Not-Back-to-School Blog Hop - 2011-2012 Curriculum Plans!

I'm joining in with Heart of the Matter Online's "Not-Back to School Blog Hop"!  Week 1 is Curriculum Week, so here's a look at what our plans are for the 2011-2012 school year!

We've officially completed our 180 days of school, as required by our state.  Since we prefer to school year-round, we're jumping right into another "year", starting next week.  We still have odds and ends of our 2010-2011 curriculum to finish up, here are our plans for the upcoming year for each of the boys!

I've mentioned this a ton of times, but our main source for Bible, History, and Read-Alouds will be Sonlight's Core E.  We also do Science as a family, and once we've finished up Apologia's Exploring Creation with Human Anatomy and Physiology, we'll be switching gears and studying electricity, inventions, magnetism and magnification with Sonlight's Science E.  This will be our first year away from Apologia and trying something new, so I'm excited to see how it goes! 

Isaac is 10, and technically be starting 5th grade!  (That's so weird to me, because I have very vivid memories of my 5th grade year, how is it possible that I have a child there now?  Is this how old people feel all the time?)

Here are the subjects he'll be studying in addition to the above:

• Math - Math-U-See's Epsilon, as well as ALEKS for supplementation, and drills using MathRider or Math Facts Now (his choice)
• English - Rod & Staff's English 4 - I have found Rod & Staff's English to be rigorous enough that even though it's technically "behind" his grade, it's quite sufficient.
• Writing - Writing Tales (finishing up Level 1, moving on to Level 2)
• Spelling - All About Spelling, Level 2 and beyond - so far, he's been able to breeze through a couple lessons a week, but I'm sure as we progress, it will slow down some, so I'm just following his lead for now!
• Bible - Core E includes an independent Bible Study, which he'll be using. If need be, we will supplement or switch out with studies from Quiet Times for Kids.
• Spanish - Rosetta Stone, Level 1
• Computer Programming - I purchased KidCoder from the Homeschool Buyer's Co-op for a great price, and Isaac is so excited to get started!

I won't be having him do any more formal handwriting, as his subjects include enough written work now that he gets plenty of practice through that.

Ezra will soon be 9 and is considered a 4th grader now!

He's actually doing almost all of the same things as Isaac, except the levels are different, of course!  Here are the adjustments... everything else is exactly the same:

• Math - Math-U-See Delta, along with ALEKS and drills with Math Facts Now
• English - Rod & Staff English 3
• Reading - along with Core E Readers, he'll also be doing Rod & Staff Reading 3.  This is the last year of formal reading instruction with Rod & Staff for him
• Handwriting - Handwriting Without Tears Cursive - this is doing wonders for him! He would previously struggle through handwriting in tears... this curriculum definitely lives up to it's name!  He loves it and his handwriting is much improved!

Joel is 6.5 and is now officially on our Attendance Form!

I consider him going into 1st grade, so he's got a little bit more "real" schoolwork, but not much.  As I've mentioned before, I prefer to keep things light in the younger years, so they have plenty of time for imaginative play and exploration.  Here's what's on his plate this year:

• Reading and Phonics - he's going to start Rod & Staff's Grade 1 Reading!  He's also chugging along with Reading Kingdom online.  He doesn't particularly care for it anymore, mostly because it is a challenge for him... which I consider a good thing!  Our subscription for that is up in February, and I'm not sure if we'll do anymore online programs after that.
• Math - Math-U-See Alpha
• Handwriting - A Reason for Writing, Book A
• We might venture into All About Spelling, Level 1... depending on time and need
• He'll also be joining in with Nathan's Kindergarten plans (listed below!)

Nathan is 4.5 and sort of Pre-K-ish, I guess?

He spent last year sitting in on Joel's K activities, which has put him a little ahead of the game.  While I don't push a lot of academic stuff at this age, I do love getting into their world through lots of reading aloud and fun activities.  I have to admit, Preschool and Kindergarten are my favorite years to "teach"! Here's what my (very flexible) plans are for Nathan:

• Sonlight P 3/4 - we did this at the beginning of last year with Joel and Nathan, but it's so good it's worth repeating!  We all enjoyed it very much!
• My Father's World Kindergarten - I won't be using the phonics portion, but the Bible and Science activities are lots of fun, and nice, light learning.  Both Joel and Nathan will be joining together for this!
• He'll be starting Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons!  He's almost finished with the Get Ready, Get Set, Go! for the Code books, so he'll be ready very soon.   He's also been doing Click N' Read Phonics (another great buy from the Homeschool Buyer's Co-op) online, and I am very pleased with this program for beginning readers.  He's having a lot of success with it!

The great thing about homeschooling several children is that I didn't have to buy anything except the Code workbooks for Nathan, and his subscription to Click N' Read (which is a lifetime subscription, so it will be used for all following children!).  If I were trying to afford everything I just listed above in one purchase, it would easily be close to my entire year's homeschool budget!  But I've picked all of them up as we've gone along over the years, and he, being child number 4, is reaping the benefits (as is our bank account!)

Judah is 2,

and will be working on potty training!  Honestly, I think potty training is my least favorite parental duty. But, once it's done, it's always good.  So I have to bite the bullet and get it done!  He's definitely ready now!  He's also at the age where he's into everything (did I say everything?  I mean everything!!),  so we'll be spending our days keeping his little hands and mind busy.  Lots of stories, drawing, music, blocks, outside time and attention!

Rachel will just be doing her thing - growing, learning, eating, sleeping, and getting lots and lots of love!

We're so excited about the upcoming year!

If you are curious to see how this all falls into place during a typical day, be sure to check out my post, "Fitting It All In" - where I explain!  If you're interested in seeing how I organize everyone's assignments, I've got a post on my homemade homeschool assignment sheets, too!

Thanks for stopping by and have a great 2011-2012 homeschool year!