Skip to main content

Gearing up for School

It seems like this summer has flown by and now it's time for The Princess to start 1st grade already! I can't believe it! We are now entering our 2nd year in the adventure of homeschooling and I'm looking forward to it.
At least, I am now that I'm getting organized. I was starting to feel a little stressed, but last night I sat down and got everything all decided and ordered. And then I slept well (at least until two little stinkers climbed in my bed this morning:).
Thanks to the state of Arkansas, I was able to get everything mapped out for the year. I say "thanks to Arkansas" because of the paperwork I had to fill out for the school district to declare my intent to homeschool. It wasn't extensive or anything like that, and it actually helped me get in gear to put my plans on paper and get them clarified in my mind. It's always good to have a clear mind, right?!
So for 1st grade we will be studying:

  • Phonics and Reading (Horizons)
  • Handwriting (Italics)
  • Math (Math-U-See)
  • Literature (reading aloud various children's classics)
  • Science (Singapore)
  • Geography (Galoping the Globe)
  • History (different unit studies, beginning with American)
  • Art (various books on various artists, plus projects)
  • Music (introduction to composers, plus beginning piano lessons)

I am sure we may make some adjustments along the way and there will also be fun unit studies, too, but this will be my blueprint for the year. I am also starting some K5 level workbooks with Mr. B even though he's only 4 and he is SO excited~it's really cute!

If you homeschool, I'd love to hear about your plans as well. A while back I had printed off a post by a fellow blogger who is also a homeschooling mom that really helped me with my planning. It's definitely worth the read and you can check it out here. (Thanks, Heidi!)

Now I just need to get those desks painted....




Labels:

Comments

Kayren said…
We use Tapestry of Grace which includes history, literature, geography, vocabulary (even though I add more), art, worldview, and writing (as in paragraph/story/report). We use Abeka math, Apologia science (although we're switching after we finish the current book for the boys to the one by Answers in Genesis), and we've used Abeka or Easy Grammar for Grammar. We are switching to Winston Grammar this year for all the kids. I don't typically like to switch major core subjects but it is really just time. We're using Spelling Power for spelling and I can't remember the name of the program right now for vocabulary, but it's based on word roots.

As far as planning, the Tapestry is well-planned for you, you just have to determine what to do and not do because you can't possibly do it all. My biggest challenge is teaching four children, and it's not made easier having two in the same grade like you'd think.
August 11, 2009 at 11:17 PM
Betsy Brock said…
Sounds like you got the hard part out of the way. When a plan is abstract in your mind, it's unsettling! Glad you are ready to get going now!
August 12, 2009 at 8:20 AM
steviewren said…
Both of my daughter-in-laws use the Tapestry curriculum. They have only good things to say about the way it integrates all the subjects.
August 12, 2009 at 8:28 AM
Lora @ my blessed life said…
I'll definitely have to look into the Tapestry curriculum for next year. By then I'll have two full-time students and may need to have something more planned out already for me:)
August 13, 2009 at 4:07 PM
Tater said…
So funny, I clearly remember that top picture from my 2nd grade art book. The Hare by Albrecht Drurr. Don't know how to spell it but my dad and I had a fun time saying it. I was home schooled all the way through. Good luck and have fun with an other year!
August 15, 2009 at 2:05 PM
Lora @ my blessed life said…
Tater~
Was that with Calvert School? I only homeschooled personally 1st & 2nd grades with Calvert and that picture was also one I studies in 2nd grade:)
August 15, 2009 at 7:37 PM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Reading Game: A Review

I was excited to receive this review product recently, thinking my 1st-grade-son could really benefit and enjoy it a lot. And I was right! He is having so much fun with this game. The Reading Game is a fast-paced memory card game using words. The game comes with 6 sets of memory cards with 6 corresponding readers. The idea is for you and your student to play memory with each set of cards (playing 6 rounds with each set), after every 2 rounds your student then reads 2 test sentences to see how he is retaining the new words he is learning. After the whole set has been played, he is then ready to read the corresponding reader...and has learned 30 new words! By the time your student has played every set of cards and read every reader, he will have learned 180 words. Of the 25 most common English words, 23 are on that list; of the 50 most common words, 42 are on that list. So this little game of reading really does prepare your student well. The readers are illustrated with cute
Post a Comment
Read more

The Making of an Egyptian Death Mask

We are learning all about the ancient world this year with Story of the World I and loving it! We've been learning a lot about Egypt, of course, which is completely fascinating. Most recently we have studied the New Kingdom of Egypt, which includes the story of King Tut. So we decided making an Egyptian death mask in the style of King Tut's would be a fun project. First since it was too cold at the time to paper mache in the garage (it probably would have frozen instead of dried-ha) and it was too messy to do it in the house, we decided to pick up a couple of cheap craft masks at Hobby Lobby. Next we cut out cardboard shapes to complete the shape of the death mask, attaching them with hot glue. Vince even put a little detail on the *beard* with the hot glue per The Princess' request. Then the kiddos started to paint them with this metallic gold tempera paint. It worked okay for the cardboard, but would not coat the plastic of the mask. We thought maybe a second coat
23 comments
Read more

Door Hanger Chore Charts

My kids have had a chore chart for a while.  It's one of those magnetic boards and they share it.  However, it's not by their rooms and often they (and I) forget to update it.  Plus it's a little bulky.   When I saw the concept of a door hanger chore chart on Pinterest, I loved it!  It was compact, right there were the kiddos could see it coming out and going into their rooms, and it costs almost nothing to make.   I headed over to one of my favorite stores: Hobby Lobby, of course.  They  have these little wooden door hangers for .79.  I also grabbed a couple of packets of decorative buttons for $1.99 each.  I already had the clothes pins and the paint so those cost me nothing.   I began by painting the door hangers (I used tempera paints because that's what I had).  Then I grabbed a fine point Sharpie and the clothes pins and started writing chores on them, making sure to write them correctly so they will clip on the right direction.   The left
17 comments
Read more