Easy Peasy

Planning our homeschool lessons is easy peasy with easy peasy all in one homeschool, lol.  We have been using easy peasy since we started this school year last month and although it is early in the year we are really liking it.  We are using it as a base and adding on based on each child's interests.  It is freeing up a lot of the planning time I would normally put into our core work.  Now I can use that time to find fun stuff for us to do or work on diving deeper into any topics that strike our fancy.  I was unsure about all the work being on the computer and all of us staring at the screen all day but we get through the work rather quickly and then can move on to our library books, games, etc. that are not on the computer.  I especially like it for the history lessons as that is not my area of expertise and honestly I do not enjoy planning lessons for that subject.  This site is worth it just for that in my opinion.

Planning for the next school year

During summer we have a very light school schedule.  We enjoy all of our libraries summer reading activities.  They tend to be all science based.  We are reading like crazy to earn prizes during summer reading.  As long as I squeeze some math in there we have a pretty easy going summer plan.  This allows us a lot of free time to play and enjoy the summer but not completely break from school, lose our routine and forget everything from last year.  With some of our free time and our constant library trips I spend a chunk of summer planning for our next school year.  While the kids are enjoying the libraries summer events like the science days or the Friday movies I get my stack of school books and some free printable calendars and get to work.  Nothing is set in stone but I like a rough idea mapped out of what I'd like to introduce to them this year along with core subjects they'll need and of course incorporating things they love into the plan as well.  We use a few books and workbooks throughout the year so I can break those down to see where we should be each month throughout the school year in order to hopefully finish our books and reach our goals for the year.  I normally use online sources for my planning and core subjects/topics to include in our year but this year I am trying out The Core Knowledge Series: What Your ___ Grader Needs To Know by E.D. Hirsch jr.  I have been flipping through them at the library.  I love how organized they are but easy to take what you need and make it your own to fit your family.  We like flexible plans not rigid curriculum.  In these early years and hopefully throughout life learning should be enjoyable and not dreaded.  For us flexible lesson planning works great to keep learning enjoyable.

Our plan so far looks something like this...

4th Grade:
What your fourth grader needs to know

1st Grade:
What your first grader needs to know

Both grade levels:
math and grammar workbooks or printed worksheets from free online sources
Easy peasy all in one homeschool (trying this online curriculum this year, it looks fun)
Kahn Academy online math
Xtra Math online math
Field trips and group activities with our homeschool group
Art club and Lego club at the library
Dance classes

Enjoying the library

 

We love our public library. We visit the library weekly and always leave with a good size stack of books for each of us. We especially enjoy all the programs during summer reading that they offer for school aged children. Throughout the school year we attend the monthly Lego club and bi-weekly story hour. The story hour we attend is for preschool age (4-5 yrs old), so this will be Gabi's last year for that program. There are occasional events for school age children during the school year in addition to Lego club but they are not on a regular basis and seem to be more patterned along with holidays. I would love if our library would offer more for the K-5^th crowd. I've brought it up with our local branch and recently emailed the main branch to see if they would be interested in starting a monthly daytime program for K-5^th geared toward homeschooling families. Let's hope I get a good reply back. I have a list of interested families and ideas from other counties who's library offer programs for homeschoolers ready to go should the library be willing to work with us.

“When the atmosphere encourages learning, the learning is inevitable.”
― Elizabeth Foss

Weekly Nature Journals

A quick stop at the clearance bins at Joann Fabrics turned up 2 hard back journals with a pretty sunflower print on the cover for 98 cents each.  What a great find for some nature journals.  We started nature journals last year and I'd love to do it again. 

As soon as our current below zero temps pass I hope to get the kids out at least once a week for inspiration for their nature journals.  Once spring hits we can go on walks with our journals and a pack of colored pencils.  We can search for some fascinating things to draw and write about in our own backyard or on a trip.

Here is a link to another blog with great info to help get started with a nature journal for kids.

http://simplehomemade.net/nature-journaling-with-kids/

I think I should get a nature journal for me too.  What better way to spark interest of journaling in your kids than to let me see you doing it too.  To bad Joann Fabrics only had 2 of those cute sunflower journals left.  I'll be hitting the dollar store soon for a basic small notebook for myself. 



"In every walk in nature one receives far more than he seeks." - John Muir