Aug. 15, 2006 - Back to School?!!
School officially starts next Monday. I think we will take it pretty easy for awhile, since we all got cheated out of a lot of summer by my kidney stone. Before things get moving at light speed again, I want to jot down ideas I want to try this year... This is gonna be kinda boring reading, but I need to get the ideas out of my head where they'll get lost...Plus, I never get to talk to my husband in complete sentences, so this is one way for him to know what I've been thinking :)
Copywork/memorization: I always think it is a cool idea and it goes out the window in about a week, but I'll try again. There is an old old book of bible verses arranged by ABC order that I think would be fun to use with both kids. MBB could copy the verse, MRB could learn the verse and practice writing the letter. MRB could cut up a print out of the verse and hide the pieces, MBB could find pieces and assemble them. The book is available free at http://digital.lib.msu.edu/projects/ssb/display.cfm?TitleID=500 (thanks to other bloggers for link to this)
Never ending story: There is a website that lets kids add to a never ending story. http://www.coder.com/creations/tale/ I think this might get MBB to willingly write more often.
Reading out-loud: This is another idea that usually lasts a couple days, but I'd like to make part of every day. MRB is starting to read all by herself, and really deserves more of my attention. I want to try a "Five in a Row" activities with her. I could have MBB read her the book and then we could come up with an activity that was approrpriate for both of them...Art, Geography, cooking based on the book
Schedule: The block schedule worked great last year, so we'll stick with it again.
Outside activities: I think MBB has decided no more gymnastics, but MRB still is interested. Maybe I'll wait and sign her to start in October instead of trying to start up in September. I don't think I'll sign MBB up for any outside classes until next semester. There is a drop-in homeschool rock climbing place in D--- we might try. MBB really wants to start a Lego club...so I'll opt out of organizing the Art Co-op. We'll stick with park day and story time at the library. Add in a couple of play dates and I'm already tired! I keep going back and forth on AWANAs...MRB would probably love it...it's too loud and disorganized for MBB.
Curriculum: OK, if you got this far and haven't dozed off, this will do it for you:
Language: Writing Strands, Reading Strands using Childhood of Famous Americans books (Thomas Edison, Benjamin Franklin, Albert Einstein...), "Language Detective" books(I can't remember the exact name right now)
and MadLibs for grammar. Vocab and spelling will come from the books he is reading. I think I'll have him keep a notebook of unfamiliar words and then pick one word a week to turn in to a short story with a picture.
Math: ALEKS.com, with McRel for some variety. He probably needs a little more arithmetic practice. I might break down and give him some worksheets (gasp!) for homework as we get into the year a ways.
Science: Good ol' Exploration Education for the physical science stuff. We'll do a unit on the human body, build an "Invisible Man". We'll also have a "Space" unit.
History: K12. I think it covers the Renaissance and Exploration of America this year
Music: I really really want both kids to play the piano, the dulcimer, the harp... something! MBB keeps saying he wants to learn the recorder, which is great, but the closest thing to a recorder I ever played was the bagpipes, and they didn't require a great deal of subtlety in breath control....He loves Sousa marches, so maybe he just isn't going to be a stringed instrument kinda kid. I wish I had my Uncle Robby (trumpet player) close by to help him out.
MRB would probably let me teach her, and MBB seems to try it out just so she doesn't get better than him at something....Guess I'll be sneaky and start teaching MRB piano and hope MBB follows along :) I will try to play the harp and dulcimer more often to hopefully get them to want to try them more.
Art: Both kids love arts and crafts. The library just got a new series of kids' videos on artists, so we might check those out. I'd like to use the FIAR idea of imitating the artists' techniques from the picture book we are reading for the week for MRB.
Well, there you have it...all the ideas that have been ping ponging around in my head. Check in a few months from now and we'll see how its going :)
Comments
Aug. 15, 2006 - Untitled Comment
Posted by TOSPUBLISHER
You have some really good ideas here. Hope your school year goes well, and that you stay healthy.
-gena
www.TheHomeschoolMagazine.com
