Getting ready to hit the road has been a lot of busy work. Deciding what we will need, gathering supplies and packing the trailer is not hard, just busy. The hardest part of preparing to go for me has been wrapping my head around homeschooling Evan. He is going in to Grade 5. Thankfully, I am still pretty confident in my abilities to teach Grade 5 subjects. No calculus! Phew!
We will be homeschooling through the CBE (Calgary Board of Education). It was important for us to homeschool through a secular organization. I guess you can’t take the separation of church and state out of this American. Through their program, I will have a teacher advisor who I will meet with to review my learning plan for Evan. They will ensure that I have goals and plans that will help Evan successfully complete Grade 5. I have my plan done (mostly) and I hope that it will get approved. Since I’ve never done this before, I am a bit anxious about the meeting. Thankfully, I have a great frined, Alisha, who has helped me immensely. You can check out here homeschooling journey on her blog Learning From My Kids and she even runs the Inspired Secular Homeschooling conference in calgary.
Here are some of the resources I have purchased to use next year. I’m sure we will end up picking up more along the way but this is what is going to be in the trailer from Day 1.
Disclosure: Some of the links below may be affiliate links within this post. By clicking through these links, I will make a small percentage of your purchase without it affecting the cost to you.
English Language Arts:
We are going to be focusing on literacy and writing skills. Evan will be doing daily journalling work writing about where we are and the activities we are doing. We will also be using the Brave Writer Arrow program. I’m not sure we can get through 10 novels so I will be starting with five: The Bad Beginning, Esperenza Rising, The Girl Who Drank the Moon, Johnny Tremain and Where the Mountain Meets the Moon. All will be delivered on Tuesday so we can take them with us and work through them. I will order more when we get done with these. The best part? I haven’t read any of these books either so we can read them together!
We will also be doing lots of Mad Libs (which teaches word types) and using the Interactive Notebooks Language Arts Grade 5.
Math:
I feel really lucky because math is Evan’s favourite subject in school. We will be using the Life of Fred Fractions Math Curriculum this year. We’ve already started going through it and we’ve realized that Evan needs a bit more practice on multiplication first. Thankfully, the Complete Canadian Curriculum, Grade 5 book I bought has some great worksheets that we can use for practice. It also has worksheets for all the other subjects too.
There are also LOTS of opportunities to learn math in every day situations. Evan will be learning how to make change, calculate distances and times while traveling and much more.
Social Studies:
We are going to do a blended US and Canada Social Studies year. Since we will be visiting so many states and National Parks, it makes sense to learn about those as we go. I am hoping we can participate in the Junior Ranger Program that the National Parks have implemented. Having said that, I have purchesed some workbooks about Canadian History and Aberta History. It is where we live ya know.
Our books include: Celebrating Alberta, Many People, Across Canada Puzzles, Games and Activities from Sea to Sea, National Geographic US Road Atlas Adventure Edition and Smithsonian Geography a visual encyclopedia.
Science:
Science learning opportunities are everywhere. So far this summer, we have already learned about solar eclipses, pin hole viewers, grasshoppers, crickets and caterpillar/moth metamorphisis. Evan will be keeping a science journal during our journey to record the things we find/see/explore. One thing that is on our list of must do activities is a visit to the Sanibel Sea School. I’m hoping we can even swing a multi-day adventure for him. We also plan to do a units on magnetism, weather and the environment.
To keep him reading, I bought a few science books that I knew Evan would enjoy. He’s already finished a few of them! Discovery BugOPedia, The Big Book of Gross Stuff, and Animal Snoops.
Electives:
To round it all out, Evan is going to be learning Coding using online programs and we will also be learning to play the Ukelele.
Phew….that all makes me tired just writing about it! Hopefully, we are going to be successful and mostly angst free. Cross your fingers for us! And remember, finding resources doesn’t have to blow the budget. Some of the books I listed above came from the thrift store! Always check the book section because you never know what you can find. Also check the book section at the dollar store. They often have curriculum work books for great prices (and they are the same ones you find at full price book stores!).
Do you homeschool? What are your favourite places to find inspiration and resources to make your homeschooling successful?
Ashley @ Forgetful Momma
Sunday 3rd of September 2017
I am so jealous that you get to travel and homeschool! I would love to do that with my three... who we are already homeschooling. Maybe someday. We're eclectic homeschoolers so we do a little workbook and a lot of real life learning. For instance, this weekend they are learning about putting in a new set of stairs. 😉