The Plan--2014/15--A7
I've never had such an ambitions 2nd grade plan for any of my kids . . . well, actually I tried it with E14 when she was this age, but it was such a complete bust that I dropped formal schooling for all of us for quite some time. It was good for us in those early years to relax and "unschool" and learn together. However, I feel strongly that would not be the right plan for A7. All of my prayers, all of my ponderings, all of my feelings lead me toward a semi-formal school day for this small girl.
I will be very gentle with her.
After breakfast and our family devotional, her school days will begin with a 15 minute violin lesson with M12 as her instructor.
Then we'll have Kid School. I have scheduled about an hour and a half to work with my 3 littles ones as a group. Most of the "work" will be geared toward A7's learning level with modifications for H5. I2 will just have fun doing what he can and watching what he wants.
Kid School will include daily:
A church song
A story from Egermeier's Bible Story Book
Then we will do an activity or two from the following list:
Cooking
Art--ARTistic Pursuits Book 1
History--A Child's History of the World or On the Shores of the Great Sea
We own the first, the second has to be read via the computer--I'm leaning toward the "real" book even though I like the storytelling of the second. I will read aloud while A7 and H5 listen/draw. Then they will narrate what they heard.
Science--Hands of a Child lapbooking project kits
I took advantage of their $3 sale and bought a bunch of science ebooks for little ones. I haven't had a whole lot of success with these kits when my bigger kids were small, but they feel right for A7 and H5. We have 11 subjects to choose from. I'll be happy if we cover 4-5 of them this year. We're starting with Ocean Habitats because we just came back from the beaches of Southern California, and the ocean is fresh on the kids' minds.
Picture Study--Year .5 pictures from Milestones Academy
Storytime
Crafts
Character Training
The Children's Book of Virtues
The Children's Book of Heroes
The Children's Book of Faith
The Aesop for Children
7 Habits of Happy Kids
How to Behave and Why
Fair Play
When Kid School is done A7 will do some independent work (so I can give H5 some one-on-one):
Handwriting--Learning to Write Cursive, and then Queen Pictures in Cursive A and B
Read the Book of Mormon (her goal is to finish before she turns 8)
Spelling--Rod and Staff grade 2
Read the Christian Liberty Nature Reader book 1
Read a"fun" book
Math--The Critical Thinking Company Mathematical Reasoning Level C
She will not do all of these every day except for read The Book of Mormon and probably math. We will work out a schedule as we go and as we determine what is doable. I don't want her to be working alone at this time for more than half an hour.
Once H5's phonics lesson is done it will be A7's turn for some personal attention from me. We may have some math instruction as we go over what she completed on her own and prepare for the next day. We may do a lesson from First Language Lessons and/or Writing With Ease. She may narrate what she read about on her own from the Book of Mormon or the Nature Reader or whatever "fun" book she's reading. We'll probably work on reading a novel together.
I have 30-45 minutes scheduled for us to work together like this.
After lunch she's free to play. I will have yarn available for her to work on her knitting or use the knitting loom. She may choose to do her "fun" reading and read The Book of Mormon after lunch. Once a week we're going to try to have a poetry tea time in the late afternoon, so she'll be helping with that.
In addition she'll continue to attend church and part way through this school year she'll turn 8 and be eligible to join J10 at Activity Days--church-sponsored fun activities for 8-11 year old girls scheduled twice a month in the evenings. She'll also dance and sing with the family in American Rhythm.
Writing this all out seems so huge! But we're going to just do a little each day. We're not going to try to conquer the world. What we do, we do. What we don't, we'll save for another year. We'll pace ourselves carefully, but I predict that my A7 will really take to this work.
Kids are funny--they're so different . . . even within the same family.
I will be very gentle with her.
After breakfast and our family devotional, her school days will begin with a 15 minute violin lesson with M12 as her instructor.
Then we'll have Kid School. I have scheduled about an hour and a half to work with my 3 littles ones as a group. Most of the "work" will be geared toward A7's learning level with modifications for H5. I2 will just have fun doing what he can and watching what he wants.
Kid School will include daily:
A church song
A story from Egermeier's Bible Story Book
Then we will do an activity or two from the following list:
Cooking
Art--ARTistic Pursuits Book 1
History--A Child's History of the World or On the Shores of the Great Sea
We own the first, the second has to be read via the computer--I'm leaning toward the "real" book even though I like the storytelling of the second. I will read aloud while A7 and H5 listen/draw. Then they will narrate what they heard.
Science--Hands of a Child lapbooking project kits
I took advantage of their $3 sale and bought a bunch of science ebooks for little ones. I haven't had a whole lot of success with these kits when my bigger kids were small, but they feel right for A7 and H5. We have 11 subjects to choose from. I'll be happy if we cover 4-5 of them this year. We're starting with Ocean Habitats because we just came back from the beaches of Southern California, and the ocean is fresh on the kids' minds.
Picture Study--Year .5 pictures from Milestones Academy
Storytime
Crafts
Character Training
The Children's Book of Virtues
The Children's Book of Heroes
The Children's Book of Faith
The Aesop for Children
7 Habits of Happy Kids
How to Behave and Why
Fair Play
When Kid School is done A7 will do some independent work (so I can give H5 some one-on-one):
Handwriting--Learning to Write Cursive, and then Queen Pictures in Cursive A and B
Read the Book of Mormon (her goal is to finish before she turns 8)
Spelling--Rod and Staff grade 2
Read the Christian Liberty Nature Reader book 1
Read a"fun" book
Math--The Critical Thinking Company Mathematical Reasoning Level C
She will not do all of these every day except for read The Book of Mormon and probably math. We will work out a schedule as we go and as we determine what is doable. I don't want her to be working alone at this time for more than half an hour.
Once H5's phonics lesson is done it will be A7's turn for some personal attention from me. We may have some math instruction as we go over what she completed on her own and prepare for the next day. We may do a lesson from First Language Lessons and/or Writing With Ease. She may narrate what she read about on her own from the Book of Mormon or the Nature Reader or whatever "fun" book she's reading. We'll probably work on reading a novel together.
I have 30-45 minutes scheduled for us to work together like this.
After lunch she's free to play. I will have yarn available for her to work on her knitting or use the knitting loom. She may choose to do her "fun" reading and read The Book of Mormon after lunch. Once a week we're going to try to have a poetry tea time in the late afternoon, so she'll be helping with that.
In addition she'll continue to attend church and part way through this school year she'll turn 8 and be eligible to join J10 at Activity Days--church-sponsored fun activities for 8-11 year old girls scheduled twice a month in the evenings. She'll also dance and sing with the family in American Rhythm.
Writing this all out seems so huge! But we're going to just do a little each day. We're not going to try to conquer the world. What we do, we do. What we don't, we'll save for another year. We'll pace ourselves carefully, but I predict that my A7 will really take to this work.
Kids are funny--they're so different . . . even within the same family.
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