Need help starting to afterschool....

[Pamela H in Texas]

I'm likely going to start taking care of twin 7yr olds and a 9yo. Also, my ds does the virtual academy but I'd like to add a little more than we did last year.

 

Where can I get information about afterschooling. How do you balance getting enough exercise and activity, downtime, and the like as well as afterschooling.

 

What subjects do you mostly afterschool. For my ds, I know it will be Lang Arts things mostly, some Spanish. But for the younger kids, I was thinking of Latin, Music and History, things that are neglected more in public school. Maybe science would be a good one if we could find something that didn't seem very schoolish, more hands on?

 

Any ideas are greatly appreciated :)

[Caroline]

Hi Pamela. I'll tell you what we are doing this year. My second grader is going to do Prima Latina. We read Story of the World almost every night. Since he has some spare time during the school day, he will carry some books with him to read. He is also working through a Brain Quest 3rd grade book. We are going to start CW this year. For my eighth grader, we are doing Latina Christiana. He is reading History of the Ancient World by SWB. And he will be doing CW this year, too. We choose his extra reading for school according to the The Latin Centered Curriculum. His dad is teaching him to program in Java.

 

Since my husband and I are both engineers, we talk a lot about science and math at the dinner table. We watch a lot of Discovery Channel and discuss that, too.

 

I hope all of this helps you a little. Good luck.

[BabyBre]

Other than internet forums, I've never heard of places to find information on afterschooling. But I bet you can find everything you need from these parents right here! ;)

 

Our public school is woefully inadequate, so I afterschool (actually before school) almost as many subjects as when we were homeschooling full time. Here's what my dc (1st and 2nd grades) will be doing.

 

Math: Saxon 2 and Saxon 3 (respectively)

Grammar: FLL 1 and FLL 3

Writing: WWE 1 and WWE 3

Spelling: ps 1st grade list and Reason For.. B

History: STOW 3

Science: Noeo Chem 1

Latin: Song School Latin

 

All of this except history and science we do before school on alternating days, so we just move a little slower and lessons are often condensed. History we always read at bedtime, although, to our disappointment the projects have been cut. Science is usually done on weekends or sometimes afterschool.

 

My best advice for afterschooling is keep a consistent routine so there's no slacking off (because that's easy and tempting to do) and it's just what you do afterschool (or before, whatever the case may be).

[purplecow7]

For me I try not to duplicate what they are learning in school- thus why I loved the WTM book. I also try to afterschool what the kids want to learn and this is the difficult one because it jumps around alot based on their wants.

 

PE:

Soccer for my older two this is 8 months of the year and for my younger two this is just 6 weeks in the spring and fall

Swim Lesson in the summer

TKD - all year round 1-3 times a week depending on schedule

 

Music:

DS takes violin and this summer trying guitar

DD takes piano

DD/DS (4) I am trying to teach them based on color dots on the key board - not going that well.

Listen to classical music during meals.

 

Art:

About every two weeks I pulled out the water colors and we work on different techniques. We watch videos on different artist from the library and look at paintings. (this subject usually gets lost in the schedule)

 

Reading

Read alouds to all the children

DS 9, DD 8 15 minute of reading at bedtime. This summer doing the Barnes and Noble reading program, their school reading program and the library reading program.

DD/DS (4) - HOP program

 

Math

DS 9 - chalkdust algebra at his request

DD 7 - EPGY and Signapore 1B

DD/DS Signapore Kindergarten A

Math games, blokus, 24, rush hour, card games

 

Science

This subjects jumps around from chemistry to building rockets to paper airplane flights

 

History:

SOTW - mostly done in nighty reads and then I will get books from the library on the subject they are learning.

 

I always struggle with getting organized, not repeating what they are learning in school and doing what they want to learn.

[Jen500]

When my kids were in ps it was drawn to my attention that we were 'afterschoolers'. It was just our lifestyle, nothing really planned. Limited tv (mostly pbs), lots of trips to the library and reading time, lots of discussions on interesting topics, art and building projects. I know my boys would never have wanted to do ANYTHING out of a text or workbook after being at school all day.

[threetreasurs]

My view of afterschooling is that enrichment is beneficial. More creative work - learning about topics of interest.

 

Repeating school would wear on most kids.

[Pamela H in Texas]

It's been SO long since I had this age group. I've always cared for toddlers, some preschoolers. Having young schoolers seems so foreign to me! I guess I feel the need to have SOMETHING and yet I don't want it to be terribly schoolish. I just don't want us to settle into NOTHING educational. Schools here are awful and the dad likes me because I CAN offer more than tv and playground time.....now I just have to figure out HOW.

 

Wanna hear something funny? I completely believed in Better Late than Early and Unschooling when my own kids were those kids' ages. Obviously, I had enriching down-pat at SOME point. Maybe it'll all come back to me.

[Melinda in VT]

Will they be doing homework at your house? Do you know how much they will typically have? How long will they be at your house before they are picked up?

 

My kids usually want a snack when they first get home. You could read SOTW or another book tied into your historical period (or just a fun book) while they are eating. Then, you could either have them get right to their homework followed by some outdoor time or let them get some outdoor time for half an hour first and then do homework.

 

Once they've finished their homework, you could do a fun science experiment, history activity, or music study.

[Shay]

My questions are the same as Melinda's. It would be helpful to know if they will have to do homework at your house and such.

 

Last year I afterschooled my 7 and 9 yo. Like Melinda mentioned, they always sat down for a snack right away. While I had a captive audience I'd read a chapter from A Child's History of the World. They would always beg for more they enjoyed it so much. So, I'd say that is something I could recommend from experience. When they get home from a busy day, it is really nice for them to be able to just sit, eat, and listen.:) When you get to the sections on Mozart, Michaelangelo, etc., you could always let them hear the music or see some paintings, etc. I always tried to find a nice read aloud for bedtime that went with the time period..

 

Another thing my kids like to do is take nature walks. This year, we're going to get more formal with nature study than in the past. We have lots of field guides on hand, binoculars and have nature notebooks. Science at school is so far from this ( which is more textbook-y and vocabulary based)....therefore, my kids really enjoy it.

 

Shay

[Mama2Three]

My DC are much younger than yours, but for us BEFORE schooling is the only way that we could get work done. DS NEEDED to be able to run around after school (literally RUN!), and with an early bedtime, morning was the only "extra" time in the day.

 

I agree with a previous poster who said about making a schedule and sticking to it. During the school year, he would do about 15-20 minutes of school in the morning (phonics and handwriting), then if there was time (ie, he didn't dawdle too much) he could play or have some computer time (phonics game or typing in a word document) before catching the bus. This year, we'll concentrate on phonics, math, and handwriting, with SOTW thrown in. Perhaps as DC get older we'll do more enrichment, but for now we are sticking to the basics to lay a strong foundation. That said, I think that RS math is a lot different than the math he gets at school and a lot more fun, too. ETC might not be quite as fun, but still different than he gets at school and he enjoys the sense of accomplishment.

 

Also, no TV time during the school week. He rarely complains because that's just what is expected.