Getting Ready for next school year.

I kind of have school on my brain all the time. I usually have a thought or two swirling through my brain at any given moment.

This weekend, I got a lot done.

I filled out the homeschooling papers for next year.  I need to get those in by July 15th. You have to have them approved 30 days before you start school, so we need to get them notarized and off to the Nebraska Department of Education soon.  I also need to send along Courtney's birth certificate this year to prove she is of school age. I had to send Megan's there last year.

I was very busy on ebay this weekend. It is amazing what you can find. I was waiting for school to end and for people to put all their old stuff up. 

This is what I got for next year.

1. Sonight Core D American History.  We used this same curriculum for world history this year and loved it.  This includes all Megan's read-aloud books and history.  We will be studying American History until 1850 for third grade and then the rest of American History for 4th grade.

Along with her read-alouds and history, I also got her the Advanced Readers.  This last year, I got her 3rd grade readers, but those were way too easy! She breezed though them pretty quickly.  For Core D, there was an option of regular readers or advanced. I happen to find a Sonlight set with advanced!  The bonus of Core D is that all the readers and read-alouds all relate to what you are studying in history.

I also got Sonlight Language Arts D package with this too.  I did this last year with Megan and honestly, I was not very happy with the phonics or grammar sections, but I loved the writing sections.  They really challenged the kids to be creative and to think outside of their box.  We probably laughed and cried the most at these writing assignments.  (Laughed because we had such a fun time creating stories and essays, cried because I made Megan do them!)
I also get the lesson plans for all these sections plus the student sheets, which are NOT written on! That makes me happy!

As a bonus, I also got the lesson plans, student sheets, and three books from Sonlight's D science program.  If I want to use this program in a couple of years, I just need to get the missing books.

2.  To make up for the fact that Sonlight does not have a lot of grammar or sentence structure activites, I found a teacher's manual and student book from Rod and Staff to make that information up.  This set is usually $27 online and I got it for $10.

3.  I also plan to do Bible together next year. I am not happy with Sonlight's Bible program, so I went and found a different one to use next year. I decided to try Bob Jones University Press for Bible. I ordered a student book, materials, and a test last week off ebay and on Saturday, I got the teacher's manual. Usually this is a $54, but I got it for $6.  They said that it was brand new too! So hopefully it is! I am doing 3rd grade level for this, I think it will be fine for Courtney. I need to order an extra workbook since I will need two of them.

4. Finally today I ordered one last thing. I really want Courtney to have a solid foundation in phonics. Since I'm the one teaching her how to read, this is how I want her to learn :)  Rod and Staff (again) has some great phonics books for the lower levels. I found a set on ebay of course. It had the Pre-K, 1st grade, and 2nd grade phonics books.  This is usually about $68 and I got it for $9.99! Pretty happy! I don't plan on using this every day with Courtney, but just to supplement if I need. I also thought I could go through some of it this summer. I figure for $10, it's worth it to help her understand a little bit more. I am using Sonlight Language Arts with her too (1st grade level), so I will just need to get started and see how it goes.   (Yes, I figure we can skip the kindergarten level since she knows all her letters and sounds and it already putting words together). 

I already have Courtney's Language Arts here and Sonlight Science (kindergarten level here).  Again, both off ebay for discounted prices! I am going to start at kindergarten science with both of them. Megan has not had a lot of science the last 3 years, so I thought I would start at the beginning. It is made for K-2nd graders anyway, so I think it will work out great.  There are lots of hands on activities and lots of cutting and pasting for Courtney. :)

I do need to order Math sometime too for both girls. We are going to do Horizons for kindergarten math and 3rd grade Math. I looked at some different programs, but I couldn't really switch because a lot of what Megan had learned in 2nd grade math, these other programs were starting to teach them in 3rd grade. I don't want Megan going backwards! I was not 100% happy (I was about 98% or so happy) with Horizons last year, but it is a good program!  I think it will give Courtney a good solid start with math!

Last but not least, the state requires us to teach our children health. I used Abeka last year for 2nd grade health and didn't like it. The books were a little outdated, like when talking about using the phone, they had pictures of the old phones with cords in the books and no mention of cell phones! I am going to try Horizons for health this year. I think I can use 3rd grade for both kids. I only plan on doing health once a week. 

Art, music, and PE are also subjects I need to work in there. Megan is going to take dance again and Courtney wants to take gymnastics, so that might be PE. We could have a set music time (me play piano, girls sing and dance), and we can do crafts or buy a simple art book. These can be once a week activities too.

Megan has also requested to learn Greek and Latin roots.  I didn't push spelling or vocabulary with her last year because she is pretty good speller, but she really has an interest in other languages.  We will have to see about this.  I'm going to have plenty of other subjects to cover! I can't wait for all this stuff to come in the mail this week!