My child who will be in AOyr 4 in the fall is my easiest child to homeschool. She learns so much on her own, does her work quickly and with the least amount of fuss. I think I could put anything in front of her and she would take it and work with it. Such a pleasure and I don't appreciate her enough. I need to tell her so.....
Ok, I'm back. She will actually be in "grade 5" but I learned with my first two to take it slow and wait until the child is really ready for "school" to begin. So with this one we did Five In A Row an extra year and then began. I think it made her year 1 so much easier.
Here is what I have for her this year. I am following AO yr 4 pretty closely. I have learned to combine history and science so I only have to understand and keep up with 2 time periods instead of 4. It SEVEN YEARS for me to understand what I needed to do and at least 2 yrs to figure out how. I'm not slow...just stubborn!
Copywork: We will work on writing 2 sentences a day, mainly from her dictation passages.
Dictation: One paragraph prepared each week from her readings in science, history, etc. We will focus on seeing the words in the mind. ( I did NOT do this well with my first and see now how it has hurt her. Teaching attention to detail flows into attention in reading, narration and other areas..)
Grammar: We will begin FLL level 4. I have learned to gently introduce nouns, pronouns, verbs, sentence types, commas, and such from second grade to third grade. I finally bought FLL level 1 to help me know WHAT to teach and some ways to use our copywork for grammar also. I will do this over 2 yrs, spreading it out to learn it slowly but surely.
Typing: We use Mavis Beacon and all my kids have enjoyed it so far. This child is so excited to learn to type. It's something she's talked about all year.
Math: Continue with Delta and begin Epsilon sometime this year. She picks up math concepts pretty easily.
Spanish: Again, something to look at as this child and my youngest are finished with the series they were using this year.
Plutarch: I will be using this book for Plutarch. I think this child and my son will be the ones who end up loving this. My eldest...well, I went about it wrong in the beginning and set her up to dislike the stories. Maybe we can draw her in with these.
Shakespeare: We will continue to use this to read Shakespeare.
Geography: Tree in the Trail and Seabird, both by H.C. Holling together with my youngest.
Poetry: Tennyson, Dickinson, and Wordsworth, using the Young Persons Poetry series. They are wonderful!
Literature: Age of Fable---I have learned that this should be read aloud and discussed. Don't leave your child unattended. They won't get the point of the readings and MAY get too involved with the stories. Robinson Crusoe, probably using this free online service. I love audios for some of the readings. The kids like to listen and I need a reading break. Kidnapped. I will probably read this to her because I haven't read it yet. I saw the BBC movie and loved it. We will watch it together when the book is finished. Incredible Journey, Legend of Sleepy Hollow, Paul Revere's Ride, and Rip Van Winkle.
History: Isn't this were we all head to first as homeschoolers? Cause if we get this right, all else seems to fall into place. Well, being the bit of rebel I am, I am going to figure this out LAST. When I DO figure it out, I will let you know. I can tell you we will be studying 1850-right after WWI. AND I am using Truthquest History Guides with the oldest 3 for help in tying it all together.
Science: Sticking with the together theme, we are studying whatever the eldest is studying and that would be...Chemistry. So for now I am using AIG's God's Design for Chemistry and Ecology, The Mystery of the Periodic Table, and a Van Cleaves Chemistry for Kids book. I also have a Science in the Kitchen book I will throw out there if someone wants to try something in it.
I also want to be more nature oriented. I am probably very naturey by nature, HMMM, but I want to be more specific. So again, going with the Outdoor Hour Challenge. We are supposed to observe and draw a geranium, but my stinkin' chickens ate the flowers. I guess we can observe all the OTHER aspects of this wonderful flower and watch for the blooms to come back.
Free reading, NOT FREE. These are must read books that they can read in any order. I usually have them pick out 3 or 4 at a time, they read these over a few weeks, and then we get more. Some they can download to their mp3 player and listen to, but others they must read.
Black Beauty by Anna Sewell
Pollyanna by Eleanor Porter
The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett
The Railway Children by Edith Nesbit
A Book of Golden Deeds by Charlotte Yonge
Bambi by Felix Salten
The Chronicles of Narnia series by C.S. Lewis
Little Britches series by Ralph Moody
The Borrowers by Mary Norton
Lassie Come Home by Eric Knight
Gentle Ben by Walt Morey
Gone Away Lake by Elizabeth Enright
Thimble Summer by Elizabeth Enright
Return To Gone Away by Elizabeth Enright
By the Shores of Silver Lake by Laura Ingalls Wilder
The Peterkin Papers by Lucretia Hale; 22 chapters; The Complete Peterkin Papers has a few additional chapters, but each chapter can stand alone. These were originally printed as serials in a magazine.
** Calico Captive (girl interest) or The Sign of the Beaver (boy interest) by Elizabeth George Speare
*** Johnny Tremain by Esther Forbes
Tree of Freedom by Rebecca Caudill
Amos Fortune, Free Man by Elizabeth Yates
*** The Reb and the Redcoats by Constance Savery (British view of revolution)
Justin Morgan had a Horse by Marguerite Henry
This was a long post, again, but when you are working through something, you gotta get it down or it flies out the window. Also, I know it looks like a lot, it is spread out over 36 weeks, using this as my guide.
thanks for reading,
Reb
