Handing on the Faith: The Plan and the Planner

2009 Note: The link in this post was for last year's planner planner. It no longer works. This year's planner is equally good. You can find a description of it here.

I've gotten a couple of emails taking me to task for neglecting to plan "religion" when I planned for the year. Silly me, I knew something was missing;-)! Seriously, I didn't neglect handing on the faith. I don't neglect handing on the faith. And if you download and read the PDF file with the weekly plan posted in the planning post, you will see that there are several blocks scheduled for directly teaching "religion." That's in addition to the infusion of faith that we pray comes from living a life of faith. There, now I've finished my indignant rant.
I didn't give you details in the planning post because I wanted to dedicate a whole space to tell you all about the best investment I've made in something "school" related in a long, long time. Talk about bang for your buck! These planners are the best bargain going.
In the individual elementary planners, each child will have:
~Daily Exercises to help students learn more about Jesus through the Gospels
~Spaces to keep track of their daily classroom work and assignments
~Pages designed with liturgical colors to help students become more aware of the seasons and feasts of the Church Year
~UNIQUE symbols alert students to follow Jesus from city to city in the Gospels. Turn to the back cover for a map of the Holy Land in the Time of Jesus!
~Imprimatur, Most Reverend Robert J. Hermann, V.G. Auxiliary Bishop of St. Louis, Missouri
~Official NAB Lectionary text
~A colorful two page liturgical calendar wheel
~Traditional prayers printed on the inside cover in the front
~Seven sacraments and their symbols printed on the back inside cover
~A full color page on how to pray the rosary
~ A page listing all the books of the Bible
~A page on how to read the Bible
~A two page color map of the US with all the state flags
~A two page map of the world
~A page with a multiplication table and English to Metric Conversions
~Math symbols
~A page of homonyms
~Cheat Sheet for parts of speech, punctuation, capitalization
~How to make an outline
~How to write a research report
~the periodic table
~A cheat sheet for literature genres
~Some student pages related to the year-long study of the doctors of the Church that is outlined in the Teacher's Planner

Each 2-page "planning" spread highlights:
~the coming Sunday's Gospel story and a Word of the Week from that story
~the current season of the Church Year
~who and what we remember this week in Church and secular history
~Daily Exercises that explore the Gospel, Word of the Week, and special holidays. (Primary and Elementary only)
PLUS (in Elementary Planners):
- 6 subject columns and Spelling words
- Parent / teacher comment spaces
- Parent / student check-off boxes
- Prayer list space
- Reminder space
- Weekly Goals/Values space
Hall Pass (I'm thinking of something creative to do with this ;-)

The primary and high school planners are just as wonderful.

The Teacher's planners contain:
Most of what is in the children's planners, plus
~biographies of dozens of saints
~A full section on the Doctors of Church and the Influence of the Catholic Church in the History of the World. This will become our Monday morning focus. We will study one Doctor of the Church each week throughout the year.
~A reproducible section on the O Antiphons
~A section on the Fruits of the Spirit which I will tie into our teatime study of Our 24 Family Ways
~The planner provides a review of the Gospel from the previous Sunday (we'll touch on that briefly on Monday) and then an introduction of the following week's gospel. This will be our focused study on Tuesday, followed by a re-reading every day for the rest of the week.
~There are notes for the teacher for the each week which include several feast days and thoughts on Sunday's reading.We'll discuss the saints for the week during our focused time on Wednesdays.There are lots of puzzles and such to support these studies which can be reproduced for each of my children.
~Finally, Fridays are reserved for a Catholic Mosaic meditation. This will be a simple time, using the Adoremus Hymnal CD, and Finestrae Fidae, and the Catholic Mosaic books. . This focused study was a brainstorm that Colleen and I had a few weeks a go and it takes a little more explaining. We'll get a full post going soon.

So, that's the morning faith time. On Monday afternoons, there is a block reserved for First
Communion notebooks, Confirmation notebooks and advanced saint studies.
So, there you have it--or at least some of it. I didn't leave out faith education. But thanks for reminding me;-)

A New Saint Sings in the Heavenly Choir Tonight

Please pray for the family of Cate Cantrell as they grieve their enormous loss.

What's the Plan?

Still very limited internet. And no telephone at all. The Verizon guy is supposed to arrive any time now. Bummer; I was enjoying the quiet;-). I've been busy, both outside and inside. It's that planning time of year again. For those of us who relish the idea of creating our own curricula, this is a glorious time of year, characterized by all night binges with the library website open and hours at the playground with catalogs on our laps. I'm thrilled with the shape that the coming year is taking. Colleen, Marisa, and I have been fairly bubbling over with ideas and we've made them as practical as possible. I'd like to offer you a rough idea should you care to wander with us at Serendipity.
We're going to focus on American History this year. Literature-based plans for three different age levels (Primary, Elementary and Junior High) will share reading suggestions and craft ideas. The older children will use IEW's US History-Based Writing lessons Volume 1. Everybody will share in quality literature and will narrate and make Books of Centuries. The reading list for the first couple of months will be on the lefthand sidebar in the next few days.

Weekly installments will take us over several time periods.
September and October: Colonial America and the American Revolution
November: The Louisiana Purchase and the Explorations of Lewis and Clark
December will be devoted to welcoming the Babe in the manger (and a new baby in our house)
January and February: Pioneers
March: Native Americans
April: Spring term--Devoted to intensive nature study (also known as "Easter and Bluebell Break) and a Shakespeare block
May, June, and July: The Civil War
August is a scheduled break.

But that's just the beginning...

Lively Language Lessons will pick up where we left off and continue through all of Ruth Heller's grammar books.We're going to add these color-coded diagramming lessons that use the Ruth Heller books.

G is for Geography will begin again, this time studying the states in the order they entered the union, focusing more on map work, and tying the States' quarters into our studies.

A fine arts block will use M is for Melody as a spine and introduce some Montessori three part cards and the Music Masters CDs, along with Mike Venezia's biographies. In addition to Music Study, we'll use picture books, the Venezia biographies and M is for Masterpiece to study great art and artists and art terminology.

Poetry will have pride of place this year. Using R is for Rhyme as a spine, we'll learn terms and try our hand at writing poetry, while studying the great works of the masters. We'll use the Poetry for Young People series as we go.

Foreign language will be a family affair. The big boys are using Latin Alive! And the younger children are using Latin for Children.

We're going to focus on Charlotte Mason-style Nature Study in one big block a week, along with intensive seasonal study. The Handbook of Nature Study will be our spine along with Keeping a Nature Journal, Nature Drawing and Animals Alive!.
Our older children will use the syllabus for Laura Berquist's Natural History course.
Once a week, a focused science block will use literature to teach through a variety of topics. We'll have those books in virtual baskets on the lefthand sidebar at Serendipity over the next few days. These studies will be lowkey, with some reading and notebook pages and maybe a hands-on activity or two.

Truly, I plan to adapt all these plans for most children from K-12. I need to keep us all on pretty much the same page.

Gnomes and Gnumbers will continue, with some new organization. We're going to break lessons down into smaller segments and integrate manipulatives, drawing, original stories and living math books.

The Alphabet Path is nearing its end. Truly, if it weren't for computer difficulties, we'd be there already. All three of us are planning to meander down the trail again next year with our little ones picking and choosing from the plethora of good books.

~~~~We interrupt this post to go greet the Verizon repairman.Whew! She says she can fix it all today. Christian doubts it. We'll see...~~~

I've done some fiddling on iCalendar (Katherine offered me a late night tutorial since it's a Mac thing and I can't ever be on the Mac when Michael is around to help me figure out how it works.). Here's how the week will look:
Download weekly_rhythm.pdf

~~~The computer was hit by lightning. No internet on that machine until we see if it can be repaired. Oh bother. How often does this have to happen? I asked her how to protect my computer. She suggested moving. Apparently, this neighborhood gets hit with alarming frequency and when it strikes, it strikes with ferocity. No pictures on Serendipity for awhile.~~~

Simple Woman's Daybook ~June 22

~ Do stop by Peggy's for all the links entered in this week's Simple Woman's Daybook ~

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Outside My Window ... that tiny Bradford pear tree we planted for Katie's birth has easily reached my second story window.

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I am thinking ...almost incessantly about next term's lessons and plans.

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I am thankful for ...homecomings after long business trips .

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From the kitchen ...For breakfast: bagels in the van on the way out to the country; for lunch: tomato and mozzarella salad with fresh garden basil (I live for this:-); for dinner: Teriyaki stir-fried beef and broccoli followed by fresh blueberry pie and lots of homemade whipped cream...

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I am wearing ... A white t-shirt, khaki capris, crocs and a bandana.

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I am creating ...lesson plans and booklists--lots of them! Still.

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I am going ...to meet some friends bright and early to go blueberry picking.

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I am reading ...Regina Doman's new fairytale, The Midnight Dancers.

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I am hoping ...my husband returns homely safely tonight. Out-of-the -country trips are always disconcerting.

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I am hearing ... Gracie by Ben Folds. Karoline is dancing.

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Around the house ... I'm learning to celebrate little victories and accept with cheerful resignation the inevitable messes.

One of my favorite things ...long Sunday afternoon naps with Karoline.

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A Few Plans For The Rest Of The Week: I'm sure there will be a big, huge breakfast in bed with bunches of children tomorrow when they see Daddy arrived home in the middle of the night;  for the rest of the week: mornings outside in the garden and afternoons with our noses in good books.

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Here is a picture thought I am sharing~

 

So, really, what is He saying?

About ten minutes after I posted this, my computer died. Not just a crash--a complete refusal to get online. I can still access files and photos (thank goodness) but I can't get online. And I admit, I really thought that God was making it very clear where the pruning was happening. I have limited access to Michael's computer. It was formerly a Mac laptop. The screen burned out and now it's a Mac laptop hooked up to a Dell monitor. It's awkward and I miss my mouse. I can't figure out how to hyperlink.It took about ten minutes to link above. The only time I have access to it is when my children are sleeping or outside or otherwise engaged happily (as with my desktop) AND when Michael doesn't need it. And he's doing summer school online.So, pretty much, all the stars have to line up, all the children have to be asleep, and Michael has to be out of the house in order for me to get online. Problem is, if he's gone I can't ask him a million questions about how this works.

We spent yesterday outside, picking cherries.I have great pictures but no clue how to upload from here.

And I miss my bookmarks!

Oh, yes, about thirty minutes ago, I was firmly convinced that God's message was to walk away from time online. The computer broke. I can't get online. Maybe God is telling me to focus more completely on laundry, right?

Half an hour ago, Mary Beth came up to inform me that the washing machine isn't working. Again. It breaks more than the computer. I have no back up washing machine.

So,what exactly IS He trying to say?