School Started!!

Due to the munchkins asking me THE question--"When are we going to start school?". I decided to start school this week with them. I was not fully prepared to start with them but we managed with me flying by the seat of my pants. Now that it is Friday, I am a bit more organized and even have most of next week planned out already!
Here is a look into our school....

J is my independent learner. I give him a daily to-do list and he is able to stay on task and complete his work on a daily basis. Most days I find that he can get it all done before lunchtime. Some days that is a benefit so that I can correct his work and also do some one on one time with him in the afternoon.

J's schedule looks like this:
Bible--reading thru the Bible and keeping a Journal
Spelling--Zaner Bloser Grade 6 Lessons (thanks to Joann at Our Homeschooling Expedition for showing this to me!) I give him the words on Monday which he practices writing in cursive(handwriting), Tuesday I give him a Pretest to see which words he needs more practice on, Wednesday and Thursday are practice days with the lesson worksheet and dictionary skills or other grammar skills(like doing synonyms or antonyms of the words, finding out what part of speech it is, or writing the words in a sentence). Friday is a Test day only if he got more than four words wrong. Math--I have an older edition Holt Math 8 book that I have started using with him. He has excelled over the last few years in Math that I need to provide some challenge for him this year. I will also be doing a basic math facts drills with him on a weekly basis.
Language Arts--Scott Foresman Grammar and Writing Book Grade 6 (again thanks to Joann for showing this to me!) I have not done a lot with writing over the last few years so we are going to really be concentrating on that aspect of things this year. We will keep our basic grammar skills polished as well.
Reading--He is my avid reader! This is part of after lunch "quiet time" so every day for a 1/2 hour there is silent reading taking place at my house! I am still working on his Reading List because there has been soooo many books that he has already read, I want to put a list together of new to him books. Any books on the Reading List there is a required book report for that book along with discussing the book with me.
Science--Various unit studies, to name a few: Trees/Fall(to go long with our family vacation to the UP of Michigan for a fall color tour); Rocks and Minerals; Human Body Systems; Winter; Flowers/Spring
History--Government/Civics/Presidents Unit Study that I made up on my own using Ben's Guide to Government and US Citizenship & Immigration Services Civics & Citizenship Study Materials . In the spring, when we are done(or just about done) with the unit, we are planning a family vacation to Washington D.C.


D is my hands on learner. He also needs a place free of distractions and gentle reminders to stay on task. He hasn't been officially diagnosed as ADD but he sure shows me daily that he doesn't need to be officially diagnosed! LOL

His schedule will look like this:
Bible: AWANA and Character Studies
Spelling: Zaner Bloser Grade 4 Lessons following the same daily schedule as J.
Math: BJU Math 4
Lang. Arts: Scott Foresman Grammar and Writing Book Grade 4
Reading: Reading List; read 1/2 hour during "quiet time" each day.
Science: same as J
History: BJU History 4(Early America to WWII)

(The above Lang. Arts, Spelling and Math will begin around the middle to end of October for D. Right now, he is working on some 3rd grade level SOS in those subjects--I am having him finish a couple units of each from the SOS material we did last year because it is new material to him that we didn't get to before our summer break and it will help him to get back into the groove of school.)

T is my follower, so as long as others are working on school he will do the same! LOL He also seems to mimic the attitudes of D, which some days makes it hard for me to work with both of them at the same time. T loves to have the instant gratification that he is doing the work right.

T's schedule looks like this:
Bible: Awana and Character Studies
Spelling: Zaner Bloser Grade 1 Lessons following the same daily schedule as J except T will be writing in manuscript instead of cursive. Also I will be probably switching him to Grade 2 Lessons in the middle of the year.
Math: BJU Math 3
Lang. Arts: Scott Foresman Grammar and Writing Grade 1 to start the year and then finish the year off with Grade 2.
Reading: Reading List; read 1/2 hour during "quiet time" each day.
Science: same as J
History: BJU History 3(Early America)

S is wanting sooo bad to do school this year because her neighborhood friends(who are 17-18 months older than her) are going or doing school. So I decided to officially start her in *my* half-day/very relaxed school! I am going to work with her on writing her name, recognizing her letters(she can sing the ABC song without missing a letter but recognizing the letters is a different story), recognizing numbers 1-20 and shapes. I decided that I would use this curriculum as a guide with her. During this year, I know that "quiet time" for her will no longer consist of a nap but for now I am enjoying that she is still taking one!

So far she is loving school! She comes to me every day and asks if I can teach her school. Today, I worked with her tracing her name and she was able to write it once without any help or having to trace the dots! Yeah! She is going to progress well!

Overall, I think that all of us will be enjoying school this year. I want to add in more fun things rather than it being all book/writing work. I will see how it goes esp. with adding a toddler to the mix of things!