Not Back-To-School Blog Hop: Curriculum Part 2

I mentioned in a previous post that part of our schooling comes from Enrichment Classes. This is a co-op program that our homeschool group has put on for the past 9 years. You can read more about how it works on our group’s blog.

We meet every Friday for 10 weeks in the Fall Semester and 10 weeks in the Spring Semester. Classes are all voluntarily taught by parents, and we offer classes for preschool up to high school. We also have a nursery for the little ones. There are 4 hours per day, with a lunch break, too.

I mentioned before that my girls will each get a double dose of American History this semester, along with other great classes. Here is the schedule for my 3 non-nursery kids:

13 year old:

9:00 Foundations of Freedom If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do? Psalm 11:3. Inspired by God, the founding fathers of our country built a framework of government upon the solid foundation of biblical truth. Many in public office today cite the founding fathers and make the claim that their particular form of political ideology best models the founding father’s intent even as our freedoms are abridged and the lamp of liberty dims. It behooves us to once again return to our roots as a free people and sit at the feet of the great men and women who laid their lives on the line not just to secure freedom but also to make freedom secure by bequeathing to us a Christian republic based upon the principle of individual liberty.

10:00 Watercolor Watercolor painting learning techniques for painting using Thomas Kincade DVD.

11:00 Claymation – Boston Tea Party We will, first of all, learn what the Boston Tea Party was; then we will “clay-mate” it. This will involved making backgrounds, creating figures and taking hundreds of pictures to animate the story.

12:00 Lunch

12:30 Beginning Colorguard and Rifles Flags and rifles will learn the fundamentals of tossing and spinning. They will learn to incorporate upper and lower body movement into a choreographed routine and perform this for Evening of Enrichment and hopefully a (basketball) game.

9 year old

9:00 Advanced Tambourine Learn the techniques of worshipping with the tambourine. We will be learning new routines along with more advanced versions of the routines learned last semester putting these routines together with songs. You need to have taken the Beginning Tambourine to take this class. We will be performing at Evening of Enrichment. (Important note: In the video link above, that’s my little Chloe in the front row wearing black.)

10:00 The Light and the Glory Join us for a laid-back read-aloud class as we make our way through The Light and the Glory for Kids by Peter Marshall and David Manuel. It’s a wonderful book about how God’s hand guided the founding of America! Sit back and relax each week as I read aloud great stories of God’s design for America, starting with Columbus and ending with the Constitution. There will be fun activity sheets to go along with the stories. If we read fast, we’ll move on to the next book in this series, From Sea to Shining Sea.

11:00 Claymation – Boston Tea Party (Same as above)

12:00 Lunch

12:30 Nature Crafts We’ll be working with items found in nature to make some cool, useful things. We will also use some recycled items to create crafts. Bring your treasures and your enthusiasm.

3 year old:

9:00 All About Me – Fearfully & Wonderfully Made This class will address skills and concepts that are important in growing up and will encourage your little on in knowing that he/she is “fearfully and wonderfully made.” Themes include: “My Body – Everybody has a Body,” “My Emotions,” “My Family,” and “My Home.” We will also practice writing our name and remembering important facts. (“Fact sheets” will be sent home on our first class date.” At the end of the semester your child will have created their own, very special “All About Me” notebook, poster board, and will receive their own trading card.

10:00 Wiggle Time Races, tag, parachute, balls, jumping, hopping, stretching, balancing, tumbling, sports, tic-tac-toe toss, simon-says, sack-races . . . EXERCISE! Get the wiggles out!

11:00 Fall in Love With FALL Learn about the four different seasons, eat apples, study leaves/trees, leaf patterns/colors, matching games, bingo, art/painting/crafts (bird pinecone feeder), nature, pumpkins, turkeys, and book reading. Each week your child will bring home a completed project/craft. Math, science, and FUN!

12:00 Lunch

12:30 Takin‘ it Easy Playground or video time.

As you can see, they get a full day at Enrichment Classes. I’ve set aside 30 minutes per day for the older kids to complete any projects or homework assignments. The Claymation-Boston Tea Party, along with Foundations of Freedom (13 year old) and The Light and the Glory (9 year old) will be the main history courses for the fall/winter, with added reading on the same subjects at home.

Unless you are new to this blog, you won’t be surprised to learn that I am teaching The Light and the Glory. I am also finishing up a 4 semester tour through Middle Earth with The Return of the King by J.R.R. Tolkien with middle- and high-school aged kids. That is one thing about me that surprises my friends. They say it doesn’t fit. I say, they should read the books. : )

If you don’t know about my patriotic side, visit some of these previous posts.