Already Thinking of Next Year . . .

I am wrapping up this year's schooling. It did not go as I had planned, but I do consider it a success. I was planning on doing a little of something this summer, but honestly, I need a break.

I have been working on my girls' curriculum for next year. It is very liberating to have it figured out. I am using a mixture of paid, already have and free resources.

This is what I am going to be doing with Carol and Donna:

• Bible - Homeschool Bible Curriculum Foundation 1 and Picture This!
• World History - History Revealed (a collaboration by Answers in Genesis and Diana Waring)
  
• Geography - The Star Spangled State Book and workbook (1/2 year)
  
• American History - studies of American History using texts and workbooks by Catherine Millard (1/2 year--will continue studying next year until books are completed)
  
• Science - Exploring Creation with Botany (M-Th) and Fun Experiment (Fri)
  
• Foreign Language - La Clase Divertida
  
• Reading Material - I am finding a lot of wonderful old books on Internet Archive -- Old Fashioned Education has some wonderful book lists that I am going to use.
  
• Art - Picturing America (going to use with American History) also found some neat art books at our library sale that I am going to use to teach about certain artists and styles
• Finances - KidsWealth Money Kit
  

Carol's individual lessons:

• Arithmatic - Life of Fred: Fractions (a literature-based self teaching math curriculum)
  
• Language Arts - Total Language Plus (The Courage of Sarah Noble, The Whipping Boy, Charlotte's Web and Caddie Woodlawn), Writing Tales Level One Student Book and Teacher's Guide, and Spelling Power
  
• Handwriting - Copywork (using a lot of History Scribe) Last year, CurrClick had a big sale. We had some extra money so I invested in the Scribe series--I got them all. I will use them whenever they fit into any lesson.
  
• Health - American Girls The Care and Keeping of You and The Body Book by Nancy Rue (I am going to do a lapbook using some of the templates from Homeschool Share and some that I make myself) Nancy Rue also has The Beauty Book. I want to use this book also.
  
• Extracurricular - Creative Writing
  
• Special Mother/Daughter Time - Raising Maidens of Virtue by Stacy McDonald (Thank you Julie for talking about this on your blog)
  

Donna's individual lessons:

• Arithmetic - CIMT-MEP (It is free and if you join 3RHomeschooling Yahoo Group, you can get the password to access all the files)
  
• Language Arts -First Langauge Lessons for the Well Trained Mind Level 1 and 2
  
• Handwriting - Handwriting Without Tears
  
• Health - Human Body Lapbook (will be using some of the templates from Homeschool Share and some of my own) I knew I was going to be doing this with Donna so at our library sale I got quite a few books on the body, exercise and eating properly.
  
• Extracurricular - Violin - I tried with Carol last year and it did not really work so I will try with Donna.
  
• Special Mother/Daughter Time - I am not sure what I am going to do with Donna but I am still thinking . . . any suggestions?
  

Having my curriculum figured out allowed me to take advantage of our state home school convention. I bought most of my stuff there. There was not many discounts, but at least I did not have to pay shipping. I also bought items from one store that had a 10% coupon. YEAH! My husband and I are trying not to use credit cards and we don't really like checks floating around (Donald heard on Clark Howard that more damage can be done with stolen checks than credit cards), so we opted for cash. We only carried what we needed and the rest was put in our room safe. There are three items that were not available at the convention and I will have to order online but only one charges shipping. It feels great knowing that I have paid for most of the curriculum and will not see a bill for it later. I will also have time to leisurely look through the books and make lesson plans for next year. Many already have lesson plans and all I will do is copy them. After I bought all of my essentials, I had money left over to buy something I have been wanting for a couple of years--the 1828 Webster's Dictionary. I know that you can get it online, but I think there is something about actually turning the pages of a book.

I am on a message board about Sue Patrick's Workbox System. It is very interesting. I want to implement it next year. VERY basically, you put each lesson in a different box and the child works through them. They stay motivated because they can actually see their work disappearing as they complete it and time is not wasted because everything is put in the boxes the night before. Because of space issues, I might use crates and file folders. We will see. I do not have the book but I have gleaned enough off the message boards to get the idea.

Well, I will say goodbye for now.