School Plans Fall 2012 Part 2

You've just been welling up with anticipation for this post, I know.

Science

We use the Apologia Exploring Creation series. I did a lot of research and like Apologia because not only is it Creation-oriented but it's very thorough. There are a lot of ways to use this program too. There are the textbooks (along with test books and journals), audio cds, full course cd-roms, online courses for high schoolers, lab equipment, conferences, etc. Right now we're going through the General Science course. It's middle school level but I'm reading it aloud and then we do the experiments.

Lots of other fun stuff -

Bill Nye videos (find episodes on youtube)
Wonderopolis -a new wonder to learn about every day
Edheads - great for my budding surgeon. Even though the questions are at a middle to high school level (he just skips through them), the activities are fun for him to do. I can't count the number of times he's done the aortic aneurysm repair surgery.
How Stuff Works - like everything, you'll have to preview some of this stuff but the videos are pretty cool

Latin

This is honestly a really fun time for us. My kids (and I) enjoy learning Latin. We use Song School Latin but there are tons of good programs. We're going to add in Spanish in a few years. I know we'll never speak these languages like natives but hey, we're going to do what we can. Latin seems to be a lost art. I know, I know, it's a dead language. But there are lots of reasons to learn it. Especially as a kid - here's an article, and another and another. It's pretty interesting to discover the roots to lots of English words. Plus, it sounds really smart to say we're learning Latin.

Geography

Eh. We do a little. Print out maps to color, point on various things on the globe. When we're in the car, we listen to these songs. I can only stand them once a week, on the way to the library though. Oy.

History

This is my sweet spot. We do the four year history cycle, as outlined in Well-Trained Mind. Last year we did Ancient Times and now we're onto Middle Ages/Renaissance. History is so much fun. So many books and documentaries to choose from. It's never boring. We use Story of the World for our main book and supplement with lots of others. Here's a smattering of books we're using this year:

Obviously, a lot of the Middle Ages and Renaissance centers around Europe, particularly England. Part of my problem with the way history is taught in the public school system is that it's mainly European-American centered. Obviously there is no way to learn everything but there is a world outside of us. I remember learning about the Pilgrims quite a bit but really, how many times do we really need to go over that? There was (and is) amazing stuff happening in Japan, India, Australia, Central America, etc. I want to broaden our idea of history. When I taught preschool, we taught them social studies in this order: you, your family, your town, your state, your country. Everything boiled down to "How does this relate to me?"  It was very egocentric. The four year cycle in Well-Trained Mind is: Ancient Times, Middle Ages/Renaissance, Early Modern and Modern. The idea is to expose kids to the vast scope of history and all that has come before us and then learn about our place in it. We are really just a pin point on the page of time.

I stumbled across this youtube channel: Crash Course . It's awesome. The history ones are really good. The science ones aren't as good, in my opinion. The guy who does the history ones is laugh out loud funny. They're short (like 12 minutes) but really enjoyable and informative. You might want to preview them, as some humor isn't appropriate for kids. Or just ignore the joke, like I do, and they don't know the difference.

Literature, Music, Art

I've worked into our schedule time to learn about poetry, classic short stories, famous composers and music, works of art. There are lots of websites to introduce kids to music and art (Classical Music for Kids, NY Philharmonic, etc) as well as art. I love this book to introduce kids (even toddlers and babies) to art.



Lots of books on Aesop's Fables, Shel Silverstein poetry, Dr. Suess, Rudyard Kipling's Just So Stories, short stories from around the world. One of my favorites is Beautiful Stories from Shakespeare for Children, edited by the fabulous Edith Nesbit. I'll often read a story aloud while the kids have lunch.

I also play classical music in the background while they do math or handwriting. Not because I think it makes them smarter but because it's calming. Also, the kids recognize a lot of the songs from movies and always ask "Is this song famous?"

A trip to the library occurs every week to get books (whatever coincides with our lessons that week for me, science for Jack, princess books for Kate). The kids have the process down and each go to their favorite sections and pick two books.

 Oh and visits to our local science museum, field trips, playdates, homeschool PE at the Y, swim team for Jack every spring/summer, dance for Kate during the school year.

It's a pretty cool gig sometimes, this learning life of ours.