Matters of Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of True Happiness
Feb. 9, 2009 - Working on next year's plans....
There's something about the new year that gets me in a planning mood. Inevitably I end up doctoring our school process a bit, too. Each year, though, I feel like I get a bit closer to that elusive perfection. My most recent idea change came after listening to archived episodes of a podcast called "Ultimate Homeschool Expo 2008" (downloaded through itunes). I was inspired by Jim and Sheila Carroll of Living Books Curriculum. They follow a Charlotte Mason philosophy, which really intrigued me. I took a look at their programs, but alas, as they are they wouldn't be a good fit for us. I will be adapting some of their ideas, though.
Currently I'm working on 4th grade. I'm putting together a 36 week program divided into four 9-week quarters. I'm following The Well-Trained Mind four-year history/literature/science cycle combined with cultural literacy ideas from The Core Knowledge Foundation.
The time period is 1850 - present and we'll be covering literature, art, music, and history in that time period. Story of the World, Volume 4 will be our history spine and I'll add living books (fiction and non-fiction) to flesh things out more and make history come alive. I'll have dd pick history projects from the SOTW Activity Guide as well. Literature selections will be a mixture of classics to be read aloud and adaptations of classics to be read independently. I made selections based on The Core Knowledge Foundation's Books to Build On, The Well-Trained Mind, and Jim Trelease's The Read Aloud Handbook. I'm excited.
We'll be keeping our writing (Writing with Ease), handwriting (Handwriting without Tears), and spelling (All About Spelling) programs. I'm going to switch dd to First Language Lessons 4 next year (this year she is doing Growing with Grammar 3). I've come to really love First Language Lessons 1/2 for my younger two and think it would work for my oldest as well.
In math we'll keep on with Math U See. For science we'll be reading biographies and doing science experiments from Janet VanCleave's Physics. We'll use Usborne art books for art history and appreciation. We'll use A Joyful Noise for cultural literacy songs and Meet the Composers for music history and appreciation.
Religious studies will focus on church history and the Doctrine and Covenants using the church publication, Doctrine and Covenant Stories. We'll also start Lively Latin.
I've got the first nine weeks worked up so far. I'm excited!
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"Live free or die. Death is not the worst of evils." ~ General John Stark |
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