Planning a school year is most of the times very difficult for me.  I enjoy looking around to see what is available.  And wow!!  There is alot that is available.  I live in the boonies, so checking things out are done online....and sigh...we have dial up lol.  So I do try to get companies to send their catalog's.  Well that gets overwhelming as well.  I have three children, and they are all so different.  lol.  I am often looking for things that are fun and interesting...that will keep their attention for at least long enough to get through their lessons each day without it getting dull.  Since this is only our fourth year, I am still learning to watch my children and learn what their interests are.....and what I think is the best for them.  It takes a real effort sometimes to not give up lol. 

This is what our new school year looks like: 

Ruth

Math - Saxon 6/7 and our goal is to get to 7/8, we would like to break it up with math literature....an idea I found at www.mathliterature.net  - I also found something called Math Mammoth, that can be found online as well.  I like Keys to Series, as well as a Business Math from www.simplycharlottemason.com - which I will not do all at once but over the year.  I should my daughter the Business Math and she was very excited about it :) gives me hope!

Language Arts - Our Mother Tongue, Jump In-Creative Writing (found at Apologia), and Vocabulary Bridges.  I want to get her to continue to work on her copywork, dictation, written narrations, and get her to continue with writing her own stories.  I also found a Create a Story writing game, that the older children can play. 

Second Language - Latina Christiana 1, we have slowly been working through.  I would like to maybe start some French in the middle of the school year.  See how things go. 

Science - I will find various books out of our local library, and I have plenty of Christian based science books at home.  We are going to look at the Human Body, Inventions, Medicine and Disease and renewable resources along with Simple Machines.  We are wanting science to tie in nicely with our history lessons this year.  I want to do less with workbooks and note taking - which she finds boring.  And just let her be creative, and make notebooks with what we learn....her art work and notes.

History - We are studying the Medieval Ages....which is why we chose some of those interesting and unnormal choices for science.  Ruth's favorite subject is the Bubonic Plague and she has talked about it for several years now....reading everything she can find.  For this subject we are going to use for the first time the materials that Diane Waring has made.  What in the World's Going on Here?, True Tales Complete, and afew others that she has.  I have heard that her work is really good.  She will also have a big reading list lol.  I went over to www.dianawaring.com and checked out her website.  She actually has a curriculum to go with her cd's.  I didn't know that before.  So now I am going to have to order the books.  I sort of wished that I knew before hand....lessons we learn.  Especially when I thought I had it all figured out.  I learned that I really don't lol.  Guess we can never be too careful.

Bible -We are going to read the Bible all together.  Last school year we read through most of the OT, so this year I am going to start with the NT and have discussions.  I would also like her to keep going through her Bible on her own as well....even keep a journal of her thoughts over what she has read.  I have a difficult time in this area, as I accepted Christ when she was almost a year old.  So the devil does try to get me believing that I don't have any knowledge in this area...how could I possibly teach my children about our Lord!!  Isn't he nasty?!  Two other things I would like to work on this year with her is these two really great looking books.  One is the Princess and the Kiss that has another book for Life Lessons....and also Raising Maidens of Virtue.  I am sure that it is similar in many ways...but I really want to reinforce something in her life....and in my own.  I wish that my parents were saved and that I could of done something like this with my mom.  I think we will even have tea parties!!!! 

 Moses

Math - Saxon 54, math literature, math mammoth, and math games.  He is good at catching on to concepts fairly well, so I would like to keep his similar to his sisters.

Language Arts - Our Mother Tongue, and try to use Jump In.  I am going to use ideas here from Charlotte Mason with written narrations, copywork and begin simple dictation.  I also want him to use Vocabulary from Classical Roots. 

Second Language - Latina Christiana 1 we are workiing slowly through.  Would like to try some French. 

Science - Since we study our subjects together, he will do the same work as his sister.  Though I am sure that he won't be as interested in diseases like she is.  So I won't go into that with him very much.  There are some interesting books that I want to look at called - Champions of Invention, and Champions of Science....there is also one for math.  My daughter will also read these with him of course.

History - Since we study our subjects together, he will do the same work has his sister.  I think using Diane Waring will make it easy and fun. 

Bible- We will continue with Bible stories and discussions.  I want him to continue to read his Bible on his own, and start journaling his thoughts from what he reads.  Then I want to start using Squire and the Scroll.  

 Samson

Math - Math Success grade 2, math literature, math games and manipulatives. 

Language Arts - Phonics Pathways, Pathway Readers, First Language Lessons, copywork and oral narrations. 

Second Language - Prima Latina

Science - Will use various books from the library learning about the Human Body, in a simpler fashion, electricity, and renewable resources and inventions.  Not at the same level as my older children.  Plus notebooking and work on him doing written work with my help.

History - I will just let him listen and draw what he likes to make a notebook with my help.  Lots of reading stories on history. 

Bible - Squire and the Scroll, Bible stories and devotions.

That is about it for us.  I hope we can stick to our plans and finish our work.  We tend to take our time and not rush things.  We dig and take our time reading novels and stories.

Blessings from acraisydaisy