Trying Out Some Organization

I know everyone and their mothers have heard about workboxes by now.  If you haven't, where have you been hiding?  I've tried different things from having a separate shelf on the bookcase for each child to having a basket with their work in it for the day.  So now I am going to try the workbox thing with the whole set up. 

Why do we need organization or more than before?  Well, having an autoimmune disease makes one see the need for more organization so that things get done around the house.  This year I have kept things simple.  Only working on a few subjects at a time.  I would love to keep up the same schedule as before but my body is not letting me do much.  

Let's just say that I've heard the good things about this system and then those comments from those who think this is worthless.  I appreciate what I've read about this system from everyone but I'm still going to try it. hehehe  I'm just a rebel, I guess.  I guess I've had some influence from a rebel friend.  So I've got our boxes and now I will be getting them ready.  Hey, this will clear a shelf on my book case which if all you who read this are homeschoolers then you all know how precious a shelf on a book case can be.  Yipppeee! 

So here is our boxes.  I still am in the process of getting them organized and putting things in them.  I'm not one to follow things exactly as others are doing them so I will have to figure out my way.  Hope it works for us.  I'll post more on how and what we do as time goes on and I figure out how we will do this.   

Geography Plans

I started the year off slow. I had to. Pain and health keeps me from doing much. The month of August we are just doing math and language arts. I'm keeping it slow and simple. Language arts consists of spelling, grammar, reading and writing.

So what about everything else? Well, I have worked up some plans for geography. I found a great book. It's Galloping the Globe. This book is actually a unit study of world geography. It includes first of all geography and also history, science, literature, vocabulary, maps and flags, recipes, puzzles, games crafts and bible. It also has reproducibles for the flags and for the different countries. I love it because it has it all.

We are going to do from this book, geography, history and science. It has wonderful references and ideas of which books to look for at the library. I wrote out my weekly plans of course because I am like that. I like to see a page and know what I am doing that week. It is easy too because as we study China we will learn about Marco Polo and the Great Wall of China for history and for science we will learn about ducks and pandas. To end the week of study we will cook up some Chinese food. The following week we move on to South Korea then Japan. We will spend one week learning things about a different country and end the week with food. There is nothing better than ending a week with food.

Monday we will go to the library and gather up books. Then we will start the following week. Each Monday we will be at the library to gather our books for the following week. Sounds like fun to me. 

These are only 2 pages of 6 for these plans.  I have added more than we might be able to do but I like to be able to pick and choose.  Can't wait to get started.  Whatcha think?  

Our Schedule

What do you all think? I was working on this today. Of course, I hope I will have a little extra time here and there to continue with the next thing. Since we are doing school 4 days a week this year the 5th day will either be Wednesday or Friday. Hubby is off from work every other Friday so when he is off so will we. The other weeks we will be off on Wednesday and have a morning of service and the afternoon we will work on our art and nature studies.

This plan is what my plan is but I'm sure it will be tweaked a bit here and there. We do plan on finishing our day by noon and this plan is only for the two younger ones. The oldest will have his own schedule and will be able to work on it on his own.

What schedules do you have for school? Next time I will be posting our final selection in curriculum for the year. It was nice to see what Jackie will be using for their curriculum.

Am I done yet?

So are you wondering if I am done with planning our history for next year? I am more or less done. I still haven't put books like The Usborne Encyclopedia of World History, The Kingfisher History Encyclopedia, Streams of Civilizations and DK Children's Encyclopedia of World History and other references.

Don't think like I said before that I am doing everything on my list. I just added all I could find so that if I feel in the mood to read a book we can or if I feel in the mood to see a movie we can. We will follow this outline though.

I had on the list of people others but took them off and am making one just for them on a music and art list and adding some fun things to do. So what do you think? Do you have any ideas? Do you see anything that I can improve on? Let me know what you think.

Late Renaissance-Early Modern (1600-1850)
Interactive 3-D Maps:American History by Donald M. Silver
History Pockets of Colonial America by Evan Moor

approx 4 weeks
The Mayflower(g96 11/22 24-27) Netflix:The Untold Story of the Mayflower
Native American cultures(g96 9/8 7-12)(g2/06 10-13) Netflix: American Indian Homelands
early American settlements
George Washington (1732-1799) Netflix: George Washington:American Revolutionary
Thomas Jefferson Netflix: Thomas Jefferson
James Madison
James Monroe

Pocahontas Netflix: Pocahontas Reveled..Nova
Squanto Netflix: Squanto:A Warrior's Tale
William Penn (1644-1718)
John Smith, Jamestown Netflix: National Geographic:Jamestown
Check library for these and other titles...Books to look for:Easy Make and Learn Projects The Pilgrams, the Mayflower and More by Scholastic;A Lion to Guard Us by Clyde Robert Bulla; Naya Nuki by Kenneth Thomasma; ...If you sailed on The Mayflower in 1620 and If You Lived In Colonial Times by Ann McGovern; George Washington's World by Genevieve Foster; Step into Reading George Washington and the General's Dog by Frank Murphy; Step into Reading Thomas Jefferson's Feast by Frank Murphy; George Washington by Ingri d'Aulaire; Pocahontas by Edgar d'Aulaire;Columbus by Ingri d'Aulaire; Getting to Know The U.S. Presidents James Madison by Mike Venezia; Step into Reading The True Story of Pocahontas by Lucille Rech Penner; Squanto, Friend of the Pilgrams by Clyde Robert Bulla; The World of Capt. John Smith by Genevieve Foster
Extra projects:make our own moccasins

approx 1 week
the American Revolution, Declaration of Independence 1776
books to look for:The American Revolution History Comes Alive, Teaching Units by Jacqueline Glasthal; If You Lived at the Time of the American Revolution by Kay Moore; American Revolution(DK Eyewitness Books); American Revolution A companion to the Revolutionary War on Wednesday Magic Tree House by Mary Pope Osborne; The Declaration of Independence by Sly Sobel J.D.

approx 1 week
Russia under Peter the Great and his successors(1672-1725)
books to look for:Peter the Great by Diane Stanley

approx 1 week
The Napoleonic Wars
Napoleon(1769-1821)

approx 2 weeks
the siege of the Alamo Netflix:The Alamo (1960)
Daniel Boone
Davy Crockett
books to look for:The Boy In The Alamo by Margaret Cousins; Davy Crockett A Life on the Frontier by Stephen Krensky

approx 2 weeks
the Lewis and Clark expedition
Meriwether Lewis (g05 1/8 3)(1774-1809) and William Clark (1770-1838)
Sacagawea (c.1788-1812) Netflix: National Geographic Lewis & Clark
books to look for:Lewis and Clark for Kids by Janis Herbert;

approx 2 weeks
the California gold rush (g93 8/1 32)(1848) Netflix:American Experience:The Gold Rush Learning Through History, Westward-Ho, pg.37-51
http://www.museumca.org/goldrush/fever01.html
books to look for:Stepping Stones Gold Rush Winter by Claire Rudolf Murphy

approx 1 week
the Constitution (g87 10/22 24-27) the Bill of Rights (g91 12/8 20-23)
books to look for:If You Were There when They Signed the Constitution by Elizabeth Levy

approx 1 week
Salem Village and the Witch Hysteria (g98 4/8 31)

approx 2 weeks
Slavery in the US (g01 9/8 20-21) Netflix: Prince Among Slaves, Underground Railroad, Race to Freedom:The Underground Railroad
books to look for:If You Traveled on the Underground Railroad by Ellen Levine

approx 1 week
Louis XVI (1754-1793)
Marie Antoinette (1755-1793)
the War of 1812 Netflix: History Channel:The War of 1812

Books
Don Quixote (abridged)
Oliver Twist
Treasure Island
Gulliver's Travels
Robinson Crusoe

List of people
Isaac Newton (1642-1715) w77 4/15 244-247
Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790)Step into Reading Ben Franklin and the Magic Squares by Frank Murphy; Benjamin Franklin by Ingri d'Aulaire
Catherine the Great (1729-1796)
Betsy Ross (1752-1836)
Captain James Cook (1768-1771)??? g95 3/22 12-15
Andrew Jackson
Paul Revere
Buffalo Bill book: Buffalo Bill by Ingri d'Aulaire g96 9/8 3-4
Sitting Bull book: Sitting Bull (All Aboard Reading) by Lucille Recht Penner

g71 5/22 13-16

approx 27-36 weeks in all

History Planning is not scary!

Now don't get all scared at my plans for history. I know it was a lot but I am still working on it. Look what I have so far. I've added movies and magazine articles. This doesn't mean we are doing it all just that it is there if I decide to do one thing or another. I am still not finished though.

This gives you an idea as to how my crazy brain works in trying to get our next school year planned. I still need to look into some books to read and add in some field trips. It would not be any fun unless there were field trips, right? Then there are some more people in history that I would like to go over.

Like I said this is a work in progress...so whatcha think so far?



Late Renaissance-Early Modern (1600-1850)
History Pockets of Colonial America by Evan Moor
The Mayflower(g96 11/22 24-27) Netflix:The Untold Story of the Mayflower
Native American cultures(g96 9/8 7-12)(g2/06 10-13) Netflix:American Indian Homelands
early American settlements
George Washington (1732-1799) Netflix:George Washington:American Revolutionary
Thomas Jefferson Netflix:Thomas Jefferson
James Madison
James Monroe
Pocahontas Netflix:Pocahontas Reveled..Nova
Squanto Netflix:Squanto:A Warrior's Tale
William Penn (1644-1718)
John Smith, Jamestown Netflix:National Geographic:Jamestown


Russia under Peter the Great and his successors
British-French conflict in Canada
the American Revolution
The Napoleonic Wars
Napoleon

the siege of the Alamo Netflix:The Alamo (1960)
Daniel Boone
Davy Crockett

the California gold rush (1848) Netflix:American Experience:The Gold Rush
http://www.museumca.org/goldrush/fever01.html

the Lewis and Clark expedition
Meriwether Lewis (1774-1809) and William Clark (1770-1838)
Sacagawea (c.1788-1812)


the Constitution (g87 10/22 24-27) the Bill of Rights (g91 12/8 20-23)
Salem Village and the Witch Hysteria (g98 4/8 31)
Slavery in the US Netflix:Prince Among Slaves, Underground Railroad, Race to Freedom:The Underground Railroad
the War of 1812 Netflix: History Channel:The War of 1812

What's for Science?

If you don't know by now, I guess I have to tell you. We just love to go over the Apologia books for science. We are finishing up the Flying Creatures one right now and will be doing the Swimming Creatures starting next year. I have plans for this book too. We are doing some lapbooking for the birds but I think that with the Swimming Creatures book we will just do it as the book suggests.

So what are our plans. Sort of the same thing as in history. The book has 14 lessons and we will do each lesson in 2 weeks. That gives us a total of 28 weeks to finish this book. What will we have at the end of this book? We will have a notebook of drawings and illustrations. My favorite is the ocean box that takes all 28 weeks to do. You do a little at a time and end up with a box of all the animals you learned about in the box made out of clay or paper. I think we will do ours out of clay. Of course, there are the experiments that they love to do. I really can't wait to get started with that because I can just see our field trips....the beach, the aquarium and more of the beach. Oh, what fun!

So here you have my lesson plans for the first 4 weeks in science. I have it all done it takes too much room to put it here. If you want to see more or know more just ask.

Each lesson will be 2 weeks long and it will be 3 days a week.
Lesson 1 Aquatic Animals
Day 1 Read pgs 1-4
Day 2 Read pgs 5-10 do Try This!
Day 3 Read pgs 10-15 do Try This!
Day 4 Read pgs 16-17 do Your Notebook
Day 5 page 17 Ocean Box
Day 6 page 18 Experiment

Lesson 2 Whales
Day 1 Read pgs 19-23
Day 2 Read pgs 23-28 do Try This!
Day 3 Read pgs 29-34 do Try This!
Day 4 Read pgs 35-39 do Your Notebook
Day 5 Read pgs 39 Ocean Box
Day 6 pages 39-40 Experiment

Lesson 3 Seals and Sea Cows
Day 1 Read pgs. 41-45
Day 2 Read pgs. 45-50
Day 3 Read pgs. 50-53
Day 4 Read pgs. 53 do Notebook
Day 5 Read pg. 53 Ocean Box
Day 6 Read pg 54 Experiment

Lesson 4 Aquatic Herps
Day 1 Read pgs. 55-58 do Try This!
Day 2 Read pgs. 58-64 do Try This!
Day 3 Read pgs. 64-68 do Try This!
Day 4 Read pgs. 68-71 Notebook
Day 5 Read pgs. 71 Ocean Box
Day 6 Read pg. 72 Experiment