2010 School Plans - Bible and Character

Debra, over at Footprints in the Butter, has inspired me to think more about our school plans for this year. I'll admit that while I often have a plan in my head, I usually don't put it in writing. I think the fear is that putting it in writing makes me committed for the year. Then, when it doesn't get completed or I shift gears, I feel inadequate. Isn't that the story for many homeschool moms? However, since we are already mid-school year and I'm pretty solid on this plan anyhow, I'll venture out there and put it in writing to share with you all.

For J, my soon-to-be teen, I will continue to use the Lightbearers curriculum by Summit Ministries. I came across this curriculum in a rather unusual way, which you can read about here. We started this in the fall and I love it so far. The DVDs that accompany the curriculum are excellent. My only complaint is that it is written more for a classroom or group. We've easily worked around this by having parent-student discussion, but it would be even better with a group of age-peers. I haven't ruled out going through it a second time as a junior high small group. For now, though, this is working great with minor tweaking.

For C, 10 1/2, I primarily use the AWANA program. This is his 8th year attending; time flies! He has one more year of AWANA before he completes the program. He is included in some of the Lightbearers discussions and watches the DVDs with us, but I'm not having him do any of the readings. This is not a watered down curriculum and he gets just the right amount doing it this way.

Both C and J will be using The One Year Bible (NIV) published by Tyndale. I was fortunate enough to be able to pick up two copies last year from a friend during a used curriculum sale. C has been getting into the habit of reading his Bible just before bed, which I absolutely love to see. I've considered the site that Debra B shared, the Yearly Bible Read-Through. If my youngest has trouble with the length of readings, I may design a plan for him for just the New Testament using this site.

For myself, I need to pull out The Daily Bible by Harvest House Publishers, which has 365 daily readings in chronological order. I attempted this last year but didn't quite make it. Of course, I didn't put it in writing!

I really wanted to work in the Grapevine Studies OT Overview into the mix for Bible, but I decided to wait and see how it goes with the above first. I might pick this up again in the summer when we don't have as many schedule demands.

There are two character issues in particular that need to be addressed in my home: sibling issues and rushed work. I'm working on the latter simply through requiring unsatisfactory work to be redone (and redone again...and again). The first, though, has progressively gotten worse over the last few months. At ages 10 1/2 and almost 13, I don't think it is all that unusual. Still, it saddens me to see my kids speak to and treat each other unkindly. I even asked for 2 weeks of complete peace as a Christmas present (which I am still patiently waiting for, should either of my lovely children decide to stop by and read this). I had the perfect item sitting on my shelf already, purchased at my last convention:

Making Brothers and Sisters Best Friends is authored by Sarah, Stephen and Grace Mally. This homeschooled sibling trio shares their multiple perspectives and personalities on a variety of topics. Browsing through, I think my kids will enjoy the personal stories told by these three and will hopefully learn much in the process (again, for any kiddo visitors - you will always have your sibling, so it is worth working on). I plan to read this aloud together, a little each day.

So this is the plan - in writing. It doesn't feel so bad, actually. I'll continue with other subjects over the coming days.