It’s that time again. Homeschool planning time! I’ve come to the conclusion that we have to really simplify here.
I love being part of the Schoolhouse Review Crew. Because of my participation in the Crew, my family and I are able to try all sorts of wonderful curriculum items of all types, as well as games and other resources we wouldn’t otherwise have been able to try.
I do my best to make sure we finish out the larger things, and that we complete all of the small items. For example, my kids will use Reading Kingdom for the rest of the school year, or until they complete the whole program. (I have a feeling my daughter will complete it by Christmas!) For smaller things, like the Words, Words, Words lapbook by In the Hands of a Child, it was completed during the review period of about 6 weeks, so once the review gets posted, we are already done using it.
There are some items that we just can’t continue to fit into our schedule or that we shelve for some amount of time to get back to, as well. I hate to do that, but with so many great things to review, as well as our regular curriculum, sometimes it just has to happen! 
This year, I’m homeschooling my 3rd grader, 1st grader, and partially my preschooler. I also have a toddler under foot. Planning for a homeschool year is always a bit tedious. There are SO many things to think about! Things like:
- Deciding your preferred teaching style
- Figuring out the learning styles of your students
- Matching both your teaching style and their learning style with curriculum
- Deciding if you want to do something already put together “in the box” or piece something together yourself
- Fitting everything into your budget
- Deciding how quickly to move through the material throughout the school year
- Coming up with a daily, weekly, monthly, semester-long, and/or year-long schedules
- Finding playgroups or co-ops to participate in
- Deciding on extracurricular activities to round out the experience
- Figuring out how to have fun with homeschool
After a lot of thought and consideration, we have a plan.
Homeschool Plans for 2013-2014
For my 3rd Grader
Language Arts & Math:
Easy Peasy All-in-One Homeschool, Level: Third
Tons of read alouds, chosen based on interest (we listen to audio books and also read aloud before bed each night)
History & Science:
My Free Curriculum developed from the “What Your ___ Grader Should Know” series of books
Occasional field trips and extra activities to supplement
Art, Music, and PE:
My free lesson plans developed from the “What Your ___ Grader Should Know” series of books
Dance class once a week
She is teaching herself to play the recorder using Youtube and online sites
Playing around the neighborhood with her friends
Extras:
Watching The Magic School Bus DVDs
Watching Liberty’s Kids DVDs
For My 1st Grader:
Language Arts & Math:
Easy Peasy All-in-One Homeschool, levels Getting Ready 2 and then First
Tons of read alouds, chosen based on interest (we listen to audio books and also read aloud before bed each night)
History & Science:
My Free Curriculum developed from the “What Your ___ Grader Should Know” series of books
Occasional field trips and extra activities to supplement
Art, Music, and PE:
My free lesson plans developed from the “What Your ___ Grader Should Know” series of books
Karate class once a week
Playing around the neighborhood with his friends
Adventure Guides with my husband (my daughter is in it as well, but the boys tend to do more sporty activities)
Extras:
Watching The Magic School Bus DVDs
Watching Liberty’s Kids DVDs
For My Preschooler:
Easy Peasy All-in-One Homeschool, Getting Ready 1 (very occasionally)
Speech class twice a week to help with his articulation.
Watching The Magic School Bus DVDs
Watching Liberty’s Kids DVDs
Hold Your Horses!
We won’t be doing everything every day. The core of what we’ll do will be math and language arts. Beyond that, hopefully we’ll get to everything else at least twice a week.
Combining Kids to SAVE TIME
I’m combining my kids as much as possible this year to save time. History, science, art, music, and PE are all done at the same time to keep things simple. Easy Peasy work can be done mostly independently, so that helps tremendously as well with juggling all of the kids and making sure everything gets covered.
Happy school year!!
What are your curriculum choices like this year? For veterans, how are your plans changing this year versus past years?
My kids were homeschooled during their elementary years. Now they’re in college and doing great. Glad they were homeschooled before middle school.
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