2024-25 Homeschool Plan
Well, it has been a full month of dreaming, building, and making. The plan is here. I am delighted to share this year’s home education plans for my Kinderleben and 1B/A in the following post!
During the blog compilation, I was overwhelmed, but thankfully, this is all over and I am happy that the entire year is planned and I can kick back and just enjoy the process.
The attention to detail is evident in this plan, compared to the previous year’s. I felt that the reading materials in each subject have some connection to genres all throughout. Considering how curated the syllabus is, I am full of hope that it will have a powerful impact on both of my children’s learning experience and on my view of planning.
I hope you find some inspirations, just as so many mothers with internet presence inspired me in the process.
We joined CMEC this year, and out of respect for their work, I will not specify every single title I am using. I have pulled inspirations from other sources, if they do overlap with CMEC, it was not intentional that they were mentioned (just in case this happens in the future).
Kinderleben: 20 minutes a day for any of the following items in his “school” basket. Preschool is not real, but it is a fantastic way to give any eager learner a sense of responsibility and belonging next to their older sibling. As you will see, I implement Montessori tools in the early years and beyond.
The Red Letter and The Blue Number books from Montessori Services.
Kindergarten Gems from Yesterday’s Classics.
Movable Alphabet
Montessori Pink series activities (CVC cards, matching word to pictures, build word with movable alphabet).
Counters- popsicle sticks, peg dolls, felt balls.
Library book of the day.
Form 1B/A So far, we have been on a 4 hour day record without a fail. M wakes up at 6 to complete all subjects for that day at 10 sharp. No minute over. While he is compliant and studious, M will not start a new paragraph of a captivating book if he knew it will take him a minute over. He places a high value on freedom from formal lessons. I am okay with that.
Math, piano, handwriting, spelling, French and Russian are all daily subjects. We use Beast Academy for math with Miquon math on Friday for “Math Lab” day. It is a good way to break from repetitive lessons and break up into the weekend. Hand writing is in italics, and I am using Spell to Read and Write for the rest. There is so many resources on foreign languages, but so far Duolingo has been the first choice for M. The best resource is one that is used!
Bible- NT 2x per week, OT 2x per week we are reading through Genensis and the Gospel of Mark, but are also dipping into some Exodus and Maccabees as they are relevant to our History of civilization chapters.
Heroes x1 and US History 1x per week. Here set a slot for Holling’s book about Indians. Simply a delightful book and I wish I could read it every day. On Saturdays, we read Milton Lomask’s Saint Isaac and the Indians as it coincides with our Heroes theme discussed next. We try to look at history from a Catholic perspective as best we can. The US history is getting a slow start but we are working through a mix of D’Aulairs books and the Builders of Our Country
Ancient History (and Medieval history when done) 2x per week. This is by far my personal favorite topic. I digress. The best history book I could find was The Story of Civilization series. It is a glimpse into history from a Catholic Perspective. The style is similar to The Story of the World, though I find it personally better for biblically minded folk. We have countless books in our home library on Egyptian life, and even more biographies relating to medieval history. There is no set book for each term, we just read them on our free time, which is easy when we have strict TV rules.
Tales and Lit - term novel 1x per week and fairy tale every 4 weeks. Working through the Chronicles of Narnia for all three terms. I will chose a fairy tale to ready once per month just to expose my child to fairy tales, and hope one day it will be appreciated. Fairy tales are not his favorite, so I am not prioritizing them on the schedule. They will most like be shifted over to bed time stories.
Artist Study x1 Using CMEC recourses here. Basically I pick an artist and study a handful of his works throughout the term.
Composer Study 2x per MONTH. We listen to so many classical music pieces, but one day out of the month, I read a fun biography about a composer and we set a time to listen to his pieces and revisit the artist again for a story on a specific composition piece and the story behind it.
Art Instructions x3 Bestowing the Brush and Lily and Thistle. The latter is a winner and M prefers that over the former. I found it helpful to stay a lesson ahead and give instruction without taking out the phone or iPad for the lesson. In other words, I give the lesson myself. It has been a game changer in the last four weeks.
Geography x2 per week plus Holing’s book 1 x per week. Here we really get into the study of land while we are out of doors. We live by a pond and are surrounded by fields and forests. I lean heavily into Usborne Geography Encyclopedia, as well as topic related books from the library. In the first term we are diving into land formations, seasons, and sense of space. I will also dip into Africa, for M’s love of Madagascar, and Australia. I leave this fairly fluid as far as books go.
Sing Play Dance hour block 1x week. So far we have been implementing Russian folk dancing into this block. Solfa is not a priority, but we implement it along with singing.
Recitation- folk songs, hymns, foreign songs, poems- divided one of each per week. We chose French and English folk songs for the year. Obviously we sing in Church, so this term we are memorizing some hymns and prayers we hear most throughout the year. Poetry is read daily, but we have a block set aside to memorize a total of six poems this year.
Natural history 2x week with daily Out of Doors. With this topic, we are ready Eyes and No Eyes, and are leaning heavily into exploring the yard and visiting nature rich areas in the towns over.
Everything I read or anything we watch or listen to, I request an oral or drawn narration. This all seems overwhelming, but we have short lessons and this made a fluid curriculum and there are no deadlines.
If you feel overwhelmed, just remember that a curriculum is made for man, not man for the curriculum. Be flexible and open to shifting, flipping, deleting, or adding as your year progresses.
What do you think of these plans?
