Planning For Next School Year

Posted by LisaV | 0 comments

Although the boys and I are still completing the current school year, my thoughts have turned to what curriculum we’ll use in the fall. We plan to continue with most of what we are presently studying. However, we may look into My Father’s World or other options for science and social studies, both of which were mostly hit and miss this year.

Our current school year

Last fall, we emphasized the basics and added topics of interest as we had time. While our children have been reading at a high school level for a couple years, their writing needed improvement. With the boys at 13 and 10, we needed to get more serious about our studies, as they’ll be reaching high school all too soon.

We start our day with Bible. This time includes reading the Bible according to a schedule, keeping a prayer journal to record prayer requests, answers to prayer, and verses that we can share with others, and memorizing verses for Kids 4 Truth, our church’s Wednesday night program.

Following Bible time is mathematics. We’ve been using Math-U-See since we started home schooling seven years ago and have been pleased with it every year. The children are currently in Zeta and Pre-Algebra. We may continue math in the summer.

We hit language arts hard this year and found many good resources for our studies:

•   Both boys have used A Reason for Handwriting since we started home schooling. Once our seventh grader completed level F, we decided to end formal handwriting practice for him. Our fifth grader is in level E.

•   We discovered Daily Grams this year. Each lesson includes a page of capitalization, punctuation, grammar and sentence combining to keep their skills sharp and reinforce what they’ve learned. Typical grammar programs may spend weeks on nouns and then weeks on verbs. By the time they get to punctuation, the children have already forgotten about adjectives. Our younger son uses Easy Grammar in conjunction with Daily Grams, while our older, kinesthetic son does better with Advanced Winston Grammar.

•   Our boys are on level 2 of Rosetta Stone Spanish. Midway into our year, we decided to forgo the worksheets, quizzes, and tests, and focus solely on the computer parts of Rosetta Stone.

•   For writing, we completed a Meaningful Compositions book the first semester and transitioned to Institutes for Excellence in Writing level B in the spring. We did not have a formal writing program before this year, and I liked that the videos do most of the instructing.

•   Another winner this year is Spelling Power, which places kids on the level where they need to begin and uses research-proven words and techniques to help them learn to spell.

•   We do dictation every Friday. The boys write a verse I read aloud to them.

•   The kids also keep journals at night to record the day’s happenings and work on their rhymes, which they enjoy.

For reading, our younger son is currently studying Noah Webster while our older son is learning about General Patton. They both read The Wall Street Journal, National Geographic, and Clubhouse magazine on a regular basis.

They use Mavis-Beacon software for typing and email their dad or grandparents daily. For science, we’re using R.E.A.L. Science Earth and Space, and for history we’ve used American Adventures.

Our boys are heavily involved in basketball and baseball, which we count for health. They call their grandparents every Friday as part of speech class and serve as greeters at church while handing out bulletins.

Looking Ahead

For the summer, we may continue with pre-algebra, grammar, and spelling. We’ve heard good things about My Father’s World for science and social studies, but the rest seems to be working and we plan to continue on in the fall.

What curriculum do you plan on using next year?

Lisa Van Dong has been teaching her two sons since 2004 and attempts to incorporate study, work, service, and play into their homeschooling days. She takes an eclectic approach to homeschooling and enjoys reading, writing, editing, and essential oils. Lisa blogs publicly at Pockets of Time and privately at Scooter and B.