Curriculum Plans For The Coming Year

The intention of this post is to give you a look at our curriculum plans for the 2012-2013 school year. However, any list of curriculum used in our eclectic homeschool will automatically be inaccurate and misleading. The problem is that a simple list of curriculum does not show all the things we learn from that are not curriculum. It doesn't show the opportunities we will take advantage of during the school year, nor the various other resources that we add to to those texts. It does not show how we use those texts. Most importantly, it does not reflect the dozens of changes we are sure to make before it is over. What it does do is show you a few of the tools we will be using.

My 16 & 15 year old's Bible study and an
altered notebook to use with the Christian
living books I've assigned for them to read.

So, what's the plan? 
Last year I encountered resistance from a few of my children who were more interested in getting done than getting educated. It was discouraging, and by the end of the year I was pretty burnt out. These three are very alike in personality and learning style. They learn very well by building and doing and experimenting and talking, but they don't want to follow directions or record what they discover. This means that any written assignment becomes a battle ground.

This year has honestly been the most difficult year to plan since we began homeschooling. In fact, we are hoping to start school in four weeks, and I still have not purchased some of my books, nor even decided on everything we will be using. After 12 years of homeschooling, you expect to know everything there is to know about teaching your children. It is hard to admit that your ideas of how to teach don't always match up to how your children learn. In fact, your ideas of how your children learn don't even always match up to how your children learn. So, once again, we will be changing our methods. I'm not sure exactly what this will look like, but I do know that I would like to help my children take a greater interest in their own educations. I want to help them set goals, and give them more freedom in how those goals are accomplished. (Here are two articles I just read that were very helpful: 3 Tips to Transform Your Homeschool Year and Not Working Out?)

I have two students who will be graduating this year and one that will be "unofficially graduating." She will be finishing most of her "scholastic" studies this year, and spend the next year or two on more home-centered studies. (As I was planning out this year, I realized why it is useful to have a plan for all four years of highschool from the beginning. After three very heavy years, there wasn't much left for my three oldest to study this year. I think they would have prefered to spread the load out a little more, but at least we can look forward to a more relaxed year.) So, this year will be one of "tying up loose ends" for my three oldest students.

In addition to their basic subjects, my four youngest students will be doing reports on literature books chosen  off a list of approved titles. They will also be working on scripture memory and will be allowed to choose which verses they work on. Each report written or verse learned will earn them points which they will be able to redeem for (yard sale bought) prizes. Because some of the children have shown weaknesses in  spelling and penmanship (see last paragraph), we will also be emphasizing those.

My  16 and 15 year old sons will be doing the Prepare Thy Work Bible study from Doorposts. In addition to searching the scriptures to learn about the various principles taught, there is a list of supplementary books to read. They, along with their 14 year old sister, will also be doing Auto Upkeep, The Money Book For Teens, penmanship, logic, writing research papers, Bible copywork, and typing. My 14 year old will also be doing Saxon Algebra and the 15 year old a study of animal husbandry/anatomy.