Game Plan

I am a bit of an organizational freak. I can't help it. So, last night I made Reson sit with me and put together a game plan for the FPEA Conference. Now, if you live in Florida and have been there then you know that you need some type of plan before you walk into that place. There are over 1200 vendors, hundreds of curriculum, etc. I learned last year I needed to minimize my train of thought because of everything that is available. You will see things you like, things that could work, things you want to work, and much more. After printing out the vendor list, we narrowed down that we would visit whichever ones we wanted, but we will be focusing on a list of about 20. That's good right?

Here is the list:
1) Abeka - self-explanatory why we would look here. All subjects. Popular. Christian.
2) Academy of Science for Kids (ASK) - Science
3) Accountable Kids - Accountability Curriculum/Ideas
4) Apologia Educational Ministries - Science based on God's creation
5) Arts Attack - Art
6) Binding Books Beautifully - we will purchase this to bind books that we make.
7) Latin Road/Phonics Road - curious about the content
8) BJU Press - All subjects. Popular. Christian.
9) Math-U-See - Math
10) My Father's World - Bible/Science
11) Noeo Science Curriculum - Science
12) Positive Action Bible Curriculum - Bible
13) R.O.C.K. Solid - All subjects.
14) Right Start Mathematics by Activities for Learning - my top choice for math
15) Ring Around the Phonics - Phonics Board Game Supplement
16) Saxon - again popular. All subjects.
17) Easy Reasoning Curriculum - Bible
18) The Critical Thinking Company - my top choice for critical thinking
19) Handwriting Without Tears - our handwriting curriculum
20) Tobin's Lab - for lapbooking materials
21) In the Hands of a Child - for lapbooking materials/unit studies

Along with this list, we made a School Year Goals list, and this is what we came up with for right now:
Spiritual: Prayer/Scripture memorization, understanding that he has the choice from right and wrong that God commands we do right. This comes into play when he decided to ignore directions and such.
Bible: General Bible stories in terms of character unit studies. He know many stories because of the wonderful church curriculum we have at our church, but we want more character knowledge.
Home: Chores- room cleaning daily (which he does now), pet care (which he does for his new Hermit Crab), and his toy rules. He also participates in helping with emptying the dish washer, the dryer, and helps sweep and vacuum.
Community: Reson would like us to have more visits to the Nursing Home, participate in helping control litter, and general knowledge of how we should care for our community.
Reading/Phonics: Get through Set 1 of the Bob Books (1st goal), Set 2 Bob Books (2nd Goal). Once we see where he is at with his Phonics (thinking about curriculum at the moment, looking at ETC today), the goal will have more to it. We want him to be able to read the set alone.
Writing/Speech: HWT book 1 completed and get through half of book 2. Better communication through high stress levels. When he gets frustrated, scared, or sad he just stops talking. We want him to better voice his feelings when this happens. Any other time he does great.
Math: Finish Level 1 and begin level 2 on whichever Math curriculum we choose. In the Saxon Math Pretest he is at a Kindergarten level. I want to make sure we cover ALL things in preschool first.
History: Do Family History and family trees
Geography: Know address fully, phone number, church location, know diagrams/maps ability to read simple ones.
Science: Weather, Months, Time, Plants, Planets, Energy, Animals/Plants relationships (bees, ants, butterflies).
Physical Fitness/Health: Running Schedule (Sue Patrick) with me, Proper form of basic workouts (jumping jacks, push-ups, sit-ups, etc), sprint runs.
Field Trips: Lowry Park Zoo, Florida Aquarium, Dinosaur World, MOSI

Game plan done, now to wait for Thursday night, pack up the boys and spend Friday and Saturday at the Conference, Sunday lead Youth Service with the hubs, and Monday a fun day with friends. I can't I get my husband for 4 days in a row, and it is not really a vacation!