Where I live, we need to register as home educators with a willing school and submit a yearly educational plan for each student.
It occurred to me today that I could, and maybe should, make my own educational plan. So, I've begun. :)
I've done lists of goals before although never had anything in place to actually go back and check the goals after a few weeks, much less several months. I haven't decided yet where I'll put this plan, perhaps with my son's plan so that I see it every time I check his plan or perhaps in its own binder.
I make all kinds of goals, from eating healthier to decluttering to things like getting x number of lessons done for my French website. But it's always about accomplishing things and never a plan for just learning things I want to learn.
What have I got on my plan so far?
English Language Arts: Read or listen to at least one novel/book per month. (I have a list of books from our province plus a number of classic books in my bookshelves, books I have yet to read.) I'll be doing a lot with my son's English course, but I do need to have this reading of at least one book per month to stay ahead of him and have things to talk about for our reading workshop "book talks." (Here's one link about book talks.)
French Language Arts: We speak French at home and I have to write emails and such. But I don't ever read in French nor even watch TV or watch movies in French (anymore; when the kids were little, we alternated between watching movies in French and in English) to expand my vocabulary (and even just being used to other accents and regional colloquialisms). I want to read or listen to at least one classic book this year--I'm thinking along the lines of Jules Verne or Alexandre Dumas (The Count of Monte Cristo comes to mind as a good one, especially since I could play it at lunchtime with my son eating with me and it could double for covering both of our education plans). Also, I'm completely unfamiliar with francophone music; my goal is to discover at least one artist/band that I like. (I'm assuming there's got to be something I'll like. My husband has started listening to a band whose music sounds entirely like easy listening/Abba-esque stuff out of the 60s/70s, actually, somewhat like the stuff I find boring on the German station. It just has a certain sound to it that I associate with my childhood--specifically, my friend's grandparents' music. I'd like something more modern.) I do want to put actually reading things--be it online sites or books or what have you--because while I feel my grammar is strong, I'm noticing how other people who didn't used to make mistakes are making mistakes even though their written grammar/spelling used to be top knotch.
German Language Studies: I grew up learning a very limited German vocabulary and hearing my grandfather mutter certain things under his breath. It inspired me to take 3 years of German (one course per year) when I was in university and then I took a semester of conversational German after graduating. But it's been years. And I've been recently inspired to revive this language in my life and even in my family a bit; I've actually been using various little phrases with my family for a few months now, some of them becoming just commonplace and I don't even think it before I say it. My grandfather's first language was German; at least two of his wife's (my grandma's) grandparents had German as their first language. My kids have learned French as part of my husband's heritage as a French Canadian; I wish now I had mastered German better when they were younger and made German more a part of their lives. But I'm babbling. My plan for this is to actually complete a boxed German language learning program I was given several years back. I've started it more than once and never completed it; this year, the goal is to actually do it all. I will also supplement with German radio (either the local program that runs for an hour daily or an online station I can find). I'd also like to see about an online forum where I can have written and/or oral conversations.
Spanish Language Studies: You might be thinking me crazy to be adding a 4th language in here, but my son will be doing an online Spanish course this year. Since he prefers working with me--and as a means of testing him and pushing him a bit to really master it--I'd like to kind of follow what he's doing and learn what he's learning.
This is as far as I've gotten. I've been trying to think about things learned in school or university and just general interests (like in Accepted--what would I want to have as a course?) and not sure what else I'd like to add on. I'm thinking of things like Food Studies--I could learn more recipes for gluten-free cooking. Math? Nah (although I love math). Science? Hm. History--now there's something I could set some goals for. I feel like there's a lot of history that I don't know that I would like to know more about or that would be useful. I'll have to narrow that one down. Music? Maybe. Art? I have Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain kit that I kind of started and never finished; that could be fun. Physical education--that's probably a natural thing with just trying to be healthier, fitter. Health could fit into that (what sort of specific things do I need to learn about health? maybe nutrition). Typing: I never did master the numbers. When I'm going strong with something, I can type upwards of 100 wpm, but not if I have to do numbers and symbols! Religious studies--all kinds of stuff that interest me there. I'm sure Khan Academy has various things I could spend time watching. Perhaps just some time each week for "delighted-directed studies"?
Okay, that's enough thinking for now. Have you ever done up a learning plan for yourself?
Showing posts with label Plans. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Plans. Show all posts
Sunday, August 23, 2015
Thursday, April 23, 2015
Is It Summer Yet?
I could use a looooong summer break. It'd be nice to just toss school aside for the next 4 months. But I suppose there isn't a good chance of that happening.
It's that time of year. Winter is finally over here and spring is turning quickly into summer on certain days. My husband has noticed the lack of work motivation at school--the kids want to be outside and doing things. My kids don't... Maybe I need to push them a little.
I to push myself a little. Get outside and take advantage of some of the nicer weather. Not all of it's nicer, though, like the 20 degrees Celsius we had--with wind gusts up to 50 km/h (that's 60F and 31mph for you non-metric readers). The temperature is an excellent one here for this time of year, but the wind killed all delight. It's better than the 90 km/h gusts we had a couple of years back around this time, so I will try not to complain too much.
This desire for summer does have me doing a bit of reflecting: What have we accomplished this year? What needs to be accomplished before the school year is over?
My daughter has to have all of her work submitted by the first week of June, I think. Then she's completely free from school work until the fall--well, that depends. She's considering attending an alternative high school where instead of having a typical schedule and listen to the teacher present lessons and such, they have, essentially, correspondence work but meet up with an advisor each day to make plans and track progress, there are seminars to attend and I think a few classes are acually in-class, like phys. ed. and art and cooking. We still need to visit the school and see if they'll even accept her, so it's not a done deal yet. If that's what she ends up doing, then she has the summer off of school work. If she doesn't do that, her plan was to finish most of the grade 12 English course during the summer so she would have one course knocked off for next year. With the board we are registered with for homeschooling and her online schooling, they have most of the coursework available to us all year, so she would just work on the side and submit it in September.
My son... I need to get him writing again. I don't do it consistently enough, but I need to get him writing. He's going to have a big shock next year with all of the writing he'll need to do, especially if I don't get him writing more now. Math, I should really see what's covered next year to make sure to practise the pre-requisites with him and just leave off any extras that aren't terribly important. And with chaos the past few weeks (since spring break, two dance festivals already that my daughter has danced 3 times in each one...), getting him back into a more reasonable work schedule and doing more work, period. With him, I can make him work until the end of June, though. ;)
Of course, the drawback about if it were actually summer is that I'm nowhere near ready to actually start high school work with him in September, so I'd have that much less time to plan, select resources, etc. So, maybe I'm not quite in a rush for it to be summer just yet. Maybe a little more relaxing--outside when the winds are calm(er) and the sun shining--might be enough for me right now.
It's that time of year. Winter is finally over here and spring is turning quickly into summer on certain days. My husband has noticed the lack of work motivation at school--the kids want to be outside and doing things. My kids don't... Maybe I need to push them a little.
I to push myself a little. Get outside and take advantage of some of the nicer weather. Not all of it's nicer, though, like the 20 degrees Celsius we had--with wind gusts up to 50 km/h (that's 60F and 31mph for you non-metric readers). The temperature is an excellent one here for this time of year, but the wind killed all delight. It's better than the 90 km/h gusts we had a couple of years back around this time, so I will try not to complain too much.
This desire for summer does have me doing a bit of reflecting: What have we accomplished this year? What needs to be accomplished before the school year is over?
My daughter has to have all of her work submitted by the first week of June, I think. Then she's completely free from school work until the fall--well, that depends. She's considering attending an alternative high school where instead of having a typical schedule and listen to the teacher present lessons and such, they have, essentially, correspondence work but meet up with an advisor each day to make plans and track progress, there are seminars to attend and I think a few classes are acually in-class, like phys. ed. and art and cooking. We still need to visit the school and see if they'll even accept her, so it's not a done deal yet. If that's what she ends up doing, then she has the summer off of school work. If she doesn't do that, her plan was to finish most of the grade 12 English course during the summer so she would have one course knocked off for next year. With the board we are registered with for homeschooling and her online schooling, they have most of the coursework available to us all year, so she would just work on the side and submit it in September.
My son... I need to get him writing again. I don't do it consistently enough, but I need to get him writing. He's going to have a big shock next year with all of the writing he'll need to do, especially if I don't get him writing more now. Math, I should really see what's covered next year to make sure to practise the pre-requisites with him and just leave off any extras that aren't terribly important. And with chaos the past few weeks (since spring break, two dance festivals already that my daughter has danced 3 times in each one...), getting him back into a more reasonable work schedule and doing more work, period. With him, I can make him work until the end of June, though. ;)
Of course, the drawback about if it were actually summer is that I'm nowhere near ready to actually start high school work with him in September, so I'd have that much less time to plan, select resources, etc. So, maybe I'm not quite in a rush for it to be summer just yet. Maybe a little more relaxing--outside when the winds are calm(er) and the sun shining--might be enough for me right now.
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.
*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.
----
*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.
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.
----
*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.
Saturday, September 20, 2014
Babble Planning--Junior High/Middle School
I've decided to babble plan. What is that? Just me babbling on "paper" while trying to plan out a homeschooling week.
My plans for my son have not been specific enough and so a lot of things haven't gotten done as I had planned. So, I will babble here and perhaps it will be of some sort of help to others--even if it's just inspiration to sit down and make a plan. ;)
FRENCH
*What has he done so far for French? ... Absolutely nothing. Okay, so what can he do? Reading, writing, grammar. I have not had him start writing a journal entry a day about what he's been doing. I was hoping his dad would get more into it, actually ask him, but things have been kind of chaotic and our son isn't up before Dad leaves for work, so... I can introduce it to him. Maybe have him write it like letters. "Cher Papa, aujourd'hui j'ai..." I also have grammar workbooks for him to work through, even just a page a day. For reading... I can resume reading Le voyage au centre de la Terre--except he's become quite bored with it (always that question: do you keep going? because you suspect he will enjoy it later? or just to see things through?)--or find something for him to read. Or maybe just start a different French novel for now, something simpler.
So, this means for this week:
-writing each day in the journal
-grammar each day (I need to find a book and have one specific page each day for him to do)
-at least being read to in French each day
ENGLISH
*What has he been doing for English? We started Writing Strands, but haven't really done anything this past week. I'm not convinced it's a good fit for him. Getting him to write even just a paragraph a day in French might actually be enough right now, although I do still like the idea of perhaps doing mini Writers Workshop sessions. (I'd need to refresh my mind how they work.) He's been reading Lone Survivor. And I've had a few days of reading The Hobbit to him and we discuss things here and there. I could always add in Sequential Spelling, grammar... COPYWORK! Ach. He desperately needs to work on his handwriting.
So, for this week:
-continue with silent reading each day from Lone Survivor (at least 30 minutes)
-reinstitute copywork each day; what will he copy???? Ha, Calvin and Hobbes dialogues came as the first answer. lol. (He still loves Calvin and Hobbes!)
-Writers' Workshop?? Would have to see what I can find online (ooh, my search has led me to finding something useful for readers' workshops http://www.appstate.edu/~smithtw/rcoe/RE_3150_web/Reading_Minilessons/Reading%20minilessons.htm). Looking at this document http://www.ttms.org/PDFs/05%20Writers%20Workshop%20v001%20%28Full%29.pdf , it's hitting me that the best place to start would be a mini-lesson on journal entries, possibly start from the beginning with sentences. Having him write about things he wants, too, and why, like an electric guitar and an amp ("Why do you want it and why should Maman and Papa help you purchase it?") or a hamster.
-ooh, last-minute thought: have him read poetry. But what? ("Shakespeare's sonnets.") Oooh.
MATH
-he's been doing a bit of The Key to Algebra series, now in book 2. Just need to do it more consistently and perhaps for longer periods! And I've restarted him on multiplication table drills.
So, for this week:
-at least 30 minutes a day The Key to Algebra
-multiplication table drills, like I set up the other day (I should probably just take a picture, but it's closing in on midnight here and I don't feel like it ;) ). Basically, I just wrote out things like 1 x 3, 2 x 3, 4 x 3, 3 x 3, 6 x 3, 3 x 4, 5 x 3, 3 x 6... Lots of repetition with the x3s.
SCIENCE
-we've touched on the school textbook a bit for the biology unit and the space unit. Could go back and touch on those or look at the other units.
-we haven't done any hands-on activities yet
So, for this week:
-touch on a different science unit each day (okay, except maybe Thursday--it'll be his birthday); I still haven't printed off the actual outcomes, which I think would be a better option to follow (research the outcomes) than simply following the textbook
-plan for at least one hands-on activity, ideally something connected with the science units
SOCIAL STUDIES
-we started watching Canada: A People's History
For this week:
I'd like to continue it and have him write something about what we watch. We also have some books and magazines out from the library on Canadian history, like issues from this magazine. Just a matter of being more consistent and deciding each day how much and what to do.
PHYS. ED.
I haven't been having him track his hours, although he has been doing some exercise with the punching bag. I could always have him look up rules for things like playing badminton (we play sometimes at the rec. centre), tips for shooting baskets, something. Perhaps a year-long plan for phys. ed. topics would be in order.
LUA PROGRAMMING
Just need to sit down and do it with him.
---
I'm reminded by finding this http://teacherweb.com/ON/MA/juniorhigh/apt76.aspx that I haven't at all been doing a morning meeting with him. This will be important to discuss the work to do each day and have a routine to get moving with. And I either need to just set a schedule for him (which he seems fine with me doing) or a checklist (which might be more for me than for him). A daily checklist in a specific order that he can use as a schedule or can check things off in any order. There, sounds good.
Ok, it is shortly after midnight now. I can either stop and wait until morning to post or just post now. I think I'll post now. ;)
How do you plan for your middle school child?
My plans for my son have not been specific enough and so a lot of things haven't gotten done as I had planned. So, I will babble here and perhaps it will be of some sort of help to others--even if it's just inspiration to sit down and make a plan. ;)
FRENCH
*What has he done so far for French? ... Absolutely nothing. Okay, so what can he do? Reading, writing, grammar. I have not had him start writing a journal entry a day about what he's been doing. I was hoping his dad would get more into it, actually ask him, but things have been kind of chaotic and our son isn't up before Dad leaves for work, so... I can introduce it to him. Maybe have him write it like letters. "Cher Papa, aujourd'hui j'ai..." I also have grammar workbooks for him to work through, even just a page a day. For reading... I can resume reading Le voyage au centre de la Terre--except he's become quite bored with it (always that question: do you keep going? because you suspect he will enjoy it later? or just to see things through?)--or find something for him to read. Or maybe just start a different French novel for now, something simpler.
So, this means for this week:
-writing each day in the journal
-grammar each day (I need to find a book and have one specific page each day for him to do)
-at least being read to in French each day
ENGLISH
*What has he been doing for English? We started Writing Strands, but haven't really done anything this past week. I'm not convinced it's a good fit for him. Getting him to write even just a paragraph a day in French might actually be enough right now, although I do still like the idea of perhaps doing mini Writers Workshop sessions. (I'd need to refresh my mind how they work.) He's been reading Lone Survivor. And I've had a few days of reading The Hobbit to him and we discuss things here and there. I could always add in Sequential Spelling, grammar... COPYWORK! Ach. He desperately needs to work on his handwriting.
So, for this week:
-continue with silent reading each day from Lone Survivor (at least 30 minutes)
-reinstitute copywork each day; what will he copy???? Ha, Calvin and Hobbes dialogues came as the first answer. lol. (He still loves Calvin and Hobbes!)
-Writers' Workshop?? Would have to see what I can find online (ooh, my search has led me to finding something useful for readers' workshops http://www.appstate.edu/~smithtw/rcoe/RE_3150_web/Reading_Minilessons/Reading%20minilessons.htm). Looking at this document http://www.ttms.org/PDFs/05%20Writers%20Workshop%20v001%20%28Full%29.pdf , it's hitting me that the best place to start would be a mini-lesson on journal entries, possibly start from the beginning with sentences. Having him write about things he wants, too, and why, like an electric guitar and an amp ("Why do you want it and why should Maman and Papa help you purchase it?") or a hamster.
-ooh, last-minute thought: have him read poetry. But what? ("Shakespeare's sonnets.") Oooh.
MATH
-he's been doing a bit of The Key to Algebra series, now in book 2. Just need to do it more consistently and perhaps for longer periods! And I've restarted him on multiplication table drills.
So, for this week:
-at least 30 minutes a day The Key to Algebra
-multiplication table drills, like I set up the other day (I should probably just take a picture, but it's closing in on midnight here and I don't feel like it ;) ). Basically, I just wrote out things like 1 x 3, 2 x 3, 4 x 3, 3 x 3, 6 x 3, 3 x 4, 5 x 3, 3 x 6... Lots of repetition with the x3s.
SCIENCE
-we've touched on the school textbook a bit for the biology unit and the space unit. Could go back and touch on those or look at the other units.
-we haven't done any hands-on activities yet
So, for this week:
-touch on a different science unit each day (okay, except maybe Thursday--it'll be his birthday); I still haven't printed off the actual outcomes, which I think would be a better option to follow (research the outcomes) than simply following the textbook
-plan for at least one hands-on activity, ideally something connected with the science units
SOCIAL STUDIES
-we started watching Canada: A People's History
For this week:
I'd like to continue it and have him write something about what we watch. We also have some books and magazines out from the library on Canadian history, like issues from this magazine. Just a matter of being more consistent and deciding each day how much and what to do.
http://www.coverssell.com/?p=7573
PHYS. ED.
I haven't been having him track his hours, although he has been doing some exercise with the punching bag. I could always have him look up rules for things like playing badminton (we play sometimes at the rec. centre), tips for shooting baskets, something. Perhaps a year-long plan for phys. ed. topics would be in order.
LUA PROGRAMMING
Just need to sit down and do it with him.
---
I'm reminded by finding this http://teacherweb.com/ON/MA/juniorhigh/apt76.aspx that I haven't at all been doing a morning meeting with him. This will be important to discuss the work to do each day and have a routine to get moving with. And I either need to just set a schedule for him (which he seems fine with me doing) or a checklist (which might be more for me than for him). A daily checklist in a specific order that he can use as a schedule or can check things off in any order. There, sounds good.
Ok, it is shortly after midnight now. I can either stop and wait until morning to post or just post now. I think I'll post now. ;)
How do you plan for your middle school child?
Thursday, August 14, 2014
School Starts Soon. *Gulp*
It was brought to my attention today that it is August 14. My husband will be back at school for preliminary stuff in 2 weeks. School officially starts in 17 days. I am not ready. Good thing I have 2.5 weeks left, but 2.5 weeks can go by very quickly!
My main issue is I don't actually have a real plan for the year, and I don't even have a plan for the first week, so I don't know about resources, activities, etc. I guess I need to get cracking on that. I did, however, go through my den closet the other day and discovered I have probably 10-20 unused notebooks of various sizes, 10-20 used notebooks that are still usable, possibly over 1000 sheets of lined looseleaf paper and a dozen binders. Add to that the overflowing jars of pencils and pens and I think we're set for basic supplies. ;)
Are you ready for school?
My main issue is I don't actually have a real plan for the year, and I don't even have a plan for the first week, so I don't know about resources, activities, etc. I guess I need to get cracking on that. I did, however, go through my den closet the other day and discovered I have probably 10-20 unused notebooks of various sizes, 10-20 used notebooks that are still usable, possibly over 1000 sheets of lined looseleaf paper and a dozen binders. Add to that the overflowing jars of pencils and pens and I think we're set for basic supplies. ;)
Are you ready for school?
Sunday, March 30, 2014
Spring Break!! (Aka: The end is almost near)
Woot! This means no needing to plan a French class for tomorrow, no figuring out what school work to assign my son, no picking up nieces and nephew from school each day, no driving kids to activities in the evening... At the same time, it means tackling my taxes and babysitting my two nieces and one nephew. lol. They're old enough that I don't really have to do much to babysit, so it's all good.
I suppose I should update a bit: My daughter is taking a break from official school work for the next while. I am exploring different options we can follow for finishing up her high school studies, potentially even still by the end of next school year, as well as looking at post-secondary institutions and what they will accept. The less hoop-jumping as possible, the better. Right now, though, she needs a break. Well, really, she needs to deschool a bit!
With it being April just around the corner, it's hitting me that we only have about 2 months left for school work, which might not matter for my daughter given she's on a break, but it does matter for my son, who has not been doing a whole lot lately (my fault). The end is almost literally around the corner! I really, really, really need to figure out some gentle ways to get my son writing more. His math is going along okay, but we are WAY behind in the books we've been doing this year and he has really done only one tiny bit of writing.
A thought came to me that I suppose it wouldn't hurt to slightly modify things now in preparation for next year. Except that I haven't entirely thought about how I'm proceeding next year. Some thoughts at the moment:
1) Present my 13-year old with the fact that he is supposed to start high school in the 2015/2016 school year. Find some work samples of things students write at the end of grade 9 (jr. high here) and the kinds of work students do in grade 10. Work together to create a plan of getting him able to write at that level and do the type of work that is typical. (As I type this, I hear him previously having said to me, "I'll just do what you tell me to do." lol. This might turn into a "here, this is the level we need to get you to" discussion and me doing the planning.)
2) Lay out certain options with full disclosure. ;) What I mean by this is that a parent-issued high school diploma here means nothing for a lot of institutions and even for some employers. If the government hasn't issued it, it's not "real". One option is to go for the government diploma (which, in itself, has a few options). Another option is to just go for certain credits (again, some options within that). Another option is to do a similar, but not exactly the same, curriculum as our provincial curriculum and rely on things like perhaps SATs or portfolios as proof of completing high school. Have him think about the route he wants to take. (I can see him shrugging and going, "I don't know. Whatever you think is best." lol)
3) Start high school, sort of, next year. We could start covering certain grade 10 topics, like for social studies and science. For math, he's got a ways to work to be ready for grade 10, so we'll just keep on moving forward with what we're doing. I've been focusing a lot on basic things: multiplication, division, fractions, decimals... He's done some pre-algebra stuff and that always goes well, but we'd hit a point of his needing to be more comfortable with fractions and division before moving on. I had a look at what's in the grade 9 textbook for the province and he's actually covered some of the things that other students will be starting next year, so he's not entirely "behind". Regardless, we have the option to "bank" certain credits. If we can finish one or two grade 10 subjects, or even finish something like the required Career and Life Management course next year and get it out of the way and have a start on the credits, that would be fantastic.
Whatever we do, I feel it's really the time to print out the local school outcomes, with perhaps columns (started, somewhat covered, completely covered/mastered) for him to really start being more aware of what there is to learn and to start taking action on it more. Or perhaps just for him to see that there is a lot to be covered and only 5 minutes of work doesn't really cut it! I also have in my mind the idea of a checklist of certain types of texts to write and read. And definitely give him (even if it's used as worksheets) old provincial achievement tests for the sheer purpose of having him see what is expected to be remembered and just have experience with the wording. An introduction to testing without the pressure. :)
So, what can I modify right now?
*I could figure out the math he could get done by the end of the school year and make a checklist. He's been working on The Key to... booklets the past while. I'm sure I could flip through them and figure out something reasonable. Ideally, he would do some of the geometry or other work from the grade 8 local textbook, but I'm not at all sure how much is left in those booklets.
*For science and social studies, I could have him pick one of the grade 8, or even grade 9 (what do I care? lol) topics and we cover the outcomes and beyond by making use of whatever resources we can find. This would end up involving him doing some research, which would be good. It may also be the approach we'll take for his high school courses rather than just relying on a textbook. But on top of that, a checklist with science activities to work on during the week and social studies/history readings that we've (not) been doing (France and England).
*For English and French... I think we have to finish reading The Hobbit, and I will tell him that's our goal. We're only half finished Le voyage au centre de la Terre and it's been years that we've been working on it. Not sure it's reasonable to say we need to finish it. It's tough reading and the Charlotte Mason approach of a digestible number of pages is key. Other than that, my mind has been toying with the Writing Workshop approach with him, starting out with something easy but essentially going through a checklist of topics/text types. There are also some simple French grammar pages that don't take long and just give him some extra exposure since he doesn't read much in French. He's also been painfully slowly working through The Hunger Games. I think I either need to set the amount of silent reading time higher or just tell him, this book needs to be done before summer. Or provide him a challenge: "You think you can finish it before summer?"
I have written "checklist" I'm not sure how many times. I think it's time I had some checklists. lol. I can put on there things like:
*Italian (he's decided to drop Irish; using Mango for it was a little much). I got him connected to Duolingo and we will have a bit of friendly comparing as I make my way through the Italian in my account and he does his. Or perhaps we'll have something where one of us is on the computer while the other is on a laptop, sitting side-by-side in our respective accounts.
*computer programming: he wants to learn scripting, but doesn't like working on it unless I'm there so he can show me stuff. lol
*music (oy, I just realized I completely dropped the ball on Charlotte Mason-style music appreciation)
I'm not sure if I'm making any sense and this all might not be helpful to anybody but me. Sorry!
How are you doing as you face the approaching end of the year? :D
I suppose I should update a bit: My daughter is taking a break from official school work for the next while. I am exploring different options we can follow for finishing up her high school studies, potentially even still by the end of next school year, as well as looking at post-secondary institutions and what they will accept. The less hoop-jumping as possible, the better. Right now, though, she needs a break. Well, really, she needs to deschool a bit!
With it being April just around the corner, it's hitting me that we only have about 2 months left for school work, which might not matter for my daughter given she's on a break, but it does matter for my son, who has not been doing a whole lot lately (my fault). The end is almost literally around the corner! I really, really, really need to figure out some gentle ways to get my son writing more. His math is going along okay, but we are WAY behind in the books we've been doing this year and he has really done only one tiny bit of writing.
A thought came to me that I suppose it wouldn't hurt to slightly modify things now in preparation for next year. Except that I haven't entirely thought about how I'm proceeding next year. Some thoughts at the moment:
1) Present my 13-year old with the fact that he is supposed to start high school in the 2015/2016 school year. Find some work samples of things students write at the end of grade 9 (jr. high here) and the kinds of work students do in grade 10. Work together to create a plan of getting him able to write at that level and do the type of work that is typical. (As I type this, I hear him previously having said to me, "I'll just do what you tell me to do." lol. This might turn into a "here, this is the level we need to get you to" discussion and me doing the planning.)
2) Lay out certain options with full disclosure. ;) What I mean by this is that a parent-issued high school diploma here means nothing for a lot of institutions and even for some employers. If the government hasn't issued it, it's not "real". One option is to go for the government diploma (which, in itself, has a few options). Another option is to just go for certain credits (again, some options within that). Another option is to do a similar, but not exactly the same, curriculum as our provincial curriculum and rely on things like perhaps SATs or portfolios as proof of completing high school. Have him think about the route he wants to take. (I can see him shrugging and going, "I don't know. Whatever you think is best." lol)
3) Start high school, sort of, next year. We could start covering certain grade 10 topics, like for social studies and science. For math, he's got a ways to work to be ready for grade 10, so we'll just keep on moving forward with what we're doing. I've been focusing a lot on basic things: multiplication, division, fractions, decimals... He's done some pre-algebra stuff and that always goes well, but we'd hit a point of his needing to be more comfortable with fractions and division before moving on. I had a look at what's in the grade 9 textbook for the province and he's actually covered some of the things that other students will be starting next year, so he's not entirely "behind". Regardless, we have the option to "bank" certain credits. If we can finish one or two grade 10 subjects, or even finish something like the required Career and Life Management course next year and get it out of the way and have a start on the credits, that would be fantastic.
Whatever we do, I feel it's really the time to print out the local school outcomes, with perhaps columns (started, somewhat covered, completely covered/mastered) for him to really start being more aware of what there is to learn and to start taking action on it more. Or perhaps just for him to see that there is a lot to be covered and only 5 minutes of work doesn't really cut it! I also have in my mind the idea of a checklist of certain types of texts to write and read. And definitely give him (even if it's used as worksheets) old provincial achievement tests for the sheer purpose of having him see what is expected to be remembered and just have experience with the wording. An introduction to testing without the pressure. :)
So, what can I modify right now?
*I could figure out the math he could get done by the end of the school year and make a checklist. He's been working on The Key to... booklets the past while. I'm sure I could flip through them and figure out something reasonable. Ideally, he would do some of the geometry or other work from the grade 8 local textbook, but I'm not at all sure how much is left in those booklets.
*For science and social studies, I could have him pick one of the grade 8, or even grade 9 (what do I care? lol) topics and we cover the outcomes and beyond by making use of whatever resources we can find. This would end up involving him doing some research, which would be good. It may also be the approach we'll take for his high school courses rather than just relying on a textbook. But on top of that, a checklist with science activities to work on during the week and social studies/history readings that we've (not) been doing (France and England).
*For English and French... I think we have to finish reading The Hobbit, and I will tell him that's our goal. We're only half finished Le voyage au centre de la Terre and it's been years that we've been working on it. Not sure it's reasonable to say we need to finish it. It's tough reading and the Charlotte Mason approach of a digestible number of pages is key. Other than that, my mind has been toying with the Writing Workshop approach with him, starting out with something easy but essentially going through a checklist of topics/text types. There are also some simple French grammar pages that don't take long and just give him some extra exposure since he doesn't read much in French. He's also been painfully slowly working through The Hunger Games. I think I either need to set the amount of silent reading time higher or just tell him, this book needs to be done before summer. Or provide him a challenge: "You think you can finish it before summer?"
I have written "checklist" I'm not sure how many times. I think it's time I had some checklists. lol. I can put on there things like:
*Italian (he's decided to drop Irish; using Mango for it was a little much). I got him connected to Duolingo and we will have a bit of friendly comparing as I make my way through the Italian in my account and he does his. Or perhaps we'll have something where one of us is on the computer while the other is on a laptop, sitting side-by-side in our respective accounts.
*computer programming: he wants to learn scripting, but doesn't like working on it unless I'm there so he can show me stuff. lol
*music (oy, I just realized I completely dropped the ball on Charlotte Mason-style music appreciation)
I'm not sure if I'm making any sense and this all might not be helpful to anybody but me. Sorry!
How are you doing as you face the approaching end of the year? :D
Tuesday, August 27, 2013
Oh, the nerves are starting...
I tend to get a little nervous with the beginning of a new school year. This year is going to be so different from last year, the butterflies are very much aflutter in my stomach!
I am trying to have a vision for our school weeks, how I'm going to make it work with a CM (in the morning) approach for my son (and his narrating orally to me until at least Christmas), my daughter having to work on English and math (which she ought to be able to do mostly alone), German (which we can get a year extension on, thank goodness), music, phys. ed and a sort of life skills class (the first two need me to provide some guidance and set weekly criteria that the school course doesn't provide), but otherwise should be able to do on her own), plus her potentially being at the outreach school one or two days a week AND another girl who will be working just on an English distance learning course for the first while and here 3 days a week. I think there are too many unknowns that I can't control that leave me realizing that I can figure out a vision all I want, but I need to be realistic and be prepared to change the vision.
Mixing in my son's CM work with the others is the big challenge. I had initially envisioned my reading to him a bit during the day, him reading one of the readings to me and his doing the rest on his own, but my asking narrations of him here and there. Is all this oral work going to work well with two high school girls present who are going to be trying to focus on other things? I think I need to be prepared to not be as involved in his school work as I thought I would be. Be prepared for perhaps delayed narrations when he can do a few at a time. And then I had this vision of afternoons being more open. If my daughter gets her academics done in the morning and so does my son, then afternoons were open for music, art, phys. ed., nature study, Montessori-type research and self-directed/group studies... With the other girl here, that changes things a bit. Well, I suppose it doesn't have to, except perhaps the nature study. But I could do that with my son, at least, on days where the other girl isn't here. Or take the occasional break with her here and do it with her, too. :)
But I also had this vision of reading certain books right before lunch. Do I still do this with the other girl here? I suppose it's not a bad idea. Should just make sure that I keep the same books for the days she will be here. But butterflies flutter more at the possibility that it could be a flop to do so.
I have figured out one thing and kind of told my daughter, but realized today just how important it will be: She needs to create a schedule for herself. I just found out that she can have the year-long extension on her German course (for a small fee), and to be able to get this course done properly, and to do the necessary review to recall everything previously done and keep practising with me (the course is pitiful in the area of practice), she needs to have at least 3 times a week scheduled for this course. End of story. She has music to practise I would say 5 days a week, plus the aural skills and theory to work on. She has the life skills course to work on and phys. ed hours to track (I ended up doing the tracking last year; I won't be this year) and even to plan and phys. ed assignments to do... She has to have a schedule. Maybe not a stone-carved schedule about specific times she's starting, but at least a "30 minutes Tuesday, Thursday and Friday afternoons" kind of thing. And I think I will work with her on GTD principles so that each week, she's sitting down, thinking about the things she has to get done, should get done and wants to get done and to adjust the schedule or daily checklists as needed.
Just writing this all out helps with the nerves! :)
I am trying to have a vision for our school weeks, how I'm going to make it work with a CM (in the morning) approach for my son (and his narrating orally to me until at least Christmas), my daughter having to work on English and math (which she ought to be able to do mostly alone), German (which we can get a year extension on, thank goodness), music, phys. ed and a sort of life skills class (the first two need me to provide some guidance and set weekly criteria that the school course doesn't provide), but otherwise should be able to do on her own), plus her potentially being at the outreach school one or two days a week AND another girl who will be working just on an English distance learning course for the first while and here 3 days a week. I think there are too many unknowns that I can't control that leave me realizing that I can figure out a vision all I want, but I need to be realistic and be prepared to change the vision.
Mixing in my son's CM work with the others is the big challenge. I had initially envisioned my reading to him a bit during the day, him reading one of the readings to me and his doing the rest on his own, but my asking narrations of him here and there. Is all this oral work going to work well with two high school girls present who are going to be trying to focus on other things? I think I need to be prepared to not be as involved in his school work as I thought I would be. Be prepared for perhaps delayed narrations when he can do a few at a time. And then I had this vision of afternoons being more open. If my daughter gets her academics done in the morning and so does my son, then afternoons were open for music, art, phys. ed., nature study, Montessori-type research and self-directed/group studies... With the other girl here, that changes things a bit. Well, I suppose it doesn't have to, except perhaps the nature study. But I could do that with my son, at least, on days where the other girl isn't here. Or take the occasional break with her here and do it with her, too. :)
But I also had this vision of reading certain books right before lunch. Do I still do this with the other girl here? I suppose it's not a bad idea. Should just make sure that I keep the same books for the days she will be here. But butterflies flutter more at the possibility that it could be a flop to do so.
I have figured out one thing and kind of told my daughter, but realized today just how important it will be: She needs to create a schedule for herself. I just found out that she can have the year-long extension on her German course (for a small fee), and to be able to get this course done properly, and to do the necessary review to recall everything previously done and keep practising with me (the course is pitiful in the area of practice), she needs to have at least 3 times a week scheduled for this course. End of story. She has music to practise I would say 5 days a week, plus the aural skills and theory to work on. She has the life skills course to work on and phys. ed hours to track (I ended up doing the tracking last year; I won't be this year) and even to plan and phys. ed assignments to do... She has to have a schedule. Maybe not a stone-carved schedule about specific times she's starting, but at least a "30 minutes Tuesday, Thursday and Friday afternoons" kind of thing. And I think I will work with her on GTD principles so that each week, she's sitting down, thinking about the things she has to get done, should get done and wants to get done and to adjust the schedule or daily checklists as needed.
Just writing this all out helps with the nerves! :)
Friday, August 23, 2013
School! Have you started already?
We aren't officially starting here until Sept. 3, although I saw this past week that my daughter's high school courses (through a form of distance learning) technically start next Thursday. Given her English course isn't even available with that school (and we're likely switching that course to a different school anyhow because of our current school's English teacher), she won't be starting it. There is a possibility of switching her math course, too, which means she won't be starting it. Part of me wants to throw out there the other logical possibility that if she's not switching her English to this other school, then she needs to pick social studies or biology to do this first term. But my stomach does something at the thought of her enduring another semester with this particular English teacher. Or perhaps it's the thought of me having to edure another semester of this particular English teacher. (The guy seems nice enough; just lots of issues with inconsistencies, sudden changes...)
I have not yet completely figured out my son's first week. lol. I have the subjects decided, but not necessarily the books. I had bought The Book of the Ancient World by Dorothy Mills, but having looked through it, I might use both the first volume of Story of the World and this other book. And perhaps other biography fillers or something as we go along.
I'm slowly sorting out religious education for the year, with the help of Mater Amabilis, a site for Catholics using Charlotte Mason. I don't want to follow their plan exactly, but it does have me thinking of things I need to consider incorporating! We will have Bible reading, naturally, and will be taking their advice for Level 3 and covering a single Gospel this year: Matthew. We have Faith and Life already and I've worked out how we can get book 4 finished and cover books 5 and 6 this year. (My son's starting grade 8...) For apologetics, I'm thinking of Why Do Catholics Do That? which maybe doesn't quite fit with apologetics, but it's a good book, and I also have Mere Christianity that isn't Catholic, but it's recommended in the AO curriculum and is really aimed at the most common elements of the Christian faith. I don't know that we'll do the Church history, largely because I don't want to add yet another English resource for religion and I'm not able to find something that seems truly living bookish in French. I do hope, however, to find some good resources in French for learning about saints. That, at least, I should be able to find easily enough online.
I have other things figured out, but it is best I got moving with my day. What about you? Have you started school already? If not, do you have your plans in place?
I have not yet completely figured out my son's first week. lol. I have the subjects decided, but not necessarily the books. I had bought The Book of the Ancient World by Dorothy Mills, but having looked through it, I might use both the first volume of Story of the World and this other book. And perhaps other biography fillers or something as we go along.
I'm slowly sorting out religious education for the year, with the help of Mater Amabilis, a site for Catholics using Charlotte Mason. I don't want to follow their plan exactly, but it does have me thinking of things I need to consider incorporating! We will have Bible reading, naturally, and will be taking their advice for Level 3 and covering a single Gospel this year: Matthew. We have Faith and Life already and I've worked out how we can get book 4 finished and cover books 5 and 6 this year. (My son's starting grade 8...) For apologetics, I'm thinking of Why Do Catholics Do That? which maybe doesn't quite fit with apologetics, but it's a good book, and I also have Mere Christianity that isn't Catholic, but it's recommended in the AO curriculum and is really aimed at the most common elements of the Christian faith. I don't know that we'll do the Church history, largely because I don't want to add yet another English resource for religion and I'm not able to find something that seems truly living bookish in French. I do hope, however, to find some good resources in French for learning about saints. That, at least, I should be able to find easily enough online.
I have other things figured out, but it is best I got moving with my day. What about you? Have you started school already? If not, do you have your plans in place?
Friday, May 24, 2013
School year is nearing its end--so looking at next year!
As I often start doing in May, even though we still have work to do in the school year (our school year doesn't technically end before the last Thursday in June), my mind is working ahead to next year.
My 15yo has struggled a lot with the change in learning approach this year and the perfectionism, high standards and frustrations that come with being (likely) gifted have reared their ugly heads very strongly. She is very behind in her work, something we have discussed we can't let happen like this next year. Some solutions we have come up with:
*She can't participate in Rangers (Girl Guides) evenings or camps if she's not on track (this would be a HUGE blow! but it's a logical thing to have as a consequence).
*She really wants a job. I have said that I haven't decided yet but either I will ask her to prove to me that she can stay on track with her work for a while before she finds herself a job or that keeping a job she finds will be conditional upon her staying on track with her work.
*I have had the thought that she ought to be told by teachers roughly how much she should have done each week; she will be expected to work on school work all weekend and forego some luxuries if she's not caught up.
Another part of her stress now is that I have ended up doing the bulk of the reading for her (it was a way for her to stay focused, be interactive since I stop and comment and ask questions of her) and she stresses so much with her writing assignments that I sit next to her the entire time and sometimes write down what she says, suggest things, etc. She is far too stressed to simply "figure it out" or "try it on your own"--she has more than half the course work to do in 3 core subjects. In less than a month. Her stress is understandable and with stress comes blocks in able to think. (Some of her issues are with her English course but to contact the teacher and ask for clarification or any kind of help has not helped AT ALL, and often just confuses or frustrates more, so I have had to take on the teacher/tutor job full-time with that. It's been a rough year for this course!)
With the fall semester, I want to have a morning meeting of sorts with her, sit down and look at what the teachers expect to be done that week (and if they haven't told her, we figure out something and commit to it), what her plan is for the day, what she anticipates needing help with, etc. We would have a check-in at the end of the day to see if she needs to do "homework" that evening. I think if she can find her flow, and learn to play the "school game" a bit, she could potentially be done ALL of her required daily school work by 2pm each day, even if she doesn't start before 9am.
--
For my son, I have finally admitted to myself that I can't rely on my own devices. I am going to find some programs or resources or something to use as part of our school days but still give him some "Montessori say"--give him flexibility of when he'll work on what, but still have accountability deadlines for a certain amount of work. Things like that. I know I've seen Montessori jr highs that have used things like Saxon math for their math--it's simply that the student had the option of going their own pace, but with the understanding that they would still get a certain amount done within a semester or some such.
Some decisions made/thoughts for his work:
*Math: Keep going with Life of Fred and supplementation as needed. He will finish the Fractions book by the end of June, although with a rather shaky grasp of certain fractions concepts and his multiplication and division tables, I suspect, which is where the supplementation will come in once fall is here (probably using the Key to Fractions books and/or the Ray's Arithmetic books we have). Yes, I've been skipping The Bridge parts--it gets too frustrating or overwhelming and I really do want to see the book done by the end of June. We have the Decimals and Percents book (WITH the Bridges) which I will set a deadline for him to finish, probably end of October given there are 31 lessons plus the Bridges. After that, we apparently have skipped some books and have the Beginning Algebra book as the next book. It doesn't sound like I should jump him to that. My thoughts at the moment are to go back to the local grade 7 text and make sure everything has been covered and then do whatever is necessary in the local grade 8 text. Or he can take his pick between that, Key to or Ray's. Or if he's really loving Fred, get the missing three books. I have hinted that we might work on times tables here and there throughout the summer.
*Language Arts (both English and French):
-grammar: We have a whole bunch of different French grammar workbooks. I don't know that we have what would be needed for him exactly, and there's always the aspect of starting a new book and having a deadline. In any case, French grammar will have something set for him to do. (Actually, I have an old workbook, one I actually did when I was in junior high!, that I can copy and have him do--you can't get this book anymore, so I have no qualms about copying! It's quite a good resource.)
-spelling: I have Sequential Spelling for English, which I'm toying with the idea of insisting he does. For French, a lot of French spelling work is accomplished through learning grammar. I think I can take a more Montessori approach with this and we can develop his own personal dictionary for French words that give him trouble.
-writing: I don't think he's written a paragraph in his life. Thoughts at the moment are to use the Writing Strands program we have for part of the writing (can alternate the overall assignments between English and French) and perhaps finding some sort of typical classroom reading resource with questions, something to do maybe once a week, to have familiarity with that kind of thing. (This thought has come as a result of my daughter's resistance to all this new stuff and not having a sense of how it's to be done--because she's never done it and had it evaluated--and feeling the pressure that comes with marks and credits.) Overall goal for the year would be for him to have had practice in writing various kinds of texts (short story, auto/biography, poetry, letter--both personal and formal--and his first essay.
-reading: I may assign books to read or give him a choice of books to read, in both English and French. He doesn't question so much how to write things in English, but he hesitates in French because he doesn't read enough in French. I think I'd like to have a minimum number of books he needs to read. And yet, maybe not: When he really gets into something, he'll read it very quickly and move onto another book right away. If I say, "At least 10 books, a book per month," I could see him reading a book the first week and not touching another book the rest of the month... Perhaps I need less structure in this regard and just keep connecting with the goal of having him read a lot in both languages. Although I am toying with the idea of doing a novel study in each of the languages. (Perhaps Great Books-style for one?)
-Shakespeare will be a must.
-Oral: He does not project his voice well. In fact, my husband and I are constantly after him to speak more loudly or more clearly. Then there's the aspect of being able to tell back things. His speech is not always fluid in this regard. I'm thinking a bit of Charlotte Mason-style narration and recitation (actually, I think many Montessori schools also do recitation). I'll need to think more about this. (Actually, CM could be a help in more than one subject area...)
My thinking ahead to grade 9 is that we actually follow our school's online course work--without actually signing him up (or perhaps we will? lol)--so he gets a feel of just how much of that kind of work to expect in grade 10. He's not easy to predict in terms of his adaptability to new things. ELA is such an important subject, I think I'd like to take extra care to really prepare him.
*Science: I have NO idea what I'll do for science. I tried seeing if there was a text in French for the local schools, so we could kind of do the same thing, but then I remembered that I have the grade 9 French science text and it SUCKS, for lack of a better word. They had two English texts to choose from to do the translation and picked the wrong one. lol. We have all kinds of science stuff in the house. Tons. That's untouched. Perhaps we could structure it differently and set up a schedule of when we're going to use what? At the same time, the grade 8 science program here has some neat topics... I may just rent the science text from the school board and we can use it as we please. I keep trying to remind myself that meeting local standards--and going beyond--is what many Montessori schools aim to do.
*Social Studies: Ugh. I like history and geography but not the typical social studies programs we have here. The texts simply seem to throw in large amounts of information. Yet, my brain is working again to say that Montessoris aim to meet and exceed local curriculum. I'm thinking I did a disservice to my daughter in my approach of not working through local topics and expectations. Part of me kept hearing stories of unschooled students who hopped into high school and did fantastically. I didn't click, somehow, that some of the issues we faced in jr. high when she would want me to give her work but then would get too frustrated with it would follow her into high school work. At the same time... There's a lot of new above. If there were one subject I'd willing to be lax on in terms of standards for his grade 8 year, this would be the one. I'd rather have it integrated with language arts, writing opinion essays and researching historical events and civilizations and people. The local program covers "world views" (so exciting and pertinent to a 13yo, no? (sic)), the Renaissance (now THAT could be interesting!), "Japan--from Isolation to Adapataion" (um...) and then current events. Heck, if we can cover one of the units and perhaps go as in-depth as we would like, that could be a good year. I had wanted to cover world history this year in a very brief fashion but my heart's not actually in it. Well, my interest isn't, so hard to figure out what to do with my son with it! The Renaissance, though... That could lead to a huge year-long study with all the interconnected things: the art, the science, the people, the literature... It could actually be a lot of fun!
*Other subjects:
-Physical education: He's not likely to take up a team or anything but I think we should do something regular for it. I'll have to think about this.
-Religion: We still haven't finished the Faith and Life books I had meant to finish! I think I need to put reminders in my phone or computer so that I get told, "Hey, have you been working on this?" lol. OR write out a full year plan and schedule, keep it in a binder that gets checked daily.
-Options: If he were going to school, he'd be required to pick some options, three, I believe. I'm going to require that he pick some options. He can have home economics, art (or specifically drawing, ink drawing and other things related to cartooning), music (that would be a super good choice for him) or I don't know what else. Computer studies. A third language would be another option. We could always do something where he has a single option for x months and then switch.
-Self-directed learning. My goal is not to fill his time during the day with stuff I've decided. I want to get him working more in part to plant those seeds and perhaps help him find some interests other than playing on the computer and reading books that are, in a way, too easy for him. I envision part of the day or week or something being an open learning time where he picks whatever is he wants to work on. I may need to inspire him and say, "Well, I'm going to do this (lapbook, notebooking, building project, whatever it is...)."
Ahh, it feels good to get some thoughts down. :) I feel like I have a focus again! (I ought to have my own plan: my own teacher preparation plan. When's the last time I read a Montessori book?)
My 15yo has struggled a lot with the change in learning approach this year and the perfectionism, high standards and frustrations that come with being (likely) gifted have reared their ugly heads very strongly. She is very behind in her work, something we have discussed we can't let happen like this next year. Some solutions we have come up with:
*She can't participate in Rangers (Girl Guides) evenings or camps if she's not on track (this would be a HUGE blow! but it's a logical thing to have as a consequence).
*She really wants a job. I have said that I haven't decided yet but either I will ask her to prove to me that she can stay on track with her work for a while before she finds herself a job or that keeping a job she finds will be conditional upon her staying on track with her work.
*I have had the thought that she ought to be told by teachers roughly how much she should have done each week; she will be expected to work on school work all weekend and forego some luxuries if she's not caught up.
Another part of her stress now is that I have ended up doing the bulk of the reading for her (it was a way for her to stay focused, be interactive since I stop and comment and ask questions of her) and she stresses so much with her writing assignments that I sit next to her the entire time and sometimes write down what she says, suggest things, etc. She is far too stressed to simply "figure it out" or "try it on your own"--she has more than half the course work to do in 3 core subjects. In less than a month. Her stress is understandable and with stress comes blocks in able to think. (Some of her issues are with her English course but to contact the teacher and ask for clarification or any kind of help has not helped AT ALL, and often just confuses or frustrates more, so I have had to take on the teacher/tutor job full-time with that. It's been a rough year for this course!)
With the fall semester, I want to have a morning meeting of sorts with her, sit down and look at what the teachers expect to be done that week (and if they haven't told her, we figure out something and commit to it), what her plan is for the day, what she anticipates needing help with, etc. We would have a check-in at the end of the day to see if she needs to do "homework" that evening. I think if she can find her flow, and learn to play the "school game" a bit, she could potentially be done ALL of her required daily school work by 2pm each day, even if she doesn't start before 9am.
--
For my son, I have finally admitted to myself that I can't rely on my own devices. I am going to find some programs or resources or something to use as part of our school days but still give him some "Montessori say"--give him flexibility of when he'll work on what, but still have accountability deadlines for a certain amount of work. Things like that. I know I've seen Montessori jr highs that have used things like Saxon math for their math--it's simply that the student had the option of going their own pace, but with the understanding that they would still get a certain amount done within a semester or some such.
Some decisions made/thoughts for his work:
*Math: Keep going with Life of Fred and supplementation as needed. He will finish the Fractions book by the end of June, although with a rather shaky grasp of certain fractions concepts and his multiplication and division tables, I suspect, which is where the supplementation will come in once fall is here (probably using the Key to Fractions books and/or the Ray's Arithmetic books we have). Yes, I've been skipping The Bridge parts--it gets too frustrating or overwhelming and I really do want to see the book done by the end of June. We have the Decimals and Percents book (WITH the Bridges) which I will set a deadline for him to finish, probably end of October given there are 31 lessons plus the Bridges. After that, we apparently have skipped some books and have the Beginning Algebra book as the next book. It doesn't sound like I should jump him to that. My thoughts at the moment are to go back to the local grade 7 text and make sure everything has been covered and then do whatever is necessary in the local grade 8 text. Or he can take his pick between that, Key to or Ray's. Or if he's really loving Fred, get the missing three books. I have hinted that we might work on times tables here and there throughout the summer.
*Language Arts (both English and French):
-grammar: We have a whole bunch of different French grammar workbooks. I don't know that we have what would be needed for him exactly, and there's always the aspect of starting a new book and having a deadline. In any case, French grammar will have something set for him to do. (Actually, I have an old workbook, one I actually did when I was in junior high!, that I can copy and have him do--you can't get this book anymore, so I have no qualms about copying! It's quite a good resource.)
-spelling: I have Sequential Spelling for English, which I'm toying with the idea of insisting he does. For French, a lot of French spelling work is accomplished through learning grammar. I think I can take a more Montessori approach with this and we can develop his own personal dictionary for French words that give him trouble.
-writing: I don't think he's written a paragraph in his life. Thoughts at the moment are to use the Writing Strands program we have for part of the writing (can alternate the overall assignments between English and French) and perhaps finding some sort of typical classroom reading resource with questions, something to do maybe once a week, to have familiarity with that kind of thing. (This thought has come as a result of my daughter's resistance to all this new stuff and not having a sense of how it's to be done--because she's never done it and had it evaluated--and feeling the pressure that comes with marks and credits.) Overall goal for the year would be for him to have had practice in writing various kinds of texts (short story, auto/biography, poetry, letter--both personal and formal--and his first essay.
-reading: I may assign books to read or give him a choice of books to read, in both English and French. He doesn't question so much how to write things in English, but he hesitates in French because he doesn't read enough in French. I think I'd like to have a minimum number of books he needs to read. And yet, maybe not: When he really gets into something, he'll read it very quickly and move onto another book right away. If I say, "At least 10 books, a book per month," I could see him reading a book the first week and not touching another book the rest of the month... Perhaps I need less structure in this regard and just keep connecting with the goal of having him read a lot in both languages. Although I am toying with the idea of doing a novel study in each of the languages. (Perhaps Great Books-style for one?)
-Shakespeare will be a must.
-Oral: He does not project his voice well. In fact, my husband and I are constantly after him to speak more loudly or more clearly. Then there's the aspect of being able to tell back things. His speech is not always fluid in this regard. I'm thinking a bit of Charlotte Mason-style narration and recitation (actually, I think many Montessori schools also do recitation). I'll need to think more about this. (Actually, CM could be a help in more than one subject area...)
My thinking ahead to grade 9 is that we actually follow our school's online course work--without actually signing him up (or perhaps we will? lol)--so he gets a feel of just how much of that kind of work to expect in grade 10. He's not easy to predict in terms of his adaptability to new things. ELA is such an important subject, I think I'd like to take extra care to really prepare him.
*Science: I have NO idea what I'll do for science. I tried seeing if there was a text in French for the local schools, so we could kind of do the same thing, but then I remembered that I have the grade 9 French science text and it SUCKS, for lack of a better word. They had two English texts to choose from to do the translation and picked the wrong one. lol. We have all kinds of science stuff in the house. Tons. That's untouched. Perhaps we could structure it differently and set up a schedule of when we're going to use what? At the same time, the grade 8 science program here has some neat topics... I may just rent the science text from the school board and we can use it as we please. I keep trying to remind myself that meeting local standards--and going beyond--is what many Montessori schools aim to do.
*Social Studies: Ugh. I like history and geography but not the typical social studies programs we have here. The texts simply seem to throw in large amounts of information. Yet, my brain is working again to say that Montessoris aim to meet and exceed local curriculum. I'm thinking I did a disservice to my daughter in my approach of not working through local topics and expectations. Part of me kept hearing stories of unschooled students who hopped into high school and did fantastically. I didn't click, somehow, that some of the issues we faced in jr. high when she would want me to give her work but then would get too frustrated with it would follow her into high school work. At the same time... There's a lot of new above. If there were one subject I'd willing to be lax on in terms of standards for his grade 8 year, this would be the one. I'd rather have it integrated with language arts, writing opinion essays and researching historical events and civilizations and people. The local program covers "world views" (so exciting and pertinent to a 13yo, no? (sic)), the Renaissance (now THAT could be interesting!), "Japan--from Isolation to Adapataion" (um...) and then current events. Heck, if we can cover one of the units and perhaps go as in-depth as we would like, that could be a good year. I had wanted to cover world history this year in a very brief fashion but my heart's not actually in it. Well, my interest isn't, so hard to figure out what to do with my son with it! The Renaissance, though... That could lead to a huge year-long study with all the interconnected things: the art, the science, the people, the literature... It could actually be a lot of fun!
*Other subjects:
-Physical education: He's not likely to take up a team or anything but I think we should do something regular for it. I'll have to think about this.
-Religion: We still haven't finished the Faith and Life books I had meant to finish! I think I need to put reminders in my phone or computer so that I get told, "Hey, have you been working on this?" lol. OR write out a full year plan and schedule, keep it in a binder that gets checked daily.
-Options: If he were going to school, he'd be required to pick some options, three, I believe. I'm going to require that he pick some options. He can have home economics, art (or specifically drawing, ink drawing and other things related to cartooning), music (that would be a super good choice for him) or I don't know what else. Computer studies. A third language would be another option. We could always do something where he has a single option for x months and then switch.
-Self-directed learning. My goal is not to fill his time during the day with stuff I've decided. I want to get him working more in part to plant those seeds and perhaps help him find some interests other than playing on the computer and reading books that are, in a way, too easy for him. I envision part of the day or week or something being an open learning time where he picks whatever is he wants to work on. I may need to inspire him and say, "Well, I'm going to do this (lapbook, notebooking, building project, whatever it is...)."
Ahh, it feels good to get some thoughts down. :) I feel like I have a focus again! (I ought to have my own plan: my own teacher preparation plan. When's the last time I read a Montessori book?)
Friday, February 1, 2013
Second Semester Officially Begins! + Week In Review
My 15yo did her math exam today. Got an A! Woot! She wasn't feeling good about the exam after she'd finished, but I decided to check her emails tonight to see if the teacher had marked everything and sure enough, she had. Final mark in the course is also an A. :) She's a happy girl. Not sure what she's happier about: the break she'll have from math or the mark. ;)
Now that the intense math is out of the way, it's time for us to get back into a better swing of things. She was supposed to actually start her second semester courses (science and social studies) today, but with the exam and then an outing and then her dance class after supper, it didn't happen. She does know I'm going to keep her to the schedule this time, which means she will have to catch up on the weekend. I do still need to kind of figure out where she's supposed to be in her German, phys. ed. and religion (mildly behind in religion, I think). We know she's behind in English and rather than switch to the 2nd semester schedule given by the teacher, she will be working on catching up and then will be able to ease off on the work load once she is caught up in it. Her German course isn't a huge deal if she's not quite on target because she has until the end of September to finish it, which means she can spend an hour or so every day during the summer, if need be. I'm pretty sure her 2nd semester exams need to be done by early June, so she even has the last half of June to just work on that course. (School officially runs until the end of June here!)
My son wasn't required to do much this past week due to his sister's math intensive. He knows I'll be doing more with him next week. He has decided on a pizza herb garden for our growing project. Now to actually find a resource that will guide us easily in what to do! And I think I ought to work out a basic plan for second semester, some goals to reach (like finishing the Life of Fred book he started; depending on how many lessons are left, possibly get going on the next book, too), things like that.
All right, an official week in review, inspired by http://www.upsidedownhomeschooling.com/homeschool-week-in-review-120-126/ and http://www.ihomeschoolnetwork.com/homeschool-mothers-journal-february-1-2013/:
In my life this week...
I'm not sure. Life has just felt very busy. There were the French classes and the daily driving of kids and taking my son to his first week of a sort of youth group... I had a couple of expected items fall away, which was greatly appreciated by my body and psyche. However, I was so exhausted last night, I fell asleep around 8:10! I started feeling myself be very ready to sleep at the dance studio tonight. Got myself busy with stuff at home and have managed to keep myself awake. I was awake before 5 am this morning due to my early sleep (well, I slept from 8:10 pm until about 9 pm, then awake until about 10 pm). I can't keep this schedule. I also made a birthday card for a friend--and then forgot to take a picture. I'll just have to make another one like it. ;)
In our homeschool this week...
As mentioned above, the main focus was on my 15yo getting her math all done. This meant working on the required project Monday morning (can't remember if I did something with my 12yo then or not), then she spent all day on it Tuesday, reviewed Wednesday, Thursday's always the same (French class in the morning, take 15yo to co-op, I teach another French class in the afternoon) and then today, the math final. Yay! Math is done!
Helpful homeschooling tips or advice...
Hm. Prayer is good. Planning is good. Deciding just what you will insist on or let slide is very good.
Places we went and people we saw...
Dd went to her co-op and saw her classmates and went to her dance classes. I saw almost all of my French class students. Saw my friend briefly to give her her card. Saw a few other homeschooling moms. Ds went to a fun night with a youth group and met a bunch of kids. (He loved it!)
My favourite thing this week...
That math is done. lol. That was so intense. We need the break.
Things I'm working on...
Usual French class planning. Been doing a lot of work on one of my other sites http://www.vacationswiththekids.com . Trying to find the right theme and having one issue after another. :( I need to get working on some birthday cards needed for next weekend.) I also started working on an adolescent resources section for this site.
Things I cooked...
Made a chicken cacciatore recipe in the crockpot on Thursday. I'm going to have to do some more crockpot recipes because that was absolutely fantastic, getting back close to 5 pm and not wanting to start supper at that point, all I had to do
What's working/not working...
Working: Being very clear with my 15yo about expectations, but also being flexible when it's the end of a very long, long day and maybe it's fine to let work go in such a situation.
What I'm reading...
The Power by Rhonda Byrne, The Answer by John Assaraf and Murray Smith, two Bible daily devotionals through YouVersion, various things online about Wordpress and online marketing, various blogs.
Now that the intense math is out of the way, it's time for us to get back into a better swing of things. She was supposed to actually start her second semester courses (science and social studies) today, but with the exam and then an outing and then her dance class after supper, it didn't happen. She does know I'm going to keep her to the schedule this time, which means she will have to catch up on the weekend. I do still need to kind of figure out where she's supposed to be in her German, phys. ed. and religion (mildly behind in religion, I think). We know she's behind in English and rather than switch to the 2nd semester schedule given by the teacher, she will be working on catching up and then will be able to ease off on the work load once she is caught up in it. Her German course isn't a huge deal if she's not quite on target because she has until the end of September to finish it, which means she can spend an hour or so every day during the summer, if need be. I'm pretty sure her 2nd semester exams need to be done by early June, so she even has the last half of June to just work on that course. (School officially runs until the end of June here!)
My son wasn't required to do much this past week due to his sister's math intensive. He knows I'll be doing more with him next week. He has decided on a pizza herb garden for our growing project. Now to actually find a resource that will guide us easily in what to do! And I think I ought to work out a basic plan for second semester, some goals to reach (like finishing the Life of Fred book he started; depending on how many lessons are left, possibly get going on the next book, too), things like that.
All right, an official week in review, inspired by http://www.upsidedownhomeschooling.com/homeschool-week-in-review-120-126/ and http://www.ihomeschoolnetwork.com/homeschool-mothers-journal-february-1-2013/:
In my life this week...
I'm not sure. Life has just felt very busy. There were the French classes and the daily driving of kids and taking my son to his first week of a sort of youth group... I had a couple of expected items fall away, which was greatly appreciated by my body and psyche. However, I was so exhausted last night, I fell asleep around 8:10! I started feeling myself be very ready to sleep at the dance studio tonight. Got myself busy with stuff at home and have managed to keep myself awake. I was awake before 5 am this morning due to my early sleep (well, I slept from 8:10 pm until about 9 pm, then awake until about 10 pm). I can't keep this schedule. I also made a birthday card for a friend--and then forgot to take a picture. I'll just have to make another one like it. ;)
In our homeschool this week...
As mentioned above, the main focus was on my 15yo getting her math all done. This meant working on the required project Monday morning (can't remember if I did something with my 12yo then or not), then she spent all day on it Tuesday, reviewed Wednesday, Thursday's always the same (French class in the morning, take 15yo to co-op, I teach another French class in the afternoon) and then today, the math final. Yay! Math is done!
Helpful homeschooling tips or advice...
Hm. Prayer is good. Planning is good. Deciding just what you will insist on or let slide is very good.
Places we went and people we saw...
Dd went to her co-op and saw her classmates and went to her dance classes. I saw almost all of my French class students. Saw my friend briefly to give her her card. Saw a few other homeschooling moms. Ds went to a fun night with a youth group and met a bunch of kids. (He loved it!)
My favourite thing this week...
That math is done. lol. That was so intense. We need the break.
Things I'm working on...
Usual French class planning. Been doing a lot of work on one of my other sites http://www.vacationswiththekids.com . Trying to find the right theme and having one issue after another. :( I need to get working on some birthday cards needed for next weekend.) I also started working on an adolescent resources section for this site.
Things I cooked...
Made a chicken cacciatore recipe in the crockpot on Thursday. I'm going to have to do some more crockpot recipes because that was absolutely fantastic, getting back close to 5 pm and not wanting to start supper at that point, all I had to do
What's working/not working...
Working: Being very clear with my 15yo about expectations, but also being flexible when it's the end of a very long, long day and maybe it's fine to let work go in such a situation.
What I'm reading...
The Power by Rhonda Byrne, The Answer by John Assaraf and Murray Smith, two Bible daily devotionals through YouVersion, various things online about Wordpress and online marketing, various blogs.
Saturday, December 29, 2012
The New Year Is Almost Here
Just taking some time this Saturday morning to think about this fall, my kids' schooling, what went well, what needs to be tweaked and what might need to be thrown out all together with 2013 starting. ;) But, let's face it, my mind is more on starting off 2013.
As we sort out my daughter's health issues, I do believe that will help get things on track better with her. She has already decided that she will resume math next week, with the aim of getting the second-last unit done the first or second day officially back. She has until the end of January to get the math done--the unit work, a project she needs to do and the final exam--but it's the only subject she has with these sort of requirements, so it should be okay. I think we do need to sit down and go subject-by-subject with things and figure out a plan for January in terms of what to get done. Her novel study for English ought to be one thing--if she gets that done, she will be on track for a full-year course. But art is getting neglected, her phys. ed. hours haven't been tallied and sent in, German... who knows where that is. She has science and social studies starting second semester and they will likely take up a good amount of her time.
As I write all this, my mind goes back to her health. We can have all the plans we want, but if she's not feeling well, then it's very hard to push things through. At the same time, my mind is going we need some sort of routine. Routines help. They can be hard to start, but they help in the long run. I'll need to think about this more.
When it comes to my son, I reread what I last wrote. I do definitely want more "real life" work with him. Some ideas off the top of my head:
*menu planning
*cooking
*inside gardening: what kinds of things could we grow in the house? what would we need?
*household care--his laundry, dealing with stains, fixing things in his room, cleaning his room... ;) ; he already has been using the snowblower this winter and shovelling the driveway and walks, largely because my husband broke his big toe and developped an infection in it and really had to stop doing as much
*pet care--he keeps saying he'd like this pet or that pet, which are all impractical at this point (like a rabbit), imho, but if he can participate more in the animal care around here, and we can get his room clean (only possible place for a caged animal), then it might be a possibility
*building things--um, what could he build?
He's gone grocery shopping with me a couple of times recently. I had been in the habit of going alone for years--it was faster and we bought less. (lol) I do think bringing him along more often will be good and can be tied in with things like the menu planning: "How much does it cost to buy everything we need for that meal? Etc." He did get a lesson in looking at the price tags and comparing prices based on volume and started using it right away with other things.
He does still love doing science things so I do need to resume that. He loves working with the chemistry sets and experiments and all that.
One thing that definitely is not working is allowing him to go off into his room each morning under the guise of reading. I've realized lately that he's actually laying down for most of it, just reading his comics. Hm. There's more to life than laying in bed reading comics! It's my job to show him that. I'll really need to do more reading and research and get a plan and perhaps schedule in place. Schedule--that has me thinking...
As I face the next part of our school year and current schedule, I know in my heart I don't want this schedule next year. It is good income with the French classes and is fun, but the schedule makes it hard on us: Monday afternoons I'm unavailable, all day Thursday, busy. There's something about it that affects our flow. Granted, dd is in a program on Thursdays which will be starting on Jan. 10, so there's that upheaval anyhow, but... As much as I am loving teaching the French class kids, my heart is yearning for something different, for it to be just us. Income-wise, this means I'm going to have to figure something out, but I've got some time for that. Online classes through Learn It Live, perhaps, or writing or some online business I can work on early in the morning or in the evening or get more earnings from Stampin' Up or a combination thereof or... Something. I'll put this desire out there with the faith and hope that the answer will come to me. :)
For right now, that's enough thinking. It's no longer Saturday morning, but 12 noon and I'm hungry. :)
As we sort out my daughter's health issues, I do believe that will help get things on track better with her. She has already decided that she will resume math next week, with the aim of getting the second-last unit done the first or second day officially back. She has until the end of January to get the math done--the unit work, a project she needs to do and the final exam--but it's the only subject she has with these sort of requirements, so it should be okay. I think we do need to sit down and go subject-by-subject with things and figure out a plan for January in terms of what to get done. Her novel study for English ought to be one thing--if she gets that done, she will be on track for a full-year course. But art is getting neglected, her phys. ed. hours haven't been tallied and sent in, German... who knows where that is. She has science and social studies starting second semester and they will likely take up a good amount of her time.
As I write all this, my mind goes back to her health. We can have all the plans we want, but if she's not feeling well, then it's very hard to push things through. At the same time, my mind is going we need some sort of routine. Routines help. They can be hard to start, but they help in the long run. I'll need to think about this more.
When it comes to my son, I reread what I last wrote. I do definitely want more "real life" work with him. Some ideas off the top of my head:
*menu planning
*cooking
*inside gardening: what kinds of things could we grow in the house? what would we need?
*household care--his laundry, dealing with stains, fixing things in his room, cleaning his room... ;) ; he already has been using the snowblower this winter and shovelling the driveway and walks, largely because my husband broke his big toe and developped an infection in it and really had to stop doing as much
*pet care--he keeps saying he'd like this pet or that pet, which are all impractical at this point (like a rabbit), imho, but if he can participate more in the animal care around here, and we can get his room clean (only possible place for a caged animal), then it might be a possibility
*building things--um, what could he build?
He's gone grocery shopping with me a couple of times recently. I had been in the habit of going alone for years--it was faster and we bought less. (lol) I do think bringing him along more often will be good and can be tied in with things like the menu planning: "How much does it cost to buy everything we need for that meal? Etc." He did get a lesson in looking at the price tags and comparing prices based on volume and started using it right away with other things.
He does still love doing science things so I do need to resume that. He loves working with the chemistry sets and experiments and all that.
One thing that definitely is not working is allowing him to go off into his room each morning under the guise of reading. I've realized lately that he's actually laying down for most of it, just reading his comics. Hm. There's more to life than laying in bed reading comics! It's my job to show him that. I'll really need to do more reading and research and get a plan and perhaps schedule in place. Schedule--that has me thinking...
As I face the next part of our school year and current schedule, I know in my heart I don't want this schedule next year. It is good income with the French classes and is fun, but the schedule makes it hard on us: Monday afternoons I'm unavailable, all day Thursday, busy. There's something about it that affects our flow. Granted, dd is in a program on Thursdays which will be starting on Jan. 10, so there's that upheaval anyhow, but... As much as I am loving teaching the French class kids, my heart is yearning for something different, for it to be just us. Income-wise, this means I'm going to have to figure something out, but I've got some time for that. Online classes through Learn It Live, perhaps, or writing or some online business I can work on early in the morning or in the evening or get more earnings from Stampin' Up or a combination thereof or... Something. I'll put this desire out there with the faith and hope that the answer will come to me. :)
For right now, that's enough thinking. It's no longer Saturday morning, but 12 noon and I'm hungry. :)
Monday, November 26, 2012
Want to See God Laugh?
Have you heard that joke?
That's how I kind of feel my life is like sometimes. lol.
I had everything ready for this morning, right? I pulled out the history book that had information on the migrations to Australia and the Americas, I had the plan all in place... And my son not only slept in until 8:48, but the reason he did so is because he's running a fever and feeling blah. And my daughter slept until close to 10 am because she's had interrupted sleep for weeks now and finally got a decent sleep in. But she is sooo not a morning person and by the time she had eaten and was really awake, it was time for an online session. And now it's lunch and we won't have time to work together. And she seems to be having a fever on and off.
I guess that means I've got a plan still ready for the rest of the week! I can do today's plan tomorrow with my son, if he's feeling up to it. And, well, dd's work is really just go, go, go, do as much as you can regardless.
Want to see God laugh?
Make plans.
That's how I kind of feel my life is like sometimes. lol.
I had everything ready for this morning, right? I pulled out the history book that had information on the migrations to Australia and the Americas, I had the plan all in place... And my son not only slept in until 8:48, but the reason he did so is because he's running a fever and feeling blah. And my daughter slept until close to 10 am because she's had interrupted sleep for weeks now and finally got a decent sleep in. But she is sooo not a morning person and by the time she had eaten and was really awake, it was time for an online session. And now it's lunch and we won't have time to work together. And she seems to be having a fever on and off.
I guess that means I've got a plan still ready for the rest of the week! I can do today's plan tomorrow with my son, if he's feeling up to it. And, well, dd's work is really just go, go, go, do as much as you can regardless.
Sunday, November 25, 2012
Winding Down Toward Christmas
Four weeks of school left until Christmas holidays!!! I entitled this post "Winding Down" but it's more like "Picking Up"! lol. A lot to get done in the next weeks.
I figure my blog is as good of a place as any to work out some school plans for this coming week. Here's a peek into my planning process (at least the planning process I'm using today lol!):
First, a look at our schedule:
MONDAY: morning is open for school work, online session at 11am (maybe), afternoon is busy with my teaching a French class, evening is partially busy with dd having dance class
TUESDAY: all day is available for school work pretty much, dd has an online session from about 11-11:45, nothing going on in the evening
WEDNESDAY: main school hours open, I have a Stampin' Up meeting in the evening
THURSDAY: my usual crazy day--advanced/older French class girls in the morning, beginner/intermediate class in the afternoon, nothing going on in the evening
FRIDAY: my nieces and nephew have the day off school, which means I will give my son the day off school; dd and I can work on stuff though, dd has dance in the evening
WEEKEND: Nothing specific planned either day, except Mass on Sunday.
Specific items this week not listed above?
*ds and I need to go to this one library to drop off items; could be done Tuesday or Wednesday
15yo dd's to-do's
*MATH: dd needs to catch up in math (easy with this particular unit) and I think she's supposed to be doing a test this week; if she's ready for Friday, might have nieces, nephew and ds keep themselves quiet and busy with the computer or a movie so dd can do her test in the morning. I also can't forget that it would be good to have a routine of working on some basic thing or something she's already covered before she gets into her current class work. Just one question would be something.
*GERMAN: dd still hasn't contacted her one German evaluator to do her first oral assessment
*GERMAN: she ought to finish the 2nd booklet this week and send it in (although we don't have an envelope... they only sent us one and it got used last week)
*ELA: get the one assignment done she was working on last week; my personal goal with this: do everything in my power to help her get it done. It's stressing her out that it's not done and she got a good start last week and didn't get a chance to finish it.
*RELIGION: have a look at the one question from the first unit that's bothering her; get her going on the reading for the second unit; should also have a look at the actual schedule for this class and see how much reading she should have done by now
*ART: She has a personal goal of doing some art each day; would like to figure out a way to help her with that goal (using the MindMap program comes to mind; and/or Homeschool Tracker, which I've just discovered my referral code link doesn't seem to be working properly :() We bought some little things to paint on; finding something to actually paint on them would be good. She does have a course to do, too, but it's not as stimulating as what she'd like to do! She feels like she's not "exercising herself" in this area, if I might use that term, and also feels like she's not really getting any instruction. I wonder if there are any Christmas art camps going on in the area? Or if she would be allowed to take some classes aimed at adults? Something to explore. Could even be a Christmas gift, depending on the cost of a class.
*PHYS.ED.: we really ought to update her physical activity log and she needs to assess how much general physical activity she gets over the course of a day (she's supposed to asses how much she walks to go shopping or walk the dog or this and that)
I think that's it for her. In terms of scheduling, just a look at tomorrow: I'd like to see her get an email off to her German evaluator first thing, work on her ELA tomorrow morning and possibly her math. In the afternoon, she could take her pick of religion, art or even her German. We can assess after I come back from picking up her cousins if she'll work on more then or after supper or what.
12yo ds's to-do's
*MATH: part of me thinks it would be really good to get some question cards going, like the stamp game cards, so he can have questions he can just grab and work on, or I can grab and have him work on. At the same, I think of how much work it will take and wonder if it's worth it. In any case, we had started working on area, so I think we ought to continue.It'll be good practice for his multiplication tables, too. I'll need some grid paper and question ideas. Part of me is also toying with the idea of finding a particular Life of Fred book we have and seeing if he'll work on that independently. Not sure. He much prefers having a kind of "seminar approach" instead of just working alone. Sudden idea: Have a routine of working on some basic facts first, then move into the lesson or practice stuff.
*SCIENCE: I keep forgetting to buy Alka Seltzer to do the next science activity in the manuals (both the physics and the chem have activities requiring Alka Seltzer!). However, I do have The Story of Science which I thought I would start reading with/to him. What about follow up work? Some could be him giving a written recap (I would have to set up the sheet first; he has really done very little written work in all his school years) and others might have some natural work to come out of it: build a model, do further research, try an experiment...
*SOCIAL STUDIES: Have a look at the books we have out and where the start of the science book fits in with their timeline of sorts. It just hit me that we started looking at the history books and their info, but we didn't look at anything covering when the aboriginals came into Canada (I would like Canada to be a focal topic this year with him). Will have to do a slight back track and include that. Starting his own timeline with all this stuff would be useful. It might be more important to get moving on this part rather than the science history stuff right now. At the very least a bit of an overview of how people settled in Canada long, long ago.
*FRENCH:
-Handwriting. I've dropped the ball on this. I meant to buy a new copy of StartWrite on Friday (my old one stopped working when we updated our Mac sometime ago) because they were having a $15 off sale and I completely forgot. I'll just do something up by hand. Or maybe work with him letter by letter in cursive to see first how things are, where his difficulties lie. Once that's done, then we can focus on specific movements or letters.
-Grammar/writing. I have workbooks still he's never finished. They just feel like busywork as I bring them up. I need to get him writing. The whole writer's workshop idea hasn't worked because I looked at the middle school guidelines and with him, I almost need to go back to the elementary (he really has done almost no writing!!! Maria Montessori would scold me, I'm sure!!). I do have that series, what is it called? Shoot, it's designed for homeschoolers. He doesn't like working from it because it's in English, but I could tell him what to do from the lesson and have him do it in French. Grammar and spelling lessons can come out of what I actually get him to write. At the same time, is some isolated program like this a good match? Yes, says part of my brain. Better this than nothing while you try to figure out what would be better. Okay, wise little voice. ;). He has also expressed hesitation because he doesn't know how words are spelled. While I don't have a French spelling program, I do have a good vocabulary resource which we could use as a starting point for spelling patterns.
*RELIGION: Here and there in the morning, I'm remembering to read to him a section from Faith and Life. Did I ever share that we finally finished the grade 3 book (yes, he's in grade 7 lol). It's good foundational stuff, something Faith and Life recommended we do when I first bought the stuff when dd was starting jr. high.
*READING: I have a requirement from him about reading something other than comics each day. I want him to not only tell me how much he's read each day but tell me a bit about what he's reading.
*OTHER: There's nothing else he has to do for homeschooling here and nothing else I'm insisting on. I could encourage some home ec. (I really ought to encourage some home ec., like cleaning. :D ) I could encourage him to keep working on his comic writing, maybe pull out my guitar sometime and start working through this one kids' lessons book we have (that will get him pulling out his guitar). This thing with me leading is something I did years ago with the older kids and it worked fantastically. I remember one thing I started was a notebook of things that interested me. I would copy/print off pictures and then write notes about them. They all wanted their own notebook. Little things like this I need to keep in mind, plan for. Of course, that was a time when I was journalling pretty much daily, reading Montessori lots. I'm going to have to look at my schedule and manage my time so I can work on my inner preparation. Anyhow, what else in this "other" category? Phys. ed. He's been doing push ups and sit ups in his room fairly regularly, apparently. I really need to get them to a rec. centre sometime. Maybe look at how much a pass costs so we can go each week even, when we have the time.
With the week thought out, what is the plan for tomorrow?
MORNING
*ds is usually up by 8. I'll read to him from his religion while he eats (that's our routine). After that, I'll ask him what he wants to work on first: handwriting or math. Fit in more stuff where possible.
Actual lessons:
--handwriting: work through each letter of the alphabet with him
--math: use the grade 7 text we have here as a basis for questions to give him; make sure to have graph paper, a ruler and a pencil available, as well as the multiplication table finger chart
--social studies: find websites with information about the migration of the first peoples into North America. If there's something that really catches his interest, go with that.
That'll be enough for tomorrow morning. He'll have the usual reading requirement which he does on his own time.
*dd is usually up around 9am. She's been trying to get up earlier, but with illnesses around us like crazy, it just seems to wear her down more and make school work that much more difficult. My job with her is to keep being there as a support and encourager. And ideally, I'll have a MindMap of just the subjects and some branches to write on printed off. She can fill in what she'd like to focus on. I need to learn to review my plans so that I remember all my little notes to myself. At 11, we're supposed to be online with the advanced girls from the Thursday French class.
LUNCH
-lunch and final prep for afternoon French class
Okay, I feel sort of ready for tomorrow. lol. Fingers crossed all goes well! Then there's the rest of the week to tackle. I think sitting down and blogging daily would be tremendously helpful to me. It's like journalling.
----
That long planning session out of the way, that leaves three other weeks before Christmas holidays. My French classes go to Dec. 20. During that time, dd definitely needs to keep on top of her math and is hoping to get ahead a bit--otherwise she has to do a unit test almost as soon as she gets back from Christmas holidays. We'll have to keep an eye on the schedule. (Just a thought here: A colour-coded calendar page might be in order for school work deadlines for the next month! Homeschool Tracker Plus) does have a schedule thing, but it's been ages since I've used it. I don't think it gives a printable calendar-style overview for a month, just a week at a time, which might not be a bad idea in itself.) With ds, I just want to get him moving more with lessons. He won't do anything on his own and I need to remind myself of that. Once he gets hooked into something, then he might do stuff on his own, but right now... I need to be prepared to do lessons, have specific work for him to do, etc.
Of course, on top of all that, there will be Christmas gift-making classes and cards to make and send out to family and friends and Christmas shopping to do and birthday gift shopping for my step-dad and everything else that preparing for Christmas involves. Which reminds me that I was thinking about how we can bring in more expression of our faith into our days. I know so many families who have all kinds of practices; we really don't do much. I was thinking Advent could be a very good way to start. That will be something else I will need to prep for!
All right, enough for tonight. With all the typing I've done today - here, on another blog and for NaNoWriMo - I'm sure I'm developping Carpal Tunnel Syndrome. lol (bah, Blogger or my computer doesn't like my Canadian spelling of words like "colour" and "developping"). Time to do some yoga, methinks!
I figure my blog is as good of a place as any to work out some school plans for this coming week. Here's a peek into my planning process (at least the planning process I'm using today lol!):
First, a look at our schedule:
MONDAY: morning is open for school work, online session at 11am (maybe), afternoon is busy with my teaching a French class, evening is partially busy with dd having dance class
TUESDAY: all day is available for school work pretty much, dd has an online session from about 11-11:45, nothing going on in the evening
WEDNESDAY: main school hours open, I have a Stampin' Up meeting in the evening
THURSDAY: my usual crazy day--advanced/older French class girls in the morning, beginner/intermediate class in the afternoon, nothing going on in the evening
FRIDAY: my nieces and nephew have the day off school, which means I will give my son the day off school; dd and I can work on stuff though, dd has dance in the evening
WEEKEND: Nothing specific planned either day, except Mass on Sunday.
Specific items this week not listed above?
*ds and I need to go to this one library to drop off items; could be done Tuesday or Wednesday
15yo dd's to-do's
*MATH: dd needs to catch up in math (easy with this particular unit) and I think she's supposed to be doing a test this week; if she's ready for Friday, might have nieces, nephew and ds keep themselves quiet and busy with the computer or a movie so dd can do her test in the morning. I also can't forget that it would be good to have a routine of working on some basic thing or something she's already covered before she gets into her current class work. Just one question would be something.
*GERMAN: dd still hasn't contacted her one German evaluator to do her first oral assessment
*GERMAN: she ought to finish the 2nd booklet this week and send it in (although we don't have an envelope... they only sent us one and it got used last week)
*ELA: get the one assignment done she was working on last week; my personal goal with this: do everything in my power to help her get it done. It's stressing her out that it's not done and she got a good start last week and didn't get a chance to finish it.
*RELIGION: have a look at the one question from the first unit that's bothering her; get her going on the reading for the second unit; should also have a look at the actual schedule for this class and see how much reading she should have done by now
*ART: She has a personal goal of doing some art each day; would like to figure out a way to help her with that goal (using the MindMap program comes to mind; and/or Homeschool Tracker, which I've just discovered my referral code link doesn't seem to be working properly :() We bought some little things to paint on; finding something to actually paint on them would be good. She does have a course to do, too, but it's not as stimulating as what she'd like to do! She feels like she's not "exercising herself" in this area, if I might use that term, and also feels like she's not really getting any instruction. I wonder if there are any Christmas art camps going on in the area? Or if she would be allowed to take some classes aimed at adults? Something to explore. Could even be a Christmas gift, depending on the cost of a class.
*PHYS.ED.: we really ought to update her physical activity log and she needs to assess how much general physical activity she gets over the course of a day (she's supposed to asses how much she walks to go shopping or walk the dog or this and that)
I think that's it for her. In terms of scheduling, just a look at tomorrow: I'd like to see her get an email off to her German evaluator first thing, work on her ELA tomorrow morning and possibly her math. In the afternoon, she could take her pick of religion, art or even her German. We can assess after I come back from picking up her cousins if she'll work on more then or after supper or what.
12yo ds's to-do's
*MATH: part of me thinks it would be really good to get some question cards going, like the stamp game cards, so he can have questions he can just grab and work on, or I can grab and have him work on. At the same, I think of how much work it will take and wonder if it's worth it. In any case, we had started working on area, so I think we ought to continue.It'll be good practice for his multiplication tables, too. I'll need some grid paper and question ideas. Part of me is also toying with the idea of finding a particular Life of Fred book we have and seeing if he'll work on that independently. Not sure. He much prefers having a kind of "seminar approach" instead of just working alone. Sudden idea: Have a routine of working on some basic facts first, then move into the lesson or practice stuff.
*SCIENCE: I keep forgetting to buy Alka Seltzer to do the next science activity in the manuals (both the physics and the chem have activities requiring Alka Seltzer!). However, I do have The Story of Science which I thought I would start reading with/to him. What about follow up work? Some could be him giving a written recap (I would have to set up the sheet first; he has really done very little written work in all his school years) and others might have some natural work to come out of it: build a model, do further research, try an experiment...
*SOCIAL STUDIES: Have a look at the books we have out and where the start of the science book fits in with their timeline of sorts. It just hit me that we started looking at the history books and their info, but we didn't look at anything covering when the aboriginals came into Canada (I would like Canada to be a focal topic this year with him). Will have to do a slight back track and include that. Starting his own timeline with all this stuff would be useful. It might be more important to get moving on this part rather than the science history stuff right now. At the very least a bit of an overview of how people settled in Canada long, long ago.
*FRENCH:
-Handwriting. I've dropped the ball on this. I meant to buy a new copy of StartWrite on Friday (my old one stopped working when we updated our Mac sometime ago) because they were having a $15 off sale and I completely forgot. I'll just do something up by hand. Or maybe work with him letter by letter in cursive to see first how things are, where his difficulties lie. Once that's done, then we can focus on specific movements or letters.
-Grammar/writing. I have workbooks still he's never finished. They just feel like busywork as I bring them up. I need to get him writing. The whole writer's workshop idea hasn't worked because I looked at the middle school guidelines and with him, I almost need to go back to the elementary (he really has done almost no writing!!! Maria Montessori would scold me, I'm sure!!). I do have that series, what is it called? Shoot, it's designed for homeschoolers. He doesn't like working from it because it's in English, but I could tell him what to do from the lesson and have him do it in French. Grammar and spelling lessons can come out of what I actually get him to write. At the same time, is some isolated program like this a good match? Yes, says part of my brain. Better this than nothing while you try to figure out what would be better. Okay, wise little voice. ;). He has also expressed hesitation because he doesn't know how words are spelled. While I don't have a French spelling program, I do have a good vocabulary resource which we could use as a starting point for spelling patterns.
*RELIGION: Here and there in the morning, I'm remembering to read to him a section from Faith and Life. Did I ever share that we finally finished the grade 3 book (yes, he's in grade 7 lol). It's good foundational stuff, something Faith and Life recommended we do when I first bought the stuff when dd was starting jr. high.
*READING: I have a requirement from him about reading something other than comics each day. I want him to not only tell me how much he's read each day but tell me a bit about what he's reading.
*OTHER: There's nothing else he has to do for homeschooling here and nothing else I'm insisting on. I could encourage some home ec. (I really ought to encourage some home ec., like cleaning. :D ) I could encourage him to keep working on his comic writing, maybe pull out my guitar sometime and start working through this one kids' lessons book we have (that will get him pulling out his guitar). This thing with me leading is something I did years ago with the older kids and it worked fantastically. I remember one thing I started was a notebook of things that interested me. I would copy/print off pictures and then write notes about them. They all wanted their own notebook. Little things like this I need to keep in mind, plan for. Of course, that was a time when I was journalling pretty much daily, reading Montessori lots. I'm going to have to look at my schedule and manage my time so I can work on my inner preparation. Anyhow, what else in this "other" category? Phys. ed. He's been doing push ups and sit ups in his room fairly regularly, apparently. I really need to get them to a rec. centre sometime. Maybe look at how much a pass costs so we can go each week even, when we have the time.
With the week thought out, what is the plan for tomorrow?
MORNING
*ds is usually up by 8. I'll read to him from his religion while he eats (that's our routine). After that, I'll ask him what he wants to work on first: handwriting or math. Fit in more stuff where possible.
Actual lessons:
--handwriting: work through each letter of the alphabet with him
--math: use the grade 7 text we have here as a basis for questions to give him; make sure to have graph paper, a ruler and a pencil available, as well as the multiplication table finger chart
--social studies: find websites with information about the migration of the first peoples into North America. If there's something that really catches his interest, go with that.
That'll be enough for tomorrow morning. He'll have the usual reading requirement which he does on his own time.
*dd is usually up around 9am. She's been trying to get up earlier, but with illnesses around us like crazy, it just seems to wear her down more and make school work that much more difficult. My job with her is to keep being there as a support and encourager. And ideally, I'll have a MindMap of just the subjects and some branches to write on printed off. She can fill in what she'd like to focus on. I need to learn to review my plans so that I remember all my little notes to myself. At 11, we're supposed to be online with the advanced girls from the Thursday French class.
LUNCH
-lunch and final prep for afternoon French class
Okay, I feel sort of ready for tomorrow. lol. Fingers crossed all goes well! Then there's the rest of the week to tackle. I think sitting down and blogging daily would be tremendously helpful to me. It's like journalling.
----
That long planning session out of the way, that leaves three other weeks before Christmas holidays. My French classes go to Dec. 20. During that time, dd definitely needs to keep on top of her math and is hoping to get ahead a bit--otherwise she has to do a unit test almost as soon as she gets back from Christmas holidays. We'll have to keep an eye on the schedule. (Just a thought here: A colour-coded calendar page might be in order for school work deadlines for the next month! Homeschool Tracker Plus) does have a schedule thing, but it's been ages since I've used it. I don't think it gives a printable calendar-style overview for a month, just a week at a time, which might not be a bad idea in itself.) With ds, I just want to get him moving more with lessons. He won't do anything on his own and I need to remind myself of that. Once he gets hooked into something, then he might do stuff on his own, but right now... I need to be prepared to do lessons, have specific work for him to do, etc.
Of course, on top of all that, there will be Christmas gift-making classes and cards to make and send out to family and friends and Christmas shopping to do and birthday gift shopping for my step-dad and everything else that preparing for Christmas involves. Which reminds me that I was thinking about how we can bring in more expression of our faith into our days. I know so many families who have all kinds of practices; we really don't do much. I was thinking Advent could be a very good way to start. That will be something else I will need to prep for!
All right, enough for tonight. With all the typing I've done today - here, on another blog and for NaNoWriMo - I'm sure I'm developping Carpal Tunnel Syndrome. lol (bah, Blogger or my computer doesn't like my Canadian spelling of words like "colour" and "developping"). Time to do some yoga, methinks!
Wednesday, November 14, 2012
The Ups and Downs of Homeschooling
Homeschooling is life. And when you are a homeschooler, your life is homeschooling.
With that said, since life has its ups and downs, so does homeschooling.
This year has had a rough start. My dreams of what I would do with my son have not worked out. I have either been having crazy dreams or haven't taken the appropriate steps to make it all happen. I see a glimpse of interest in him, then it's back to brooding. Part of it is sleep on his part, I know that. We had a wonderful couple of weeks (albeit, without much work getting done) before the time change. Since the time change... Argh, argh, argh. He looks tired, he acts tired, he's a grump and resistant to everything. And he's 12. Ack. He asked this morning if he could have a short computer turn. I said no. I reminded him that he was supposed to get one turn a day (which I'd love to cut back, but that's a different thing to deal with) and it somehow became more than that (I think when sick kids were here, rules were loosened and not retightened). I told him that if he spent his time doing more than just reading comics in his bed all day, I might be more open to him having more time. His response, as he slumped away with his tired face, "There's nothing else to do around here." Oy.
We've been hit with viruses (I had the flu AND pink eye at the same time; joy! (sic)) and snow storms and this and that and the other.
Right now feels like one of the downs. My 15yo only just woke up, which means she's got that much less time to get work done this morning. At the same time, I know how she is when she's not sleeping well and everything school-wise becomes an emotional trigger and she falls apart. (That sounds so much more dramatic than it really is. lol)
I know that sometimes in life--and in homeschooling--you've just got to pull yourself up by your bootstraps. Take charge. Not only make a plan but follow through on it. Regardless of grumpy kid moods.
So, today's a new day where I'm actively working to get out of this slump. Right now is brainstorming time:
*I used to make a plan of lessons I would give the kids and follow up work options. The expectation was to be working on something all morning long. It might be too much to do with my son, but if I can plan for the entire morning, have directed lesson after directed activity, etc., it could work, rather than having open time to choose during the morning. At least as a transitional phase.
*One idea: A set list of work (ugh, my Montessori insides are cringing) to get done before he can have a computer turn.
*Find the planning charts I had and really plan properly for him.
*Find some already-made resources that I can use with him rather than trying to do it all from scratch. Have a mix of Montessori and just "regular" stuff.
*Read the science manuals I have and actually follow through, for crying out loud! (Lol, yes, I'm getting ornery with myself.)
*The Great Lessons took forever, but went well. The follow up of unschooling-style "strewing" with resources--absolutely nothing happened with that. I may need to do more than just strew and actively plan how much we'll look at and follow up work options.
*It's occurred to me that my son doesn't like to be expected to work on his own. He would rather work with someone than simply have work options to do on his own. I need to keep that in mind.
Okay, a little unloading here has helped. One thing I've done so far this morning is install Homeschool Tracker Plus
[ADDENDUM: I got interrupted at that point with my son coming up behind me and just hugging me. :) Somehow, that just spurred me on with my determination and I said, wait a second, I'm going to get the chemistry manual and we'll do something. Well, I opened the physics manual first by accident, but it was great, because one of the first activities is using clear soda (I used club soda) in a glass, dropping some raisins in and seeing how buoyancy is affected. I wrote down the basic info, so he saw how that worked--the question, the hypothesis, the materials, etc.--and he had a great time. It completely brightened him up. I could not help but think of this quote by Maria Montessori:
If science is the only thing we do for the next while--and it gets him happy and eager to do things again--then I think I'm still on the right approach! To finish off what I had started saying above, I managed to install Homeschool Tracker Plus, which I've had for years and use on and off. A little voice was nagging me that it has always been useful in planning and it has a journal component, too, where I can just hammer off thoughts and not lose them. I have not yet set up a new file (no point in using an old file at this point!), but that's on today's to-do list. As is seeing what the next science activity we will do is.]
With that said, since life has its ups and downs, so does homeschooling.
This year has had a rough start. My dreams of what I would do with my son have not worked out. I have either been having crazy dreams or haven't taken the appropriate steps to make it all happen. I see a glimpse of interest in him, then it's back to brooding. Part of it is sleep on his part, I know that. We had a wonderful couple of weeks (albeit, without much work getting done) before the time change. Since the time change... Argh, argh, argh. He looks tired, he acts tired, he's a grump and resistant to everything. And he's 12. Ack. He asked this morning if he could have a short computer turn. I said no. I reminded him that he was supposed to get one turn a day (which I'd love to cut back, but that's a different thing to deal with) and it somehow became more than that (I think when sick kids were here, rules were loosened and not retightened). I told him that if he spent his time doing more than just reading comics in his bed all day, I might be more open to him having more time. His response, as he slumped away with his tired face, "There's nothing else to do around here." Oy.
We've been hit with viruses (I had the flu AND pink eye at the same time; joy! (sic)) and snow storms and this and that and the other.
Right now feels like one of the downs. My 15yo only just woke up, which means she's got that much less time to get work done this morning. At the same time, I know how she is when she's not sleeping well and everything school-wise becomes an emotional trigger and she falls apart. (That sounds so much more dramatic than it really is. lol)
I know that sometimes in life--and in homeschooling--you've just got to pull yourself up by your bootstraps. Take charge. Not only make a plan but follow through on it. Regardless of grumpy kid moods.
So, today's a new day where I'm actively working to get out of this slump. Right now is brainstorming time:
*I used to make a plan of lessons I would give the kids and follow up work options. The expectation was to be working on something all morning long. It might be too much to do with my son, but if I can plan for the entire morning, have directed lesson after directed activity, etc., it could work, rather than having open time to choose during the morning. At least as a transitional phase.
*One idea: A set list of work (ugh, my Montessori insides are cringing) to get done before he can have a computer turn.
*Find the planning charts I had and really plan properly for him.
*Find some already-made resources that I can use with him rather than trying to do it all from scratch. Have a mix of Montessori and just "regular" stuff.
*Read the science manuals I have and actually follow through, for crying out loud! (Lol, yes, I'm getting ornery with myself.)
*The Great Lessons took forever, but went well. The follow up of unschooling-style "strewing" with resources--absolutely nothing happened with that. I may need to do more than just strew and actively plan how much we'll look at and follow up work options.
*It's occurred to me that my son doesn't like to be expected to work on his own. He would rather work with someone than simply have work options to do on his own. I need to keep that in mind.
Okay, a little unloading here has helped. One thing I've done so far this morning is install Homeschool Tracker Plus
[ADDENDUM: I got interrupted at that point with my son coming up behind me and just hugging me. :) Somehow, that just spurred me on with my determination and I said, wait a second, I'm going to get the chemistry manual and we'll do something. Well, I opened the physics manual first by accident, but it was great, because one of the first activities is using clear soda (I used club soda) in a glass, dropping some raisins in and seeing how buoyancy is affected. I wrote down the basic info, so he saw how that worked--the question, the hypothesis, the materials, etc.--and he had a great time. It completely brightened him up. I could not help but think of this quote by Maria Montessori:
One test of the correctness of educational procedure is the happiness of the child.
If science is the only thing we do for the next while--and it gets him happy and eager to do things again--then I think I'm still on the right approach! To finish off what I had started saying above, I managed to install Homeschool Tracker Plus, which I've had for years and use on and off. A little voice was nagging me that it has always been useful in planning and it has a journal component, too, where I can just hammer off thoughts and not lose them. I have not yet set up a new file (no point in using an old file at this point!), but that's on today's to-do list. As is seeing what the next science activity we will do is.]
Monday, October 8, 2012
The Week Ahead: Oct. 9-12
I thought I might use my blog more to write down planning thoughts, journal more, etc. It's a good place to keep things where they won't get lost. lol.
Today is Thanksgiving here in Canada, so technically not a school day. But the start of the school year has been so rough and my daughter has gotten so far behind that we did spend some time this afternoon working on math and phys. ed. (Yes, she's behind in phys. ed.! Mind you, there isn't a specific guideline, which doesn't help any.) Her math ought to be completely caught up with by this coming Friday. Her English... Yikes. Weeks behind. A large part of that due to her English teacher not being remotely clear about what he expected and constantly changing things. But the next unit is the novel study and she reads quickly, so she should be caught up by the end of the month. I hope. It is her goal, anyhow, but we need to make sure she gets working on the overdue stuff.
I'm just going to babble a bit about English here: English is not hard for her. She reads well, writes well. But the kinds of questions that are sometimes asked are so out beyond left field that it completely throws her. Panic hits: "I don't know what the heck they are talking about. If I don't know what the heck they are talking about, how am I supposed to answer the question?" A lot of self-imposed pressure to know instantly what the answer is. But she's typically known fairly instantly what the answer is for things, so having the pressure of getting marked and not knowing... It creates stress which just ends up blocking her from thinking about it. It's been interesting to observe; I just need to figure out how to work with it now. In any case, with these emotions popping up, her English is taking her longer than it should with each assignment. Something that should take a couple of days is taking a week because her frustration level hits a point that she can't continue and has to switch to something else.
Back to figure out the week ahead:
DAUGHTER:
*Big Focus: catching up. Math test done by Friday at the latest. English--I'm thinking at least the assignment due a couple of weeks ago PLUS getting started on the one due last week. Some random thoughts on this: Do short blocks and stop before frustration hits; maybe even use a timer. Put up sticky notes of things that come to mind.
*Secondary Focus: I would like her to establish some sort of schedule, make certain things routine. For example, she touches her German course sporadically when it should be daily. English is a huge one to catch up on; math doesn't have a lot, but it's very important that she keep on track with this one.
*Math: She's feeling very rusty with some early algebra stuff she's done in the past and had no problem with then. It would be good to have just a few refresher questions each day on the stuff she's blanking out with.
*Phys. Ed.: get the initial stuff all done. With her catching up in math and English, the plan she's supposed to submit can probably wait.
*Religion: write up and send off plan! And do reading. She's been pretty good at just grabbing the religion text and doing the reading when she's got 15 minutes here, 30 minutes there without me around.
SON:
*handwriting: he had to write on some gift tags this weekend and it was a near-disaster. What specifically should I have him do? I could pick a quote and then tackle the individual letters with him and then have him do the copywork. He really needs this practice. Daily.
*math: I'd like to have a look at the grade 7 algebra section and make sure he can do all the things from it.
*geometry: get him started on triangles (I think there's a triangle unit in his grade 7 text)
*science/social studies: we have still not finished the Great Lessons. MAJOR GOAL FOR THE WEEK: Finish the Great Lessons! We have one or two left. I need to have a look at science lessons to start working on or something I can set up a one-off afternoon class with.
*religion: ideally, read a section daily from Faith and Life.
*music: I'd like to suggest that we tune his guitar. We could even try out one of the instructional books.
*French: ah... hm...
As I write all of the above, I feel my homeschooling moving towards a list of things to get done rather than an overall vision and feel to live. I need to be careful!
I've been too distracted. I'll end it here for now!
Today is Thanksgiving here in Canada, so technically not a school day. But the start of the school year has been so rough and my daughter has gotten so far behind that we did spend some time this afternoon working on math and phys. ed. (Yes, she's behind in phys. ed.! Mind you, there isn't a specific guideline, which doesn't help any.) Her math ought to be completely caught up with by this coming Friday. Her English... Yikes. Weeks behind. A large part of that due to her English teacher not being remotely clear about what he expected and constantly changing things. But the next unit is the novel study and she reads quickly, so she should be caught up by the end of the month. I hope. It is her goal, anyhow, but we need to make sure she gets working on the overdue stuff.
I'm just going to babble a bit about English here: English is not hard for her. She reads well, writes well. But the kinds of questions that are sometimes asked are so out beyond left field that it completely throws her. Panic hits: "I don't know what the heck they are talking about. If I don't know what the heck they are talking about, how am I supposed to answer the question?" A lot of self-imposed pressure to know instantly what the answer is. But she's typically known fairly instantly what the answer is for things, so having the pressure of getting marked and not knowing... It creates stress which just ends up blocking her from thinking about it. It's been interesting to observe; I just need to figure out how to work with it now. In any case, with these emotions popping up, her English is taking her longer than it should with each assignment. Something that should take a couple of days is taking a week because her frustration level hits a point that she can't continue and has to switch to something else.
Back to figure out the week ahead:
DAUGHTER:
*Big Focus: catching up. Math test done by Friday at the latest. English--I'm thinking at least the assignment due a couple of weeks ago PLUS getting started on the one due last week. Some random thoughts on this: Do short blocks and stop before frustration hits; maybe even use a timer. Put up sticky notes of things that come to mind.
*Secondary Focus: I would like her to establish some sort of schedule, make certain things routine. For example, she touches her German course sporadically when it should be daily. English is a huge one to catch up on; math doesn't have a lot, but it's very important that she keep on track with this one.
*Math: She's feeling very rusty with some early algebra stuff she's done in the past and had no problem with then. It would be good to have just a few refresher questions each day on the stuff she's blanking out with.
*Phys. Ed.: get the initial stuff all done. With her catching up in math and English, the plan she's supposed to submit can probably wait.
*Religion: write up and send off plan! And do reading. She's been pretty good at just grabbing the religion text and doing the reading when she's got 15 minutes here, 30 minutes there without me around.
SON:
*handwriting: he had to write on some gift tags this weekend and it was a near-disaster. What specifically should I have him do? I could pick a quote and then tackle the individual letters with him and then have him do the copywork. He really needs this practice. Daily.
*math: I'd like to have a look at the grade 7 algebra section and make sure he can do all the things from it.
*geometry: get him started on triangles (I think there's a triangle unit in his grade 7 text)
*science/social studies: we have still not finished the Great Lessons. MAJOR GOAL FOR THE WEEK: Finish the Great Lessons! We have one or two left. I need to have a look at science lessons to start working on or something I can set up a one-off afternoon class with.
*religion: ideally, read a section daily from Faith and Life.
*music: I'd like to suggest that we tune his guitar. We could even try out one of the instructional books.
*French: ah... hm...
As I write all of the above, I feel my homeschooling moving towards a list of things to get done rather than an overall vision and feel to live. I need to be careful!
I've been too distracted. I'll end it here for now!
Friday, August 31, 2012
It's Friday evening...
...and I'm working on my plans for Tuesday. Exciting life, eh? ;)
It may be the long weekend, but I've got a busy day tomorrow and Sunday:
*shopping for a birthday gift for my mom (her birthday is on Sunday; yes, I know, a little last-minute);
*grocery shopping, including specialty items at Planet Organic;
*house cleaning;
*library;
*bank;
*bake a cake;
*make frosting;
*frost the cake;
*make a regular lasagna (meat and cheese) and make a vegan or possibly gluten-free vegan (raw?) lasagna (I'm allergic to milk and can't have the regular lasagna and am transitioning to veg*nism, but my mom specially requested the regular one for her birthday :P );
*before that, find a recipe for a suitable veg*n lasagna recipe and purchase what is needed; go to my mom's with the supper (garlic bread and salad, as well!; ooh, wonder if I could find a good vegan Caesar salad recipe--I know Mimi Kirk has a raw one that is supposed to be AMAZING);
*finish making her card (I am a Stampin' Up demonstrator and make all the cards)...
So, I have a busy couple of days and I don't want to find myself Monday going, "Omg, what am I doing tomorrow??" I also have French classes to plan for for the following week and it looks like I might be doing some private tutoring for French and possibly my former student who is having to retake some courses because he didn't have the gumption to apply himself much this year! But I'm getting ahead of myself here.
My mind keeps focusing on Tuesday anyhow, so why not just spend some time this evening unloading those thoughts before I sit and relax with a book or movie or something?
My son is usually awake by 7:30, but not necessarily ready to really get up until close to 8. He reads in bed a bit first. I don't think I need for him to have a set time to get up, but rather a strong routine after he does get up! Our first day, I think we'll start of with:
Another site mentioned about Maria Montessori believing adolescence was a time for the child to find a place in society. I'm going to have to read up on this more and see how I can fit it in.
Onto other thoughts: I am going to work on the Great Lessons next week (eek! I haven't prepared myself yet! Guess what I'm doing Monday? lol) as the start to science and social studies, which means I also ought to work on reading the science manuals that I have and thinking about activities to present (or seminars to do? I really have to learn what these seminars are).
I got a phone call that interrupted my train of thought with all this. I'm getting too tired now to continue thinking about what we'll get done Tuesday. I think I'll go pop in a movie and curl up in a blanket. Oh, and drink the tea I made before the phone call and have now forgotten about. Oops.
It may be the long weekend, but I've got a busy day tomorrow and Sunday:
*shopping for a birthday gift for my mom (her birthday is on Sunday; yes, I know, a little last-minute);
*grocery shopping, including specialty items at Planet Organic;
*house cleaning;
*library;
*bank;
*bake a cake;
*make frosting;
*frost the cake;
*make a regular lasagna (meat and cheese) and make a vegan or possibly gluten-free vegan (raw?) lasagna (I'm allergic to milk and can't have the regular lasagna and am transitioning to veg*nism, but my mom specially requested the regular one for her birthday :P );
*before that, find a recipe for a suitable veg*n lasagna recipe and purchase what is needed; go to my mom's with the supper (garlic bread and salad, as well!; ooh, wonder if I could find a good vegan Caesar salad recipe--I know Mimi Kirk has a raw one that is supposed to be AMAZING);
*finish making her card (I am a Stampin' Up demonstrator and make all the cards)...
So, I have a busy couple of days and I don't want to find myself Monday going, "Omg, what am I doing tomorrow??" I also have French classes to plan for for the following week and it looks like I might be doing some private tutoring for French and possibly my former student who is having to retake some courses because he didn't have the gumption to apply himself much this year! But I'm getting ahead of myself here.
My mind keeps focusing on Tuesday anyhow, so why not just spend some time this evening unloading those thoughts before I sit and relax with a book or movie or something?
My son is usually awake by 7:30, but not necessarily ready to really get up until close to 8. He reads in bed a bit first. I don't think I need for him to have a set time to get up, but rather a strong routine after he does get up! Our first day, I think we'll start of with:
- self-care: talk about what things should be done, like finding clean clothes and making sure to get fruit in with his breakfast, etc.
- care of the environment: discuss care of his room and what sort of tasks he could do first thing in the morning (making his bed is an obvious one; he's let it go this summer!) and also discuss things that have to be done around the house on a daily basis and have him pick something that will be his to do in the morning
- morning "meeting": I guess the above constitutes part of the morning meeting for Tuesday (and perhaps every first day of the week), but on other days, it won't really be part of the meeting, I hope, but just things he will do. What I have in mind for the morning meeting is having a look at what we both want to tackle during the week and that day (I know I'm likely to get attitude from him the first week because he's being asked to move out of his routine/comfort zone, so he likely won't offer anything truly helpful as an idea and I need to be prepared for that and not react negatively!). I haven't really decided how I want to guide him with this. When my daughter was early elementary and there were other kids in the mix, I was using a blank chart with subject areas along the side. Seems to me I would write in their things first about what they planned on working on and then I would add in which lessons I wanted to do with them that day. If there was something they wanted to do that would take up a few hours (like messy art or possibly baking), we would pencil it in for a day that would work better. The chart helped them see the wide variety of subjects they could choose from, but it also helped us see as the week progressed what they had worked on and what they hadn't worked on. It was a nice way to keep things kind of balanced or at least not let certain areas get neglected.
Part of this first meeting will be talking a bit about the things we will cover this year for science, social studies, math, language arts, get ideas from him for those subjects... I suppose I should have at least a basic idea myself of what we are going to do! Actually, maybe I don't need to really get into all that with him. Hm. Something to figure out. I'm kind of leaning toward not getting into too much detail, but I suppose I could tell him that we'll be looking a bit at the history of North America and specifically Canada, we'll cover different things in science dealing with chemistry and physics and geology (he'll want zoology for sure; I don't have a zoology manual, but I'm sure we could do some research!), that we'll be working on handwriting and writing different kinds of things and cover all kinds of basic things in math and the grade 7 things and even beyond if he wants... I know I'm not covering all the subjects here, but I haven't really thought about too much about the others. He already knows that we will be doing more of Faith and Life this year!
Some of this meeting will be to talk about the week ahead and what we will do: get going in math, science, social studies... I want to remember those three areas: self-expression (music, art, language); moral education, math and other languages; natural history, history of human achievement and technology and history of mankind. I'd like to know more about how Montessori "seminars" work at the adolescent level, because seminars are mentioned in the document I shared in the previous post.
Another site mentioned about Maria Montessori believing adolescence was a time for the child to find a place in society. I'm going to have to read up on this more and see how I can fit it in.
Onto other thoughts: I am going to work on the Great Lessons next week (eek! I haven't prepared myself yet! Guess what I'm doing Monday? lol) as the start to science and social studies, which means I also ought to work on reading the science manuals that I have and thinking about activities to present (or seminars to do? I really have to learn what these seminars are).
I got a phone call that interrupted my train of thought with all this. I'm getting too tired now to continue thinking about what we'll get done Tuesday. I think I'll go pop in a movie and curl up in a blanket. Oh, and drink the tea I made before the phone call and have now forgotten about. Oops.
Sunday, August 26, 2012
I need to babble a bit--First Week "Jitters"
This morning, I tried to sit down and write out a rough plan for the first week of school. It stank. I feel so stuck! My son has been so unschooled and now I have to transition him out of it. Transition. Good word for me to remember. (See, this is why I blog? Helps me sort out my thoughts.)
Okay, so I'm transitioning him. What are some things that should be part of a daily checklist?
Okay, so I'm transitioning him. What are some things that should be part of a daily checklist?
- Religion: We've got the Faith and Life series from grade 3-8 and are still in the grade 3 book after, hm, 2-3 years? lol. A little daily reading and discussing won't be too much, especially since I don't have the teacher books; we just use the student text and don't do the activities in it. A morning prayer has never been a habit, but it could always become one! (But this just throws my mind into a whirl: When do we do it? Do we do it with his sister? She's likely to sleep in until past the time he and I will get started. So do we just say a prayer on our own? But then when will she say a prayer? And forcing her up earlier is not an option: I've seen what it does to kids her age and their thinking capacity and know how lack of sleep affects me and leads to more illness; I'm allowing her natural sleep cycle to rule here.)
- Natural Vision Improvement: I discovered earlier this year that my son is near-sighted. I don't know that he's so bad that an optometrist would tell him to get glasses, but possibly; if so, they'd be really mild. I had suggested a few things for him to try to do, but, hey, he's 11, he needs consistent guidance. I would like to resume that NVI because it did improve my eyesight in the past and I would love to get back into it and improve my eyesight even more. Ultimately, being glasses-free would be FANTASTIC! This reminds me that there is a book I've been thinking about buying--the name and author escape me at the moment--but I can always get going with the simple exercises prescribed by the one who started it all, Dr. Bates. (More info, if you're interested in how to reverse eyesight problems or prevent them, can be found here.)
- Yoga or Pain Free exercises. Pain Free is a book by Pete Egoscue. He has other books and they all talk about problems that come about due to dysfunction in our bodies. My 14yo has flat feet and some other little issues, so she wants to do stuff with this and I've noticed my son's posture is not good and it kind of looks like his big toe joints are getting big, which, I mean, honestly, he's 11, they should be fine. So daily yoga or Pain Free (either from that book or one of the others; the book for women has sections aimed at kids, not just women). I guess both this and the NVI constitute "self-care".
- A time to sit and talk about the day ahead, the week ahead, the previous day (as the case may be) and have a look at what has and hasn't been touched. I did this years ago when I had 4 of them doing school and it worked very well.
- *frozen moment* I hit the point of thinking, "Work time. What will we actually do? How will it look?" And not only did my mind freeze, but I realized I had paused my breath. Good grief, this isn't that big of a deal, is it? lol. As I let the thoughts come here, one thought is to have the little talk about, have a list of possible presentations I can show him that day, and then let him pick. Where my breath catches is when I think of how much time there is to fill! Eek! I want, at least to start, to focus on the academics being in the morning; the art and music and other phys. ed. stuff will usually be afternoons. But even if I count the NVI and yoga as part of the work cycle (should I?), that still leaves, 2-2.5 hours before lunch. (I just had to see if the 3-hour work cycle is still part of adolescent recommendations. Here they say it is! Actually, they mention about doing "seminars" at that level is causing some ideas to start working.)
Let me just babble away, okay? What are his academics? Math/geometry. Science. Social studies. French. English. I was thinking about starting up the Writer's Workshop concept again, à la Nancie Atwell, but I don't have the book yet and not sure I could just wing it. A math presentation could be done each day or skip a day to do a geometry presentation or I suppose both could be done in the same day. For science and social studies, I want to go through the Great Lessons first (oh boy, that first lesson seems to take me a while anyhow! lol.). There is Sequential Spelling for English, handwriting for either language, I'd like to introduce the grammar boxes (in French) to him... Maybe there's enough stuff to get going with. Just the Great Lessons alone will take up some time! - Afternoons: art, music, phys. ed. out of the house, not sure what else.
Okay, it feels good to get some thoughts out! Now time to make supper. (Oooh, there's another subject to add in: home economics! :P )
Friday, August 24, 2012
Working on the school plans
I've been spending a fair amount of time this past week on brainstorming and working out a rough math plan for my 11yo. (My 14yo is doing online learning and therefore, I don't need to do ANY planning for her academics!)
Here is what I've done:
Okay, how about a little visual of the draft end product (sorry, I'm not sure how to make it show up in the right direction!):
I have no real idea of how much time it will take to cover certain things. I've given a month for multiplication, including large, which he has barely touched on. One month might not be enough. I've only given December for division, but now that I think of it, with Christmas holidays and division tending to be tough, I'll probably have to extend it. In any case, I now at least have a sequence to follow in things to introduce to him. I will have to break down specific lesson possibilities as I go along, but at least there's a framework within which to work!
Here is what I've done:
- I went to http://montessorird.com/index2.php?cPath=2_25_66 and copied the contents into a document that is only about my son's math plan.
- I had a look at the one text approved for grade 7 math here and tried to decide if it matched up well or not with the RD sequence, but also just to get an idea of the provincial outcomes.
- I know what my son has and hasn't covered, so I started with the beginning stuff (numeration and addition) and worked out a rough plan by hand for Sept-Dec, following the R&D manuals with some notes on specific activities or type of work to do.
- I went through our provincial learning outcomes and added in things that fit with what I had already laid out. For example, there is a whole unit on statistics and probability which I've tagged onto the end of the other units as a continuation of working with fractions, decimals and percentages. Or the algebra elements, which are considered a separate unit in the text, are being incorporated with his work on the operations. Which, to be honest, I think is much better than the textbook's approach of spending a few weeks on an algebra unit and then it's not touched again until the next year. This way, he'll be working with early algebra stuff when we are working with addition, then again with subtraction, then with multiplication and then with division.
- I'm treating geometry as a separate subject, so on the same page (I used columns), I put in the geometry elements which match up with what's going on in math. So, for example, for the month set aside for showing multiplication work, I've got planned to work on area and volume.
- On the facing page (I opened up a notebook--left page was for math and geometry month-to-month planning), I wrote down elements that can just be slipped in here and there, to make sure he knows how to work with them and certain vocabulary is covered, like 2D and 3D shapes, types of triangles, mm cm m, how many weeks in a year...
- I turned the page and finished up with Jan-April planning, which leaves an entire month free. Hm.
Okay, how about a little visual of the draft end product (sorry, I'm not sure how to make it show up in the right direction!):
I have no real idea of how much time it will take to cover certain things. I've given a month for multiplication, including large, which he has barely touched on. One month might not be enough. I've only given December for division, but now that I think of it, with Christmas holidays and division tending to be tough, I'll probably have to extend it. In any case, I now at least have a sequence to follow in things to introduce to him. I will have to break down specific lesson possibilities as I go along, but at least there's a framework within which to work!
And I have to say that while math has been very neglected around here with him, looking at the things from K-6 that he hasn't covered or mastered, well, the things important enough to do so, and adding in the grade 7 stuff, I'm actually feeling rather good about this year for his math. I do think we can not only cover it all, but that he will have a decent mastery. He does not have difficulty with math; he has simply been difficult to actually sit down and do enough math.Which reminds me of something I would like to do still: Create a chart with all the different outcomes and columns for Introduced, Checked, Mastered. Lots of "Checked" options where I will be able to date and indicate where he is in terms of practice and mastery.
Speaking of mastery... I read of one Montessori school where starting in grade 6, they didn't move on to the next topic until they had reached a 90% mastery. I'm not sure what I think about that. On the one hand, they are older and perhaps it's developmentally okay; on the other, what's so wrong with working on more than one topic at a time? I don't think Maria Montessori really envisioned anything like this type of bookwork for the junior high level, but alas, it's hard in our society to just go, "Meh, let's just do farm and business stuff for 3 years." Maria also never got a chance to try her idea out; she may have not found it practical nor reasonable in the end.
I have also started working out a rough plan for social studies. I will start off doing all of the Great Lessons (my son has only ever seen the first one!) and then spread off from there into the science units I have and then the grade 7 social studies topics (history of Canada). I have plans to go further back than what our provincial social studies program has in mind and I won't be as fact-oriented as the school program, but give a large overview, planting lots of seeds, and let him dip into the areas he wants to grow more. When I think about it, the social studies program is so very limiting. They want to focus on one select group of aboriginal Canadians, for some reason; they focus on the same group in high school social studies, too. And yet, there are so many that the kids are never really told about! I have an idea of finding a map with some sort of indication about where the different groups traditional lived, more or less. I know many were very nomadic, but they still didn't go from BC to Newfoundland and back! My plan is to go even further back than that, to the last Ice Age and have a look at where it is believed the aboriginals came from and their movement through North and South America. I think the big picture is so important! Yet school social studies seems to be so focused on passing on the details.
There was a video I saw of a middle school science project where they had done an enormous diagram of a cell (can't remember if it was an animal or plant cell) and had little explanations of each part. This got me thinking that for social studies, I need to think outside the box. Sure, a research report is a good idea, but it's important to get more creative, or to suggest more creative ideas: Create a model of an aboriginal settlement, for example. Make a small translation dictionary of one of the languages. I am thinking of keeping the elementary focus of the fundamental needs of humans as the overriding "theme" for the work, but I will have to check around and see if that's normal for upper elementary or not. Or to find out what upper elementary students do focus on and tie it in. (You may be asking why I'm looking at elementary if my son is grade 7. Well, he is grade 7 but he's not yet 12, and just how he is, I still think the 9-12 work is very suitable for him.)
All right, it's almost 9pm on a Friday night. I ought to pull myself away from this computer and do a bit of winding down!
Speaking of mastery... I read of one Montessori school where starting in grade 6, they didn't move on to the next topic until they had reached a 90% mastery. I'm not sure what I think about that. On the one hand, they are older and perhaps it's developmentally okay; on the other, what's so wrong with working on more than one topic at a time? I don't think Maria Montessori really envisioned anything like this type of bookwork for the junior high level, but alas, it's hard in our society to just go, "Meh, let's just do farm and business stuff for 3 years." Maria also never got a chance to try her idea out; she may have not found it practical nor reasonable in the end.
I have also started working out a rough plan for social studies. I will start off doing all of the Great Lessons (my son has only ever seen the first one!) and then spread off from there into the science units I have and then the grade 7 social studies topics (history of Canada). I have plans to go further back than what our provincial social studies program has in mind and I won't be as fact-oriented as the school program, but give a large overview, planting lots of seeds, and let him dip into the areas he wants to grow more. When I think about it, the social studies program is so very limiting. They want to focus on one select group of aboriginal Canadians, for some reason; they focus on the same group in high school social studies, too. And yet, there are so many that the kids are never really told about! I have an idea of finding a map with some sort of indication about where the different groups traditional lived, more or less. I know many were very nomadic, but they still didn't go from BC to Newfoundland and back! My plan is to go even further back than that, to the last Ice Age and have a look at where it is believed the aboriginals came from and their movement through North and South America. I think the big picture is so important! Yet school social studies seems to be so focused on passing on the details.
There was a video I saw of a middle school science project where they had done an enormous diagram of a cell (can't remember if it was an animal or plant cell) and had little explanations of each part. This got me thinking that for social studies, I need to think outside the box. Sure, a research report is a good idea, but it's important to get more creative, or to suggest more creative ideas: Create a model of an aboriginal settlement, for example. Make a small translation dictionary of one of the languages. I am thinking of keeping the elementary focus of the fundamental needs of humans as the overriding "theme" for the work, but I will have to check around and see if that's normal for upper elementary or not. Or to find out what upper elementary students do focus on and tie it in. (You may be asking why I'm looking at elementary if my son is grade 7. Well, he is grade 7 but he's not yet 12, and just how he is, I still think the 9-12 work is very suitable for him.)
All right, it's almost 9pm on a Friday night. I ought to pull myself away from this computer and do a bit of winding down!
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