School Plans For Cherub 6

In all honesty, we are not SURE that Cherub 6 is "ready" to begin school. He says he is ready, and there are some "signs". He will turn 5yo in December. So we are going to "plan" for school, but if he resists or does not make progress (very flexible here !), we will slow down or stop ... whatever is needed.

As a family, we had 1 other child who "claimed" and seemed to be ready at just 3 1/2yo ... and he begin reading just 2 monthes from when we began. Then roughly 6 monthes later Cherub 3 was 4+ grade levels ahead (in reading ability and comprehension). At the one year mark our PreK student was reading on a 6th grade level. And he is still reading "ahead" - he never looked back and has said (on Cherub 6's behalf) that he did not feel the early start harmed him in any way. The only downfall, he says, to being such an early reader (high levels) is that Mom slows you down because she has to proof-read so many books before you can read them. HA !!(Maybe that would not be so hard if we have to do it again because we proof read so many ?!?!)

So - we will give it a try -and we will post his progress.

Bible:
Bible History (by: Ignatius Schuster, D.D.)
Butler's Lives of Saints (By: Bernard Bangley)
Scripture Memory & Bible Notebook
** CCD (made available through our church)

American History:
Benjamin Franklin (D'Aulaire)
Pocahontas (D'Aulaire)
Buffalo Bill (D'Aulaire)
George Washington (D'Aulaire)
The Story of the Clipper Ships
The Story of the Star-Spangled Banner
The Story of Mount Vernon
The Story of Old Glory
The Story of the Capitol
The Story of the Statue of Liberty
**Book of Centuries will be completed as needed daily / weekly.

World History:
Fifty Famous Stories Retold (James Baldwin)
Viking Tales (Jennie Hall)
** Book of Centuries To Be Completed Daily / Weekly as needed.

Natural History / Natural Science:
Animal Book (Thorton Burgess)
Bird Book (Thorton Burgess)
James Herriot's Treasury for Children (James Herriot)
Weekly: Nature Studies & Nature Notebook

Geography:
Geography of the United States (By: Dover Publishing)

Science & Biographies:
Apologia Botany (term 1)
Apologia Zoology I (term 2)
**only as he wishes to participate. May use parts of Considering God's Creation for him to work "with" everyone on these subjects.

Math:
Singapore Math Workbooks Level 1
Math games (Pre-Math It, Muggins, Math It, etc)
** Will begin Saxon 1 when progress is seen.

Spelling:
Dolch Sight Word List
**May change as this depends on individual progress.

Handwriting:
Handwriting Without Tears

Education & Business Skills:
PreK - K computer games (keyboarding, mouse skills, etc)

Foreign Language:
Spanish ?? Rosetta Stone ??
**only as he wishes to participate

Shakespeare:
Lamb's Shakespeare (1 per term - yet to be selected)

Poetry:
Childs Garden of Verse (R.L. Stevenson)
Now We Are Six & When We Were Very Young (A.A. Milne)

Literature:
Aesop For Children
Blue Fairy Book (A. Lang)
Red Fairy Book (A. Lang)
Just So Stories (Rudyard Kipling)
Mother Goose Rhymes (classic)

Artist Study:
Great Masters Study (By: Dover Publisher)
The Story of Painting: From Cave Painting To The Modern Times

Art:
Coloring Pages, Dot-To-Dot pages, mazes (skill practice)
Beginner Watercolor Technique
Beginner CHALK Pastel Technique
Beginner Sketch Technique
Beginner Colored Pencil Technique

Composer Study:
Color The Classics #1

Health:
The Body Book

P.E.:
AYSO Soccer (practice and games)

Daily Workbook Skills:
Hearts & Hands (1 page per day - beginning letter and number skills, and early phonics)
**We will add Alphaphonics or Word Mastery when sufficient progress in these skills can be seen.

Phonics & Early Reading:
TENTATIVE: A Handbook For Reading (Abeka)
TENTATIVE: Word Mastery: A Course In Phonics For 3 Years
McGuffey's Readers (Primer - ?)

Additional Reading:
A generous variety of story books from the library read aloud (and classics too !)
**This plan will vary according to his progress with reading skills.