Our Lovely, Lovely Books!

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It is the eve before starting our 13th year of homeschooling. Wow! Where did the years go? I am excited to see how all of our choices will work out this coming year. The kids are excited to see all of the new stuff (they get to open a box in the morning). We did not have much money to spend on new books this year, so I bought a lot at yard sales, used book sales and searching my own shelves. To understand more on how I plan our year, go here. Our students this year are 7, 9, and 10.

So on with the Show and Tell ~

Math ~ We are switching to Jump Math this year. I am still waiting for my son's math book to arrive so below is my two dd's books. We used Horizon the last two years; and although we liked it at first, the spiral approach is not a good match for my kids.

Language Arts ~ We are using an assortment of book reports, workbooks, and creative writing projects this year. Each child has a different assortment of books. They will all be doing Explode the Code. This is an example of my son's language arts program.

History ~ As I explained in this post, we will be doing one unit of history for an entire week each month. This is an example of our first week. We will be studying Lewis and Clark. We will be doing a lap book, making our own journals, and going on a wilderness expedition next weekend with my husband and oldest son (who has already graduated from our homeschool).

Science ~ We will be doing units on geology, earth science, chemistry, Thomas Edison and Clara Barton and the advancement of medical science this year. Our first unit will be geology. We will be using my rock tumbler from when I was a little girl! I am very excited to use it again. I am hoping that we will also knock out some Christmas presents.

Art ~ We will be studying artists from the 1800's with a heavy concentration on Impressionism (my favorite period). Below is an our first artist study.

Music ~ We will be doing units on musicians from the 1800's. First up is Stephen Foster. Some of the children will be returning to basic piano lessons with me (after a long break).

Foreign Language ~ By popular vote, we are doing Sign Language this year. We have some great books, a video tape of Signing Time shows recorded off PBS, and my rusty skills in signing from high school.

Literature ~ We have a great stack of chapter books for this year. I still need to buy A Cricket in Time Square and Stone Fox. Tea time is one of our favorite times of day. We all cuddle up with our tea cups, a snack and a good book.

Bible ~ This year we will be working our way through the New Testament. I am hoping to also start the program, Draw to Learn the Life of Jesus.

At-Home Speech and Vision Therapy ~ Our oldest dd will be in speech and vision therapy this year. I am on the look-out for games and activities that will reinforce these out-of-the-home therapies in our home. Here is what I made/found in the last week.

Coming of Age ~ On Friday nights my two sons will have an hour with Dad and the girls will have an hour with Mom to do some activities around puberty and growing into young men and women. Our oldest son will be doing this with his little brother, because he enjoys some of the things they will be doing. It is a good review for him (with his special needs, he is emotionally younger than his years). The girls and I will be working with the American Girl Head to Toe cards on manners, how our bodies change and taking care of our selves. The boys will be working on survival skills, science fun, and becoming a young man.

It should be a great year!

Blessings,
Dawn