# I got nothin'...



## cindy-e (Feb 14, 2008)

the school plan for this year is NOT coming together. 

Somebody inspire me. Please. :shrug:

Tick tock... Time is waisting...

UG!

Cindyc.


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## KyMama (Jun 15, 2011)

Um...it will be less work and stress later if you get it done now. I am working on my DS lessons right now, and that is the thought that is keeping me going.  I have to work on his schedule for geography and I will be done. Of course, I cheated and bought CLE LightUnits for reading, language arts and math. They are laid out in nice little lessons. :clap:

Hang in there!


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## brody (Feb 19, 2009)

lesson planning is never fun ... hang in there and plan one unit you like; alternate with those you don't like and you'll be done soon!


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## jamala (May 4, 2007)

I am writing the entire science curriculum for our homeschool co-op K-12 and I have 2 lessons out of the 29 finished. So if you find something that inspires you to get going, share it with me.


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## Danaus29 (Sep 12, 2005)

jamala, seasonal biology is always a good one. A lot of times the local parks will have programs on hibernation or migration or leaves changing color and trees going dormant stuff. I've got 2 more weeks on the couch. If you're doing natural sciences let me know. It was my major at the JVS.

cindy-e, ages, interests and current knowledge helps. A good place you can check for what they need to know before they get out of school is your local college. Check their freshman class offerings and work to those points.


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## jamala (May 4, 2007)

Thanks Danaus, I am doing four different 7 week sessions on the following:
Weather
Chemistry
Magnets/electricty
Nutrition
I have most of the stuff, I just need to write the lesson plans for the teachers to use for each age group. If you have any fun easy hands on experiment type things for any of these I would love it. I will be teaching the 7-12 graders this class, and high school kids Marine Biology.


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## Danaus29 (Sep 12, 2005)

The potato clock is always an attention grabber. Magnets with the poles marked are another one. If you can get hold of a natural magnet it's a bonus. Ds put together a little solar powered fan. Many computer stores have those little electricity kits for kids, reasonably priced and easy to put together. 

Weather, keeping a weather record; daily temps, wind speed & direction, barometric pressure, precipitation, etc is a really cool activity. There are instructions for making your own wind speed (cup anomometer I think it was called) device and rain gauge on the net. Believe it or not the book I used in college (our class text) was _A Little Golden Guide to Weather_. Cheap book with tons of good info.

Nutrition, start with their lunches or what you have growing in your garden. How to read a nutrition label, USDA requirements and how big a mg or an mcg actually are. The best foods for getting certain nutrients. Serving sizes with measuring cups and the actual food (snack time!) are always a hit. Most people don't realize just how small the USDA serving sizes are.

Chemistry, bases and acids and reactions. Blowing up a balloon with baking soda and vinegar is very cool! Basic soil and water tests. Litmus paper and what it indicates and how to make your own litmus paper. The solar reactive paper is good too. My dd did a study of luciferin and firefly communication. 

We did a section on Marine Biology. Not being near the ocean we went through some fossils we found at my grandparents and identified the creature they came from and how those creatures resemble the ones around today. (horn coral, crinoids, other shallow ocean fossils which are very common in parts of Ohio) It led into a whole study and discussion of survival of the fittest and physical changes based on environmental changes. Not evolution from pond scum but how creatures either adapt, migrate or die off. We also had a couple high school/college texts on marine animals we saw at the zoo. We read about the manatees at the zoo, how they came to reside at the zoo, and their journey back to the ocean.


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## cindy-e (Feb 14, 2008)

Yea. I'm a planner. I thought I had everything in order. It all got up-ended. UG. I *think* we are graduating my oldest a year early. He already does college level classes and cleps them. I hate not being prepared. makes me cranky. 

Cindyc.


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## cmharris6002 (Jan 27, 2006)

I'm a planner too but I have had years when things just didn't come together. Those are the times when the words of Charlotte Mason come back to me, if you do nothing but read quality literature and take nature walks it will be enough. While this is not a plan it could buy you some time


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## Ohio dreamer (Apr 6, 2006)

I plan at the end of one year for the following year. Last year we ended in late June and re-started school yesterday (yep only one month off)....so that "plan early" was a life saver. 

Have you chosen your books/topics? Can you search online for others plans for those to tweak and adjust to fit your needs? I use Homeschool Tracker Plus, so I can download others plans (and upload my own) to help me jump start.

If your oldest is doing college level work and clepping...as them to "plan" their own year. It will be good practice for college. He can do the research of what he should take and how he wants to take it.


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## mekasmom (Jan 19, 2010)

My kids are grown now, but when they were smaller and we homeschooled, I planned everything except math around literature. I'd pick a novel a month to read together, take spelling and vocabulary plus writing assignments from the novel. I'd pick a subject in the book to study for science using the web, other books, encyclopedias, etc. I would also plan to study a part of history with the novel.

So, for instance, if the novel was "CALL OF THE WILD" we would study minerals, gold, cold weather animals for science, hypothermia and other cold weather issues, things like that. We would study the gold rush for history. Everything for LA would come from the novel. They only thing I bought was a math book. We supplemented our novels and math with nonfiction books we had or got from the library. That way everyone had a similar study topic from age 4-14, and just did different levels of work. Easy for Mom, good for the kids to work together, and covered all the main subjects of math, Language Arts, Science, and Social Sciences. 

So if I were in your place, I would simply pick a bunch of novels to get my ideas flowing. 
Aug Tom Sawyer
Sept Huck Finn
Oct A Tale of Two Cities
and so on. When you get done with the novel for the month choose a book that has a topic of science, or health, or poetry, or even a biography that relates to the novel. Then start a new novel the next month.


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## jamala (May 4, 2007)

Danaus29--thanks so much, I wrote all of that down and am looking for the stuff. Thanks again. 


I am getting so many great ideas from this thread


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## emredhead76 (Mar 25, 2010)

I use online classes for my core then do a lot of workbooks and online activities for enrichment, repetition or to reinforce the ideas. 

Here is a short list of some of my resources. Some cover high school, most are elementary and middle school. Hope it helps someone:
www.time4learing.com
http://www.progressacademy.org/
http://www.virtualedu.org/subscription/
http://www.progressacademy.org/

http://www.khanacademy.org/

http://edsitement.neh.gov/
http://www.watchknowlearn.org/

http://siemensscienceday.discoveryeducation.com

http://www2.scholastic.com/browse/learn.jsp

http://www.neok12.com/

http://school.discoveryeducation.com/schrockguide/


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## cindy-e (Feb 14, 2008)

Those are all good suggestions, thanks.

still not sure what to do... tick, tock, tick, tock...

Cindyc.


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