Cirriculum Plans for 2012-2013 (Kdg & 2nd)

I am SUPER.DUPER.UBBER excited about starting the school year. I'm pretty sure if I were not a mother, I would so be in heaven as an elementary school teacher.

(Even if I were a work-away-from-home mom, I don't think I could do the teacher thing AND be a mom. Too many kids for too many hours to come home to more kids. :) hehe. Homeschooling will have to "do".)

Why am I so excited? Because this year, I am splitting the school year into 6 - 6 week sessions, each with a fun theme. And because I am not me without several hours of design work and cirriculum development, I am pretty much using my own cirriculum except for math and reading.

I am also determined that nothing voluntary will interrupt our school year. This is very important since last year's interruption made 1st grade less than fun for Cherith.

So without further ado, here's the plan for this coming school year (...at least on paper. We all know homescchooling plans are subject to change.)

Kdg & 2nd Gr.

(& the preschoolers when they're interested)

Morning Meeting Board (some daily, some not)

1. Calendar- months, days, number of days in months and year (made my own printable)

2. Clocks and time (printable from Confessions of a Homeschooler)

3. Money (printable from Confessions of a Homeschooler)

4. Address and phone numbers (printable from Confessions of a Homeschooler)

5. Books of Bible (printable from Christian Preschool Printables)

6. Today's date and Today's Bible reference - for Bible drills (my own printable)

7. Weather and temperature (printable from Confessions of a Homeschooler)

8. Days in school and hundreds chart - with rounding (printable from Confessions of a Homeschooler)

9. Name-O song to learn family name spellings (idea from 1+1+1=1)

10. Fun flashcards - like states, traffic signs, sign language, etc. (from the Target dollar spot)

11. Vocabulary word of the week - on the back of the board (from Target)

Bible/Science/History/Geography/Health

These are the subjects that are ruled by our 6 week theme rotation. The studies will be shared with both Cherith and Daryn (kdg & 2nd). Here are the themes and the subject ideas with them. The first six weeks are all prepared and ready to go.

1st 6 weeks: Fruit

• Bible: The Fruit of the Spirit, Study of Galatians 5:22-23 (my own cirriculum)
 

 
• Health: Health, Safetly, & Manners 1, A Beka (with a strong focus on nutrition)
• Science/Geography: Where Does My Fruit Come From?, a research on fruit origins (my own cirriculum)

 2nd 6 weeks: Road Trip!

• Bible: Road Trip: Sanctification, A study of the process of sanctification from salvation to heaven (my own cirriculum)
• Geography: United States landforms, a sort of virtual vacation across the country visiting natural landforms
• Science: motion, wheels, gears
 

3rd 6 weeks: Around the World in 30 Days

• Bible: a study of international missions, how to be a missionary, etc.
• Geography: the 7 continents
• Science: ecosystems

4th 6 weeks: Jungle

• Bible: probably use a jungle themed VBS as an idea starter
• History/Geography: jungle missionaries and the countries they serve(ed) in (including Saint & Elliot)

5th 6 weeks: Military Heros??? Still unsure on this

• Bible: Armor of God study
• History: a brief, young child friendly overview of major U.S. wars

6th 6 weeks: Camping

• Bible: probably use a camping themed VBS as an idea starter
• History: pioneers and settlers
• Science: backyard nature studies

2nd Grade

Math

• Airthmetic 2, A Beka (along with supplimental activites found in various places online- such as file folder games, skip counting cards, etc.)

Reading

• Letters & Sounds 2, A Beka
• Various fun easy readers (Cherith is in need of learning to ENJOY reading, so we're skipping the typical "boring & trite" readers, at least for starters, until reading becomes enjoyable and therefore more smooth.)

Language/Grammar

• Language 2, A Beka (2 days per week) This is for general language practice.
• Grammar City (3 days per week) This is a cirriculum I am currently writing. It covers the five most basic parts of speech at a young elementary level through the discovery of a place called Grammar City.

(Last year, in Language 1, Cherith was often told to write a sentence or a story, but she had no idea how. All she knew was that sentences are made of words, end with a period, and start with a capital letter. I realized that without some base knowledge of the parts of speech, she could not construct a written sentence - although she could verbally).

Spelling

• All About Spelling, Level 1 (but I still need to order it) :)

Kindergarten

Math

• Number Skills K, A Beka (We'll be skimming over a lot of the first many lessons to reach his level.)

Reading

• Letters & Sounds K & Readers, A Beka
• Various fun easy readers that we can read together.

That about covers it. Seems like a lot now that it's all written out here with pictures. Here's how I plan to keep track of all the planning and documenting:

Binder: Back-to-School deal from Office Depot
Year Planner: Walmart
Calendar Sheet (which I used to mark our school days and holidays and will use to mark attendance): Teaching My Three
Subjects by School Week: Teaching My Three
Lesson Plan Books: dollar spot at Target