Written below is what I began the year with. I am not deleting it just yet (not sure why, though, except it was a lot of writing and I am not ready to lose it) but our plans have changed. What we are doing these days is closer to Unschooling than anything else. Everything I have learned and everything my kids have taught me is that they KNOW how to learn and when I try to push things, it is not only unnecessary – they often backfire.
We are loosely following The Story of the World for history and I am looking into Living Math for ideas in that subject.
PREVIOUS PLAN:
Base curriculum: Oak Meadow, Second Grade – I went with second grade because Waldorfs start out so slow and since we are not truly Waldorf, we are a little ahead. As a plus, the second grade curriculum is based in animal stories which is perfect for my little animal-loving girl.
In the morning, after we finish our morning routine, we have a small circle time. We say our morning verse:
We sing songs, dance a little, practice relaxation on those squirrelly days, and then Margie reads to me. We may take turns in the future, as well.
We finish up with our closing verse:
And we head off to do our morning lesson. More on that as we get into this curriculum. Oak meadow also recommends an afternoon lesson, but we have so much going on and we do so much learning in so many other ways as well, I am considering leaving our afternoons open for other sorts of things.
Music: Within Oak Meadow is a book on recorder lessons. We will be following these lessons together.
Spanish: I picked up a Hooked on Spanish set at Big Lots a couple of months ago. Looking at the first level (it’s a three level program) I think it will be pretty easy for us, so I will be looking into something to follow this up.
Art: My good friend, Claire, hosts a twice-monthly art class at her house. The kids learn a new concept each time. So far they have learned about lines, embossing, stained glass (kid-version) and observational drawing.
PE: Margie will hopefully be attending a gymnastics class at JW Tumbles once a week. I’m still waiting for the paperwork to go through, cross your fingers for us!
Speech: Both kids are in speech this year. Margie goes once a week for an hour and is working on her L’s, Sh’s, and Th’s. Elliott goes twice a week for half an hour and is working on some sounds, but also on communication – learning to find words for the things he wants to say.
Misc: Monthly we go on field trips with one of our homeschool groups. Upcoming this Fall will be a trip to an organic farm and a ride on a train. We also attend a park day closer to home once a week with another homeschool group. And we are hoping to form a new Camp Fire USA group (since our old one fizzled).
