Friday, May 18, 2012

Looking into the Future. . .

Hey there! Welcome to the Simple Homeschool readers. I'm super excited you're here!


I've been thinking/planning/researching school for this next year. Seriously, it's one of my favorite things: making book lists, researching curriculum choices, thinking ahead into next year and all the great things we'll learn this year. 


Right now, I'm planning on teaching a 3rd grade boy, a 2nd grade girl, and a Kindergarten girl. Also, as part of my planning, I am thinking about our in-process adoption and making plans for if our kids come home sometime during this next school year (which at this point seems highly unlikely). Our homeschool is a blend of Classical and Charlotte Mason with a whole lot of life thrown in.


For our core, I use Tapestry of Grace Year 3, which I love because I love history and whole-learning. We will be studying the 19th century which covers imperialism, South America, the Westward Expansion, the Civil War and the beginning of the Industrial Revolution (Oh, the learning, Oh, the books!) I use this as a base for all my kids and it covers history, geography, writing, reading,and lots of projects. 


Also together we will do science and Bible. I am leaning toward NOEO science for this year in Chemistry. My son is begging to do some chemical reactions! For Bible, we're going learn about missionaries as we "discover" different places in the world. However, I'm still looking for good books on them! 


And of course, everyone takes math. I've taught Singapore Math for all their years and really like what we've got going, so we're sticking with that. I've really liked Getty-Dubay handwriting. So all three will have that at their appropriate level. 


For my 3rd grader I'm adding Easy Grammar. Just 'cause. 


For my Kindergartner, she's so anxious to have her own workbooks. So she'll have handwriting, math, and Explode the Code. I'm also going to do a modified Five-in-a-Row with her. I want to have that cuddle time for as long as I can!


Finally, I'm spending a good deal of time mentally preparing for the time when life changes when we (prayerfully) bring home new siblings. To prepare for the trip to Africa and the adjustment times, I'm preparing lists of learning games and projects for the older three. I'm going to purchase/create a unit study on Africa and a bulk of our learning (outside of workbooks) will be processing the realities of our trip and learning all we can.


Through all this, we'll read. Lots and lots of books! 



2 comments:

Rebecca said...

Just had a random thought for you - for Missionary stories, the archives of Christian History Magazine are online and it looks like they have a lot of missionary stories and articles.
http://www.christianitytoday.com/ch/byperiod/modern
and
http://www.christianitytoday.com/ch/bytopic/missionsworldchristianity

This is a grown up book, but a few years ago I read Pure Gold, a biography about Eric Liddell (of Chariots of Fire fame), also a missionary to China. I really enjoyed this book, but it's been a while, so not sure how kid-friendly it might be.
http://www.amazon.com/Eric-Liddell-Biography-Champion-Inspired/dp/1572931302/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1337375839&sr=8-1

Amy said...

Sounds like a good plan and good to be prepared for the change adoption brings! We have a little one from Africa too who, FYI, is a huge blessing! Let me know if you have an South America questions when you get there as that is where we live.

Amy @ Missional Mama