Another school year almost here

Maybe you're reading this and you've already started your school year; I know some areas have school years that have begun and some people just follow their own schedule.

Me, I'm so very glad we don't have to start just yet. lol

We've had a busy summer. My husband even commented the other day that other than my daughter and I heading to Orlando for Dance the World, we haven't done anything big (no trips as a family), but we haven't gone more than 2-3 days at a time without having something going on. And it's true. I'm writing this the day my cousin and family have ended their visit with us. I actually have a week ahead of us where there is nothing (yet) going on until the weekend. Well, that and my daughter's work schedule. And while I wanted some calmer times, I kind of feel like, "What? What am I supposed to do with that time?"

I know one thing I will be doing: Figuring out what we'll be doing this year for homeschooling. Well, for the first week or two, at least. ;)

I have a few things kind of figured out. I have vague things figured out. I don't have specifics figured out.

My daughter will be going to high school for her grade 12 year. Yes, I'm now one of those homeschooling mothers who is going, "My baby's first day of school!" And she's 17. That still requires some of my attention since the school has already done something with her course selection and removed from her schedule the course that's the most important to her. And it involves going in with her on registration day to take care of this, that and the other. I'm excited for her, though, because this school just seems awesome, the program kind of a mix of high school and university. I think she'll have a great year.

My son's program is the one I really need to figure out. I admit that it stresses me a bit: we've hit high school credits. And this isn't like in many places in the United States where I get to just decide what is to be done to earn those credits: I have to cover the learning outcomes (and there are a lot of them) as given by our provincial government (and the school we're with has him do a final exam for each core subject). I can decide how we go about them, but that's a large process in itself, especially trying to find interesting resources to learn from rather than just relying on textbooks. Math will still be a text, but everything else... I have some research to do the next few weeks, for sure. All while trying to get things ready to open up my @Home French beginner French course.

We do have the basic subjects worked out (sort of):
*The required courses: English, math, science, social studies, physical education, Career and Life Management (has to be taken at some point during the high school years; figured we'd get it out of the way this year)
*Options (or electives, depending on where you live): music, Spanish, foods (and this will only take up to a month after which point he can continue with the next foods course OR he'll pick one of the othe Career and Technology Studies courses; I have a list somewhere of potential candidates).
*Not for credit: Here and there, add in things like Rich Dad Poor Dad for Teens (although, this does kind of fit in with one of the CALM units), logic, religion...

I'm not sure what I've written before and perhaps this is just repeating myself, but it helps me think to write, so I'll write. :D

For English, I'm not taking the usual read-this-and-answer-these-questions approach. I'm going to incorporate what I can of the reading workshop and writing workshop approach. This means mini-lessons on various things, but also just lots of reading and writing without evaluating every single thing. And lots of discussion and sharing. I know a lot of homeschoolers just find things they can have their kids do independently at the high school level, but not only is my son not like that (despite being a huge introvert, he'd much rather work with me or someone else than on his own), I am a trained teacher. I like being "part of the action", so to speak, when it comes to learning. Even with him unschooling, I was finding things, guiding what I could, asking him things... This time, there's specific stuff he has to cover; I don't want to just leave him to it. I'm actually quite looking forward to these next three years, despite the added stress of having to meet someone else's objectives in a way.

And with that... It's just hitting me really hard right now that this will be my daughter's last high school year and iff things go as planned with my son, in twos year from now, I'll be posting my last "Another school year almost here" type of post. (And then, what will I do? lol)

BraveWriter Shares Helpful Tips

I've started following BraveWriter in Facebook and today's post is just fantastic! You can read it here:

http://blog.bravewriter.com/2015/06/15/homeschool-advice-do-the-math/

Semestered vs Year-Long Learning

I'm still thinking of my son's grade 10 (first year of high school here) year next year and how things will be organized. Even though I don't have resources picked out and more important things that need to be decided at this point, but it's on my mind. Although, the scheduling is part of figuring out how we'll actually go about things, what kind of time we'll have and what we'll be able to do with that time.

Technically, a semestered course should have just as many hours in it as a year-long course. So that's not really the kind of "time" I mean. It's more: How many hours per week are we going to have on a subject? How long are the individual sessions going to be? Then there's, Do I provide structure in terms of what we do on which day? Or do we just have our things to do for the week, the time is blocked out to pick those things? Or a mix: certain things, like reading and writing workshop time, are scheduled (or put on a certain day) and the rest just has a certain amount to work through?

The advantages to doing semestered is that you can be done with that course and move onto the next thing. The disadvantage is that you kind of have to plow through it and don't necessarily get to really absorb it. And if you don't have to kind of student who is prepared to plow through things...

I was originally thinking of doing some things semestered and some things all year, like perhaps social studies and science semestered and the rest all year. But now I'm second-guessing that. Is my son truly prepared to spend 5-7 hours a week on social studies for 4 months? It's doubtful. lol. It's just really not his style. And part of homeschooling him is to make this high school experience fit well with him, to approach things in an enjoyable way so that learning--even topics we wouldn't have chosen--is enjoyable. I'm also thinking retention. Now, I know the one online math teacher here recommends that students do the math course in a single semester because by the time the final exam rolls around, they've forgotten too much of the beginning stuff, but shouldn't that just mean that better review needs to be built in during the year so that it truly is retained? Yes, that's what I'm thinking.

What about you and your family? What do you do for your high school students? Do you use semesters or have you done it both ways and prefer one over another?

I Want Summer to Start

What to do when you want to officially declare it summertime for you and your kids but one of your kids has work still to finish--to hand into an online school by a certain date, so there's no, "Oh, it can be finished during the summer sometime)?

I am soooo ready for summer holidays. Just take a week and do nothing before the reality of doing nothing hits and I start feeling like I need to do something--but it can be whatever I want it to be (well, within reason--I am trying to get the French instructional website ready and definitely to have the first level ready by Sept. 1).

The sun is out, temperatures are rising and I'd like to just go out for hikes and picnics and get my kids together with friends (or just other people in my son's case).

I can't put additional pressure on this particular child, although I have backed off from the other one's work requirements a bit. In addition to not being able to put more pressure on getting the work done, we've been hit by a virus--possibly viral meningitis--day 12 of being sick for her.

But I know it'll get done and really, what's to stop me from doing my own thing even though I have one child who has work to do--which really doesn't involve me much in the first place? Just my own thinking getting in the way.

It'd still be nice for us to all be done and I can just swoop them away to outdoor places or field trips and such.

When do your summer holidays start?