2012-2013 Curriculum plans for 8th grade

I still can't believe that our high school years, once so far off, are just around the corner now.  With Josh being in 8th grade, I feel the need to up our game play a bit in preparation for not only high school and college but the "real world".

Here is what I have on tap for this school year.  Things may change once we get into our routine but, for now, this is the plan.

8TH GRADE

Curriculum spine:

 Mystery of History, Vol. II
Josh completed Vol. 1 for 7th grade and we enjoyed it so much that we will keep this as our primary focus and build around it (similar to what Paths of Exploration does).

Before we begin that, though, we will be exploring WWI, WWII and possibly the Cold War era, via unit studies that I'm piecing together through some wonderful resources online.  My son has BEGGED me to learn about these two wars for several months now.  I minored in History in college (actually I'm a semester away from a second degree in it), so I'm linear and chronological when it comes to tackling history.  Because it tells a story (and you can't put the cart before the horse), I don't like to jump around too much nor do I like to skip ahead.

I've had to get over this, though.  Paths of Exploration for my 5th grader, is not chronological and it just seems silly to stomp out the love of learning about the World Wars in my eldest while we WAIT to get to that part of History (we are just beginning the Middle Ages this year, remember; He'd have awhile to wait!). So, I bring in the lovely beauty of unit studies and delight-directed learning!  He's so excited to begin the school year learning about something that he really desires to understand more... and I'm excited that he's excited!



Math: Undecided.  We will begin with refreshers in fractions with Keys to Fractions, however, after that...  I'm looking at Teaching Textbooks - Pre-Algebra or PLATO pre-algebra course.


Bible:

 Both boys will be working together through a new curriculum from LearnChrist called "The Disciple curriculum".  Learn more about it here.

To help gain a better knowledge of the books of the Bible, Josh will also be reading "The Barebones Bible Handbook for Teens: Getting to Know Every Book of the Bible"

For his personal quiet time, Josh will be continuing his work through this highly recommended study. It is curriculum from Positive Action and you can learn more about it here

Language Arts:

We are switching gears this year from Shurley English to some other resources that will better fit our family, I believe.
For an well-structured writing program, we've chosen WriteShop I.  For formal grammar, we are switching over to Easy Grammar.  It's the same material as Shurley English but presented in a less convoluted manner, I feel.  Then, we are adding a gem that I found over at Rainbow Resource - Daybook of Critical Reading and Writing!  Once I got this in my hand, I KNEW this was an excellent resource!  Short, daily assignments in learning to critically read,write and think.

Both of my boys will work through English from the Roots Up together as well as well as be required to produce monthly research reports, write their own poem and short story.  My eldest will be working through The Grammar of Poetry one day per week. This will be an exciting course!

My 8th grader is a VORACIOUS reader, so to keep him challenged as well as tie his literary devourings to History, I've come up with a list of History readers he'll be working through this year. This is large but completely within his capabilities.  If he doesn't finish one or two, I'm fine with it but I must be prepared for his need to read!

* The Eagle of the Ninth (he can read the rest of the trilogy in his free time)
* Attila the Hun - A Wicked History book
* Black Horses for the King
* Beowulf
* Son of Charlemagne
* The Story of Rolf and the Viking Bow
* A Proud Taste for Scarlet and Miniver
 * King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table
* Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
* If All the Swords in England
* Robin Hood
* St. George and the Dragon
* Canterbury Tales
* A Single Shard
* Joan of Arc
* Otto of the Silverhand
* Castle
* The Great and Terrible Quest


In addition to this list of historical fiction, he'll add these to his literature line-up:

Science: First semester - Forensic Science.  We will be using a variety of resources for this that I've pieced together.  Detective Science book, Crime Scene Investigation kit from HomeScience Tools, and a unit study from CurrClick will be our materials.  Several years ago, my son read the entire Sherlock Holmes series for fun.  Like his mother, he has an interest in crime sleuthing and so we'll chase this interest during the first semester.  Consider it "Career exploring"!

Second Semester - Botany (along with my 5th grader).  Typically, 8th graders are knee-deep in a General Science, Physical Science, or Biology course at this point but I wanted to incorporate some interest-led learning here.  This is our last year to homeschool before all of it "counts" (In California, you don't have to record anything you do for school until High School).  So, I figure, we have 4 years to cover Biology, Chemistry, General Science and the like.  California only requires two years of Science but we'll do it all 4 years of High School, so that gives us the opportunity to explore now!

Electives:

* The Art of Argument - We'll be working through this with a group of friends in our home each week.  I'm excited for this topic and group of kids!

* Piano lessons - we are still considering whether we will include this again this year or not.

* Various unit studies throughout the year

* Homeschool Computer Programming course that the boys will work through with their Dad

*Art - We are fortunate enough to have an artist in our family, so "Nana" leads the boys through various art lessons one time per week.


That's how our 8th grade year is shaping up around here!  Join me at the Not-Back-To-School Blog hop with ihomeschoolnetwork.com!

2012-2013 Curriculum plans for 5th grade

We are entering into our 5th year of homeschooling and I can't believe it!  What once was never, ever on our radar has become a fixture in our life.  My husband, ever-so supportive, has been a huge cheerleader and champion of our homeschooling journey, despite being the biggest skeptic of them all in the beginning!

Hearts have been changed (praise God), knuckles have re-gained their pinkish color and no longer white, and relationships have been strengthened.  With each passing year, God reminds us that our job isn't academic so much as spiritual.  This is not to say we don't have high goals in the area of academics but they are not the end result that we are focused on when we wrap up our homeschooling journey!

Curriculum choosing and lesson planning always bring a mixture of excitement and information overload for me!  This year was no different but we've settled on our plan for this upcoming school year.

5th Grade

Curriculum spine:  Trail Guide to Learning's Path of Exploration complete curriculum - http://www.home-school-curriculum.com/learning_series/Paths_of_Exploration/

We are very excited to be using this curriculum this year!  Having flipped through the lesson plans, we can't wait to get started!  Check back for more posts, updating as we go along and move into the curriculum!

 (please note: the supplemental items below are of MY choosing; not because I felt POE was lacking but because they meet the needs of my own child and our schedule best).

Math:  Math Mammoth  - http://www.mathmammoth.com/
Easy. Well-laid out. Helpful to both parents and students!

Bible: 

Learn Christ curriculum.  http://www.learnchrist.com/   After attending our state homeschool conference and listening to the creators of this curriculum, I knew I had to implement this!

We are also still working through this curriculum from last year - a chronological study of the books and people of the Bible.  If it is too much, we will put this on the backburner to work on Learn Christ curriculum first.

Science supplements: 

Truth in Science - http://www.truth-in-science.com/
We'll be finishing up this curriculum from last year as we work through the nature studies POE provides.  I highly recommend this little known, excellent curriculum!

The Story Book of Science read-aloud  - http://www.amazon.com/Story-Science-Yesterdays-Classics-ebook/dp/B003FGX1A2/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1344626350&sr=8-2&keywords=the+story+book+of+science

Additional Language Arts resources:

Just Write workbooks to introduce the formal writing process in bite sized chunks.   We will be working through Books 1 and 2 this school year.

English from the Roots Up is something we started a few years ago and let fall due to illness, crazy schedule.. well, just life!  The boys enjoyed it and retained the roots well and because I'll have an 8th grader this year, I knew I needed to insert this gem back into our school days.

Thanks to  Cynce's Place - http://www.cyncesplace.com/Journal/english-from-the-roots-up/ - all the planning and prep has been done for me!  I printed out her schedule, tests and games and we are ready to go!

We are BIG readers around here! My 5th grader... not as much, so I want to add some fun tales to peak his interest more.  In addition to the wonderful historical fiction my 5th grader will be reading through POE, I'll be adding these classics to the line-up:

We'll be doing some delight-directed unit studies here and there throughout the year as well but this is it in a nutshell!  As always, things can change as we get into the meat of this plan!

Stay tuned for my post on our curriculum plan for our 8th grader!

Join me in seeing what others are doing for their curriculum this year over at www.ihomeschoolnetwork.com

Monthly Meal Planning...

I know, right?  MONTHLY meal planning?!  I'm crazy, right?  Nope.  I did this for most of my 15 married years but mysteriously, suddenly quit doing it about 3.5 years ago.  Actually, I know precisely when I did.  The August that we decided to homeschool and buy a house within two months of each other!  What were we thinking?!  Oh yeah.  That's right.  We weren't.

Well, needless to say, I never recovered from throwing two major life decisions (and adjustments) together for a wee bit 'o fun!  Several times over these past 3+ years, I've tried to go to a weekly menu planning system.... and I can't do it.  My brain JUST. DOESN'T. WORK. LIKE. THAT.  It's weird.  I couldn't get motivated until I realized that weekly meal planning required, well, a LOT more work!  More planning sessions.  More trips to the store.  More. More. More.  Blech.  I'm trying to do Less. Less. Less.  This wasn't working.

So, I went back to what worked for 12 years of our marriage.  Monthly meal planning.  To some, that may be overwhelming but I say to them... it is freeing.  Really.

This is how I do it:
* Sit down in a comfy chair, a yummy drink, and a month calendar print out

* Look at your calendar for activities you already KNOW you have for the month and plan meals for those nights FIRST.

* Allow one or two nights for take-out, especially on those crazy, busy nights.  Monthly meal planning helps us TREMENDOUSLY in NOT eating out!

* Then, plug in favorite meals, easy meals, meals for Sundays, meals for your "crunch" day or late-night days.

* Allow for leftovers some nights.

* Plug-in a few new recipes to try.  You know, to keep things exciting!

*Make a grocery list from the calendar, post the calendar somewhere and go to the store (wait for your paycheck, if you need to first, though).  Either shop for the month, with a couple of "fresh fruits and veggie" runs OR shop per paycheck (which is every two weeks for us, splitting the calendar in half).

... and you should have your 30ish days covered!

Here's the benefits of Monthly Meal Planning:
* IT SAVES MONEY!  No more last minute trips to the store, impulse buying or getting take out because dinner time is approaching, you have nothing planned and your brain hurts from trying to think of something.  Trust me, I've been there! This way, allows you to put eating out in its place - as a special treat - not the norm!


* IT SIMPLIFIES SHOPPING!  The grocery list is made directly from your calendar and so you have all the ingredients you might need right before you, in ONE planning session.  Trips to the store are minimized.  Less money is spent.  No more endlessly wandering the store for what might be good to eat!


* IT CLEARS THE BRAIN!  Gone are questions like "What's for dinner?" from your spouse, kids or even yourself!  No more afternoon panic about what to make. You've taken the task of thinking about dinner (which is often overwhelming at the last minute) from dread to ease!  You gave yourself the gift of pre-planning and room in your brain for other important things.  Like Pinterest ideas! :)  


* IT PROVIDES FLEXIBILITY!  I get some pushback on this one every once in awhile.  Some feel locked into having to eat what they wrote down in each square.  Not so!  If you arrive at June 14 and you aren't feeling the Chicken Parmesan you scheduled, NO PROBLEM!  Switch it with another day's meals.  If you've already gone grocery shopping, you've got the ingredients.  Flip them around!  If this is still a concern for you, plan more new recipes to add interest into your dinners!


* IT SAVES MONEY!  Yes, I know this is a repeat but it's true and worth repeating!  If you've shopped for the month or even two weeks at a time, dinners are in the bag!  Should your month run tight with an unexpected bill, guess what?  Grocery money won't be an issue because you've got the stuff necessary to make your meals!  


I love, love planning out meals a month at a time and I'm sorry to have abandoned it for so long!  How do you plan your family's meals? Weekly? Monthly?