April 20, 2009

Homeschool Planning

This is the time of year when my husband usually asks me for a list of the items I'd like to buy for the next homeschool year so we can plan accordingly with our finances. So I have been browsing catalogs and making lists for the past couple of weeks. Although I may change my mind on a couple of items once we attend our state homeschool convention in a couple months, I pretty much have a finished list of what I would like to do this fall.

Since we will have our soon-to-be 5 year old who will be formally doing school, I had to do some serious consideration on how we will work her into our schedule. Right now, she does preschool in a very relaxed way, usually when she wants to and when time allows. However, she is now learning to read so I want to work with her daily in a more scheduled manner. I plan to buy several books for her this year with the knowledge that we probably won't get through them all but it will give her some variety and choice on a daily basis as not to become bored with what she is doing. I also needed to incorporate some items to keep our two year old busy while we work and found some great learning toys that I know she will enjoy.

Here's what I am planning to use for the upcoming school year, along with several books for read-aloud and several more for independent reading. We will be working on finishing up Sonlight Science 1 with all the girls and if we get that done we will order Sonlight Science 2 later in the school year.

Homeschool Plan For 2009/2010 School Year

9 year old
7 year old
5 year old
2 year old

I think this is a nice mixture of curricula for the ages we are working with, especially the things from My Father's World which allow multiple ages to be taught together.

5 comments:

Erika W. said...

Michelle, have you been using Horizons math all along? And how do you like it? We've decided to (gulp!) homeschool starting next year, and while I've decided on most everything for curriculum, math is where I'm having a hard time for my soon-to-be fourth grader.

I'm impressed! I'm almost feeling overwhelmed planning for two!

Michele said...

Erika, this is our first year with Horizons and we LOVE it, it's so easy to use... just don't feel you have to do it all, there's a lot of options in the teacher's manual. Buy from Sonlight if you can, they have a kit with all sorts of sorters and blocks etc. you can buy to go with it, worth it's weight in gold! Feel free to email me if you have any more questions.

Erika W. said...

That's fantastic to hear the high recommendation. I've decided to go with Sonlight for most of our curriculum since my kids are huge readers, so adding the math will be no problem.

BTW, it's been very helpful to me that you list your HS curriculum on the blog. I spent so much time perusing the different sites and curricula that you mentioned. I will certainly not be afraid to ask more questions... it's nice that we decided in advance to HS, so I've had a lot of time to look things over and really weigh my options.

vehementflame said...

Yep! It's that time again! Do you ever buy from Christian Book Distrubitors (CBD) ? very cheap!!! Erika W, We use Saxon Math and Love it!! I need to do a post on our home studies shelf!So much to do!! You are gonna be a busy bee this year!!! and don't you looooovvvee the conventions!!

Michele said...

Erika, I really like Sonlight. We used part of their LA program last year and their Science... wonderful! It is very hard to choose when it's your first year HSing but the great thing is there are so many wonderful things to choose from!

vehementflame, yes I do use CBD for lots of things and amazon.com for my readers with their buy 3 get one free program it really helps cut costs. Last year was our first year at convention and we do love it very much. Can't wait to hear about what your family is going to use. :0)