July 28, 2010

Oh, the joy of getting ready for the new year!

LOL...

I want to do everything!!

This years choice has been a hard one. I have noticed with working nights I stay on the same sleeping schedule whether I am off or not, so I am changing my days around at work.  I pretty much work one day here, day off, two days work, another day off and so on.  I think that should be more beneficial.  We'll see!

This year my 7yo is stuck on Time4learning.  She enjoyed it so much last year she doesn't like any other and will not budge. I love this program, but wonder sometimes if it has the review.  I was looking at AOP/Abeka when I came across

http://www.gigatribe.com/

Wow!! It's like a cross between limewire/facebook.  You post your folders and such, and when you are on your 'friends' can look at them.  I have people on there with Abeka, AOP...all free for the download!!  Give her a few worksheets for review, and she's still on Time4learning.

:)  One down!!

This year with my 9yo is kind of rough.  She is losing interest for the most part.  She does show some interest in AOP so I am going to give her copies of those, and when she finishes the 'lifepac' she'll get a week off.

I've also looked into the 'Little House on the Prairie' Book Series.  I have always been hesitant on this, as the teaching books can add up, but thanx to giga, I have them now!:)  So this year all of us will do these.

For the first few books we will be using 'Little House Classroom'.   This has background information on Laura's heritage.  We will be reading (together),

Set in Scotland, we will meet Laura's great-grandmother..

Next-

Here they meet Laura's grandmother.

Meet Laura's mother.

We will end the year with

Along with the 'Little House for the Classroom', manual, I also plan to use

I got this off giga :) Big smile!!!  Been wanting it for a long time.  Anyways, with this, it is pretty much a complete curriculum, minus a few 'additions' that I will make.  It puts science, simple math, geography and history-all in one!  Of course, you have to add more math and some Language Arts.  I plan to also use

for a brief understanding of grammar with my 7yo, perhaps trying to 'add it into' the unit conversation.  For my 9yo I am also adding a worksheet on AOP and another on Abeka for both math/language arts. ;) Can't decide on which one, so I am just going to use them both!  I also have a 'homework sheet' from Critical Thinking Press.


For Language Arts, I think this will be good for my 9yo.  We start grammar at around grade 3, and this has a lot of critical thinking activities to do, along with learning/reviewing language arts skills.


This is also for her 'review' homework.  I do not have this for my 7yo, as I don't start 'formal schooling' until grade 3.  Right now I have a couple sheets for her to get by.  But nothing extensive.

But, anyways, this year I plan to have fun.  I think we have become too passive with me working nights- I am going to get more involved!  Will we finish all these books by the end of the year?

Well, I also plan to stop and do 'state studies', or any other area of interest.  That sure is the goal;) I also plan to read to them more often.  My biggest problem with this is falling asleep while I am reading (believe it or not, when you're tired, it really isn't that hard!;)  I will post the books as we read them.

Happy Homeschooling!!