Another Summer

Another summer is quickly approaching. Here in the great Northwest, I always tell myself that summer doesn't officially start til the 4th of July--and even then it can be a cool day. At least then I don't get too surprised when it's cold outside and the end of June...or something like that. The kids are itching to go outside at 8am, and I'm just not prepared to face the outdoors at that hour lately.



I think I've hit the end of the year exhaustion that homeschool moms talk about. I've got headaches, allergies and I can barely drag myself out of bed in the morning. Not complaining, really, just reality. I cant remember when I've just wanted to sleep...and sleep...and sleep-except maybe after my youngest was born, but that's kind of natural, I think. I keep thinking I'll snap out of it at some point. I love summer! I love being outside early in the morning, weeding my plants, hearing the birds, feeling the cool air before it gets hot outside. Maybe if I could just sleep for a few days/nights in a row, I'd get my energy back and be ready for the days ahead.



I have been mulling over next year though. I know we're going to keep doing school for a few days a week, taking breaks when we need to, but next year looms large ahead of me in just a few short months. It seems every where I turn, I read about or hear about how to plan for your new school year! I've got a rough idea of where we're headed, and since I'm a 'paper girl' at heart, I know I've got to get it all typed out and printed before I forget everything that's swimming in my head.



So far I've got almost everything curriculum-wise for the basics.

Our basic plan for 2008-09:

For Bible, we go through the Bible every year starting in Genesis. We round it out by adding lapbooks, timelines, and just going a little deeper each year. We do our Bible time together with all the kids. That's where most of our character lessons come in as well. We memorize Scripture too; right now we're finishing up our ABC verses-1 verse beginning with each letter of the alphabet. No special curriculum is needed for that. woohoo! The kids all got their first Bibles from Nana and Papa for Christmas and are enjoying having their own to read along with (or some just pretend, but it's still good practice ;o) )

For my Preschooler:

*Acitvity Bags. I am so excited about this. We already do this at home,-- I'm a former pre-k and daycare teacher,-- but I'm hoping this will give me some fresh ideas to help the little one keep busy and entertained.

*Carissa at 1+1+1 has made some fantastic tot-lapbooks that I know will be a hit at our home as well.

*Little Hands to Heaven. I found this on sale somewhere and hope to implement it in with our Bible study for the little one's level as well as begin some fun learning.

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For my Kindergartener:

*Math U See Primer

*Still need to order Letters and Sounds K next month

*A Reason for Writing - K

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For my 2nd grader:

*Abeka 2 Math

*Abeka 2 Language, Spelling and Letters and Sounds

*A Reason for Writing -T

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For everyone:

*Various reading books at everyone's levels. We have quite a collection growing in our home--doesn't every homeschooler? I've been lucky to find either the entire series or piece them together bit by bit thanks to thrift store shopping.
This year we started reading the Little House books for our read-aloud time. I think we'll trade off between those and Narnia as my duckies are getting old enough to be interested in those stories.

*Considering God's Creation will be our core science curriculum this year. I am really excited about it. I found it at our local curriculum faire this year for a HUGE discount--woohoo! It will be easy to create lapbooks or notebooks as we go along to add to the kids' learning experience.

*For History we're going to try statehistory.net to learn about our state. It's a really neat looking program that all the kids can do together. It's a notebooking style study that has all kinds of fun activities for the kids to put together. I think we'll start with that and study the people of our state history along with it such as Lewis and Clark, the Whitmans, Pocahontas, etc. As usual, we'll add in lapbooks especially with history and science.

I'm still deciding on a character curriculum. I like Pearables, but I also found out that IHOP has a children's curriculum focusing on praise and prayer that fits with our style of worship and prayer. A friend in my local h.s. group is trying out IHOP, so I might ask her what age level their program is geared for. I can always do one this year and the other next year.

*I also have in the works a modesty/princess/manners & chivlary/manners notebook for each of my older children. I hope to have most of the kinks worked out by September.



Sounds like fun to me!