Debbie and Richard Lawrence for our 3rd grade botany (in addition to other products) because:

1. Welcoming narrative writing style that I feel comfortable with, I do not feel it talks for me but enables me to engage my child.

2. The scope of concepts is just the right depth. This is what made me decide against Apologia elementary science curriculum, the amount of terms and the explanations are a better fit from God's Design than Apologia's. I feel Apologia throws a bunch of concepts and terms at a child that is not ready for them to be absorbed, much less remembered in the long term. I don't feel it's worth providing such a deep level of study at the younger ages when it will be repeated again at a more appropriate level. It's not my goal to bog down my child in the elementary level but to ignite a love of learning and make science fun.

3. The text is organized for ease of use, providing a supply list at the beginning of the lesson, text to read, making observations and doing experiments, review questions and an opportunity to do deeper studies. God's Design provides an excellent springboard to add living books without it being too much. I also appreciate the experiments, biographies and historical information included in the text. There is no busywork that consists of word puzzles the like, which is something that irritates me to find in curricula.

4. I can use the lessons as quickly or as slowly as I prefer at whatever depth I deem necessary. We can cover a lesson a day or stretch it out over a couple of days. This flexibility is something unexpected that I have found in the God's Design curriculum although I highly appreciate it.

So for those reasons, I am considering using God's Design for next year's studies on physical science and chemistry. If this is the option I choose, we'd use:

God's Design for the Physical World
1. Heat and Energy
2. Machines and Motion

God's Design for Chemistry
1. Properties of Atoms and Molecules
2. Properties of Matter for Chemistry

I'd skip the Inventions and Technology this time in favor of Frank Bachman's Great Inventors and their Inventions (we already have). I love Exploring the History of Medicine by John Hudson Tiner so I would like to also include his physics and chemistry books to our studies.

Problem of Quantity
The problem I have created for myself by covering both physics and chemistry in one year is that if we used God's Design, is that we'd have a long study. There are 34-35 lessons per book and while it is doable to use 3 books in 36 weeks, 4 books would push our studies to 46 weeks if we did 3 lessons a week but is more doable at 4 times a week which would be 35 weeks. My concern with doing 4 lessons a week is that we'd be going through concepts very quickly and I feel this would negate the purpose of studying them. Not to mention it would involve 4 different experiments/projects a week, whew!

I prefer two to three lessons a week and we'd slow down as we needed- so two lessons is optimal and if we wanted, we could accomplish three lessons. For this reason, I'm shying away a little from using God's Design. It's not crucial to me to use something that would cause stress to our schedule when there are other alternatives. I'm also a bit concerned about the depth that the chemistry books go in and whether Camille would do well with the concepts. I can only see small glimpses of the book via the samples at Answersingenesis.org.

I have bought a used copy of one of the Chemistry books for God's Design, this will allow me to assess the situation better but I also have alternatives that I would be happy with as well.

For Physical Science- this caught my eye last year, Terrific Science's Teaching Physical Science Through Children's Literature. I love the concept of using children's literature (living books) to teach physical science and the lessons include integrated language arts focuses. Another plus is that there are only 20 lessons AND I could read John Hudson Tiner's Exploring The World of Physics. 20 lessons, 2 times a week would mean that physical science would only take 10 weeks of our year. If I were to use this, we could spend 10 weeks using the curriculum and then read Great Inventors and their Inventions as a main book before moving on to chemistry. Total time spent would be 15 weeks: 10 weeks on Teaching Physical Science and 5 weeks reading Great Inventors.

For Chemistry- Instead of using God's Design, Ellen McHenry's Elements: Ingredients of the Universe (Intro to Chemistry) has caught my eye. The very small sample shows how McHenry uses kitchen staples to signify elements,which I love! I want the idea that chemistry is all around us to be prevalent in whatever resources we use. There are only 7 chapters! Unfortunately, I cannot tell how long it would take to cover a chapter due to the lack of a sufficient sample. If I could keep Elements within 10 weeks, we'd have another 10 weeks to read another living book, The Secret of Everyday Things by Jean Henri Fabre or The Wonder Book of Chemistry by Jean Henri Fabre - which I would decide after our studies to determine which would best suit Camille at that time.

Although others have touted McHenry's Elements curriculum, I feel very leery since I cannot see a better sample. Another solution is to combine God's Design with the alternatives- either using God's Design Physical World OR Chemistry but not both. I will be teaching 4th grade and kindergarten next year so I am looking for a curriculum instead of creating my own, which I could do with the books we have. I'm a little intimidated by chemistry, it's a subject that can easily be delved into too deep.

This where I am currently at with this decision. I hope to read more about others' experiences with these products to better assess what would work best for us.

Life Changes our Life

Once again I have to change our daily routine!

My dh has been dealing with back pain issues for a year now, he's already had one major surgery and multiple minor procedures such as epidermals to relieve his pain. On top of his back pain which he does take meds for, he is battling depression (he is taking meds) from his back and the untimely death of his mother last October. The one year anniversary of her passing is quickly approaching and I am reminded once again that although my part in this life is difficult at this time, I am his helpmeet.

This past year has been hard, we've dealt with the pain of losing dh's mother, my first and ever loved companion-Magnum, my first dog, bringing Jack (our current dog) into the family, moving due to dh's new appointment at another church, dh's surgeries and consequent pain and his depression. It has been a year of learning perseverance, patience and humbling love on my part and the lessons still continue.

I do have to say that we are much happier this year than we were last, our new church is very loving and active, we are glad to be home in Savannah and the kids are blossoming much more with activities, family and friends. Although our circumstances are better, the problems still exist. Danny's preschool hours are from 9:00 am to 3:00 pm, Monday-Friday. I choose to keep Danny with us on Fridays because it is our field trip day but he needs to been taken before 9:00 am and picked up Monday-Thursday. When discussing whether to send Danny to preschool, dh agreed that he would take Danny to preschool in the mornings and I would pick him up so that Camille and I could start her lessons at 8:00 am.

Lately dh has been staying up late and waking up late in the mornings and has asked me to take Danny to preschool many times so I resolved that instead of being upset about this, to just modify Camille and I's daily routine to accommodate taking Danny to preschool in the mornings. I've struggled with anger, resentment and the overwhelming feeling that it's not fair before God reminded me that in Him, I can do this- it just depends on what attitude I'm going to have each day.

I cannot heal dh no matter how much I want, so I will leave the healing in God's hands and do what I can with the current circumstances. Thus the change in our daily schedule, which is posted on the right sidebar as well as below.

MONDAY-THURSDAY

6:30 am ---Wake-Up, Morning Routine (Dressed, Hygiene, Breakfast, Chores)
8:00 am ---Family Exercise (Walk Jack or do exercise videos together)
8:45 am ---Camille: Informal French (DVD or game) while I take Danny to preschool

9:00 am ---Explorer's Bible Study: Genesis
9:30 am ---Horizons Math
10:00 am--Prima Latina

10:30 am--Mon/Wed: Primary Language Lessons, Tues/Thurs: Explode the Code **
11:00 am--Poetry Memorization
11:15 am---Tapestry of Grace Year 3, with Writing Aids

12:00 pm--Lunch
12:30 pm--Life Science
1:00 pm---Mon.- Afternoon Tea w/ Fairy Tale; Tues.-Drawing with Children;
--------------Wed.-Needlepoint; Thurs.-Composer Biography

1:30 pm---Independent Reading
2:00 pm--Afternoon chores, Game time if able
2:30 pm--Piano practice, Thurs.-Piano Lesson at 3:00

2:45 pm---Mom leaves to pickup Danny from preschool
3:00 pm --Once Danny is home, free play until dinner
7-8:00 pm--Nightly Bedtime Reading Hour

**Explode the Code and Primary Language Lessons are alternated because PLL tends to have a lot of writing at Camille's level right now. I felt it best to alternate the two to give her a break.

Weekly Activities:
On Mondays & Thursdays: Danny has soccer practice or game
Wednesday: Youth at church
Thursday afternoons: Camille's piano lesson

On Friday:
Bible, Math, Latin, Independent Reading and Piano practice must be done before we leave for our weekly field trip or nature study.

This will work out actually better than what I expected, we will have devoted time to exercise which is something I had dropped from our routine in the first routine modification. Camille will learn to do her studies a little more independently and to use her time wisely.

Gone is my optimal idea of having our academic lessons done by lunch because science will be done after lunch but in our reality it is not a problem since we love our science time and it does not feel like drudgery.

I'm not perfect by any means, when the challenge of dh's depression reared it's ugly head into my well-thought out routine, I was not happy and I behaved rather poorly. It is in true thanks to God for not allowing me to wallow in self-pity and grow in bitterness about this but to react proactively. This is a time of iron sharpening iron, at least on my end, I pray that it is on dh's end to as I show him that obstacles are just obstacles- they can be overcome for the benefit of all.

I felt the need to write this post because everyone has struggles that they may not share with others and feel helpless in the situation. I also see God's hand in my own situation and wish to share the hope and joy from a positive attitude that can occur from a difficult situation instead of anger, bitterness and resentment. Every day God is teaching me to love and this is my testimony.

Daily Routine Simplified

Here's our current daily routine

It looks great doesn't it? Very rich with tons of time devoted to different subjects. Well, those different subjects are not getting done and I've learned my lesson about trying to force something that isn't natural. I've changed it to be more natural.

Now we have a realistic daily routine on paper!

Human Body Lessons

These are 10 weeks long using Head to Toe Science by Jim Wiese as the main spine and Christian Liberty Nature Reader Book 5 as a secondary spine. Instead we're using Human Body by Donald Silver and Patricia Wynne (Easy Make and Learn Projects).

We studied human anatomy in first grade but after revamping our science scope and sequence, I decided it should be done again but with a bit more depth. These lessons are intended for a 3rd-4th grade student, at least in my opinion.




If you're using Head to Toe Science by Jim Wiese, please feel free to use this in any way that may help your lessons. Any books can be substituted, these are books we own. I know that I neglected to include specific books on touch and smell during the five senses study but they are covered in the other books. I allotted two weeks to the senses and nervous system due to the reading load, it could be shortened.

To see the rest of our 3rd grade science studies, click here.

Studying Botany - Finding Resources

Before re-inventing the wheel, I always search high and low for curriculum. For botany, this is what I have found so far (I may forget to list something):

Complete Curriculum Options
1. Apologia Elementary Science- Exploring Creation with Botany
2. God's Design for Life- The World of Plants
3. Lyrical Life Science Volume 1- Bacteria to Birds
4. Great Science Adventures- The World of Plants
5. Botany Adventure! Unit Study by Kym Wright

Activity Workbooks
1. Scienceworks Plants
2. Investigating Science - Plants Grades 1-3
3. Investigating Science Plants Grades 4-6
4. Teacher Created Resources- Plants

Experiment Based Books
1. Janice VanCleave Plants
2. Green Thumbs*
...and many others

*I already have 501 Science Experiments and Giant Science K-6 which provide many worksheet activities.
* Also notates books that we already own.

Nonfiction Spines
1. Eyewitness Plant*
2. Eyewitness Tree*
3. DK e-guide Plants by David Burnie
4. Life of Plants Series
5. Childcraft The Green Kingdom*
6. Usborne The World of Plants

I wish that Ellen Doris had already published her Botany book for the Real Kids/Real Science series, this would end my search for a nonfiction spine to use.

Living Books
1. Read and Find Out about Science titles that pertain to botany
2. Trees and Shrubs by Arabella Buckley and Plant Life in Field and Garden by Arabella Buckley
3. The Plant Hunters (unsure about reading level & content on this, waiting for library copy)
4. Books from botanical artist Anne Dowden- Look at a Flower; From Flower to Fruit (coming from library for preview)
5. Shanleya's Quest & Game (I love the looks of the game, I'm unsure about the book and it's not available through the library)
6. Seed-Babies by Margaret Morley* (printed out already from Google Books)
7. Collecting and Preserving Plants by MacFarlane

Stand-Alone Experiments & Kits
1. Little Labs-Plants
2. Leaf Identification Kit (this one is a little pricey but I want something similar) Cheaper version with less leaves.
3. or the Leaf and Seed Identification Games kit (which is the same price as the Leaf kit above)
4. Botanical Discoveries Kit
5. Tree Ring Kit

Games
1. The Garden Game
2. The Wild Seed Game
3. see Leaf and Seed Identification Games link under Kits above

My ideal course of study involves a nonfiction spine for informational purposes, living books for internalization, experiments to illustrate concepts or teach new skills, worksheets to reinforce concepts learned, biographies of scientists in the field we're studying and the overall experience to be educational, fun and worth our time.

Approaching Start Date

It's time to put up or shut up. Really. We have t-minus 3 weeks before the planned start of 3rd grade and preschool and I still have a lot of planning to do. Well, maybe not a lot by others standards but it FEELS like a LOT.

I also know that *I've* created this monster that needs to be fed, lol. What could I possibly still have left to do?

1. Plan out Tapestry of Grace, Year 3, Unit 1. I need to get acquainted with working with the weekly plan again, get my ducks in a row and see what activities we'll be doing for the first quarter. I also need to see about field trips in our area to tie into what we're learning about. Done!

2. Horizons Preschool. I have 3 weeks done in spreadsheet form but I need to finish the other 6 weeks of our first quarter. Silly me also wants to create a list of books that I want to read this year (to Danny) so that I don't forget any.

3. The monster also wants to gather the materials needed for Horizons Preschool AND Head to Toe Science for the first quarter and put them in ziploc bags for easy access/organization.

4. Furthermore, I have volunteered to teach our church's Fall Quarter Sunday School class of 4th and 5th graders using Rock Solid curriculum, which I need to get familiar with.

I have my Declaration of Intent and our attendance for August all ready to be turned into our local board of education office. I also need to send a copy of our new Declaration of Intent to Discovery Education to reapply for the free subscription that Georgia homeschoolers receive.

Really, I've never been so ready to start a new year. My only saving grace is that we have studies that we are currently doing. I've just received our books for Unit 2 of Tapestry's Year 3 and I'm excited! I've also decided to purge our books again, I'm holding on to a lot of history books that we may not read. I'll have to decide how I'll handle the purge, I think I might sell them at the Well-Trained Mind Sale/Swap board.

I'm ready just to simplify and completely trust Tapestry for our history readings. We'll have been using Tapestry for a year in January and I'm so grateful to have given it a chance.

Sidenote: Danny has his FIRST soccer practice tomorrow depending on the weather. We're all excited for him! Camille will start her piano lessons back up Sept. 4th.

Preschool Decisions to Make

We've decided to do preschool at home with Danny, so I'm planning out our Horizons Preschool days. I decided to give myself a help and create a spreadsheet of our days within a week. I've hit a wall because decisions have to be made.

In the curriculum, days 1, 3, 5 have new concepts being introduced while days 2 and 4 are just reinforcement of the concepts learned on days 1, 3, and 5. I started planning out 5 days of preschool but quickly realized this would not work with our Field Trip Friday. So do I want 3 or 4 days of preschool for Danny a week?

This is what a four day week would look like:


Or a 3 day week:

I want to keep the same concepts in a week and not introduce new ones especially on the last day of the week so we will use days 1, 3, and either 2 or 4 as the 3rd day for a 3 day preschool week. Of course, the concepts will be a part of his normal day too on the 4th day.

Decisions, decisions...

Our Studies This Week

We're back in business. Smile. Here's what we're doing this week, starting today.

Bible- reviewing our Doxology song, Praise God from Whom all Blessings Flow on our My First Hymnal CD

Lyrics:
Praise God from whom all bless-ings flow;
Praise Him all crea-tures here be-low;
Praise Him a-bove ye heav’n-ly host;
Praise Fa-ther, Son and Ho-ly Ghost.

Math- Horizons 2 with math fact copywork, multiplication facts. Card games this week too.
Primary Language Lessons- 3 to 4 lessons this week.
Poetry- a thorough review of all poems memorized and possibly a new one
French- Unit 1 of Écoutez, Parlez review
TOG- Unit 3 of Year 2 read alouds
Science this week: lesson 1 of our invertebrates study, yes I'm very behind my original plan but still forging forward.

----------------
Week 1 Introduction to Invertebrates
Teaching Focus
A. Explain differences between vertebrates/invertebrates
Group of animals that have no backbone, jaws, or bony skeleton

1. Hydrostatic skeleton, hard plates, spicule skeleton, shells
Hydrostatic: water-filled balloon

B. Overview of invertebrate classification
C. Define bilateral and radial symmetry
D. Metamorphosis
E. Herbivores and Carnivores

1. In water invertebrates filter feed
2. On land, invertebrates forage for food

Books
DK Animal, pg. 524-527
Simple Animals by Stidworthy, pg. 6-9
Benny's Animals and How He Sorted Them by Selsam (Independent)
Bugs by Nancy Winslow Parker, pg. 38

Experiments/Activities
Giant Science: Ocean Invertebrates, Sorting Cards, Land Invertebrates
The 100+ Series Life Science (Grades 5-8) by Daryl Vriesenga
- pg. 43, Backbone or No Backbone
- pg. 76 Metamorphosis
- pg. 36 Symmetrical Critters


United Streaming
Animals Around Us: Invertebrates, What Are They?
Animals Without Backbones: The Invertebrate Story

Piano practice daily for 15 minutes
Independent reading for 30 minutes: Camille is reading The Twits by Roald Dahl, I'm reading a book about John James Audubon, Danny will read whatever he wants
Craft time: We'll start our needlepoint projects this week and possibly a bread baking session later this week
TaeBo and Yoga alternated with Afternoon Tea with Fairy Tales

I will provide a review at the end of the week to report on what we have accomplish to give me added accountability. I also hope to take to the kids on a field trip this coming weekend to Oatland Island Wildlife Center. I will also be posting new pictures of our learning room, I need that accountability too. :)

Primary Language Lessons plan

We started PLL mid-year in 2nd grade, I think it was in January and we're at lesson 49 now. In order to have PLL 2 times a week in 3rd grade (which starts Sept. 15th), I need to get the amount of lessons to accomplish below 80.

Let me explain this a little more. There are 164 total lessons in PLL. We have already done 49, so there are 115 lessons left. If I were to leave PLL alone until Sept. then we'd have to do PLL 3x a week for 38 weeks to accomplish 115 lessons in the year. I want to do PLL 2x a week so we have to keep doing some lessons.

I have 30 lessons in math to accomplish so I'll use that as our time perimeter. That is 6 weeks of 5 lessons a week or 7.5 weeks of 4 lessons a week. If we do 30 lessons of PLL, that will bring the total number of lessons to complete (in 3rd) to 85.

Next, I looked at PLL to see where we could combine or skip lessons that weren't that important to get the maximum number of lessons in. This is for my own notes b/c I have this scribbled on a piece of paper I know I will lose!

49, 50, 51, 52 & 53, skip 54-55, 56, 57 & 58, 59 & 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66 &67, 68 & 69, 70, 71 & 72, 73, 74, 75, 76, 77, skip 78 & 79, 80, 81, 82, 83 & 84, 85, 86, 87, 88, 89, 90

That is 30 lessons. If we accomplish up to lesson 90, then we'll have (164-90) = 74 lessons to accomplish in 3rd grade, at 2x a week, we will be done with PLL in 37 weeks. Of course I have not gone through the whole book to see where we could skip or combine, I only did that to figure out how much we could get done during the next 6-7 weeks.

That is the goal to be able to do PLL 2x a week, because the other two days will be devoted to finishing Explode the Code. Which I still need to figure out b/c when we finish Explode the Code, I want to move onto Simply Spelling which is a 5 day a week program. I'll cross that bridge later.

How I Plan a Year

Length of the Year
First I determine how long our school year will be and our starting date. For third grade and preschool, we have a proposed start date of September 15th and the year will be approximately 40 weeks long with most of the subjects ending at 30-36 weeks.

The curricula we use determines how long the year is but also how we approach our lessons. In keeping to a 4 day week, the year gets extended.

I use Tapestry of Grace as our weekly organizer, it has 4 units which allows me to create 4 quarters of our year easily. I've decided to take at least a week off in between quarters and plan for the next quarter within that week off. I also account for usual times off like Thanksgiving and Christmas.


Curricula Weekly Approach

-Explorer's Discovery Genesis= 30 lessons, each lesson is broken down into days so it will take 30 weeks to finish

-Horizons 3 Math= 160 lessons. Since we want 4 lessons a week, this will take 40 weeks to finish.

-Prima Latina= 30 lessons, 1 lesson a week will take 30 weeks to finish.

-Explode the Code- books 7 and 8 have 28 lessons combined which will take 28 weeks to finish if we do 1 lesson a week, I plan to start Simply Spelling after we finish these.

- Primary Language Lessons will be at Camille's pace but I aim to do 2 lessons a week, which will allow us to be done with PLL by the end of 3rd grade if we stay on track. I'm not too concerned about finishing on time with this.

-Écoutez Parlez French Oral Program is designed to cover 1 unit per 9 weeks so that is what we'll do.

-TOG is designed to cover 1 unit per 9 weeks.

- Science is *my* subject to design so aligning it perfectly isn't very important to me but if I were using a curriculum, I would schedule this out according to quarters, 9 weeks each.

- Classically Cursive= 1 page a week as needed, no plan needed for this.

-Building Critical Thinking Skills Book 1= no plan needed, this is informal, I've given 1 day for this as much as Camille wants to do in 30 minutes.

-Art and Music= Drawing with Children will be organized, 2 lessons a week and the finish date is not important to me. Music is organized by quarter with an informal approach.

- Poetry Memorization= I just schedule these as I think Camille will be able to handle them but having a master list of poems to memorize for the year helps tremendously. I also took the time to schedule them according to content and when we'll approach them during the year, for example poems about Christmas happen during Christmastime, poems about Spring will be done during Spring.

Once I've figured out how each curriculum will fit into my year, I created an overview (pictured above) of the subjects I want to keep track of our progress with. History, Math, Poetry, Music and Science are the most helpful for me to have on a schedule to glance at. The rest can be "do the next thing" for the most part.

How to figure out how many lessons during the week:

Products like Explorer's Bible Study and Prima Latina have instructions or are formatted to have daily lessons so all I need to do is figure out how often we want to do them. I have chosen to do both daily which makes it easy to follow their format.

Horizons has 160 lessons, which could be 5 days a week for 32 weeks (160 divided by 5=32) but I've chosen to do 4 days a week (160 divided by 4= 40).

How many lessons total= 160
How many days a week you think you want to do the lessons= 4
Divide those and you have how many weeks it will take to finish the total lessons (160) by the number of days (4 days a week).

Creating a Daily Routine
After I have our overview of the year, I create a proposed daily routine.

I figure out what time to get up, how long it will take to get the kids ready for the day (realistically) and how much time to spend on each subject. I plug in the information about how often lessons will be for each subject to complete our yearly schedule and then work out any kinks I see. Everything after lunch is really extra, this year I'm going to try a purposeful use of our afternoon time.


Organizing for the Plan
After I have these foundational plans for the year and the week, I approach organizing each curriculum to fit what I have planned. This year that includes creating 4 quarter binders for me but it also includes figuring out how to approach each subject during the times of the week.

History has 4 days planned a week: I plan out what I think will be doable each day.

Day 1: Read core book, start weekly project
Day 2: Finish core book, do mapwork, work on weekly project
Day 3: Read supplement book, work on weekly project
Day 4: Finish supplement book, finish weekly project

If at this stage you don't have enough time to finish the workload, then you need to reassess. Which is more beneficial? Having more time to finish the workload or downsizing the workload to fit the time allotted?

I know I probably go further than most in planning: I organize our workload to fit the plan, including creating notebooks pre-filled as much as I can. This allows me to be organized but also to "do the next thing" without much thought while we are DOING.

This part is hard work- tearing apart workbooks, 3 hole punching them, copying pages if necessary and putting a cohesive notebook together, I also put in empty handwriting paper with lesson numbers on them for non-consumable products like Primary Language Lessons. If we do not do the particular lesson on the paper, no biggie, it's just crossed off with the correct lesson number. This will be a reminder of how behind/ahead we are for what I planned at the beginning of the year.

I think the most important thing to remember during planning is that the plan will most likely change. I've accommodated that by setting up our year in quarters so I can reassess what we're doing each 9 weeks and make changes accordingly.

Happy Planning!

Quarterly Notebooks

This is an idea that I haven't put on paper yet but will implement after we move. Instead of having big subject binders to pull from each week, I'm going to separate each curricula's work into quarters and put the worksheets into 1 of 4 binders.

First Quarter Binder (9 weeks)
-Put calendar and quarter's goals in front
-Put reading log in front

Bible- Explorer's Bible Study Lessons 1-9
Math- Horizons 3 Lessons 1-36
Latin - Prima Latina (unsure yet)
French- Unit 2 Écoutez, Parlez
PLL- handwriting paper put in with lesson # at top
ETC - 9 lessons
Science- Human Body lessons 1-9
TOG Year 3, Unit 1: SAP, Mapwork and whatever else
Classically Cursive: 1 page per week- 9 pages
Informal Logic: 1 worksheet of Building Critical Thinking per week- 9 total

Second Quarter Binder (9 weeks)
-Put calendar and quarter's goals in front
-Put reading log in front

Bible- Explorer's Bible Study Lessons 10-18
Math- Horizons 3 Lessons 37-72
Latin - Prima Latina (unsure yet)
French- Unit 3 Écoutez, Parlez
PLL- handwriting paper put in with lesson # at top
ETC - 9 lessons
Science- Human Body lesson 10 and ___________
TOG Year 3, Unit 2: SAP, Mapwork and whatever else
Classically Cursive: 1 page per week- 9 pages
Informal Logic: 1 worksheet of Building Critical Thinking per week- 9 total


Third Quarter Binder (9 weeks)
-Put calendar and quarter's goals in front
-Put reading log in front

Bible- Explorer's Bible Study Lessons 19-27
Math- Horizons 3 Lessons 73-108
Latin - Prima Latina (unsure yet)
French- Unit 4 Écoutez, Parlez
PLL- handwriting paper put in with lesson # at top
ETC - 9 lessons or Simply Spelling
Science- Cell Biology
TOG Year 3, Unit 3: SAP, Mapwork and whatever else
Classically Cursive: 1 page per week- 9 pages
Informal Logic: 1 worksheet of Building Critical Thinking per week- 9 total

Fourth Quarter Binder (9 weeks)
-Put calendar and quarter's goals in front
-Put reading log in front

Bible- Explorer's Bible Study Lessons 28-30
Math- Horizons 3 Lessons 109-160
Latin - Prima Latina (unsure yet)
French- Unit 4 Écoutez, Parlez
PLL- handwriting paper put in with lesson # at top
Simply Spelling- handwriting paper with lesson #
Science- Botany
TOG Year 3, Unit 3: SAP, Mapwork and whatever else
Classically Cursive: 1 page per week- 9 pages
Informal Logic: 1 worksheet of Building Critical Thinking per week- 9 total

I'll see how it goes after we move.

Our 3rd Grade Composer Studies

We are studying 4 composers this year, Vivaldi, Bach, Handel and Haydn, one for each quarter. Maybe I should say that the kids will have lunch with different composer each quarter because that is how I'm going to accomplish this. At lunch each day of our first quarter we will listen to Vivaldi and I will read aloud his biography while the kids eat. We have various resources for composers already, ones that aren't shown above like:

- Meet the Great Composers (Book 1 and 2 with CDs)
- Vox Music Masters CDs which have a narrative with the compositions
- Classical Music CDs that I've bought on sale for each composer
- Bach, Beethoven and the Boys by David Barber
- Madeleine Goss biographies (out of print but wonderful): Deep-Flowing Brook, The Story of Johann Sebastian Bach
- Two encyclopedias of music
- Composer coloring books

But I wanted this time to be simple, just a listen while you eat experience. There will be no coloring pages or worksheets, this is purely a "just enjoy" focused lesson. Sometimes making studies more academic takes the joy out of it and we have plenty of time down the road to make composer studies more formal.

Here's the spine of our time: listen to the compositions with or without a biography reading and at the end of the quarter we will watch a DVD if there is an age-appropriate one available. Classical Kids and the Composer's Specials provided many age-appropriate DVD titles to enjoy. I will be switching out what we listen to, from listening to Themes to Remember which provide lyrics to help a child learn to just listening to the compositions themselves. Reading the biography will not compete with what we're listening to so CDs that have spoken words will be done on days of their own without reading the biographies. The Opal Wheeler biographies are short and very age-appropriate, the Madeleine Goss biographies are intended for an older audience, I'd say 5th grade and above but can be read aloud by a discerning parent.

Of course this means I will not be eating with the kids but I put Independent Reading right after lunch so I can eat while they are reading. I say this but I also know that Danny cannot read yet but he does enjoy having his own basket of books to explore which will be a daily habit I hope to instill in him- to have his own quiet time with books daily. I have struggled with how to fit all that I desire for my children into our day and through learning from other homeschoolers, I've realized it's just a matter of how I actually spend the time we have. I'll also be playing the composer of the quarter in other situations like in the car or when we're doing chores and any other time throughout the day I can slip it in.

The resources I've listed are things we have on hand, it's not necessary to spend a lot of money to start an informal study. The essentials are CDs and the rest can be from the library. Also, realize I'm writing all this before putting this plan into action with all my idealistic hopes and desires. Smile.