Planning for September

So far , so good. I have been busy planinng for our first month of homeschooling and it looks really good.

In French, Catherine will keep on working with Bled. I still have a few lessons to type up and print. All the books for William and Zachary are ready.

In Math, Catherine & William are starting with Défi-Math 1. I already have one workbook, I only need to get a second one for William. I have all the books ready for Zachary but do need to print some pages for Alexandra. And get a few manipilatives.

Geography, kids are starting the Galopping the Globe book. I have alrady printed all the activity pages and planned book lists and such for all the countries for September and October. In September, they will do the intro, which will last two weeks then China and South Korea. I do have some things I want to get together from Sonlight too.

History, kids will redo the intro for SOTW1. We were not consistant enough last year and I think it will be better to just start over again. Adding a few things from Sonlight too.

English, Sonlight all the way. I need to get the activity sheets together for the oldest three. I have those for Alexandra all ready, just need to bring them to the ?? and have them binded. Actually, I have several books we are putting together that I need to have binded.

Science... My favorite this year. I have put together for September a Animal Classifying Unit. And I will make my own classifying cards as I cannot seem to find any in French. I think this works better since we can make cards for each and every animal there is on Earth. I will just get some old magazines of animals, cut the pictures then glue them on a sheet, adding the necessary info then laminate them all. For October, we will study all about bears... panda bears, grizzly bears, polar bears, black bears, brown bears, ... An entire month for bears. I will, of course, add the Sonlight Science program for each child too.

Spanish, this is great. My kids have been wanting to learn Spanish for some time now. So, I finally got the Rosetta Stone Spanish 1 program, homeschool version. So, not only will they learn to understand and speak Spanish but they will also learn to read and write it. I already have many games and manipulatives. I just need good children's books now. Any suggestions? This is proving to be a very difficult area for me. I looked on E-Bay but most books offered are really cheap ones, the kind you find at a dollar store. I want really good Spanish books, like Spanish kids get to read in Spain.

Arts, we are continuing with ARTistic Pursuits and maybe Lézards Plastiques. Catherine will start her painting lessons again sometime in September. She is quite excited about it.

PE, boys are taking karate, girls (hopefully, still got no answer for Ali) will take ballet. We are really thinking about having the oldest four take gymnastics, as they have been asking for sometime now. I am also hoping to find someone here in the village to teach my kids to ice skate. It has to do during the day, when it is warmer. I cannot teach them as I can barely skate myself. Besides, I also want someone that can play hockey with them and maybe teach them a little figure skating too.

Music, I was hoping to have the foyer all done and ready to get a piano but it does not look like that will happen for September. My neighbor has already agreed to give them lessons, once I get a piano. Maybe for in a few months. Patrick will keep on giving them violin and guitar lessons and I will give them flute lessons. I am getting a cd for a program of vocals, which I think they will enjoy immensely. They love to sing.

As for the rest, I want to find another neighbor that will be able to teach them to knit, crochet and do all those wonderful things. Hoping that neighbor can teach me also, lol. We have all been wanting to learn. I can already see all the wonderful gifts we could make for each other.

I think this covers pretty much everything. I am writing it all down as I get it all planned, just to make sure I do not forget anything. I want everything ready for September soon, meaning all the books, activity books, lap books, dvds, cds, fun books, everything... All in place, just ready to be used. Sure hope I get enough time to finish the school room first though. Working hard on that one.