Plans for next year.... our morning work!!

We are getting ready to begin our new school year the first full week in August, which means only one more full week off : (. I have finalized curriculum choices and how we will apply workboxes, but I will post that later. I wanted to share the alphabetical order (A-I) that I will use to help us remember the parts of our morning work, which we do together, as well as some of the resources we will be using. (My oldest will be in 10th, and my younger in 6th. I can't believe I am teaching 6th grade again; I taught 6th for 4 years in public schools before having my first son)!

So here it is, A-I of our morning homeschool group time:

A= attendance. I keep forgetting to take attendance, and then have to go back and figure out which days we held school to finalize my records. I am marking my state-required chart as we go this year! (She types hopefully).

B= Bible. We are going to start the Bible Road Trip free online curriculum (http://bibleroadtrip.org/). We will begin with Year One, Week One, the dialectic level. This is a 3-year curriculum, complete with free printables. It is short and sweet. We will also memorize a Bible verse each week. I am using this form to plan and keep track of what we will memorize: http://www.mamaslearningcorner.com/memorize-scripture-record/
I also will use the Charlotte Mason Scripture Memory system:  http://simplycharlottemason.com/timesavers/memorysys/
 I've already printed out all the information from this site and set up our index card system. Additionally, I got this book for free for my Kindle (it is currently $3):

http://www.amazon.com/Bible-Verses-Everyone-Should-ebook/dp/B004HIM2X4/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1374798884&sr=1-1&keywords=100+bible+verses+everyone+should+know+by+heart
This has been a terrific read and I can't recommend it enough. It has suggested verses (100 of course) at the end, which I will use when we run out of ones I've already picked as being relevant to us. 

C= Current Events- maybe CNN Student News or Channel One News. I haven't used CNN, and it's been awhile since we've done Channel One, but I think we need to do more current events. We also may just look at some online headlines and discuss them. Links to the news programs mentioned:  http://www.cnn.com/studentnews/
http://www.channelone.com/

D= Drawing. We will do a quick draw each morning. I got this Kindle book when it was free:
http://www.amazon.com/Draw-Collection-Pages-Collections-ebook/dp/B00C7RPT2I/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1374799218&sr=8-1&keywords=how+to+draw+1-12

We will do one drawing from this (me on the white board and the boys in a blank book), or draw something related to what we are studying (a free-style, on your own drawing). I also got this book that correlates with our history curriculum, which we will do as the topics come up in their studies: http://www.amazon.com/Draw-Write-Through-History-Renaissance/dp/097785972X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1374799296&sr=1-1&keywords=draw+and+write+through+history


E= Encouragement. We will sometimes just discuss how things are going in our homeschool, or read the day's devotional from Jesus Calling.

F= Five-minute writing. (Can you tell I'm trying to get more right-brained activities into our school day?) I will pick a random topic from this book:

http://www.amazon.com/Things-Journal-Francisco-Writers-Grotto/dp/1452105448/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1374799599&sr=8-1&keywords=642+things+to+write+about
We will each write about the topic and then share. 

G=Geography and Grammar. I really enjoyed teaching geography when I taught in public schools, and I think my boys need more of it. I will use resources I used in the classroom, as well as follow this curriculum:
http://www.home-school-curriculum.com/product/trail-guide-to-world-geography

I also downloaded the notebooking resources that go along with it, and purchased the purple classroom atlas. We are doing the middle level (it includes 3 levels). 

For grammar, I am using Easy Grammar for both boys (each at their own level). I will have the boys complete it on their own, and then check it and give feedback immediately. 

H= History Novels. I like when we are all together, reading. The boys will read from the novel they are currently assigned (I use novels that correspond to their history), and I will read whatever I want!! Yippee! Maybe I'll actually read some of those Kindle books!! 

I= Independent Work. This is when the boys finish our group time and begin their boxes. Morning work should only take 1 hour to 1 hour 30 minutes. Since we start at 10 AM, they should be able to finish a few boxes before taking their lunch break at noon. 

I dream, and plan, big. I hope I can maintain this schedule, which came about after some soul-searching about what was really important to me in our homeschool.