Our Plans for School Next Year

BOTH GIRLS FINISHED SCHOOL THIS WEEK!!!! Yippee!!!!!

Can you tell I am very excited. Even more excited then the kids. I am very proud of all of us this year. This is the first time we finished up before public school lets out for the summer. We were consistent, made up time that was missed and made school a high priority this year.

Math
We really like Math-U-See. It is a wonderful program that teaches the kids hands on. They are big on kids understanding the concept and working out the problem. They also have story problems every day. Which I like, because it shows them ways we apply the math and they don't seem to be scared of the story problems like I was when I was a child.

Language Arts
We followed a curriculum using Rod and Staff. There are things that I like about this program, such as the instructions and lesson plans are easy to understand so that the kids can do it on their own. And the teacher book is easy to follow. But after a year, there are areas that I feel they need work on. Such as grammar didn't stick to their brains like I hoped, spelling needs improvement, and I would like them to do more creative writing, book reports, and articles about field trips. I really like the approach of Charlotte Mason. I was using that approach in pre-school through first grade, before I even knew what style of teacher I was.

For next year, I would like to return back to this style, because I notice that we all do better. I have a collection of copy work for the kids to do, like quotes from Mother Teresa and Benjamin Franklin. I also wanted the kids to put together a spelling rules notebook with examples in it. I even have a copy that I did for them to copy to make their own. I found a grammar lapbook that I think the kids would treasure. And I want to encourage more reading for enjoyment and teach them how to write a book report.

We are planning on using Easy Grammar and Daily Grams to keep us reviewing and improving our grammar.

I found The Natural Speller, which is along the lines of what I have always wanted to do for spelling. We will be starting Spelling now and just do spelling bee's for awhile

I found a great Cursive program that I will be using to teach Vicky cursive and Liz for practicing her cursive. We are going to start this now. Also, I found a great pencil that trains children to hold the pencil correctly. I bought some for Vicky, because she just can't remember the correct way to hold a pencil. She really is liking them, because they look different and it is new.

We are also going to work on encouraging them to read more this summer and do reading comprehension. I am signing them up for the library Summer Reading Program. They are excited about this.

Science
We allow them to learn by interest. We did use a program called Considering God's Creation. We still have some lessons left to do. I would like to finish this and then when they are in High School, re-due it with more in-depth research.

History
Pat teaches them well in this area. I would still like to read them some American Stories and study the Declaration of Independence and The Constitution. The girls would like to study both The Presidents on their birthdays and study a state a month. We will see which way we will go next year in this area.

So there you have it, we have a plan for next year. I can relax this summer, because we know what we are doing. We have our books for next year and the kids are even excited about what we will be doing. Vicky keeps asking me if we can start Cursive.

As far as my grammar on this - it is late and I am tired and so editing will have to come when I get a chance.