How Our Life Will Be Spent- {Thoughts on Our Fall Curriculum}

One of the biggest things to keep in mind as you home school is that you are spending your time, hence your life. The  time spent is not redeemable at the end of the day. You use it once.

Learning can take place many ways. It can be done with delight or with dread. The choice is yours, mama.

I want our learning to be enjoyable.

I want to read great books with my kids.

I want our lives to be intermingled with great memories of new friends made in books and new concepts learned together.

I want our home to feel like home, not a school.

Here is just a preview of what I am thinking about for the fall:

Of course, we will be using grade level math  and english for each child. Em and Matt will be using Teaching Textbooks for Math, which they love, and Holly and Hope will be using BJU Math, which they don’t love so much, but they do the trick. Em and Matt will be using A Beka English along with Writing Strands. Hope and Holly will be using First Language Lessons for the Well Trained Mind.

(I am not sure on History, Science or electives yet…but hey, I have a whole four weeks to figure that out. he,he…I am WAY ahead!)

Together, we will study:

First Semester:

Art Appreciation

Jean Honore Fragonard (1732-1806) French Rococo

1. The Grand Cascade at Tivoli, 1760,

2. The Swing, 1766,

3. The Music Lesson, 1769
4. A Young Girl Reading, 1776
5. Education is Everything, 1780
6. The Visit to the Nursery, before 1784

Second Semester: Albert Bierstadt (1830-1902) American; Hudson River School
1. The Wetterhorn, 1857
2. Rocky Mountains, Lander’s Peak, 1863,
3. Looking Down Yosemite Valley, 1865
4. Among the Sierra Nevada Mountains, 1868
5. Seal Rock, 1872
6. Last of the Buffalo, 1888

(These will be discussed and added to the screensaver on my computer, so that the kids will see them often(our computer is in our kitchen, where we work and spend most of our time.)

Music Appreciation:  Mozart, Early classical and  Mendelssohn, Romantic

I will use Pandora.com as a tool for this! Love Pandora!

Nature Study:  Continuing Anna Comstocks Handbook of Nature.  We are also going to try this One Hour Outdoor Challenge.  Nature Study also requires keeping a nature journal which I like to do with watercolor. We love packing a lunch and going somewhere local to sit in the autumn fresh air, observe, collect and paint. Anybody want to join us?

Poetry:

Matt and Emily will study the works of William Cowper and Phyllis Wheatley here

Holly and Hope will study the works of Alfred Tennyson, Emily Dickinson, and William Wordsworth just because I loved them so much when we went through them with R,E, and M the first time around.

(I plan to use as many free audio recordings of these as I can, so I can enjoy them too, and because they are read by professionals and are hence, more enjoyable. :))

Have you guys seen these awesome resources?

If you use Ambleside Online at all, this blog has all of the free kindle editions listed. here

Jan Brett’s adorable drawing videos: here

Science and History Videos and Classroom Guides from Nova: here

This is just a start and I have a lot left to figure out. What are your plans? Any great resources to share?? Do tell.

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Another articles on homeschooling: here

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