Greene Sage School Outline 2006/2007 School Year

Scripture

History

Science

Nature Notebooks

• Trees/insects/invertebrates
• Winter Term -climate and weather
• Spring Term -garden flowers and weeds

Work daily in nature notebooks, observing the natural world, dry-brushing pictures, sketching, notating changes from day to day, observing impact of weather on the natural world, reading/writing nature poetry, including poem notations with our sketches

Literature/Narration

• Story of King Arthur and His Knights: Part I, The Winning of Kinghood, ch. 1 and 2, (Free online)
• Age of Fable ch 15 The Grææ, Perseus and Medusa, Perseus and Atlas (This is free online)
• Shakespeare -find complete works free online here: "http://www-tech.mit.edu/Shakespeare/" We will begin by studying Twelfth Night (over a 12 week period)
• Poetry of Rudyard Kipling

Foreign Language- Spanish (weekly lesson)

Four Week Rotation: Music History, Art History, Music Theory/Folk Music, Arts & Crafts (we will study one of these a week, alternating on the four week week rotation). I will update the outline of our music and art studies as I get it written.

Additional reading for the school year-

Treasure Island- Stevenson

My Brother Sam is Dead- Collier

Johnny Tremain-

The Matchlock Gun- Edmonds

Daniel Boone- Daugherty

Carry On Mr. Bowditch- Latham

Swiss Family Robinson-

David Copperfield- Dickens

Oliver Twist- Dickens

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer- Twain

The Prince and the Pauper- Twain

The Story of The Treasure Seekers- Nesbit

Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin- Franklin

Always Inventing- Biography of Alexander Graham Bell (love this book!)

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This was a typical day from last year. You will notice it is quite different from our new outline, but the key to success in homeschooling is being adaptable. We have found that we need to be flexible, because our children's needs change, as does life!

2005-2006

Our weekly schedule is as follows: Mondays are for history. Tuesdays are for English/Language Arts. Wednesdays are for science. Thursdays are for our big projects which relate to the history/English themes. Fridays are for park days, field trips, housework and visiting other homeschool families. During the week we have other activities like soccer, Knights of Freedom (a homeschool statesmanship club), and on Saturdays we have family hikes around the mountains.

We are currently using The Four Year Plan for our curriculum outline, but the ideas listed below are my own invention. The Four Year Plan indicates the order that we study things, and also most of our resources, but I've been incorporating my own fun ideas that go along with what we're learning. Also The Four Year Plan recommends doing notecards for history files, but I much prefer to use lapbooks to organize and file our information. Keep reading to hear about our first day.

Monday: History- The Creation. Today we began our day with scripture reading. We are currently finishing up 2 Nephi. After our scriptures the boys did two math activities from a book that we borrowed at the library. The activities focused on measurement today, so they had fun measuring their feet, eyebrows, fingers, and the distance of the room. They charted their findings. Typically we use Developmental Math for our curriculum, but this week I'm straying from our normal routine while I wait for our new books to arrive.

After math we began with the study of creation. We used chapter 5 in the Gospel Principles manual (Church distribution) and read through it. The kids looked up the scriptures. Then we read the account of the creation in Genesis and then made little flapbooks which will be pasted into our history lapbooks for each month. Since we will be doing history each Monday, we're making one small graphic organizer (chart, flapbook, matchbook, mini-book, etc... it's all lapbooking language!) and at the end of the month we'll assemble them all into our history lapbooks for the month. I like using lapbooks because it's a visually pleasing way to organize information, the kids enjoy making them, and it's a fun way to show others what the kids are learning.

When we finished our discussion and making flapbooks we began to talk about things being created randomly vs. with a plan. I wrote down a cookie recipe and cut it down the middle so that the measurements and the ingredients were separated from each other. Then I cut each measurement and ingredient into its own strip. I scrambled them up and asked the kids to try to put the right ingredients with the right measurements. I told them we might make the cookies when we were finished, so they were really concerned about getting it right. When they finished they had gotten pretty close, but still had a few mistakes (like 1/2 c. baking powder!). I asked if they would like to make the cookies and they said "Not without the right recipe!" So I showed them the correct recipe and we all laughed about how bad they would have turned out with the measurements all mixed up. I explained the 'Big Bang Theory' and that some people think the world was created by an accident. We tossed all the recipe strips of paper in the air and then asked ourselves whether or not we could have our cookies turn out right (or even close!) if we made them according to how the paper pieces landed. I think it was a great visual for them to realize how important order and planning were in the creation of the earth. It seemed to make a big impression.

After the recipe fun, I did another short activity that proved a similar point. I brought out a winter coat, gloves, hiking boots and socks. Then I asked for a volunteer. Jonah (my middle son) was quick to offer. I told him that I would give him instructions for putting on his winter clothes. Here were my instructions.

1. Zip up your coat

2. Put on your gloves

3. Put on your shoes

4. Put on your coat

5. Put on your socks

I took a picture of him with his head stuck in his coat and his socks on the outside of his shoes (above). All the boys were laughing so hard (and so was I). It was silly and fun, but we talked about how Heavenly Father knew which order things needed to be done, and if He hadn't done things in the right order it just wouldn't have worked out. It was just another example of how necessary it is to plan and do things in proper sequence, and how God uses wisdom when He creates things. He doesn't just leave it up to chance.

After we finished with that activity, we made our cookies (with the right recipe), and then the boys did individual reading time.

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