Highlights
Looking ahead part 3
Sandee Macgregor / August 7, 2020
Friday Highlights
It’s August and my mind has fast forwarded into the a school mindset. I just can’t help it, It’s the teacher in me . Whether planning for your own kids or classroom you understand the need to prepare, plan and be purposeful. I began the ‘Looking ahead’ series to outline what we have been using for our own school days. Bible is how we begin our days so that is where I began (see previous blog posts Looking ahead part 1 and 2). Today I plan to share choices from this past year. Perhaps in time I will dig into the archives from years gone by and share what a day looked like for the other three kids when they were learning at home. For now, just the two youngest that finished grade 4 and 7.
After bible in the morning we have two news sites that we listen to while eating breakfast or just sitting in the kitchen. One we watch online is CNN10 and the other we listen to The World View in 5 minutes. Both of these are brief overviews of events around the world. I like the fact they are short and if we decide to dig deeper into a world issue we easily can, it’s our current events moment. Reminds me of days gone by when we were told to bring a newspaper article to class to share. With media at our fingertips, newspapers seem a distant memory. Personally, I miss the comics!
I could turn on the TV, but I prefer this in the morning. We can watch anytime to catch up on local news. Following the news, we read the chosen read-a loud novel that we have for that week or month. One site I have found that is extremely useful is Read Aloud Revival. This link takes you right to her recommended page. I only found the site this year, but it is a great place to start to build a library of books for your family. Another great place to find amazing books is Sonlight. We actually began homeschooling with this curriculum over 14 years ago. My sister was using it at the time and actually seeing it action used made a huge difference, plus I could ask her a million questions, which I did! You can read about her life with 8 kids living in the country on her blog here! I have been blessed with two sisters that homeschool or have over the years. I can’t wait to introduce them to you through an interview series I have coming called Real Life, Real People, Real Stories! As a new homeschooler this was such a great place to begin the journey. It is all prepared for you and comes with the books and the entire plan for your year. I still have books from the early days, most I have given away. From this point of our morning we would listen a few times a week to The Mystery of History We are not done and will pick that up again this September.
Here is an overview of various curriculum I have used with my daughter in Grade 3 and 4:
- Explode the Code – phonics
- Draw, Write, Now – art, copywork, writing
- A reason for spelling
- A reason for handwriting
- All About Spelling
- On computer: Reading Eggs, National Geographic Kids, Typing.com
- Abeka Science, Read & Think series
- Answers in Genesis – The Answers Book for Kids Volumes 1-8
- Teaching Textbooks: Math
- Art and music at our homeschool co-op
- Canadian Curriculum: Donna Ward
- Ecoute, Parlez
- Piano lessons (private in-house lessosn)
- swimming lessons, dance, church
Grade 7:
- Monarch Language Arts
- Teaching Textbooks: Math (see link above)
- Abeka Science
- Abeka History
- Abeka Geography
- Duolingo
- Donna Ward Canadian Curriculum (see link above)
- Our Canadian Govnerments
- Novel studies and nature studies at homeschool co-op
- Of People and Literature
- Dance, Church (youth group)
- Art – sketching, drawing and painting
- Wordly Wise
- Lamplighters Series This is my all time favourite listening series that I have used for years. In the car or at home these stories are captivating!
- Focus on the Family Theatre We listened to C.S. Lewis series this year. This is an absolute must for all ages. So well done in every way. I am sure we will listen again.
There will always be something I may have missed, but for now this is a look into our days learning at home. Writing this motivates me to begin the planning for grade 5 and grade 8. I have lots of ideas and look forward to when I have it all prepared.
For a great place to begin your journey of learning at home The Learning House is a great site that offers an abundance of resources. The best part is if you need any advice, call! They are more than willing to discuss any questions you may have and direct you to what will be helpful. Looking ahead part 4 will be a look at what we will be doing this coming year. Weekend blessings!
What are your curriculum highlights?
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So timely to be reading this! More and more has education been on our minds as we look ahead as well. So many questions but reading this breakdown and realizing it’s all about structure and routine is encouraging!