Sunday, March 1, 2015

Sunday Planning: The Week of March 2-6

I clearly haven't been doing my weekly Wrap-Ups. Last week was kind of a write-off, anyhow, which I somewhat hinted at with feeling like we needed a break. But the break can't continue, so let me get down to some planning.

First off, schedule-wise, there's just our usual Thursday activities, my daughter (17-year old) and I will be attending an information session on Friday and then there's the usual evening activities.

School-wise:

*The 17-year old has to get back into her social studies work. She's just about done the course, just has a couple of assignments to finish and the final exam.
*She also said she'd like to go for her driver's test within the next couple of weeks. This means some extra practice in areas they will test her in but she doesn't normally drive in, like school zones.
*We are behind in submitting her phys. ed. hours. And I still haven't found her phys. ed. assignments that she'd started back in September or October. Stuff to get done.
*We should also see if there is another credit course she'd like to tag on. Like Work Experience.
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*For my 14-year old, we're doing better (except for last week) at getting more done during the week, but I still need to keep slowly adding onto it. I hear things from Montessori resources "freedom within limits" and a reminder that certain limits need to be set for his screen time, specifically, the iPad.
*Math: We've moved into inequalities, still using The Key to Algebra series (can't remember which book he's now in). We're skipping some of the things because I feel like we're behind in terms of meeting the necessary grade 9 outcomes so he can truly do the grade 10 course for credit next year--that is, we're skipping things I know grade 9 students here don't do. He should be able to finish the work in that booklet this week, I think.

*Language Arts: I completely dropped the ball on the film study (in English). Time to watch it again so he can finish up the questions. He also has his book he reads from almost every day, Black Hawk Down: A Story of Modern War. My plan had been to read it, too, and be able to tie in things with social studies. I suppose it's not too late to catch up to him. And other than listening to me read to him every now and then from a French novel he's not really enjoying--well, and us speaking only in French--he hasn't done any French work recently. I'll leave an open blank on the chart for now.

*Speaking of Social Studies... We did have a brief look last week at how a bill becomes law in Canada and discussion of how we citizens need to voice our concerns to our MPs and such so that the government doesn't just move on ahead thinking we're fine with things when we aren't. We also had a look at different kinds of pressure groups and what kinds of things they would be wanting to change for laws. We still haven't hit a point of really seeing the big picture of how the different parts of the federal government work together, so that can be the focus this week, while tying in any pertinent things, like comparing what happens with our democratic government to a totalitarian one.

*Science: Science has been boring because I don't know what to do with it, so we've been just following the textbook. I had envisioned research and projects and experiments. We're still in the chemistry unit. We should have finished two units by now, I think. I suppose I have two options: Just skim over things lightly or get into some serious learning. I was just reading in Make It Stick: The Science of Successful Learning that this idea of seeing something a little bit helps us later remember. Apparently not. So... That means we'd be better off learning some things a little more in-depth and not covering everything than we would just lightly covering everything to "prep" him a bit for next year's science course. Which means... Going back to the research idea. And somehow getting him using the information we have covered so far. I'll have to look at the provincial outcomes and see what sort of ideas I can come up with. It would be really nice if the abundance of free/cheap information for Montessori in the early years were so available at this age. *sigh*

*Physical Education: I'm going to ask that my son do at least 15 minutes a day, Monday through Friday. We had started with 5, moved up to 10, now I figure he can handle 15. Not that his fitness is that poor, but getting this kid to change routine is always a difficult process. Slow and steady wins the race!

*Health: Something got messed up with the personalized nutrition thing he printed off from the My Food Guide website. I'd like to do that with him so we can get it printed off properly and then start looking at serving sizes of things.
*Music: He's been practising up a storm lately, so I don't really have to plan for that--he's all self-guided! What I could do, though, is start having him write down on paper here and there the things he's doing, his self-evaluation ("This part from this song is getting easier.")

*Montessori: No, my kids are not studying Montessori, but for me, I need to reconnect with the Montessori philosophy concerning adolescents. I know this is a time for my son to connect with "outside the home", although Maria would have had him in an Erdkinder. I don't have the Erdkinder option, but I need to do something and reading up on things will hopefully help. I feel I missed that with my daughter and it might have helped in certain ways. One thing we could do, something I've been meaning to do for ages, is go to a nearby thrift store run by an organization that helps out the homeless in the city. We can ask questions about what they do, what sort of items or help they might need.

Those aren't specifics, but it's enough sorting out my general thoughts for the time being.

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