Homeschool Plans for the Week–Muscles and More

Homeschool this week has already begun.  I thought I would share our tentative plans for the week here on the blog, though things may change as the week goes on, some of the children seem to be starting a cold.  We’re taking our echinacea and praying it will be mild or pass quickly. 

Family/Group Studies

Gospel – Now in month 2 of the year, this portion of our morning is taking about 10-15 minutes or so.  We often do it again in the evening with Daddy, and randomly throughout the day someone will start everyone on reciting a memory verse or practicing a song.  Here is what we’re doing this week:

• Songs: The First Article of Faith, If I Listen with my Heart, and I Will Follow God’s Plan.
• Memorization: First Article of Faith, 2 Nephi 32:3, Moses 1:39, and The Living Christ. 
• Gospel Concepts: We began the week talking about the difference between immortality (living forever in a perfected body) and eternal life (living with God and like God), which goes along with our memory verse in Moses.  We’re also focusing on the Living Christ doctrine of Jesus Christ as Creator under the direction of His Father.

Anatomy – We’ve begun Chapter 3 in Exploring Creation with Human Anatomy and Physiology all about the muscular system.  Lots of neat things to learn with this one!

Spanish – Speekee is still on the menu for learning Spanish.

ASL – We’re using Signing Time for our American Sign Language lessons.  This week we’ve begun the “Move and Groove” dvd because muscles are all about movement!

Read Aloud – We’re still reading The Swiss Family Robinson slowly.  I think we are going to grab a second book to begin reading aloud that is not so difficult.  I’m not sure what book yet, though a few ideas are rolling around in my mind.

Individual Work

Math – Makayla is on lesson 19 and 20 of Math U See Gamma, skip counting and then multiplying by 8’s.  Joseph and Emma have been using the online program Mathletics and will continue that while they work on their skip counting.  Daniel is still counting to 20.  He’s getting better at the teens.

Copywork – Makayla’s is cursive, Joseph and Emma’s print.  They are copying our Living Christ passage for the week:

“He was the Great Jehovah of the Old Testament, the Messiah of the New.  Under the direction of His Father, he was the Creator of the earth.  ‘All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made’ (John 1:3).”

Spelling – Makayla is beginning All About Spelling level 3 this week.  The first lesson is a big review of everything from the last two levels before diving into the new concepts.

Phonics – Joseph and Emma are still reading aloud to mommy and practicing phonics.  We’re trying to use the I See Sam stuff we’ve been reviewing for the TOS Homeschool Crew, but it’s not going over well.  Most days they beg to use our All About Spelling readers instead.

Writing – Makayla is taking a break from IEW this week to write a talk for church on Sunday.  She’s speaking in Primary and at age 9 she writes her own talk.  It’s a neat thing to watch!  Her topic is “Heavenly Father has a plan for me.”

What are your family’s homeschool plans for the week?  Do you have a favorite scripture verse to memorize or a fun book you enjoyed reading aloud with your children?  Let me know in the comments!