Hey, it's that time of year again - time to get the school plans down for the fall. I thought I'd give you a run down of what we're planning, and I would love to see the links to your plans, as well.

The curricula listed are for both Luke and Peyton unless otherwise noted. Luke will be 11 and Peyton will be 9. WHAT!? That's crazy to write.

Bible - We're going to use the Veritas Press Bible cards, the Gospel series. These cards give a good, clear understanding of the content and chronology of Biblical events. We have Victor Journey Through the Bible that we will use alongside the cards and Bible reading.

Math - Luke will move on to Math U See Zeta with Life of Fred Decimals and Percents as a supplement. I'll be giving him some real life math problems to work on as well.

Peyton is about halfway through MUS Delta, and when she finishes that she'll move into MUS Epsilon with Life of Fred Fractions as a supplement.

Grammar - We're going to be using Analytical Grammar, with the recommended three year course. I love the thinking behind this program, which is thorough and rigorous, but doesn't review part of speech definitions until your brain pours out of your ears.

Peyton will not be doing a formal grammar program this year, but will have plenty built into her writing program.

Writing - Luke will be using Classical Writing, Homer A this year. We will wait to start it until the ten week course of Analytical Grammar is complete. The grammar in Homer along with the biweekly AG review should keep his grammar skills sharp while he focuses on writing.

Peyton will be using Classical Writing Aesop B this year.

Spelling - We've been using Spelling Power. Luke took the Iowa Test of Basic Skills this year and while he did pretty well overall, he pretty much stunk up the spelling section. This surprised me, because when he writes he is not prone to many spelling errors. I'm rethinking how we use SP vs. changing to a different program. Peyton hates Spelling Power (thought she spelled very well on the test) and I need to change her program for sure. Thoughts?

History - Luke will be going from the end of the Revolutionary War as far as we can - maybe stopping before WWI? - as recommended in The Well Trained Mind. Each week this will include reading a section in the 1994 version of Kingfisher's History Encyclopedia, making a list of pertinent facts learned and adding important dates to the timeline on Day One, doing mapwork and delving deeper into areas of interest from Kingfisher at the library and outlining a particular topic of interest on Day Two, and writing a summary of this topic of interest on Day Three.

Peyton will be covering the same time period, though her core text will be Story of the World last half of 3 and first half of 4, with written narrations each week. She'll also use the Story of the World Activity Guide for coloring pages, maps and other activities, and additional library books along with Usborne's Internet Linked Encyclopedia of World History for digging deeper.

Literature - Luke will be reading through many of the logic-stage recommendations for this time period from The Well Trained Mind. Peyton's list will come from the grammar stage recs.

Latin - We'll be using First Form Latin. This was a tough piece. Luke and Peyton have now worked through Latina Christiana II, and Luke could move on, but Peyton is not ready for a higher level Latin. Fortunately for us, Memoria Press is publishing First Form just in the nick of time. Much of First Form will review LC I&II, but they dig deeper into the grammar with more exercises. So this year will be a reinforcement year for the two of them. I just don't want to commit the time to teaching two different levels of Latin. Unlike math, it's not as if they have to be able to do a certain level of Latin in 8th or 9th grade, so I'd rather keep them together in this subject.

Science - We'll be using Exploration Education for physical science this year. It looks like a lot of fun. I imagine we'll throw in some other experiments as we go along.

Art - Our Handle on the Arts program sat on the shelf all year and, by golly, we're going to use it this year!

Other - Luke will be playing select soccer this year pending tryouts the first week of July and continuing guitar lessons with Bud. Peyton will continue with drama and learning keyboard if Bud can force her to do it. He he.

Our plan is to devote Mon-Thurs to the core subjects, leaving Friday for art, science experiments and community service/mission projects. I think it's shaping up to be a good year.