Plans for the Year

I love to see what everyone has planned for the new school year! It is so much fun to look at how many different curricula combinations are out there, but it is also nice to see that some families are doing similar things to us. Even though I know that I have made good choices for our family and for each child's needs, it is validating to see that someone else feels the same way. That said, for those who want to know, this is what we will be doing starting on August 4!

Aidan: 4th Grade

Rod and Staff English 4
Spelling Plus (4th and 5th Grade Lists) with Dictation and Homophones
IEW: Following Narnia
McGuffey's Eclectic Readers
Latina Christiana II
Memoria Press' Greek Alphabet Book
SM Primary Mathematics, Standards Edition 5B, 6A, and maybe 6B

*We will also continue typing and cursive practice.

Lilly: 1st Grade
All About Spelling 1
McGuffey's Eclectic Readers
Bob Books
Explode the Code
Song School Latin
SM Primary Mathematics, Standards Edition 1A and 1B
Life of Fred

Together:
Finish our study of the world's biomes (learn all about that here.)
RS4K Astronomy PreLevel 1
RS4K Biology PreLevel 1/Level 1
Story of the World Volume 4
Memoria Press Geography 1

I plan to be more purposeful with bedtime reading time this year. We have always just let the kids pick from the 100s of books we have in the house and we usually end up reading the same book for weeks! This month it has been Food Hates You Too, which is a great little book of silly poems - but reading it over and over gets old!

Bedtime reading is going to be a part of "school." My husband is on board with reading more classic literature to the kids at bedtime so I have made a list of books I want to finish this year.

I really had no idea where to start! I have lists of good literature for kids, some is broken down by age and others by subject. I have a house full of wonderful literature, I just could not narrow it down to a manageable number for a year of school! My solution was to look at what various companies suggest for each grade. I love everything I have tried from Memoria Press, so I looked there first. I pulled a couple books from the 1st grade list and a couple from the 4th grade list. Some I just knew I wanted to be sure we got to this year. We have already started The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe because good literature just can't wait until the first day of school!

Literature Selections:
Beatrix Potter's Tales of Peter Rabbit and Friends
The Courage of Sara Noble
Charlotte's Web
Mr. Popper's Penguins
Little House on the Prairie
Farmer Boy
The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe
Prince Caspian
The Voyage of the Dawn Treader
The Silver Chair

If we finish all of these selections, I have a list ready for next year too!

What are some of your favorite literature selections for elementary aged kids?