Getting ready

I've spent the greater majority of the last almost two months getting curriculum compiled to use for the homeschooling. It's actually quite amazing how much free stuff you can find on the internet if you just know what words to type into a search, and what groups and websites to join. I've found free curriculum for EVERYTHING I could possibly want to teach them.

Except Spanish. No curriculum. BUT I have found many places that offer free resources for the basics in Spanish. The basics will at least give me enough time to save enough money to BUY some sort of Spanish language education materials from somewhere.

The last week I've spent putting together lesson plans. Just basic ones, really, so I can keep my children's dad informed of what they are doing for school. He seems to have developed an aversion to homeschooling them, whereas in the beginning he was all for it. But now he's not, and I figure as long as I can show him that they actually WILL be learning, and keep records for myself in case I need them, maybe he'll be appeased long enough to at least give this a good, decent shot.

But getting together the lesson plans was more difficult than getting together the curriculum. First of all, I had to create a daily schedule. Not every class will be taught every day, or even every week, so first I had to decide what classes I feel my children need to have every day (such as Math), and what classes I feel wouldn't harm my children in having every other day, every other week.

That part wasn't SO hard.

Then came setting up lesson plans for each of the classes. Which is where I messed up.

I forgot that some of the classes we'll be doing weren't going to be every day things. So I ended up creating lesson plans for every day of the week for those classes. Then I printed them up and put them in the binders I have for the curriculum. And then I realized the mistake I made. So I had to go fix those classes. That was fun. NOT.

But I think I've got it all sorted out now. I still have a few classes I haven't created lesson plans for, but those classes aren't as important. Bible (which I really don't HAVE to create a lesson plan for, because the book I will be using for the first 9 weeks actually has it's own curriculum), Music, and Art. At the ages my kids are, Music and Art aren't so critical that I have to come up with curriculum for. Music could be as simple as learning a new song, Art could be as simple as creating a drawing based on another subject's lessons for that week. So I'm not too worried about those.

We're going to start Bible this week, though, instead of waiting until the 6th. On April 7 they have a field trip to view a life-size replica of the sanctuary that has come to the area for Easter. So this week we are going to be studying the Sanctuary, both the earthly and the heavenly. And on their field trip I'm going to have them take the piece of paper that lists the items in the sanctuary and write down what each of those items represents (they will be guided by a tour guide). I think it will be fun.

Then next week we'll start the lessons on the life of Jesus immediately preceeding His crucifixion, which will be completed Easter weekend. I even have the boys Easter weekend, so I'm going to be looking for a program or something that weekend to use as a field trip. If nobody has anything planned for that weekend, I'll see if I can find a children's version of the crucifixion on DVD or something. If they were in their teens I'd probably rent The Passion of the Christ, but they are too young and I don't think they could handle that much information just yet.

I think that I am going to also start including entries on free curriculum in this blog. Just in case other homeschooling moms need help finding quality educational materials and are living on a strict budget. Some things you just can't find online, but the majority of it you can. Yeah, I think I'll start doing that.

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Daily Homeschool Schedule

7am-7:30am

• Morning Worship

7:30am-8am

• Breakfast

8am-8:45am

• Bible

8:45am-9am

• Break

9am-9:45am

• Mondays/Wednesdays: English
• Tuesdays/Thursdays: Spanish
  

9:45am-10am Break
10am-10:45am

• Math

10:45am-11am Break
11am-11:45am
Week One:

• Mondays/Wednesdays: World History/Geography
• Tuesdays/Thursdays: Earth Science

Week Two:

• Mondays/Wednesdays: American History/Geography
• Tuesdays/Thursdays: Natural Science (ie, Universe)

11:45am-1pm Lunch/Recess
1pm-1:20pm

• Reading

1:25pm-1:45pm

• Spelling/Writing

1:45pm-2pm Break
2pm-2:45pm

• Week One: Music
• Week Two: Art

(entry with free links to come later)