2012-2013 School Plans

Can I let my inner-nerd out, for just a second? I have something I want to say...
I AM SO EXCITED FOR THE SCHOOL YEAR TO START!!!

Okay. I feel better. :)

Since a young age, I've loved the beginning of the school year. The anticipation of the changes to come, as fall is ushered in. It's a wonderful time of year... my favorite, actually.

Since the birth of my eldest, Lane, I have looked forward to his first day of kindergarten. Dressing him in crisp, new clothes, sending him off on the big yellow bus, with a backpack full of freshly sharpened pencils and wide ruled paper. Well, there won't be any bus, but there will be plenty of fresh school supplies (ahhh... nerd heaven!)

This will be our first year of officially homeschooling. I am excited, terrified, bewildered, and am in serious planning mode.  Lane will be starting kindy curriculum, but I'll be calling his grade level K4, because I haven't decided yet if I want him to be a year ahead.

Here is what we are planning, so far:

• Phonics
• I will probably just check out some readers from the library for Lane.  We're working on Learn to Read in 100 Easy Lessons, so I'm hoping he will be reading by the end of summer or early fall.
• Math
• I really wanted to do Math-U-See, but it is SO expensive.  I will be trying to do the same type of program, minus the cost. I'm thinking about making some DIY manipulatives and games, so stay tuned for those blog posts... ;)
• Science
•  Seton Science 1, purchased for dirt cheap at a homeschool book sale, combined with living books and science experiments.  We are also doing Nature Study once a week.
• History
• We will be starting Module 1, from SimplyCharlotteMason.com.  I also felt it was important we cover at least some American history, so we will be covering the early Native Americans until about Jamestown.
• Religion
• Seton Kindergarten Pre-Kindergarten Religion, combined with reading living books on the Saints and Bible stories.  We will also work on learning several prayers through out the year. (When we attended the IHM Conference, we compared the Pre-K and Kindergarten texts and decided that the Pre-K would be more appropriate for Lane.  The Kindergarten book was very similar to the Baltimore Catechism, which we already have.)
• Spanish
• My mom, who is a native speaker, will be coming over once a week to read a Spanish book, and introduce vocabulary, etc.  I will reinforce the vocab throughout the week.
• Art
• We will be doing Charlotte Mason style artist studies.
• Music
• Hopefully, we are looking for affordable violin or piano lessons for Lane. I would really love for him to take Suzuki violin lessons.  We will also be doing a hymn studies throughout the school year.
• Reading
•  I am working on a long list of books we will be reading, but that will be a whole 'nother post.