A New Year!

Ok, so it's that time of year again...planning for our new school year!  I can't believe this will be my 10th year homeschooling!  Phew!  Time has gone by so quickly!  And to top it all off I will have a high schooler this year!!!  Holy cow!  How on earth do I have a high school kid already?!?!  Wasn't he just in kindergarten...like last month, or something?!?!  I will also have one in middle school and one more still in elementary. 

My planning this year has been a little different and trickier, with having to plan for high school.  It feels like starting over again.  There is so much to keep track of, so much to make sure is covered, credits, electives, etc., etc.  Thankfully, I did start planning the high school stuff a couple months ago.  J and I sat down and started working out his 4 year hs career on paper.  It looks good!  He is a little more ambitious than I thought he would be, which is great!  He's chosen some great electives, and is planning on starting dual enrollment classes at the community college in 11th grade (maybe 10th; we'll see).  All in all, we have a great 4 year plan set out!  It's the beginning of the end here.  So bittersweet. 

Planning has also been different for me this year, as in, I actually set specific goals for each child and have them written down on paper.  You're probably thinking just finishing up our years curriculum is goal enough, right?  Well, it's not!  There is so much more for us to make sure gets done, on top of just finishing up our curriculum.  You know, specific things for each kid, like making sure that G child fully memorizes his multiplication tables.  I even went so far as to make goals for MYSELF!!  I plan to look at our goals every couple of months and make sure that we are on target for completing them.  It's gonna be a fantastic year for us...I can just feel it!!

Ok, I thought I would go ahead and share our 2012-2013 school year curriculum.

J 9th Grade:
History: Biblioplan Ancient History
Math: Saxon Algebra I
Spanish: Live Mocha & Destinos; both online
English:
     1. Spelling: Spelling Workout & Apples Spelling Drills
     2. Writing: Writing with Skill & Rod & Staff (this boy has a really difficult time in spelling and     writing)
     3. Reading: Literature books listed in Biblioplan and a few other great literature books
     4. Grammar:  Rod & Staff
PE: He'll play basketball for the homeschool team
Science: Apologia's Physical Science
Electives:
     1st Semester: 1. Drawing: A Complete Course & 2. Family Life Skills
     2nd Semester: 1. Health & 2. Home Repair & Maintance

B 7th Grade
History: Sonlight and Biblioplan (combined) Early American History
Math:  CLE Lightunits 7
Spanish: La Clase Divertida I
Art: 1.2.3 Draw books
Typing: Free stuff online like this one here,  here , and here!
English:
     1. Spelling: Spelling Workout, Sequential Spelling, & All About Spelling (another struggling speller here)
     2. Handwriting: A Reason for Handwriting
     3. Writing: Writing with Skill & Jump-In
     4. Reading: Sonlight and Biblioplan reading lists
     5. Grammar: Saxon 6
PE: Workout videos & play basketball for the homeschool team
Science: A Beka 7: Order and Reality
Health: A Beka 7
Piano: A computer program that came with our keyboard
American Sign Language: This site right here (this boy requested to learn this)
Latin: Getting Started with Latin

G 4th Grade
History: Sonlight and Biblioplan (combined) Early American History
Math: CLE Lightunits 4
Spanish: La Clase Divertida I
Art: 1.2.3 Draw books
Typing: Free stuff online like this one here, here , and here!
English:
1. Spelling: Spelling Workout, Sequential Spelling, & All About Spelling
2. Handwriting: A Reason for Handwriting
3. Writing: Writing with Ease
4. Reading: Sonlight and Biblioplan reading lists
5. Grammar: Rod & Staff & I'm gonna throw in some Primary Language Lessons for good measure!
PE: Workout videos & play basketball for the homeschool team
Science: Considering God's Creation
Health: A Beka 4
Piano: A computer program that came with our keyboard
American Sign Language: This site right here
Latin: Getting Started with Latin

That's it!  It's gonna be jam packed and fun year!!  They're gonna learn a lot and it's gonna be good!!!  =P  Let me know what you think.

Homeschooling

ETA: Ok, since I'm new to all of this, I can't figure out to add my pictures below my text. So, I guess next time, I will put my pictures in, then type above it. I don't feel like re-typing everything right now either, as it won't let me copy and paste either. So just go down and read than come back up and look at my pics!!

A picture of Jordan's weekly lesson plan sheet

Our monthly calander (I print out a new one each month)

Weekly & monthly chores for the boys

Their daily routines/jobs

Our daily schedule

I can't believe we are about to end our 8th year homeschooling! Time has gone by so quickly! I wish there was a way to slow the time down, so I can enjoy this time with my kiddos longer. We do have our rough days sometimes, but those good days more than make up for the rough days. I love my boys and I absolutely love being home with them. I am so thankful that I have the privilege to do so.

I am often asked about our school year, by other home school moms and non-home schoolers. So I thought I would share what we do and also our schedule for next year. We usually school year-round, so that we can take breaks more often. It's really quite nice. We can take time off and enjoy the beautiful weather outside in the spring and fall, and be inside doing school during the blistering heat of summer. Plus, the added bonus of taking family vacations during off season, and going somewhere without a big crowd! =)

This school year will end on July 29th for us. Then we will start school again on August 29th. So we'll be taking a 4 week break. This year we will be doing a 6 week on, 1 week off schedule.

August 29- First day of new school year
September 5- No school (Labor Day)
October 10-14-Break week
November 11- No School (Veteran's Day)
November 21-25-Break week (Thanksgiving week)
December 19-January 2-Christmas Break
January 16- No School (MLK day)
February 13-17-Break week
February 20- No School (President's Day)
April 2-6- Spring Break Week
May 21-25- Break week
July 4-No school
July 20- Last day of school

That is our fall schedule. Hopefully it will all go as planned, or at the very least, fairly close to it!! And of course..this is subject to change if I so desire!! =) Lol!

I really like organization. I strive to keep an annual, weekly, & daily schedule. I have lessons plans done for each of the boys for each week, and I have a daily schedule for us to follow. Makes our days go so much smoother. I will post pictures (well try).