Plans For Next Year

Finally, I think I have most of our supplies for next year figured out and purchased.

I also have a basic schedule outlined.

I am going with a very eclectic method: classical/ Charlotte Mason/ textbook, but I am planning on using the 15 - 20 minutes for each subject like Charlotte Mason suggests.

Our schedule hopefully will look like this:

9:00 Spelling/ Dictation

9:15 Religion

9:30 Writing/ journal

9:45 Phonics

10:00 Reading Practice

10:15 Art/ Music/ Spanish/ Logic ( this will include our Tea Time on Tuesdays, putting together puzzles, figuring out simple logic puzzles, practicing some Spanish vocabulary, art and music appreciation)

10:30 Math



Then a break for lunch and naps.



12:30 Read-aloud/ Narration

1:00 History

1:15 Language

1:30 Science/ Nature study

2:00 Poetry



And here is the planned curriculum:



For Spelling, we will be using Houghton Mifflin's Spelling and Vocabulary Grade 1. I used it when teaching and I like it. Even though a spelling textbook isn't really necessary, it helps me to fulfill my more stringent Ohio requirements.



For Religion, we are going to try the Golden Children's Bible, even though I know Celeste didn't feel like it worked well. We will also use Faith and Life Grade 1, and a Bible Activity Book for fun. I also broke down and got Cay Gibson's Catholic Mosaic from an Amazon Marketplace seller for cheap. We will read some of the books as we come to them during the proper months.

For our Writing, we will continue to use Scott Foresman's D'Nealian, but moving on to Grade 1.

For Phonics, we will finish up the last bit of Modern Curriculm Press' Phonics A, and then move on to Phonics B. We also have used the Explode the Code books for review while driving in the car. We will also continue to work with Alphaphonics.

We will practice her reading with lots of real books. As well as some "reader" types. She likes the Dick and Jane books, as well as the A Beka grade one readers and BOB books.

For art, we do lots of various crafts, drawing, and painting, but I also bought a bunch of reproductions of masterpieces by various artists, and I also have a calendar I have been using this year that has many pictures in it for art study. For music we will listen to various classical composers, and borrow the Classical Kids CD's from the library. I am going to try Elizabeth Foss' idea of Tuesday Tea Time to incorporate both art and music in a fun way for both kids.

For Math, we will continue to use Alpha Omega's Horizons but moving up to Grade 1. I am also going to supplement with Miquon Math's Orange and Red book. I like their hands-on problem-solving methodology.

We will be using all kinds of good books for our read-aloud time.

For History, I am planning on trying the idea from The Well-Trained Mind by Susan Wise Bauer. I like the idea of history as a story, and repeating the sequence every 4 years building upon previous knowledge. So we will try The Story of the World by Susan Wise Bauer. And along with that she suggests getting books from the library to go along with whatever topic you are covering. We did this last year, but not in such an organized fashion. She also incorporated lots of narration, which I like. I read through part of the book, and it reads as a story versus a textbook. I think Katie will do well with it. We will also cover relevant holidays as usual.

We are going to try Jessie Wise's First Language Lessons as well as some general teaching supplies I have around here for our Language lessons.

For Science, we will use the suggestions from The Well-Trained Mind for books, but will also continue to do more of a Charlotte Mason method: getting outside every day to observe and journal, and look things up, checking out plenty of library books, and reading lots. The basic books we will start from are The Kingfisher First Animal Encyclopedia, The Kingfisher First Human Body Encyclopedia, and then I don't like their suggestion for a book on plants, so I will probably use lots of field guides, grow our usual garden, and use lots of library books once more. I really like what The Well-Trained Mind has done by cycling every 4 years just like History. It goes through Life Science, Earth Science and Astronomy, Chemistry, and Physics. So for first grade we will study the animal kingdom, then the human body, and finally plants. The Kingfisher books are simple and beautifully illustrated, and I think she will really enjoy this.

Lastly, we will do some poetry. I have planned one poem per week to memorize, copy, and illustrate. I have a good number of poetry books, including Robert Louis Stevenson's A Child's Garden of Verses, Treasury of Poetry by Hedley, Read-Aloud Rhymes for the Very Young by Jack Prelutzsky, and The Very Best of Mother Goose, which is illustrated by Rosemary Wells (one of my favorites).