Posted in Home schooling
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This is the schedule my kids follow every week. These subjects aren't necessarily done in this particular order throughout the day. I try to give them the freedom to choose which ones to do first to last. I give each of them an assignment sheet every day and they can pick and choose from that as long as they complete everything by the end of the day. If they finish one day of work early and feel like moving on to the next day's work, they're free to do that as well. Most weeks they'll finish everything up before Friday rolls around. Then they will have Friday morning to relax before going to co-op classes. It doesn't always work out that way though.
Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday Lauren Andrew Morgan David Bible Bible Bible Bible Math Math Math Math History History History History Science Science Science Science Vocabulary Vocabulary Vocabulary Vocabulary Literature Literature Literature Literature -------- Spelling Spelling Spelling -------- Grammar Grammar Grammar -------- -------- Copywork Copywork -------- -------- Character Character
Thursday Lauren Andrew Morgan David Bible Bible Bible Bible Math -------- Math Math History History History History Science Science Science Science Vocabulary Vocabulary Vocabulary Vocabulary Literature Literature Literature Literature -------- -------- Grammar Grammar
Friday (at home) Lauren Andrew Morgan David Bible Bible Bible Bible Math -------- Math Math History History -------- -------- Science Science Science Science Literature Literature Literature Literature -------- -------- Grammar Grammar Writing, Home Economics, and Typing are sprinkled throughout the week, but not done on any specific day.
Friday (co-op classes) Lauren Andrew Morgan David Yearbook -------- -------- -------- Nursery P.E. P.E. P.E. Nursery Dave Ramsey Dave Ramsey Dave Ramsey
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Posted in Home schooling
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This is our current school calendar. Nothing is ever set in stone and it's subject to change when I think it's necessary. School Calendar 2009 ~ 2010
Month Date # Days June 12 field trip countable "unschooling" days 4 July countable "unschooling" days 8 August 10 lessons officially begin 20 CBS classes begin 17 September 7 no school - Jeff off work 11 co-op classes begin 14 no school - anniversary 20 October 26 no school - birthday 30 field trip 21 November 20 last day for co-op classes 23-30 no school - Thanksgiving break 15 December 1-31 no school - Christmas break 0 January 4 lessons resume 8 co-op classes resume 14 no school - birthday 19 February 22 field trip 21 March 6 field trip? 26 field trip 29-31 no school - spring break 20 or 21 April 1-2 no school - spring break cont. 23 last day for co-op classes 30 field trip 21 May 20 no school - birthday 21 last day of lessons 22 field trip? 14 or 15 total # days = 180 |
Posted in Home schooling
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The following blog entries will give you a small glimpse of the record keeping I do for our home school. I know this kind of thing will bore most of you, but I enjoying doing it -- sometimes a little bit too much for my own good. These will be taken from the pages of my home school journal. I keep one for every school year. It isn't required that I keep one, but it sure is handy to be able to look back and see when I did what with each child. Not to mention if our school is ever under fire, I'll have this documentation. It gives me peace of mind and like I said before, I enjoy doing it. Here is a sampling of the sections in my journal ( I promise I won't post about all of them):
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Posted in Home schooling
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As I sat at the computer yesterday making final decisions for Lauren's diploma, I thought back to when we first started home schooling. It's been eight years since we started. Many twists and turns in the road have brought us here, but the Lord has guided every step of our journey. Our family didn't start out home schooling. I was one of those people who swore up and down that they'd never do it. Jeff and I knew a couple of families that home schooled and occasionally he would mention the possiblity of us trying it out. Having no interest in it, I would flat out refuse. But, God had other plans for us. After staying home full time since before the kids were born I joined the work force when David, my youngest, was around four years old. Less than a year after heading to work our lives drastically came to a halt when we learned Morgan had a brain tumor. I came back home to stay with her while the others were in public school. She was in kindergarten and having had three surgeries to remove the tumor, she missed a total of 53 days of school that year. Her school gave me all of her lessons to work on at home during that time. She did a good job of keeping up, but after a while things started slipping a bit. The first thing we noticed was her handwriting. It had went from excellent to barely legible. Around the same time she got eye glasses, so we thought that was probably the problem and it would soon correct itself. Wrong! Morgan's first grade year was horrible. I had gone back to work, but was constantly having to leave work to go to the school and tend to Morgan's headaches, behavior problems, and school work problems (she was at risk for failing). At the request of her doctor we took her for a neuropyschological evaluation. She was given several tests over a period of four days to assess her frontal lobe functioning, fine motor, and visual motor skills. The neuropyschologist said that she demonstrated impairments in tasks requiring problem solving, strategic planning ability, and inhibition of overly familiar responses, caused from either the tumor itself or the surgeries to remove it. Her fine motor skills were mildly impaired and her visual motor skills were in the low average range. The recommendation was occupational therapy for her fine motor skills and different types of aid in the classroom for her other issues. So, back to the school we went, with doctor's orders in hand, to start the IEP process. "Suddenly" out of the blue, Morgan was making much better grades. Though at home she was still unable to complete her homework correctly. She literally went from making F's to A's overnight. Something seemed fishy to me! Previously I had actually witnessed the classroom aid giving students the answers on several occasions and wondered if this could be how Morgan was "suddenly" doing so well in class. Also around this time I was "asked" by her teacher and principal to not volunteer in Morgan's class anymore, even though they were the ones that initially begged me to come in the first place. The only reason given was that I might make the substitute teacher uncomfortable. So, it seemed obvious to us that Morgan was not going to get a quality education by staying in public school and the subject of home schooling was brought up again. Since I had already worked with her on lessons during her time absent from the classroom, I thought it wouldn't be too bad and we'd give it a try. Then my ever thoughtful husband said that if we were going to do it with one then we needed to do it with all four of our children. I agreed even though the thought of teaching them all at home scared me to death. In public school, Lauren finished 4th grade, Andrew finished 2nd grade, Morgan finished 1st grade, and David finished Kindergarten. We pulled them out during the following summer and started home schooling. Since Morgan had fell behind so much, we decided to have her repeat first grade at home. During our first year "at home" she did finally get the occupational therapy she needed through the public school, but because of budget cuts it only lasted one year. Starting out we said we'd try home schooling for a year and see how it went. We've never looked back! Our reasons for continuing have grown into so much more than when we first started. The Lord has led us down this path and I am so thankful that He did. My only regret is that I didn't heed His call to bring my children back home sooner.
And these words, which I command you this day, shall be in your heart: And you shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise up. ~ Deuteronomy 6:6-7
Lo, children are an heritage of the Lord: and the fruit of the womb is his reward. As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man; so are children of the youth. Happy is the man that has his quiver full of them: they shall not be ashamed, but they shall speak with the enemies in the gate. ~Psalm 127:3-5
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For Today... Outside my window... it's dark and soggy I am thinking... about nothing really -- after two different pre-algebra lessons to go over this week with Morgan and David, Algebra 2 with Andrew, and Consumer Math with Lauren, my brain is exhausted. It's filled with orders of operations, surface areas of solids, polynomial division with several variables, transportation ~ buying a new car, depreciation, buying a used car, and leasing a car. Yep, that's what I've been thinking about practically ALL day for the past few days. Sounds like fun doesn't it? From the learning room... this week in literature ~~ Lauren and Andrew are reading the unabridged version of The Pilgrim's Progress by John Bunyan; Morgan is reading The Yearling by Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings; David is reading Sergeant York and the Great War by Tom Skeyhill and Richard "LIttle Bear" Wheeler I am thankful for... my wonderful family ... thank you Lord! From the kitchen... I tried a new recipe last night, broccoli cheese soup garnished with homemade croutons. It was WoNdErFuL -- healthy too, no fake foods or preservatives in it! I don't like broccoli, but I love broccoli cheese soup. I can't wait to make it again. I am wearing... charcoal gray fleece pants and a black long sleeve shirt I am reading... The Hidden Flame (Acts of Faith series #2) by Davis Bunn and Janette Oke I am hoping... this rain will stop soon, the sun will come out and dry everything up I am creating... a two week menu for my next grocery shopping trip I am hearing... the kids talking, the dryer running, and Jeff snoring Around the house... the same old things, though I still have to take down my Christmas decorations. Maybe I'll get to it this weekend. I just haven't had time yet, nor have I really wanted to put them away. One of my favorite things... Cadbury eggs -- I found a bin full of them at Wal-mart last weekend. I ate one immediately after I got back to the van. I couldn't believe they were already out, it's only January. This could be a bad thing for me! A few plans for the rest of the week... home school co-op classes, possibly take down my Christmas stuff, finish tweaking lesson plans for next week and get assignment papers ready for the kids, finish watching the movie Luther --- not a whole lot going on this weekend Here is a picture thought I am sharing with you...
a bowl of my broccoli cheese soup To learn more about the Simple Woman's Daybook go to: http://thesimplewomansdaybook.blogspot.com
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Posted in Home schooling
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Back to School ~ This is our third week back after a much needed six week break over the holidays. I was glad to get back at it. I told the kids I was laying down the law this semester -- no distractions. When I say no distractions I mainly mean for me. I always think we'll have time to do this or that and get school work done. It usually doesn't work out like I plan for it to --- which leaves everyone rushing to get done and me lagging behind in checking work. So, I've decided to drastically limit activities that take me away from being a keeper at home -- whether it be the phone, internet, TV, grocery shopping trips during school time, etc. For this semester we have a few changes... (1) We dropped CBS (Community Bible Study). Being gone from home mid-week just wasn't working out for us. Instead we've decided to study various books of the Bible at home -- together -- with Jeff leading us. We're starting with the Gospel of John. (2) Morgan and David finished their Apologia General Science book before Christmas and have moved on to Physical Science. They seem to be enjoying it and are having a pretty easy time with it, given that they're doing it in half the time that Lauren and Andrew did. (3) No more Latin. We wrapped it up last week. (4) Home School Co-op classes have changed. The drama class ended and in it's place Andrew, Morgan, and David are taking P.E. Volleyball is first on the class agenda. Also, they opted to drop the art class and instead are taking a personal finance class by Dave Ramsey. I think they're enjoying this class much more than they thought they would. Lauren is assisting me in the nursery during both classes -- she loves playing with those babies. She didn't want to take on the personal finance class on top of the "in depth" consumer math course she's already taking at home. It didn't really matter to me what she chose, because I will be having her read a Dave Ramsey book that we already have before she graduates. I think that's it ... |
Posted in Quotes
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Training your children for their lives here and for heaven hereafter is the most important task you will ever take on, other than preserving your own soul before God. How you handle this task will affect your children for the rest of their lives, long after you are gone. What is more, you have one chance to do this job well. You can't reset the video to start over when you are older and wiser. ~ Ray Notgrass, Notgrass Company |
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Thank you to everyone who left a comment wishing me a Happy Birthday. I had a great day! |
Posted in Birthdays
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Today is our mom's birthday and I, Lauree, have hijacked her blog. Mwuahahahahaaa! We are planning on having a day of relaxtion, laziness, and fun! Blueberry Cobbler and ice cream is on the menu as well as some other fantabulous foods. Momma, we love you so much. You've no idea how much you mean to us. Have a wonderful day! Would you like to send Rif a birthday greeting? I know she would enjoy them and it would make her day even better. You can post a comment below. Thanks! |
Posted in Quotes
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