This year's Homeschooling Plan

I am really looking forward to getting back into schooling full tilt! I've got preschool, kindergarten, 2nd grade, 4th grade and 6th grade this year. Check out other people's plans at latter-dayhomeschooling.com

Math-- Each child does Singapore math at their level, the 2 older ones should finish the series by December and both should start Algebra around January -- I am very excited for this.

Grammar/Latin- We are studying Koine Greek with this fabulous curriculum called Elementary Greek. Not only is this a fabulous way to really learn English grammar and lots of Greek root words and the Greek of the New Testament, it is great preparation for learning Latin which we start when the child has finished the third year book which should be by May or June for the 2 oldest girls. This will become our focus. Preceding years, our focus has been in math. They need to start Latin by 7th grade to fulfill our requirements.

Science-- We use Singapore Science once the kids are proficient at reading and writing. The sixth grader should finish the program by May or June to be ready for junior high material next year. For the younger kids I am really excited about some expensive books I bought from a door to door European girl salesperson printed by Southwestern. They are actually really good. I was worried about the money, but I think it was worth it. We also bought a set of 5 used Southwestern Student Handbooks that have some great info and really fun experiments and and games for science, math, geography, and nature.

Writing-- All the children are required to write in their journal each school day. They can write whatever they want at least one sentence long. The little ones draw a picture, tell me what to write and then copy it. They also practice writing in workbooks I bought at Sam's Club and when we get our printer figured out, they will trace the scripture of the week in cursive. The older ones copy the scripture of the week each school day and write 1-2 compositions per week all in cursive.

Spelling-- I use The Natural Speller to find words for the kids to practice. When I was taking care of babies, I had my older girls practice typing out of a typing book I had bought. Now the older one may spend time typing her stories and I call that good for spelling.

Reading-- Once the kids can read well, they are required to read a book from a list for at least 30 min. per day. They love this part and have read books they wouldn't have otherwise read and have loved it. The younger kids learn to read by first learning their letters and sounds from the Letter Factory DVD, then by reading out of the Ordinary Parents Guide to Teaching Reading. We supplement that with Phonics games from LDFR.com and the McGuffey readers.

History-- I started out homeschooling by reading the story of the world to my kids. It worked for me at that time because it was all new to me, I had no sense of history at all and it was a great starting point. However, now I think it is just too long jumping around too much for these little guys to keep up and let some of the events sink in. So now the older ones do 15 min. of history reading a day from books we bought at yesterdaysclassics.com . I also read books to the younger ones mostly from yesterdaysclassics and some picture books we have and from the library. We will be reading about American history together this year.

Group Time -- We'll have story time for the younger kids various classic stories and pictures books, history, science, and scriptures, also poetry and time for memorizing scriptures and poems, we sing primary songs and other fun songs and songs in Spanish and French, then we have Spanish class and Greek review and art and experiment hands on time.

outside activities-- 4 kids in soccer!! That will be busy-- violin lessons, piano lessons, boys club, drama, and book club.

Good thing we don't do everything everyday, we just do something each day. The kids have a list what they must accomplish each day. We include make your bed, brush your and get dressed among other things. They have to do Math, Greek, reading, journal, and scripture 4 times per week. Instruments must be practiced daily.

So that's the plan for this year. I still have to work out some of the details but I think we are all excited to get back into it yay!!