I just finished our schedule for school this coming year. I feel very accomplished!
We aren't going to have a whole lot of days off this year, but we have to take an extra week off in December for my court case. So here is the dates I have planned:
September 13, 2010 - Start school
November 22-26 - Thanksgiving Break
December 6-10 - No school for court
December 20-31 - Christmas Break
April 18-22 - Spring Break
June 10 - Last day of school
I have also split the year up into quarters because it made it easier for my to plan. So here are the quarters, they are each 8.5 weeks, as we are in school 34 weeks.
1st Quarter September 13-November 10
2nd Quarter November 11-February 4
3rd Quarter February 7-April 5
4th Quarter April 6-June 10
And here is how I split each day up:
Bible 10 min.
History 20-30 min.
Writing & Journal 10 min.
Phonics 15 min.
Independent Reading 15 min.
Language Arts 30 min.
Math 20 min.
Classes that are split up during the year (Science, Music, Health, Social Studies, Arts) 30 min.
I also have written down what we will be studying each week for those classes that are split up and Language Arts. So the only things that are left for me to do as each new subject comes up is choosing how we will study that subject.
For example, when Personal and Dental Hygiene comes up in Health, I will have to choose what books to read, what activities to do and anything extra for that. I don't want to do that much planning all now, because I enjoy the planning process of school. I really want to make that last through the year!
I feel like I am really set for school this year. The kids want to start early, so we might just do that. Who knows. That's the beauty of home schooling! If you'd like to read what subjects that we will be covering this year, read this post here.
We have been doing school very sporadically lately. I haven't even done enough to blog about! I have not been disciplined either. But that's really ok, because I planned on doing school through most of the summer anyways. We are almost done. We will still be doing Kindergarten with Kyle, so his school years may be off for a bit. But he wasn't supposed to start until this school year, so I'm not worried about it at all.
Amanda will be done with her math soon. Then we will just keep on working through the Hooked on Phonics and reading. Kyle will do the same basically. We'll start other subjects in September. I am going to sit down here really soon and detail my plans. But I do have tentative plans on what I want them to learn next year. They will do all subjects together but math, phonics and reading. Here is what I have so far:
Health & Safety
Personal Cleanliness
Dental Hygiene
Basic Food Groups
Neighborhood Safety
Safety (Fire, Earthquake, etc)
Social Studies
Holidays and Festivals
Patriotic celebrations
Basic Geography (Oceans, Continents, etc)
Map skills and using a compass
Manners
Visual Arts
Lines
Sculptures
Landscapes
Animals in art
Abstract art
Architecture
Leonardo Da Vinci
Van Gogh
Michealangelo
Picasso
Music
Many Kinds
Patriotic Music
Folk Music
Classical music Mozart
Other great composers
Families of instruments
Writing music down
Notes
Pitch: High & Low
Scales
Hymns
Beethoven
History
What is history?
Creation
Adam & Eve
The Nomads
Egyptians I
Sumerians
Jewish People
The Assyrians I
India I
China I
Africa
Egypt I
Phoenicians
The Assyrians II
Babylon
Crete
Greeks I
Medes & Persians
Sparta & Athens
Greeks II
Alexander the Great
People of Americas
Rome I
India II
Chine II
Rome II
Jesus' birth
Jesus' miracles
Jesus' parables
Jesus' Crucifixion & Resurrection
Rome & Christians
Barbarians
End of Rome
Science
Life cycle
Dinosaurs
Weather
Seasons
Climate
Water cycle
Air & atmosphere
Magnets, forces & simple machines
Gravity
Earth
Sun. moon, planets
Simple constellations
Scientific method & scientific inquiry
Human Body
Scientists
Anton van Lesuwenhock
Florence Nightingale
Daniel Hale Williams
Elijah McCoy
Liquids & Solids
Rocks, clays & soils
Language Arts (Kyle only will be doing the one with a star next to it)
Poetry*
Charlotte's Web*
Tales of the Fourth Grade Nothing*
Sentences
Nouns-Singular & Plural
Verbs-Past and present
Adjectives
Antonyms & Synonyms
Contractions
Abbreviations
Using Capital Letters
Letter writing
Silent reading
Oral reading
Quotation marks
Punctuation
Learn how to use a dictionary
Spelling
Writing
Journal
Mummies in the Morning*
Learn about books and how to look them up in a library
The Borrowers*
The Boxcar Children*
Pirates Past Noon*
Beezus & Ramona*
The Sign of the Beaver*
Superfudge*
The BFG*
Phonics for each child is Hooked on Phonics program
