Scout Homeschool Plan

Here's what I'm thinking... Now, I'm thinking aloud so don't hold me to every letter.

I've got the Transformer in Cub Scouts--he'll be a Wolf as of June. I'll enroll him in Day Camp where he can work on his initial badges for the year. If he earns belt loops, we can dig deeper and pursue pins this time. In the meantime, I will also start him on Contenders for the Faith, primarily for the spiritual development. The handbook is really geared for 7-14yo so it is still a bit advanced for him (he'll be 7 in April and pretty much on track for his age).

I am getting the Kitty Cat started with Little Keepers at Home, which has many handicraft projects that are just her speed (geared towards 4-6yo). In the fall, I will enroll her in AHG, where she will begin as a Pathfinder, the only level geared for one age/grade (5yo/K). At this point, I am planning to lead or co-lead her squad (I think that's what they call it).

The academic areas that I will need to pull from regular curricula will be phonics, reading, writing, and math. I'm not sure if I want to add literature and history as their own curricula yet since I need to dig deeper and see what subjects are comprehensive in the scouting handbooks. We have a lot of other resources for other subjects as well, but I really want to be able to study some things in depth this year instead of hopping around everything on an introductory level. I know my kids are young, but I think they get overwhelmed by the sheer numbers of ideas that they are introduced to on a weekly basis.

The last area that I am considering is enrolling them in AWANA again. They loved doing it for the year that they did it in CA. Having missed a year throws them off the usual handbook progression, but they would really hide away a lot of Scripture in their hearts while their minds are capable of drinking in large amounts of information. I just don't know if I can volunteer to help out. Perhaps I can volunteer on a less kid-intensive basis. In the fall, both of them would be in Sparks.

On a final note for tonight, I have to confess that I am feeling quite unfaithful to Charlotte Mason's philosophy and ideals that I had been pursuing for this past year. This whole scouting as homeschool approach is very unit-study friendly, which was not an approach that CM espoused. She preferred that children make their own connections, not have the adults present them with connections. Anyway, I have her whole series and a bunch of other books by other authors about her principles so I will continue to (very, very slowly) learn about her approach and see how much of it I can apply to our scouting school. I may not have the kids do AWANA (that is more Classical Education-friendly rather than CM-friendly). I dunno. We'll see.

With enrolling the kids in different programs, including swimming, gymnastics, flag football through the YMCA, I end up not necessarily being their instructor but rather their learning opportunities coordinator, tutor, and counselor. One of the things I love about homeschooling is the variety of ways in which families can implement it!