The Plan

I officially withdrew the boys from school today.  I was a little sad, as I have thoroughly enjoyed the time they have spent at our primary school, but I truly feel God has called me to make this change and I am very excited for what our future as a family holds.  I have been researching for months to find the curriculum that I want to use for next year.  If you know me well, you will know that means that I have been having a lot of FUN!!!  I am a curriculum "junkie", so to speak.  I LOVE looking at different curriculums, reading about them, and finding what works for my students.  Since this is going to be our first year, I know that there will be a learning curve for myself as well.  I am excited to try out the curriculum I've chosen, and I hope it is as much fun as I think it will be!

We will be doing a few subjects together and then I will separate the boys for other subjects, according to their ability levels.  We will start each day with a Bible reading that goes along with our History lesson for the week or a devotional from the devotional book God's Amazing Creatures and Me.
  We will then work on memory work.  Memory work will include AWANA verses for both boys, and poetry for our oldest.  We will also do our calendar time (months, days, seasons, etc.) and Social Studies.  For Social Studies, we will be using A Beka Book's My America and My World.
  After Social Studies, our oldest (2nd grade) will start working on independent work.  He will have a "morning folder" that includes mapwork, math practice, and analogies.  After that, he will work on his Spelling lesson. We are using Rod and Staff for spelling.  While he is working on his morning work, I will work with our younger son (Kindergarten) on his math.  We are using Singapore Primary Math with both boys (Standards Edition). Our oldest will be using 2A/B and our youngest will be using 1A/B.
  Our 2nd grader will then work on handwriting (Zaner-Bloser Grade 3 - Cursive) while I work with our K'er on his reading (A Beka Reading 1).  Then it will be time for a break!  On most days, this will be a time when the boys can go outside and play or play inside on rainy days.  On Tuesdays, we will have "tea" time.  Now, my boys don't drink tea, but we will have milk and a sweet snack (banana bread, muffins, etc.) while I read poetry to them.

After the break, the oldest will work on his math while the younger one works on handwriting (A Reason for Handwriting K).  Then I will work on grammar/writing with the oldest using Primary Language Lessons.  I love this book!  It is so sweet but introduces a lot of important skills.  There are dictation exercises, selections to be memorized, drawing, picture lessons, nature and observation lessons, lessons in troublesome forms, copywork, compositions, letter-writing, and grammar lessons.
  While I am working on this with the oldest, the younger will have time to do one of his favorite activities - www.starfall.com!  He loves this website, and I love that it has helped him learn to read.  Another website both of the boys enjoy is www.readingeggs.com. 

Our older son will then have his reading/literature time.  During this time, he will read aloud to me from an assigned book. I will give our younger son the choice of listening in or having quiet reading time on his own.

We will have a relaxed lunch and then move into either history or science, depending on the day.  I have an hour set aside on MWF for History and T/Th for Science.  Both of these will be based on reading good books for the topic studies and doing a lot of hands-on projects.  For History, we will be using Story of the World 1 - Ancient Times, and for Science we will be using Building Foundations of Scientific Understanding.

We will finish our day with violin/piano practice (Oldest plays violin and youngest wants to learn piano.), clean up time, and free reading time.