School Is Right Around the Corner!

It's that time again!  

We are just 19 days away from our first school day of the 2012-2013 school year.  

I can't believe it!

Our start date is Wednesday, August 1st.

Why are we starting so early?
1.  In Alabama schools regularly start around Aug 10-17.  I'm not so sure about this year though.  They've been talking about starting later in the year.
2.  I want to give us the opportunity to take the time off that we need during the school year so that I don't feel rushed come the end of the year.  It never fails, in April and May I am jam-packing days in so that we can end on the day we set at the beginning of the year.
3.  As a homeschool family we usually take days off when we have a lot of errands, or want to take a family day, or want to take a last minute mini-vacation to visit the beach or family or whatever.  So I want to allow for those things if they come into fruition.
4.  I don't like taking too long of a summer break.  It is such a drag to have to reteach skills for the first couple months.  My husband and I feel that 2 months is plenty of time off for the kids and for me.  We usually teach casual lessons throughout the summer anyway, nothing structured.  In fact my kids have been begging to work in their workbooks this summer.  So, I'm letting them. =)

The Plan for the Year:
As I mentioned in a previous post, I am doing school totally different than I ever have.  I'm fairly certain that this new approach will be for the better. I have made my own history, science & geography curricula. (Which I've never done before!)  We are doing unit studies. (Again, never did before.)  And we will only study one of those subjects at a time, so we won't become overwhelmed and will be able to better concentrate on what we are learning.

This year is History we will study:
The start of the U.S.A. through the Civil War

In Science we will be studying:
Space/Astronomy
Microscopy
Electricity
Magnetism
Light & Color
Volcanoes
Gardening

And in Geography:
We will continue to learn about individual states from last year.

*For Science and Geography we will be doing a grab bag method for our topic in our unit study.  In History we will do one section at a time in chronological order.

Math, All aspects of Language Arts & Electives will be taught separately since all my children are in different grades and are at different levels.

For Read-A-Louds we are just going to pick a book out of our own library or go to the public library and read at our own leisure.

For Bible we are going to do Keys for Kids.  Read the Bible starting at the beginning and going as far as we can go by the end of the year.  And memorize verses.

As an added subject that I really hadn't planned on until a couple weeks ago, I am going to begin to teach my children Sign Language again.  I had done it when my two older kids were in Kindergarten and 1st.  Like with any language, when you stop using it regularly, it fades away.  We are at that point.  The reason I picked Sign Language as a second language is:
1) It uses motor skills, memory, and visual.
2) Our family knows of a few deaf people and I think it is important to communicate in their language.
3) I had been introduced to Sign Language when I was fifteen.  Our church had some deaf people attending, so they taught a class on it.  I really enjoyed it and one of my desires was to become an interpreter someday.  I never did that, but I'd love to give my children the opportunity to do that if they wish.
4) I personally think it is socially important.  Sign Language is one of those languages that it is obvious that the person has a disability. Instead of my children staring and gawking, I'd love for them to understand the language and not be intimidated by it and be able to communicate and interact.
5) Not only does a job interpreting pay well, but it will give my children an opportunity to serve in church if an interpreter is needed.

Okay, I'm done on that subject. ;)

Something new that I'm doing this year is teaching First Language Lessons to three of my kids.  I hear great things about it, so I'm very excited.

I've also been considering a home-ec time on Fridays.  I would be teaching my kids how to cook, sew, do laundry, etc.  Any of those life skills that they will/could use in their future.  As I type this, I kinda think it's crazy that I don't do that already without making a class out of it.  But, I'm one busy mama.  I find that on my own, I don't take the time to show them.  If I plan to do it in my curriculum, I'm more likely to do it than if I were to say to myself, "One day I should show them how to_____."  Do you know what I mean?

So there you have it.

That pretty much sums up the school year.

It should be an interesting, fun year!