Hey all! Our school year has officially kicked off, so I’d like to take a quick minute and update on what we’ll be working on this semester and how I plan and organize it all.
This year I feel that my homeschooling groove finally has its own rhythm. Starting out is so overwhelming, but I feel like I now have a pretty good grip on how I plan things out. Moving threw in a few curve balls since we have different resources here than we had in Germany, but that has all turned out in our favor, actually. So let’s get to it!
General Planning
One thing that I’ve found helpful is to have is an ongoing list of go-to resources to check out when starting any new subject or unit. There are some awesome websites and resources that I do not want to forget when planning a unit, so I just created a simple Google doc that lists these for easy access. Some on my list include:
- Checking our local library for books and DVDs
- Checking Netflix & Amazon Prime for documentaries or other movies pertaining to a unit
- Personal teaching books
- National Geographic CD Box Set (we own this)
- YouTube (create favorite lists for each unit and subscribe to channels you love)
- History.com
- Scholastic.com and Scholastic Book Wizard (for finding book reading levels)
- ReadWorks.org – fantastic resource for reading passages by reading level and topic
- This site for printing out maps
- Free Homeschool Deals (amazing site for homeschooling families!)
- Homeschool Share
- Homeschool For Free
- Homeschool Den
This year I cleaned out my general homeschooling binder. It needed a do-over after a couple of years of figuring out what I needed in there and what I didn’t. Now, I will warn you: I LOVE BINDERS. I have binders everywhere because I have problems. Organizational problems. Tab dividers make me happy. It’s a sickness. {I have a binder for each of my boys that is divided into medical info, school stuff (my youngest goes to public school), reports, testing info, the list goes on. These are separate from my general homeschooling binder, but I do keep my oldest son’s online class reports and anything that comes from our charter in them.}
My general homeschooling binder is basically where I keep general info. that I need to access easily that doesn’t fit in a unit binder. It includes:
- my youngest son’s public school calendar and my oldest son’s charter calendar
- my monthly planning sheet
- grade record sheets
- book lists (more about that in a sec)
- expenses (although I think I’m going to create a Google doc for this instead)
- list of educational standards (I have a couple different versions including Common Core. I like to stay interested in what various grade-level expectations are, especially since my son does participate in state testing with the charter we partner with.)
I just created my own grade record sheets for each subject. If my son takes an online course (which he is doing this year), I just use their print-out and stick it in his individual binder in the reports section.
I want to make sure that the novel studies my son and I do together are on his instructional level. I also want to be sure to include classics in our reading choices, so I found free reading lists by Mensa for their Excellence in Reading program and use them to help me decide on novels to read. Right now I pull from the 7-8th grade book list which you can find here. They have lists for kinder-12th grade. I highlighted what we’ve already read.
This year I’d like for our novels to fall in line with the history that we are learning, which is post American Revolution. So I did research on historical fiction titles and added them to create my own list. Then I had my son take a diagnostic reading test on Total Reader to find out his reading lexile level, which is a scientifically-based reading measure that determine’s a person’s reading level. I then took the reading list I had made and plugged in the Lexiles for them (by looking them up using Scholastic’s Book Wizard) and sorted it by Lexile level. This allowed me to pinpoint his Lexile instructional window and choose books around that (his level is highlighted in green). I also included the location to access the book (if our library had it available), the years it took place, and any notes (in case there was a DVD or other resources available for it).
I then broke THAT down by history timeline to align it with what we are learning:
SO, with all that said, our first two books to read are Little Women and Across Five Aprils. This is not our definite list, but it gives me something to go on when planning future novels.
As far as daily planning goes, I keep a monthly/weekly planning sheet as a Google doc and enter what we do in it as we go. I used to plan it all out ahead of time and then print it, but, let’s be honest, schedules get broken and life happens, so I found it’s easier just to keep it updated as I go and then print out the final at the end of the month and stick it in my general binder to later file.
Let’s go on to our actual units then!
Novel Study: Little Women
I’m going to admit that I have–gasp–never read this book! I am as shocked as you are! Anyway, I’m excited to read this with my son, and he is actually really enjoying it. I’m trying hard to choose books that include various perspectives and backgrounds, and I figured a book written from girls’ perspectives couldn’t hurt to start with!
I have two editions of this book that we are using. The first is a normal chapter book version, but the second is The Whole Story edition, which is fantastic and–sadly–discontinued. I first came across The Whole Story series at our local library and loved how it not only included the story, but held in the margins photos, drawings, diagrams, maps and other things for readers to help them better understand what is going on in the story. For instance, in the first chapter we learn that the girls’ father is a chaplain in the Civil War. In the margins is a photograph of an actual Civil War chaplain standing next to his fellow soldiers. It just makes it that much more real for the reader. Even though this series is discontinued, you can still find many of them on Barnes & Noble’s used books marketplace, which is where I found many of ours. I really hope another similar series is created because I think it is fantastic!
His independent work includes response pages from Reed Novel Studies, which cover text-dependent and critical thinking questions, along with connections to symbolism and figurative language.
ELA
In addition to novel study we are also focusing on general reading lessons, grammar practice and writing. I have a–you guessed it–BINDER just for ELA, which includes all of his novel response sheets, grammar practice work (I use these Bell Ringers by the ah-mazing Laura Randazzo), writing rubrics, reading skill practice pages, and a tab for all completed work (all unit/subject binders have one of these). And YES, I use my label maker so the tabs are all uniform. I HAVE PROBLEMS!!!
I am also teaching Literature lessons using Prentice-Hall textbooks. There is a main book and a supplemental book of just articles that go along with the lessons. He does this as independent work.
For writing we are first starting with Argumentative/Opinion writing lessons. Laura Randazzo has an AMAZING argumentative writing unit that includes a Prezi, rubric, graphic organizer, an extensive list of topics to write about, student exemplars of one topic and so much more. You must check it out! Here’s his recent graphic organizer for his upcoming essay:
Along with this he is learning more about researching from credible sources and to improving his style and effectiveness.
American History
Last year we focused on Explorers up through the American Revolution, with a break in there for the three branches of government and presidential elections. This year we are moving forward from there, and I am pulling from a WIDE range of resources. One of the most daunting things about starting homeschooling is the overwhelming number of resources out there. Keeping it all organized is key to make sure you are getting the most out of a unit, so I create a Google doc for each unit to keep track of everything I find that could be of use when teaching. In this case I broke it down by era and linked various websites/resources/books/activities I either already had or found online. Pinterest is incredible for finding resources for units. I normally create boards for each unit we are doing so when I go to plug them into my planning sheet, they are easily accessible. So I Pinterest ideas, then organize them into a doc, then use that to plan my weeks. Here’s an excerpt from my doc as I was beginning to input resources:
Last year I used textbooks from Bright Ideas Press and wasn’t too impressed by them. They contained a wealth of information, but the execution was pretty drab. We used it as a base and supplemented. This year I am using various books from our charter’s extensive library of curriculum resources since they are FREE and supplementing with videos, maps, websites, and activities. There is just so much to choose from to enhance this unit!
We live in an area that has some incredible history around the Gold Rush timeframe, which I am super excited about! I get to take my son to see some of these places in the flesh rather than flat on a textbook page. HOW COOL IS THAT?!?! We are also going on a field trip next week to see a live Civil War reenactment!
Human Body Unit
This year we are focusing on human body systems. My core consists of textbooks from our charter’s curriculum center and I will be supplementing with a ton of other resources and hands-on activities. We will refer to models, build an entire human body model (thanks to my dad!), and read lots of nonfiction books! Here is one side of my in-progress planning sheet for our unit:
I cannot wait to get started on this unit with my son!
Math
And finally, math: my son’s best and favorite subject! We are starting something new this year to–hopefully–help him gain an even deeper understanding of math concepts. I was turned onto an online math program called Art of Problem Solving by our charter’s supervising teacher, whose son recommended it. He has a math degree from a prestigious university and raved about this program, so I decided to check it out. Originally we had planned to take my son to Mathnasium, a tutoring center where he could get a program geared around his needs, but it was about 40 minutes away, we’d have to go 2-3 evenings a week and he wasn’t guaranteed the same tutor every time. I was kind of dreading this since we had soccer and workout classes in the evenings, but if it meant he’d get what he needed, we would make it work. But Art of Problem Solving sounded even more in-depth and is an actual online course he could do from home, which was very appealing! It begins with pre-algebra and moves up through Group Theory. It also provides courses to help students prepare for math contests such as the Math Olympiad and the AMC 10 and 12, if they choose to participate in those. I loved what I saw, so we decided to sign him up! He will be taking a live course that meets online at a specific time, and he will have homework just like a normal math class. At any time during a lecture he can ask a question privately, and assistants are waiting to answer them quickly. He’s excited about starting in next week, and I am definitely intrigued to see how it goes!
In addition to all of this, my son will continue working through coding courses and reading novels of his choice in his free time. A friend of mine and I lead a book club for 4th-6th grade readers here on our base, so he participates in that as well. I think it’s going to be a great year!
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