As the year goes on we make changes. A lot. This page will be updated as we do.
If you follow the page at all during the day, you'll see a lot of stuff gets added, and more gets erased. I had good advice once to write down all I plan to do that day and then cross off what didn't get done, rather than to write down what did happen.
This way you can take the cross-offs and move them to the next day.
You should also have some space under for things that have been changed, or to detail for your memory or records more specific notes.
1. September 9:
The block plan is nice, but when the kids get to the non-fun subjects they balk if they haven't been on a schedule doing it. So we are going to add in every morning 1 (only 1) page of math and the readings from the math (Fred and Murderous), and then on the big math rotation days we'll do more and try to get in games from Family Math. Still not sure how we're going to get through a whole school year that way, but it's just September, we'll cross that bridge, right now they need to get into the mechanics of it and reinforce last year's work, rather than jump into new concepts.
We'll also add spelling from 6 Minutes a Day.
Considering a Bible section, also.
Need to be outside much, much more, and trying to figure out how to get time in to work (outside work on garden, etc. and inside work on crafts to sell next year at fairs and to bring to county fair to reinforce and bring in business).
Further updates are going to be published as comments to make dating and dividing easier.
ReplyDeleteHaving a hard time keeping on course again, every bit of work is like pulling teeth, so we're going to make a few additions to the program.
ReplyDeleteEach day they do one page of math, one hour of assigned reading, one hour of writing, and their chore, they get to mark as a day. Sixty days gets them dinner out with dad, one on one, restaurant of their choice.
Yes, it's extrinsic, but long term and mild, and activity based, at least.
We're also going to quiz periodically on our extra work -- the science, history, etc. -- and if they do well on the quizzes we will have a skate day or swim day with Mass or hiking. I won't link these ahead of time, just bring one in when/if they both do well.
We're going to introduce chores, and I hate chores, so we're going to make them different. One kid irons, one bakes bread, one brushes the dogs and cats.
We'll also introduce a hike a week and daily yard time that's more structured, they do better with unstructured when they're out there, but the oldest isn't getting out.
February, and we are starting our huge math block.
ReplyDeleteEach kid has Saxon and has to get through a bunch each day. Younger kid has Saxon 3 and has to do four to six workbook pages each day.
Middle and older kid each do four lessons a day, with practice quizzes one or two each day. Exploration and tests each count as a lesson.
We only do lesson practices, not mixed practices. We do the mental math for each lesson, but skip the problem solving.
They check their own lesson as they go and figure out what they did wrong at that moment -- last year I checked them and then they corrected their work the next day before the new lesson.
They need one on one to do this, so the other kids do their hour of reading fiction, their hour of writing, and then a half hour of reading nonfiction while I'm working with one kid.
Makes for long days, but working so far.
Hopefully we can then finish math in two to three months, then we'll go back to one Math Mammoth sheet each day to keep the math from getting rusty.
We are now done with science, although if I see some videos I'll show those.
History we are between the wars, we'll have to continue with that as we can.
Math blocks worked well for awhile, but unfortunately I scheduled it poorly -- if we did it again, I'd make sure we started earlier so that we didn't run into spring. There is just too much to do out there to have the huge days inside.
ReplyDeleteTalked to my sister and she helped me identify what the blocks were for -- the kids need daily math practice for solidifying skills and then introduction to new concepts. The blocks were the new concept parth, the Math Mammoth the repetition part. We were doing a lot of repetition in our block, too -- several skills quizzes a day, lots of mental math. Love those things, but they are time consuming. So new modification.
Youngest stays with three to four pages of Saxon a day, she is working a few grades up so that should give her the new skills.
Middle and oldest do five Saxon chapters and maybe an investigation one day, with lesson practices. Next day they study independently and take the test. This gives them new skills, also helps them learn how to study independently -- middle child is learning how to take notes, etc. This is a skill they don't have, because we test infrequently, we need to work more on 'studying" and what that means, maybe find a program, even.
If they pass with a C, we move on. If they don't, they have to go back and do the mixed practices for those chapters. That's a bit of a carrot and stick, but also the mixed practice review should get the new skill better in their mind to pass the test and move on if they didn't get it the first way.
First attempt, middle child worked very hard and didn't pass, so we talked (she was upset) about how to do the mixed practices, she said she could do 30 problems a day. I told her let's just do 15 a day, last three chapters, this time, and take it easy. She doesn't need to be pushed to work hard since she tried very hard, she just didn't quite have the concepts, so take the pressure off and just learn the concepts then move on. Worked out well.
Meanwhile, trying to get in more hands on, more outside, and more art and music.