Still On-Board!

Every year, around February, I'm ready to chuck my curriculum and start over with something completely different.

Every year....EXCEPT THIS YEAR!

Yes, I know, it's not really February yet...still....I am so thrilled with how our new approach to schooling and our new curriculum is working out. Everyone is learning, everyone is happy, everyone has time to pursue their own unique interests and grow in their own special way. We can take time out of our regular curriculum to make something, go somewhere, do something, learn something else....and not feel like we're "behind" or that we now need to "make up" that time.

But, because it is still almost February, I have started to think ahead for next year. Here's what I'm thinking

• I like the My Father's World curriculum, and I'm really glad we purchased it and used it. 
• But, I find myself consulting the lesson plans less and less, as we have just established our own rhythm and routines.
• I don't think I need a purchased curriculum package for next year.
• I do want to keep the "family learning" plan going, where we study our main theme together, and then each child completes work on their own level, and does their own studies for math and reading.
• Sweetling has already studied all the standard periods of history at least once in her school career....except for recent history. 
• I think next year, we will study The History of the Twentieth Century together as a family. We will cover the last two decades of the 1800's, all of the 1900s, and the first decade of this century. I think we will look at spending two or three weeks on each decade. 

I've started doing some preliminary research to see how feasible this would be. I decide to start with....ta, da...ART. Because really, if I can't find or create good art projects, the whole thing is a wash, right? (I'm kidding, I'm kidding....sort of....)

I went to Deep Space Sparkle first, cause we loverred the African Art package we purchased. Deep Space Sparkle has a whole slew of project ideas inspired by artists. I'll have to sort through them and figure out when each of these artists painted. You know I'm just heart-broken at having to do some art research.

I also found some media images of art by decade. I'm absolutely capable of getting books from the library about specific artists or genres and then generating our own art projects.

In short, go art :)