School planning 2010/11

In between all the unpacking, I've been thinking about our upcoming school year, which we are planning to begin tomorrow. I wanted to do a lot of the same things as last year, but I wanted to change some things, too.

Normally, I spend weeks and week thinking and praying and reading books and blogs to help me work it all out, but I haven't had time this year. I usually spend hours printing out papers and going through each book so I'm well prepared. But I have had bits of time here and there to work on it all and, actually, for me, it's relaxing to sit down with my papers and planner and think about it and look at my books.

Anna is trying to finish up high school this year. She only needs about 5 credits and we think she can finish by May.

Most of Abby, Thomas, and Carrie's school work will be the same as last year: same math (different level, of course), same English/spelling/writing. Abby is moving up to Beyond Five in a Row. Thomas will do the science part of another Beyond FIAR book, Thomas Edison. Abby will have the same history, but Thomas and Carrie are changing to TruthQuest, too. I started using my Kathryn Stout Science Scope again last year with Thomas and Abby and we'll do the human body to start off this year.

Some things are going to be different, though.

Carrie is moving up to Apologia general science and time will tell if using a textbook will work out well for her. She's going to be reading Beautiful in God's Eyes and Ordinary Women and Their Extraordinary God for Bible class. Our home ec will center around planning birthdays and decorating cakes, reading hospitality books, and etiquette. We are still very interested in combining concepts from Thomas Jefferson Education and Charlotte Mason learning, so we will continue to also read classic literature together and discuss it. We'll finish The Hiding Place to begin our year. She is starting world/American history, which will be a three year course, using TruthQuest. And for Algebra I we'll be using Math Relief, which we used with several other kids and enjoyed. (OK, the kids say that enjoyed would not be the word they would use in reference to algebra!)

Thomas likes to read real books instead of readers, so we're going to read Swiss Family Robinson and discuss it as we go along. He's going to be studying the middle ages for history and I've ordered some books and borrowed Story of the World Volume 2 for the spine. We like TruthQuest a lot because we learn so much from reading real books aloud instead of using a dry textbook, which only hits the high spots of history.

Abby will be reading Pollyanna and discussing it with me. We'll be doing a unit about Helen Keller, which is exciting because we've moved near her birthplace. I want to work on her household skills and cooking since she's soon going to be 8 years old.

I have several things in mind that I want to try, but know that they may take some tweeking and rearranging of the schedule to make them work.

• I want to add a bit of quiet time every day for Thomas and Abby. I would like this time to be for personal Bible reading and prayer time, using a modified ACTS system with them, as well as time for silent reading. The whole family needs this, since most of the noise generated comes from them.
• We have been lazy about memorizing scripture for the past couple of years and I want to reinstate that. This is the part that's going to take some schedule adjusting, since it takes a chunk of time to work on it.
• I want to have Focus Time several times a week with both kids, for at least 30 minutes. My thought is to spend some time individually with each one, just talking about whatever they want to talk about or reading together and praying with each one. I'll admit it: I'm terribly distracted by household happenings and don't always listen when they tell me stuff. I spend all day with them, but not always focused on what is interesting to them.

Arts Week and Read Aloud Week will continue for the 3rd year, since they are such a huge success.

Well, that's about it. I always start off with grand plans and high hopes and great excitement. Some things have to be put off until another year, some things simply don't work, some things are great and I wonder why I haven't always done them. I'm asking God to lead me and help me have the right priorities, as I try to disciple our children and begin our 25th year of homeschooling.