We'll be doing "school lite" for the remainder of the summer. That way we can still do fun things like Busch Gardens, camps, Ocean Breeze, and hanging with friends. I'm anticipating 1 normal week of school taking about 2 weeks to complete.
This year we are studying the beginning of U.S. history using Sonlight's Core 3. We are very excited. All the books look so fabulous it's been hard to keep Mackenzie out of them.
This week we started our history studies with North American Indians and Story of the USA vol. I. We finished North American Indians and will continue to work on Story of the USA vol. I throughout the year.
I've also added a few things to round-out our social studies lessons. Not that Sonlight needs anything else to make it even more fabulous. but Mackenzie likes a little hands-on excitement to go along with her voracious appetite for great books.
We'll be adding in some notebooking and the Native American & Plymouth Rock History Pockets to our history. We'll also be adding a bit of a geography focus using Knowledge Quest Historical Maps and The Complete Book of Maps and Geography. We started The Complete Book of Maps and Geography this week and Mackenzie thinks that it is fun.
For math we'll continue using Math-U-See. Mackenzie does fantastic with it so no need to make any changes. She'll be working on level Gamma this year. She was a little panicky about multiplication. Then she watched the lesson and declared it "easy." Hopefully she'll continuing feeling that way. LOL
Science will be Sonlight Science 2. Sonlight has totally revamped their science programs and they are even more fabulous then ever. We're starting off the year studying animals.
For Language Arts we are continuing on with Sonlight Readers, First Language Lessons,
We are reading Walk the World's Rim as our read aloud. I was worried about her grumbling about it, as I'd heard it starts slow, but she seems to like it. She is reading The Corn Grows Ripe as her reader and is already ahead of schedule. That's always a good sign.
Her electives will be I Can Do All Things art, Young Chef's Academy and La Clase Divertida. We're very excited to start Spanish as we'll be doing a lot of the hands-on aspect of the curriculum with our friends. Add in whatever sport she's playing at the time and that rounds out our curriculum.
All in all, our first week went great. We got everything on the schedule done except art. Plus we fit in a trip to the waterpark and one to the zoo. Watch for the zoo pics. Next week will be reading only as Mackenzie is going to a day camp.
Hard at work...Kayleigh too!
Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers: Weekly Wrap-Up Guidelines
Now I really feel like a slacker! Everyone but me either has started school or plans to start in a week. I'm not starting until late August/early September.
ReplyDeleteI also use Sonlight and Math-U-See. I LOVE them both!!
How wonderful that your daughter is excited about school! My 3 are not so thrilled. I am also glad to hear that Walk the World's Rim is pretty good. I didn't really look through it but just from the cover and title it did not look very interesting.
ReplyDeleteLooks like you've got some great choices in your line-up. We *loved* First Language Lessons. We'll be doing Writing with Ease this year, too. I've heard wonderful things about Sonlight, so I'll be watching your future Wrap-Ups with interest to see how it's going for your family.
ReplyDeleteLa Clase Divertida has been on my wish list for about six years now. I guess I need to just buy it and be done with it.
This looks like a wonderful way to start! We are on week 6 and have been going "easy does it" through the summer. Glad to see your estimation of 1 week normal = 2 weeks summer. That's right about where we are in our timeframes as well.
ReplyDeleteThat looks like a great selection. I am excited to meet another military wife with 2 girls. My DDs are 5 1/2 and 8, starting kindergarten and third grade this year. We follow Ambleside Online mainly, with a couple things here and there. I was hoping to start on Monday, but I might be waiting a few more days.
ReplyDeletesounds like a great year ahead! We're considering doing Sonlight this year. Though I'm looking at doing their Language Arts and my guy would be a better fit with LA2 (because of his writing/spelling not his reading) so I'm thinking of doing the Core 1&2 one year World History. Haven't ordered yet, so obviously not starting quite yet LOL.
ReplyDeleteI'm looking forward to following your journey through Core 3. Looks like a good start, thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteI hope you like the new blog and that it is easier for you. Your baby doesn't look like a baby anymore either!
ReplyDeleteSo, do you follow Sonlight to the T - or do you make up your own schedule and choose from here and there? I love to figure out what other people do.
We're doing Ambelside Online mostly, but I'm trying to add to it and it's hard to figure out what Sonlight is exactly without buying it. I have my step-daughter with us for a month and a half in the summer. She's gone this week and then at the end of August. For me, that's my time to plan the year out. No activities to go to and less energy in the house. I'll have a 1st grader and a 3rd grader this year - sounds scary, huh? I love homeschooling for all the reasons you said. I thought about private before my girls were school age, but once I started homeschooling I loved it. Now, it is good I chose it (God knew) because with the current economy the cost of private school would have been too much.
I'd love to hear more about what you're doing.
Cathy
Walk the World's Rim does start slow, but it's historical content is oh, so worth it. We loved Core 3 a couple years ago. We're about 2 weeks into Core 5 now. I hope you have a great year. Thank you for sharing in the Blog Hop.
ReplyDeleteHave a wonderful year! The girls are adorable...and it's GREAT that they love school so much! (Look at little Kayleigh!)
ReplyDeleteJessy