Homeschool 2011-2012, part 1

It's Summer! And while for most people that means a break from school, for homeschool families it means time to gear up for next year. It helps me to put my plans on paper, so for anyone who is interested, here is what we have planned so far.

Summer 2011


Latin
Curriculum: Latina Christiana 1 By purchasing this from a homeschool family who didn't use the books, I was able to get 2 books and 2 CDs for $20 including shipping. I also bought the teacher's manual and the flashcards for another $20.00.
Goal: Gain vocabulary skills by memorizing Latin derivatives (ora - to pray or speak; amo - to love); Gain a better understanding of language by comprehending that verbs are conjugated (amo, amas, amat, amamus, amatis, amant); build a foundation for learning another foreign language such as Spanish or French.
Bonus: Listening to Gabe try to say the Latin words :o) ; refreshing my own Latin.


Reading
I am incredibly blessed that all 3 of my kids love books. Sometimes I can't get them to stop reading at night or while I am trying to talk to them. Since I choose most of their books for the school year, and since I control what books come into our house in general, they choose what to read all summer as long as they read. I too have had some time to read!

US Geography (States)

Curriculum: Road Trip USA  Written by a homeschool mom, and easily worked for K-6 graders, this $18.00 download is fantastic. We have only made it through 3 states because we are having so much fun doing each activity that comes with each state, like making Blueberry muffins for Maine.

Goal: Gain a general idea of where each state is, how the USA is broken up into regions, and what is produced in the different regions. 

Bonus: Studying the animals found in each state and famous people who were born there.

Experience
In keeping with the US States we are studying, we are taking a road trip! It looks like this:
California to Oregon (13.5 hours) to visit my grandmother and one of Daniel's best friends from childhood.
Oregon to Idaho (12 hours) to visit Kris, Ben and Elijah (Daniel's sister)
Idaho to Seattle, Washington area (6 hours) to visit dear friends and my aunt, uncle and cousins
Seattle area to Grand Mound (3 hours) to stay at Great Wolf Lodge for a night
Washington to Oregon  (6 hours) to see Grandma again
Oregon to California (13.5 hours)


Along the way we plan to see or do one or two things in each state that represent that state, such as river rafting in Oregon and the Space Needle in Washington.


Other
Mckenna: Soccer camp and Piano Lessons
Gabe: Marital Arts (now that his cast is off!)
Juliana: Swimming lessons


This summer reminds me why I love Homeschooling. 
1. We can do many subjects all together. Mckenna can simply go deeper, and Juliana can play independently when we are doing things she can't do.
2. We can tailor our learning to fit our lives, and vice versa. Are we traveling because we are studying states or studying states because we are traveling? 
3. It's fun.
4. There is no 3 month break to turn their brains to mush.






2011-2012 coming in part 2