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Barb.b
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| Posted: Aug 08 2013 at 7:34am | IP Logged
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So, when are you starting back (for those who don't year round school)? And what do you need to do before to prepare! I am getting back to school 8/19. I very loosely know what is happening in my 2 kids subjects (grade 10 and 5) SOOOO - I need to get all that is in my head on paper and in binders! This year I am going to have 1 big binder for each kid and those will have year long goals, semester brakedown of assignments/tests and pace through the book as well as weekly assignments (which I plan to do about 1 month at a time of the weekly). So I will start today with printing out forms for goals, semester calendar and weekly assignments. A lot of that will actually come from the teacher guides for each subject with minor tweaking. I think most of the texts I choose this year actually have a suggested plan in the teacher packet/book so I will start with that and tweak a bit now and then as we go. BUt I have FINALLY learned after (drum roll please) 13 years of homeschooling (gee - is that right - I feel old!) that if I don't put it down now - we WILL get off track!
I also am going to start both kids literature books myself as I really do think THAT goes better if I read the books too (even if I read them before!).
I have spent much time rearranging our school area - I think that was needed but I think I was also procrastinating the inevitable paper planning I need to do  .
I would love to hear what you all are doing!
Barb
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SallyT
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We start back the 19th -- we always start our fall term right after the Assumption.
I've already sorted books into my two younger kids' boxes, queued up reading on their Kindles, and gathered school supplies. I'm still tweaking schedules, but each child will have a block schedule (broken down by subject/day of the week) in a page protector in his/her box, as well as a chore rota. I've thought through a couple of weeks' worth of copywork, but I tend to do that on the fly -- I'll pull from a psalm in the Daily Office, or from something we're reading. So I don't plan in too much detail too far ahead. I also don't make new plans for each week -- we'll be with the books we're reading, in most cases, for the year, so assignments (which are basically "read the next thing in this book") don't change from week to week.
I've also gathered books for my "basket" -- we'll be starting our days with Life of Fred math together, then a brief grammar lesson (also together), then copywork, then individual, independent reading. Then at lunch we'll do our read-alouds from the basket.
For my older son, we've sorted out his outsourced courses (chem and German), and all his other plans I've done in blog format, with a clickable schedule, and emailed that post to him, with instructions to flag it so it stays on top. That way, as he's on the go, he always has his work at his fingertips. I still have to figure out his math for this year . . . that's the only thing we're lacking. Not a minor detail, but I should have it squared away by the end of this week.
I'm often really flustered and scattered this time of the year, but for some reason this year I'm just antsy to get started. I hope that means we have a great year lined up.
Sally
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pumpkinmom
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| Posted: Aug 08 2013 at 9:37am | IP Logged
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We started back after a 8-9 week break on July 22nd. It is going great, but I feel like I still want to be on summer break. I think the boys could have used some more time on summer fun and time with friends. But, we start back really early to have some extra weeks off during the school year. That is a must for me! Of course, this summer has been unusual and cool and rainy the past month (instead of hot, humid, and dry).
I guess I'm trying to come up with a different plan for next year. I could give up one week of break during the year and start one week later. Would that be enough? (Thinking aloud.) I also thought about starting back in July and just doing 2-3 weeks and then take a break until public school starts back, which is late August. I really just feel alone in our early start back. All the other local homeschoolers (who stick to the public school schedule) give me a weird look when I say we have started back. All my kid's friends are public school and we are being ignored because they don't want to bother us during school (I think they also think we are nuts to start so early), but our late afternoons were suppose to be free for time with friends or other activities and that's not happening. I'm trying to think this out for a quick and easy solution. I'm tempted to take a week off for the last of summer fun and make it up when we normally take a week off for Thanksgiving.
Any thoughts?
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Homeschooling my little patch of Ds-14 and Ds-10
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SallyT
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We've sometimes schooled a little later into the summer, like until the end of June/early July. To me that's easier than starting early (emphasis on "to me" -- that's not advice!). Typically we can stay in our groove until some outside activity, like a camp, comes up, which usually doesn't happen till the first week of July. Then it's totally summer.
I also just find it easier to follow the public school schedule and my husband's academic schedule. We do maybe take fewer breaks during the school year, though if we do take breaks, I count whatever we do as "school," whether it's traveling, doing Advent/Christmas preparation, observing Holy Week, or whatever. Some years I've even counted all the summer as "school" -- we were just having a lot of masterly inactivity, doing fun reading and nature study and "geography" ie traveling . . . that kind of thing. There are some things I like to try to finish, but I don't sweat it that much if we haven't done absolutely every lesson in the math book by the time we can't take it any more.
I know it's hard to swim against the stream, and I don't know that "give up and swim with it" is really the answer. But I have wanted to give my kids a lot of open-ended time in the summer, and I have wanted them to see friends, be available to travel when their dad is also free, etc. And it's pretty tough to be schooling when the college student is home on break!
Again, this is not advice! It's just what I've found easier to do over the years, given the particularities of our family life and my husband's work schedule. If he weren't on an academic schedule, I'd probably be calibrating ours to accommodate his free times, whenever they were.
Sally
PS: one thought: what about free mornings in the summer, with an hour or so of school after lunch, when the day is at its hottest and lots of kids go home for lunch? I often envision this, though it never happens at my house.
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JodieLyn
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I have books coming in the mail starting today 
We've tried following the school schedule around here and it only works so-so. I sat down with my 4 oldest kids and a calender and we set up a school schedule that I hope will meet our needs better.
The hardest part will be that after talking with the kids they decided that starting school later and more days off was worth working on Fridays. The schools here have a 4 day week. But I've also told them that when they get their work done for the week, they're done so hopefully they'll only work Friday mornings and get everything done.
So all that to say.. it looks like we're going to try starting right after Labor Day.
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lapazfarm
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We started this week, which is very early for us, because I need to leave wiggle room in sept/oct for moving (to a small village on Bristol Bay).
So far it is going well. I don't usually plan much, but with only 1 kiddo this year, I felt I needed to make myself more accountable.
So, I did plan some, though my "plans" tend to look more like outlines than detailed daily plans. I generally know where we are going for each subject, and have chosen monthly artists, literary elements, grammar, and faith focus. My daughter has some leaning issues that mean I really have to tailor most of what we do to her strengths and weaknesses,so writing and math especially have to be played by ear as we go.
Science is my fav subject, so we have a fun year of earth science planned, and history this year is pre-history, from the Big Bang to the first civilizations.
So far, so good. I think it is going to be a fun year for us.
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us-schooling in beautiful Fairbanks, Alaska.
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Willa
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Only one in the homeschool, this year, Theresa!  That must be an adjustment!
I thought it was interesting that you said you had to plan more with one to keep yourself accountable, because I just realized this too. I "only" have had three this past couple of years but just because of this, I wasn't as careful to be prepared.
My preparations look quite a bit like Barb's. I made a year's syllabus in outline, by subject, then printed out plans for the next 6 weeks for each child, by week (I put them in separate colored folders). Then I use those to write out daily plans in subject books for each child.
I am even doing this with my senior for the time being. I used to write out his plans on a blog but I find it somewhat easier to stay in touch with his work if I handwrite. I do put memory work and vocabulary and that kind of thing weekly on the blog and then he works at it on a daily basis.
Having the daily written plans separate from the typed-out plans is useful because it allows me to see quickly how far we are getting off track in a given subject so I can reprioritize if necessary.
The written daily plans only take a few minutes in the morning before everyone else gets up. On weekends I do more preparation like printing out things, reading ahead in the kids' books, etc.
So far, so good. We have been back to school for about 3 weeks and the system has weathered all kinds of life interruptions. Though I already know it's going to be hard to stick to the pace as written, unless life calms down, but that is nothing new.
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Willa
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Becky Parker
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I'm going to try writing out the daily plans this year too. I agree with Willa that writing things out by hand keeps me more connected with what is going on.
Instead of doing the writing in the morning though, since I know things get hectic early around here, I'm going to try a different approach...
Each child will have a notebook for writing out the plans of the day but we will do it the day before. I'm hoping this system also keeps me on track with checking the kid's work, which I tend to get way behind on.
So, here's what I'm thinking. Each day, when I meet with my child I'll look at the work he has completed then, in his notebook, I'll write the next day's work. That way, as I write, I can explain anything that needs clarification. Also, since he is right there with me, I will know that he heard me explain the work, saw me write the work, and now has the work directions in his notebook in his hands. I'm trying to cover all my bases so I don't hear, "but I didn't know I was supposed to do that!".
We're starting our year next week so we'll see how this goes!
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CrunchyMom
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My boys are in German camp this week and next, which I actually count as school, and we plan to start the 19th as well.
I had thought our newest little one would be well over a month old rather than not quite 4 weeks when we start, but I did get our plans in order early in anticipation of his arrival. Books and supplies have been rolling in this week, and I will likely spend my pockets of sleeping baby time next week organizing.
I decided to go with our version of Maryan's daily assignment notebooks. I did a trial in the Spring and decided it was our best bet for keeping things rolling with a newborn. I don't think I would be able to keep on top of writing out daily assignments as we go, though I can see the advantage of that for sure!
I also have a sort of revolving list of lessons in a notebook for me so that I can pick and choose the things I want to facilitate with us together (like picture study, nature study, etc...) based on the time I have and the cooperation of the baby.
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Barb.b
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Becky Parker wrote:
I'm going to try writing out the daily plans this year too. I agree with Willa that writing things out by hand keeps me more connected with what is going on.
Instead of doing the writing in the morning though, since I know things get hectic early around here, I'm going to try a different approach...
Each child will have a notebook for writing out the plans of the day but we will do it the day before. I'm hoping this system also keeps me on track with checking the kid's work, which I tend to get way behind on.
So, here's what I'm thinking. Each day, when I meet with my child I'll look at the work he has completed then, in his notebook, I'll write the next day's work. That way, as I write, I can explain anything that needs clarification. Also, since he is right there with me, I will know that he heard me explain the work, saw me write the work, and now has the work directions in his notebook in his hands. I'm trying to cover all my bases so I don't hear, "but I didn't know I was supposed to do that!".
We're starting our year next week so we'll see how this goes! |
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Love this!! In fact I think it will work for us!!! Especially my ds in 5th grade. I know my weekly plans will NOT be detailed - usually just what I think our pace through the assignments, and books. . . will be.
But I think the note book is great! I was thinking - when writing out the plans for the next day - leave a space next to each for my ds to jot down some notes - like what he may have trouble with and such. That way he can jot down why he may have not gotten to something or what he had a hard time with while it is fresh in his mind!
Barb
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Becky Parker
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| Posted: Aug 12 2013 at 5:50am | IP Logged
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Barb.b wrote:
[
I was thinking - when writing out the plans for the next day - leave a space next to each for my ds to jot down some notes - like what he may have trouble with and such. That way he can jot down why he may have not gotten to something or what he had a hard time with while it is fresh in his mind!
Barb |
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Excellent idea! I'm all about getting my kids to take ownership, or responsibility, for their work once they get to those middle school years.
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Barb.b
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| Posted: Aug 14 2013 at 3:59pm | IP Logged
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Becky Parker wrote:
Barb.b wrote:
[
I was thinking - when writing out the plans for the next day - leave a space next to each for my ds to jot down some notes - like what he may have trouble with and such. That way he can jot down why he may have not gotten to something or what he had a hard time with while it is fresh in his mind!
Barb |
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Excellent idea! I'm all about getting my kids to take ownership, or responsibility, for their work once they get to those middle school years. |
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A STENO PAD! Its just the right size for on top of his desk AND is already has a nice red dividing line down the middle!!! We just list subjects and maybe draw a dark horizontal line between them separating them!
Barb
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4Real Forums : Planning and Ordering our Days
Topic: start of school
