Posted in Organization
|
Next year our children would be (if in public school) in grades 7 and 9. We have decided that for their high school years our children will do Ambleside Online's Years 7-10. AO is an advanced curriculum and they will have a better education just finishing Year 10 than either their father or I had when we graduated from public school. We placed them in the appropriate Years this year based on where they were academically, what they could handle. For this year our son is doing Year 4 and our daughter Year 6. So, they are already lined up to do the Years in order and graduate after completing Year 10. Which means for next year our 14-year-old daughter will be doing Year 7 and our 12-year-old son will be doing Year 5.
Organization For next year I have organized card files for both children. I am wanting them to learn to work more independently - to learn on their own without having a teacher to stand over them. Our daughter is usually very good at getting her work done on her own but our son has a tendency to dawdle.
My daughter is currently working from a card file - I posted about that earlier - so she knows how to work with it. My son has requested a card file rather than a binder for next year. Since he has a tendency to "forget" some things and to dawdle, one of the cards that I have added to his card file is a "Meeting with Mom" card that will be done daily. When he gets to that card at the end of the day he will be sitting down with me and going over everything he has completed during the day - showing his copywork, math assignment, turning in written narrations, etc. This way I will know exactly what he has done before he goes off to play.
I have created a checksheet for me to use during our meeting. (I'll be doing this with my daughter as well since she will be working on more meaty subjects next year.) I have the sheet set up so that I can use it for the whole week. It's done as a chart with the books listed down the left side, divided by subject, and the days of the week across the top. Then I have shaded the blocks for the days that each book is to be used. Science is done every day so the entire row of blocks is shaded. I require one composition (written narration) from him each week so there is only one block in that row shaded. When we sit down for our meeting I can run down the column for that day and see quickly exactly what he was supposed to do for that day. I have color-coded the checksheets - my daughter's has red blocks and my son's has blue - so that I don't get them mixed up. I'll put these in page protectors and use these sheets all year. I won't be writing individual assignments on them because those are listed on the cards.
I also have a checksheet for the subjects that we do together so I don't leave anything out. We do things like Shakespeare, Plutarch, Nature study, Artist, Composer, Art, and Latin together as a family. I have the shaded blocks on this sheet as well so I know which things I want to cover that day - which helps me to not repeat the same thing or leave anything out during the week.
Reading We always do a read-aloud together as well. I expect to choose one book for each child that I will read with that child. I haven't chosen those since I intend to do the book with which they are having the most difficulty. I'm also planning to choose one book from their additional reading lists to read-aloud to both children during our together time (called General School Meeting in our house).
I am also assigning them to read a certain number of books from the additional list each term this year. I want to encourage my son, especially, to read more difficult books. He tends to choose easy books that he can easily read in 30 minutes. I'm hoping to encourage him to read longer books that he can't read in one day.
Everyone in our home sits down with a book to read for 30 minutes at 9:00PM. This started out as being a time of sitting and cuddling while reading bedtime stories and has evolved into everyone reading for a while right before the children go to bed. We continued it after they were "too big" for bedtime stories as a way to help them wind down before going to bed and it's now something we all look forward to. |
Posted in Organization
|
We have two children at our house and two ways of organizing their homeschooling. My oldest is a 13 year-old daughter who is an independent learner. Although we do some things together she is capable of doing the majority of her work on her own. My youngest is an 11 year-old son who needs someone to remind him that he should be working on math not playing with the kitten approximately every 5 minutes.
Homeschool Card Box For my daughter I have set up a card box that holds all of her assignments for the year. I used a small recipe box - the 3 x 5 size - 5 tabs, and 3 x 5 cards. I turned the 5 tabs around and wrote the days of the week that we "do school" on them. Then, using the booklist and 36-week schedule from AmblesideOnline's website I made out cards for each subject/book.
The Front of Each Card On the front of each card I have listed the name of the book that we are using in the middle. I have put the name of the subject in the lower left-hand corner - this helps her to know which card replaces a card she has finished. For example, if she finishes her literature card she knows to replace it with the next literature card. In the upper left-hand corner I have listed how often she is to do the card, e.g. math is daily, literature is Mon, Th, Sat, and Nature is weekly (I listed the day of the week I want it completed.) In the upper right-hand corner I have given an estimate of how long it should take to complete that assignment. I am planning to add a Priority Ranking in the bottom right-hand corner for those days when we know we won't be able to do everything.
The Back of Each Card On the back of each card there is a breakdown of all the assignment for the year. For math I have listed each of the lessons, ivestigations and tests in order. On the back of the literature card there is a list of the chapters in the book (I list something like Ch. 1-2 together if she is supposed to read more than one chapter each day.) The history card has a list of page numbers (24-36) on the back. We are using Apologia's Physical Science this year and she knows she is to work on the module for 30 minutes a day so I have just listed the modules on the back of the card rather than how far she should be in the book each day.
Using the System Each morning when my daughter starts her schoolwork she grabs her box off the bookshelf where her books and school supplies are kept. She opens it up and pulls the cards for whatever day of the week it is. She can then flip through and choose which card she wants to work on or set them up in the order she wants to do all th cards that day. If it's a day when we know we will be unable to get everything done she will be able to set the cards up based on the Priority Ranking and get the subjects we have decided are most important done first.
After she chooses a card to work on she flips it over to find out what the assignment for that day is. Once she has completed the assignment she marks it off the list - just puts a line through it with the pen that is kept in the front of her box. Then she can either put the card on the bottom of her stack of cards for the day or file it back in the box. She uses the frequency listed in the upper left-hand corner of the card to determine where to file it in the box. A "daily" card would be filed behind the next day's tab. If it lists days of the week then she files it behind the tab for the next day she is supposed to work on it. (If it's Monday and she has a M, Th, Sa card then she would file it behind the Thursday tab.) If it is a weekly card it goes back in the same place she took it from.
|
Posted in Organization
|
Tonight we are having a great big salad from our garden and adding cut up turkey that's left over from the big 20 1/2 pound turkey that my daughter and I baked yesterday. She is almost 13 and this was the first time she has ever helped bake a turkey. I remember leaving all the extras inside the first turkey I ever baked (when I was expecting my daughter) so I wanted to make sure she knew all that stuff was in there and wouldn't make the same mistake.
Help with dinner plans
I haven't started using this yet but I found a resource for helping with menu planning that even comes with a grocery list! It was listed on a friend's blog and I think it looks really helpful. I already have menus planned and food here for the next two weeks so I haven't tried it out yet. But, I am definitely going to be trying it! It's called Menus 4 Moms and they plan 5 dinners for you each week, including sides. They include making extras to pop into the freezer to use later.
|