The UNofficial PLAN of 2012/13

Savannah is starting 3rd grade on August 20th.  Here is the plan so far (and, as always, I reserve the right to change my mind)

Ahem... drumroll please.
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The curriculum:
Prima Latina
Math Mammoth 3 and XtraMath
Spell to Write and Read
Rod and Staff English 3
D' ulaire's Greek Myths (again) with Memoria Press's study guide
Story of the World: Middle Ages & Our Island Story (history of Britain)
Linguistic Development
Discover the Scriptures: Old Testament

The little things:
* Read literature for 1 hour daily and use free online lit guides for comprehension questions and vocabulary.
*Learn the 50 States, where they are located, the postal abbreviation, and the capital.  Using black line maps, hopefully a geo puzzle, online free games, Geography Songs, free worksheets online, etc.
*Narrate the Story of the World
*Learn cursive
*Read, summarize, and illustrate sections from the Apologia science books.
*Orally read from McGuffey Third reader once a week
*Poetry Teatime once a week
*Piano
*Homeschool class

Notes:
I think Prima Latina will work out great this year.  Next year I have my eye on Latina Christiana I from Memoria Press and then latin will become a major focus in her schooling.  This year is just a gentle introduction.
MM and XtraMath have been hits in the past, so I'm sure they will be winners this year as well.
SWR- we'll see.  I like the Spalding method, but if it just takes too much time it will be the first to go since Savannah is a natural speller.  How it works: day 1: 20 new words, day 2: dictate 5-10 sentences with yesterday's words, day 3: 20 new words, day 4: dictate 5-10 sentences with yesterday's words, day 5: test on all 40 words.  I think it can work like that.
R&S- another we'll see.  I'm all about delayed grammar and R&S is known for thoroughness.  I like it, but it may be too much.  I want grammar this year to help with latin next year.  She probably won't take grammar again until 5th or 6th grade.
Greek Myths w/ study guide- I am hoping this will be a raving sucess.  She loves the book; now she will memorize it.  There is a National Mythology Exam in February that I would like her to work towards.  She would win a metal for the number of questions she gets right, if I understand it correctly.  Lots of homeschool nerds take it.  I don't know if this is something she will enjoy or not.  I hope so.  Greek Myths study will be a large focus of her schooling this year.
SOTW 2- I'll read 2 or 3 sections a week to the girls and have them narrate while I write their narration down.  They don't particularly love SOTW, but they sure learn a lot from it.
Our Island Story- this will be an audio book that they will listen to at night.  It is mostly set in the Middle Ages, but most importantly it sets the stage for understanding American history; understanding Britain history is fundamental to understanding WHY the settlers crossed the sea and why freedom was so important to them.
Linguistic Development: or in other words, memorizing 80 poems and being able to recite any of them on cue.  We've already started this and the kids love it.  We are on poem #3.  Btw, I'm sure this will take a few years.  20 poems is the goal for this year.
Discover the Scriptures: Old Testament- we'll see.  It is a workbook for the church's scripture readers.  This is her only busy work, but it may prove useful.
Homeschool Class:  Fort Rucker offers homeschoolers a class once a week for two hours.  It includes PE (skating, Karate, games), computer skills, and art; She makes friends there and that IS important.
Piano: I don't teach her, I pay for a piano teacher.
Poetry teatime: this is where we sit at the table, each with our favorite book of poetry, and take turns reading a poem.  Since maddy can't read yet, she chooses a poem for one of us to read.  We also sip "tea" (chocolate milk) and eat a snack.  SO much fun!
Since Savannah is 8 she will now be reading from the Book of Mormon for 30 min. a day and writing something in her journal about it. She'll also be working on a Faith in God goal every 6 weeks or so.

Charlotte will be going into 1st grade according to her age, though she really could be considered a 2nd grader.  She is very mature for her age.  I don't know yet what I'm going to do about this...

Anyway, she will finish the second half of Math Mammoth 1 and XtraMath
Spell to Write and Read
Story of the World: Middle Ages & Our Island Story
Linguistic Development
Prima Latina
Copywork (2 sentences in cursive from any of her books, her choice)
Read literature together daily
Learn the states
Poetry teatime
Notebook the Apologia books if she wants to, but not required.
Piano
Homeschool class

Madelynn: Pre-school

Work on handwriting
Spell to Write and Read
Essential Math A
Maybe gymnastics.

Everything for Madelynn is optional.

Religion:
As a family, reading from the Book of Mormon for LDS Families has been a great sucess for a few years now. This year I have the goal of memorizing The Living Christ as a family. We already have memorized, "As we commemorate the birth of Jesus Christ two millenia ago, we offer our testimony of the reality of his matchless life..." There are some big words in there! Zach is super cute saying it; so is Maddy. There are FREE study helps on Discover the Scriptures website that I highly recommend if you want to do this with your family.
And then there's the daily devotional. We sing a primary song, have a prayer, memorize (this year) the articles of faith and the gospel standards for primary kids. Then we watch a scripture movie on lds.org or read out of the Friend magazine. This has worked well in the past.

That's it and that all folks!

**APPLAUSE**        **APPLAUSE**     **APPLAUSE**

Thank you!  Thank you everyone!!!!  I just want to especially thank my husband for not banning me from the computer.  So many hours of research and planning and printing and buying and selling and buying and changing my mind...  I know my Dear doesn't have a clue as to what's going on and yet he tolerates my insanity.  I love you, dear hubby of mine!