For the last four days, I have given an overall plan for our homeschooling year.
(Visit here, here, here, and here.)
Below, I break it down further with the resources I will use for each term.
But at the end of it all, I want them to love the moment and to understand that all the moments add up to a history of humankind. Every event led to the next. Each discovery and failure led to another step in our path as a species. The land formed slowly over time – a moment at at time. Yes, there were dark periods but there were always glimpses of light and the highest forms of expression of who we are through loving this moment. Why wait?
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RESOURCES: (not complete…still adding/editing/subtracting…)
A) World Travel (Head)
Books:
- Ancient Mythologies by Charles Kovacs
- Jakob Streit’s Old Testament Trilogy: And Then There Was Light, Journey to the Promised Land, We Will Build a Temple
- Buddha Stories, Buddha, Muhammad, The Fantastic Adventures of Krishna, Lao Tzu and the Tao Te Ching, Rumi, Mother Teresa, Jesus, The Dalai Lama, Confucius, Joan of Arc – by Demi
- One World Many Religions: The Way We Worship by Mary Pope Osborne
- Sacred Stories: wisdom from world religions by Marilyn McFarlane
- The Seven Days of Creation; Alphabet Art: 13 ABCs from Around the World; Pyramid of the Sun, Pyramid of the Moon; Moses; Gandhi; Gods and Goddesses of Ancient Maya – by Leonard Everett Fisher
- Cleopatra, Joan of Arc, Saladin: noble prince of Islam by Diane Stanley
- Hear the Voice of the Griot: A Guide to African Geography, History, and Culture by Betty K. Staley
- Pyramid by David Macaulay
- Plus nonfiction and world mythology books pulled from the library bookshelves to have strewn around for the kids to look at
Websites:
- Lessons on Chinese calligraphy (Gr 5)
- Ancient Persia (Gr. 5)
- A cross cultural examination of the Cinderella story (K and Gr 3)
- An in-depth look at the caste system in India (High School)
- The soul and spirit of Gandhi in present day India (High School)
- Big History Project (High School mostly but will adapt some lessons for all)
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B) Ancient Greece and Renaissance – Arts and Literature (Heart)
- D’Aulaires’ Book of Greek Myths
- Homer’s Odyssey by Isabel Wyatt
- Black Ships before Troy: The Story of the Illiad by Rosemary Sutcliff
- Who Was Leonardo da Vinci? by Roberta Edwards
- Michelangelo by Diane Staley
- A Renaissance Town by Jacqueline Morley
- Three Masters of the Renaissance by Claudio Merlo
- Famous Men of Greece by John H. Haaren
- Plus nonfiction library books on Ancient Greece and the Renaissance…
Websites:
- Ancient Art activities (all)
- Poetry and Art (all)
- Medieval and Renaissance Art: Botanical Symbolism (gr 5 and up)
- Deep Roots of Ancient Greece (High School) and The Far Reaches of Greek Culture (High School)
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C) Natural Sciences: Astronomy, Botany, Physics, Geology (Hands)
Books:
- Keepers of the Night; Keepers of the Earth by Michael J. Caduto and Joseph Bruchac
- Find the Constellations by H.A. Rey
- The Kids Book of the Night Sky by Ann Love and Jane Drake
- The Stars: A New Way to See Them by H.A. Rey
- The New Patterns in the Sky: Myths and Legends of the Stars by Julius D. W. Staal
- Botany by Charles Kovacs
- The Ontario Table by Lynn Ogryzlo
- Teaching Physics and Chemistry by Roy Wilkinson
- The Bee Book by Jakob Streit
- A Path of Discovery – Eric Fairman (Gr.6 and 7)
- Girls Who Looked Under Rocks by Jeannine Atkins
- Galileo by Leonard Everett Fischer
- Geology and Astronomy by Charles Kovacs
- Little House Series by Laura Ingalls Wilder
- Plus more nonfiction books pulled off the shelf from the library…
Websites:
- Herb Fairies (gr 3 and kindy)
- Among the Farmyard People Stories (gr 3 and kindy)
- Big History Project (All)
- Geology Ontario (All)
- Mountain Creation: A Drama Exploration (All)
- Patterns Across Cultures: The Fibonacci Sequence in Visual Art (gr 7 and up)
- Sunflowers through Science and Art (gr 5)
- Magnet and Electricity experiments (gr 7)
In addition to these books, we will have poetry books and individual read aloud and books that I read to them. My eldest daughter will be watching more Ted Talks and documentaries to supplement her learning as well. They will also have their math practice and lesson times and writing/grammar/composition practice. Our “circle time/gathering time” as a family will be spent picking a poem or prayer to be read aloud and memorized.
I may not get to all the resources or may swap out but the key is to go with the flow of what excites me and what excites them. Storytelling will move to the front and centre stage again. The pace is about staying in the topic as long as we are curious. There will be a sprinkling of field trips. There will be surprises. There will be travel. There will be lots of physical activity and time to pursue interests. There will be plenty of entries in their own Book of Hours which they will begin on the first day of school.
Above all else, I hope that there will be lots of little moments of joy, connection, wonder, and love.
“Love the moment, and the energy of that moment will spread beyond all boundaries.”
― Corita Kent
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100 scribbles…hurriedly writing the here and now.
#100scribbles
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