Our Homeschool Plan

Our schedules have been a bit off.. but we are settling back in..

I know many of my friends will be reading this to get tips on homeschooling so this will be a long blog post!

To find out your laws go here.. HSLDA

The Kids ages/grades:
I dont like to catagorize as grades but it seems its the only way most people relate to a childs skills.
The problem with that is you may have a 8 year old child who can do 5th grade math and 2nd grade grammar. and thats not very uncommon.. that creates a world of issues in traditional schools. For reference I will post the kids basic grades.. :)

Urijah 1 1/2 is an observer.. he picks up what he is interested in, he is on his own time LOL..
Olivia 2 1/2 is preschool.. she is working on colors, numbers, etc
Zachary is 3, almost 4. He is balancing between Kindergarten and First grade.. I suspect at his level he will be 2nd grade by next fall.. He is a beginner reader ( sounds out words) and is learning basic math.. he is very interested in letter sounds and words and focus more on that.
Isaac is 5, and nearing 2nd grade ( in 2 more weeks) he has been reading since he was 4 and can spend all day reading about dinosaurs.. he also enjoys math. He is a unique source for unusual trivia.
Abigail is 6 and also 2nd grade.. she is also an avid reader and has found a recent interest in beginner chapter books like Junie B Jones.. She will read anything involving horses.. She isnt a big math person but has recently developed a knack for it.. She has incredible art skills..
Quinten is 9 and nearing 4th grade. He is a hands on learner. He has trouble with spelling but reads well.. He prefers science, esp earth science.. He loves to cook and bake. He loves fixing things. Most of his lessons are not your traditional school work.
Jacob is 10 and nearing 6th grade.. This means he is beginning a whole new school plan.. He is a great student and also makes a good teacher.. He thoroughly enjoys school time.. He picks things up easily and seems to like history the most..

Lesson Plans:
We dont follow a certain curriculum.. we consider ourselves "eclectic unschoolers" ( see #1 & #2)
For our basic skills we use these workbooks. We buy them at Sams Club.. about $8 a piece.
For our other topics and extensive study we pull from a vast array of resources available on the internet.. Some I have posted on my Frugal blog ...

For Jacob's history this year we are studying the foundation of our country.. in depth.. Starting with 1700-1800. this part of our history is most often overlooked and misunderstood.. in brief, the Declaration of Independence was adopted in 1776.. President George Washington wasnt elected untill 1789 when the US Constituion was adopted as the framework for the US Government. What happened in those 13 years inbetween has seemed to be a blip on the history screen but contains so much important information. As well as the events leading up to the Declaration of Independence. One important question to ask yourself is.. What happend that casued these men to risk everything they had? Thier lives, their familes.. Why was their freedom so important.. This information, or its lack of being taught, I feel, has played a big part in the direction our country has taken..

We will begin with several books, The Five Thousand Year Leap, The Real Thomas Jefferson, The Real George Washington, and the Essential Federalist & Anti Federalist Papers. The school work involved with mostly be discussion and a few essays.

For the rest of them we will do a History Notebook.. I got this idea from a fellow homeschool blogger and chose to adopt it.

For Science we will all be studying evolution vs. creationism.. Focusing on dinosaurs for Isaac..
some sources for this will be Scripture, Dr. Dino, and Abeka workbooks.

As far as a schedule we do basic skills in the am from 9:30-12 we break for lunch and do our other topics in the afternoon when the younger ones are napping..

I will post more later as questions arise.. :)