"Calendar Year=School Year" (and other non US standard year) Educators, Post your Updates Here :)

[IsabelC]

I always feel a bit left out when the 'planning for x grade' or 'how has your year started' threads are going, because while lots of it is interesting and useful, our school year runs from February to December so everything is out of whack with what most people are doing. 

 

I was wondering, do we have enough people to start threads pertaining to the calendar year school year?

 

I would love to hear and discuss how people are going with the new 2014 school year.

[lewelma]

Southern hemisphere here. We are 7 weeks into the school year and this year is set to be so much better than last year. I have made these changes:

 

I have finally figured out how to make a schedule that my younger can work to, AND I have finally found a math program that I think we will keep (last year we tried 5 (yes 5) different preA programs).

 

For my older, I have decided to outsource math. His 7th grade year was the last that I will be largely involved in. Sad, I know. But it has opened me up to doing a great job at English and Science. So that is a good thing. He is really really enjoying his AoPS classes, and they are making him work very hard. We have also decided to do writing in a 3 day block every 3 weeks. This allows him to focus on his maths, but also get the writing in with minimal complaint.

 

Finally, I have decided to do writing without a curriculum for both boys, and it looks to be a huge success. Great compositions are being produced with a feel of 'real' to them rather than the somewhat contrived work we were doing before.

 

Overall, we are set for a great year! Especially, because my dh has about 2 weeks left until he finishes writing his dissertation!

 

Ruth in NZ

[IsabelC]

Hi  :seeya:

 

Ruth, that is exciting about your bloke being nearly finished with his dissertation :D

 

May I ask how you do writing without a curriculum? Do you give them topics to write about? 

 

Sadie, sounds good :)  Are you still on the Dr Who thing? 

 

 

 

I am still at the stage of "making it up as I go along" of this year. I wrote my plan in a hurry due to only deciding to pull ds out of school 2 weeks before school was due to go  back, so it wasn't all that specific.

 

We have got maths as our focus subject, so doing MM every morning. We are covering grade 4 for the third year in a row (he did it at home during his 3rd grade year, then forgot half of it while learning nothing in 4th grade at school), but hope to be finished with that by midyear and cover grade 5 straight afterwards. 

 

Language arts, he is so behind it's difficult to know what to concentrate on. We've been doing something each day, mixing it up with spelling, grammar, dictations, composition etc, but I'm thinking of just picking a few programs to work through more systematically as he seems to be thriving on routine and order at the moment.

 

Science, we are trying to finish up chemistry that we didn't complete the year before last, as well as doing seasonal stuff and topics of interest. 

 

He is also doing music in the form of basic computer composition and sound engineering.

 

Unschooling himself in archery and photography (this week, anyway).

 

He has to select a sport but he has been putting this off. Athletics has finished up till next spring, and he is refusing to go back to soccer, which was his winter sport last year.

[abba12]

Jan start here, though eldest is too young to be official, she seems to be advanced and is thriving with a structured school day which seems to be quickly becoming about american K leveled, as opposed to the pre k I was anticipating (dd1 turned 3 in feb, so either way you look at it, I think I'm in for a wild ride with this little munchkin. She's just so curious! We practically had a science lesson this morning about my blood test, she thought it fascinating)

 

I have to admit, this being the first year I am considering myself a homeschooler, even if others don't due to dds age, I remember exactly why I love this. DH and I were both homeschooled and its so nice to be back and on the other side this time! I've been involved with homeschooling even since I graduated myself since I still have both siblings and siblings-in-law finishing up and lots of family friends, so I never really left the community, but actually getting to teach my own daughter... maybe the novelty will wear off but right now it feels pretty special.

 

I like a lot of american curriculums so I actually find their august start quite useful. I read all their threads then place a big order with rainbow resources in september or october to give me time to handle the books and plan before christmas rush. (benefit of being homeschooled, you figure out this kind of thing early!)

 

We should definitely start having our own planning threads though. I saw a few before christmas

[IsabelC]

Wow, that must be really exciting and interesting to be starting home schooling after graduating from a home ed family, and definitely extra special now it's your own little munchkin :) I'm guessing it must be quite rare for a family to have both parents ex home schooled students, as well as others in your family circle. 

 

And yep, I guess it is useful to read all the reviews before deciding what resources to order.

[Rosie_0801]

I had to move our lit/religion readalouds off the shelf in my room into the lounge because they were intimidating me.  :huh:

 

We're doing pretty well at the moment. We've started CSMP K and Miquon this year and dd seems enthusiastic about them. I feel kind of silly doing three Prep curriculums (did MEP R last year) but better to do more than too little and one would have been too little. I am relieved to find that which looked *way* too hard a year ago is looking perfectly reasonable now.

 

Once the Arabic 101 podcast people upload the rest of the alphabet vids and I work out how to teach piano when I don't know it, we'll be cruisey!

 

 

[IsabelC]

Once the Arabic 101 podcast people upload the rest of the alphabet vids and I work out how to teach piano when I don't know it, we'll be cruisey!

 

If you lived down here, I would be happy to offer free piano lessons. Pity about that pesky lil' strip of water!

[Elfknitter.#]

So are Southern Hemisphere folks the dominant party here? If so, can my family and I immigrate and live more with the sheep rather than the croc eating snakes please? :p

 

We go roughly mid-January to mid-November-ish. The start of this year was a bit borked for us (for lack of a better term) due to mine and dh's work schedules. So I had a panic attack in February because I realized how far behind in math we are. Once calm, I figured out a plan of sorts to remedy our situation. So we're working on that along with trying to finish out some basics for language arts. Science is piece meal and as best as we can fit it in right now.

 

We're working on basics: MM, Evan Moor Daily Language for mechanics and Brave Writer. Dd does SWO and ds is about to switch to EM Building Spelling Skills. This month we're reading Grace Lin's Where the Mountain Meets the Moon. I'm using the Arrow Guide and PW guide. We're also covering California History, which is how we're currently including some science work. I'd like to add in some Daily Paragraph Editing and Lively Latin 1 for both.

 

By summer, I'd like to start OM 6 Ancient Civ & English with dd, continue BW and MM, and finish SWO, By fall, we can start Caesar's English and RSO Biology 2. For ds in the fall, I'd like to continue with MM and EM Spelling. With both, I'd like to continue with BW and LL. I'm hoping to include ds in science with dd but I haven't asked him if that's what he'd like to do. I'm not sure about history with him.

[Rosie_0801]

If you lived down here, I would be happy to offer free piano lessons. Pity about that pesky lil' strip of water!

 

Isn't it? It'd only be a few hours drive otherwise. :(  

 

The lady in the piano shop between art class and Mum's place (also several hours from each other and from my place) has offered to be our piano consultant. She homeschooled her son and has an acquired brain injury, so found my descriptions of how dd's echolalic brain works or won't work intriguing. Now I have to buy something to get us started. I'd just decided on Pianimals, but really I don't know enough to know what I'm supposed to want. Reviewers on here seem to think that's the best for small kids whose mothers know nothing about music. We have Theory Time we've just started and I have her doing scales with her left hand because her left side is so weak. Is it good to start with numbers instead of actually reading music? 

 

 

I love Theory Time. They are my favourite people in the whole of America (no offence to the rest of you) because they only charged me $9.95 shipping for two books and two games! 

[Rosie_0801]

Have you looked at Downunder Lit lately, Sadie? I think they have a new geography program out. Don't remember the details though, other than it is too old for my grade 1 kid.

 

http://www.homeschoolingdownunder.com/history_geography_homeschool_resources/australian-geography-book-for-kids.html

Maybe not *really good*

[lewelma]

What exactly is geography?  Is that like current events or super modern history or cultures?  or what?  I wonder if I even cover it.

 

Ruth in NZ

[Grover]

Southern Hemisphere (NZ) calendar year here too.  This is the first year DD has joined us and it has made for a whole new dynamic.  So far so good.

[lewelma]

What I'm looking for at the moment is a really good geography for Years 6/7/8. I've looked at Galore Park - very UK centric. Besides that my options seen like textbooks. Any ideas, Southern contingent ?

 

I found it!  Cambridge press puts out an entire series of textbooks for Australia and NZ including Geography:

 

https://www.cambridge.edu.au/education/search?q_subject=Australian+Curriculum

 

ETA: oh, stink.  it looks like it is too high a level.  Perhaps you could go half speed for a younger child?

 

ETA again: yea!  I do cover it with my younger.  He reads National Geographic cover to cover each month.  That has to count for something.  He is a year 6 in NZ. Is that the same for Australia?  It has really great articles covering all the different strands in the IGCSE geography curriculum that I found above.  Perhaps that might work for your dc?

[Rosie_0801]

I think geography would be cool if we could learn to make one of those altitude maps of the hill we live on. Or maybe that's called something else and not geography? Still, it'd be cool.

[Slache]

Can I be nosy and ask why you school the calendar year, rather than the US school year ?

 

I plan to have a January to November school year so that we have NO school during the holidays and so that my kids will have some time off before college without being behind.

[LMD]

:seeya: Pick me!  We do Jan - Dec, we're actually on hols since my dh has had 3 weeks off this march.  This year is going well so far, made a couple of changes, added a preschooler in - he's thriving with some more structure - thinking about trying to jam latin in our schedule for next month, way too many social opportunities/excursions!  This year I'm also working a few hours a week (teaching piano to some 5,6,7,8,9 & a 14 year old actually.  Rosie, are you in Vic?  We're currently in west melb but planning to move near ballarat in the not-too-distant future), and DD started a sport (archery) so our week is more full than ever!

[Rosie_0801]

Yup, I'm in Vic. Up near Puckapunyal which is a *minimum* of an hour and a half from anywhere I want to go!!

 

My dd is doing archery too now. I've just bought her a bow and she's looking forward to taking it to Bash next month. (The SCA monthly gathering in Hawthorn, which is mostly Melbourne people, but does have us and some of the Ballarat peeps along when we have the petrol money. :p ) She's thrilled to bits with it, and I'll be happy when our blunts order comes through so I can make up some arrows to use at home. No sharps at home. Uh uh.

[awisha.]

*raises hand* Jan-Dec schooler here. Don't ask me how we are going because I don't even know how we are going yet :lol

Also don't ask me how much money I have wasted buying programs from the US only to find they don't work for us (even when I was SO sure they'd be perfect for us).

 

Grade 1 DS is Rightstart Maths, learning to read/phonics with LEM and Getty Dubay Italics handwriting.

Grade 3 DD is Rightstart Maths, Reading/phonics/spelling etc with LEM, GDI handwriting, English/Grammar with Rod & Staff (Awesome deal on fb group $26 for grades 2-8 textbooks!! We are using the religious exercises but we don't make a fuss about them IYKWIM), Writing With Ease and a couple of random workbooks.

History and Science together and Atelier Art with another family.

 

Girl Guides, Scouts, swimming and gymnastics are outside activities.

 

I *cannot* wait for July/tax time to buy/plan for next year.

[LMD]

Ah, that's a fair way from us. We have 20acres near Ballarat.

What is sca? dh got bows for himself and our oldest 2, they had fun painting up targets and he shoots with them a couple times a week. They love it! Hope your DD enjoys it!

[Rosie_0801]

SCA is the medieval re-enactment mob. There is a small group in Ballarat, but I don't know how active they are.

 

20 acres, eh? Sounds lovely. I'm living on my aunt's 88, but I'd be quite happy with 3 of my own, a straw bale house and enough solar panels. *floats off into dreamland*

 

Well, dreamland won't do me any good, so I'll climb back into my Arabic dictionary and do some work. A friend and I are going to have a go at writing a series of beginners Arabic readers for people who don't know what they are doing. Happily her husband speaks modern standard and will be able to tell us everything we've done wrong. Which will probably be everything except the idea. :p

[LMD]

Oh cool! Wasn't familiar with that acronym. :) archery would be pretty popular i presume.

that does sound dreamy! Our block is pretty darn close to a dream come true. We don't have a house on it yet but have contemplated straw bale. Hoping to up there full time in a year or so. For the moment it's weekending, the kids love it.

That is quite a project! Sounds like fun. I am terrible with languages, so it's an admirable task from my perspective!

[nansk]

 

 

I always feel a bit left out when the 'planning for x grade' or 'how has your year started' threads are going..

In Singapore, and yes, I feel the same way. I tend to buy ahead of time, so if I am looking for something used from the US, I buy it around May-Sept, when everyone is selling off their stuff.

 

My dd started 4th grade in Jan. At home, we moved up to MM4/5, started MCT Island, and gave up on SWR due to lack of time and because she is a good speller.

[Rosie_0801]

Oh cool! Wasn't familiar with that acronym. :) archery would be pretty popular i presume.

 

Here's there contact page: http://cairnfell.lochac.sca.org/contact/ It's a bit out of date, and if you go to FB, only about 5 of the members actually live in Ballarat. It looks like they only do training on Tuesday nights at the moment, but they do have the occasional Friday night eat and chat. We used to be part of that group when we lived in Bendigo. I like them and wish we were within commuting distance now. :)

 

That is quite a project! Sounds like fun. I am terrible with languages, so it's an admirable task from my perspective!

 

I have become more of a kinaesthetic learner since I had kids, so learning another spoken language seems even less possible than it did when I was younger! My brain seems not to learn the way curriculums are written. But why let my inability to learn Arabic stop me helping someone write a set of Arabic readers? :rofl:

 

[Chelli]

i don't live in the southern hemisphere, but we LOVE schooling on a Jan. to Nov. schedule. I even wrote a blog post about it. LOL!

 

Anyway, back to the original question, things are going well here. After a bit of a rocky start for my oldest and a curriculum change a month into our school year, we are back on track and going strong!

[IsabelC]

Great to hear from so many people. I'm surprised there are people who school the calendar year when that's not standard where you live, but it does make sense when you explain why, and I guess there's no particular need for all home schoolers to follow the 'official' school year.

 

My kids are into archery too, and we are a little bit involved with SCA now as well. 

[IsabelC]

So how are we all going?

 

My kids are a week into second term. The girls are very tired (mainly because their momma was unwise enough to let them sleep in during the holidays, hence it's been a shock to go back to getting up at 6am when they were used to 8-9am) but otherwise OK. My son and I have a plan for what we aim to achieve with home schooling, and he's going OK so far. Moaning, groaning, a bit of crying one day but no full-on meltdowns, so that's positive, for him.

[abba12]

Extended 'easter break' as baby is almost here. I actually cope better with a newborn than with pregnancy, so I expect we will be back into full swing when DH goes back to work after paternity leave, so I don't feel guilty taking the rest of the pregnancy off. Getting a little jealous with all the end of year/summer/finishing up talk though! It's just a little different when you finish in December because you have Christmas and everything going on. Even in Australia where everyone else also finishes in December, it just feels... different I think, to a midyear finish.

[mprez]

We live in Japan where the school year starts in April. DD's bday is February so I decided it is best to start April than wait for September to begin kindergarten. I like the schedule for Japan's SY, start in April, 6 weeks summer break from July, a week or so holiday break for Christmas and New year and 6 weeks spring break from March.

[angela in ohio]

Not the calendar year, but we school August to July, and so I feel particularly out of whack when everyone is doing the "whew! we're finished" dance in late May or early June. :-D

 

[IsabelC]

 

A friend lent us Life of Fred. We've done a couple of chapters and ds is finding it amusing. I think it's plain weird, but hey, a little math enthusiasm is nothing to sneeze at!

 

We have LoF and do little bursts of it from time to time. The kids aren't super-keen, but it's still more popular than 'proper' maths. I think it would be the best maths series in the world if it weren't so US-centric and Christian-based (not that I blame him, of course, but I can still fantasise!)

[LMD]

we're having a crazy run. We had most of march off as dh took all his annual leave. And then we've had 4 weeks of on again off again sickness. We've done like a week of school work in 2 months and it's starting to stress me out! The illness and non sleeping baby is taking it's toll!

On the plus side we've had some good excursions and met some nice new homeschooling friends.

Oh, and I ordered the next beast academy books for DD so I'm excited and stalking the postie!

[LMD]

Yes, we're looking forward to a symphony orchestra excursion in a couple of weeks!  

[lewelma]

1 week into term 2.  Older is doing well, really really well.  You know it won't last. :001_smile:

 

Younger is having the sleep-in trouble Isabel mentioned, sigh.  We are still not sorted, but it is coming around.  His maths is a mess!  I've got just so many holes to fill; this became abundantly clear today.

 

Tutoring 3 other students, 2 of which come tomorrow, so more plans to make.....

 

Ruth in NZ

[kiwik]

NZ afterschooler. Just finished first week of second term. Ds5 had his birthday last weekend so started school on Monday. He survived the first week well. I hope it will continue as with his birthdate they will want to keep him in year one for next year and I want him to go straight to year 2 (apparently this wouldn't be a problem in the rest of the country but here they use a cut off 2 months ahead of the official ministry one). Keeping on with WWE1, Evan moor grade one (filling holes) and stage 5 maths.

[Just Another Jen]

I school year round.  So I just jump in to all the threads and talk about wherever I'm at.  :laugh:

 

 

Me too!

[IsabelC]

The more the merrier  :seeya:

 

KiwiK, I have no idea how the NZ system works. Did I misunderstand, or are you saying that kids start when they actually turn 5, not if they turned 5 by a specific cut-off date? So kids move in and out of classes throughout the year according to their birthdays?

[lewelma]

Kids start school the day they turn 5, so this 'new entrants' (year 1) class starts small at the beginning of the year and gradually gets larger. Depending on your birthday, a kid will spend somewhere between 6 months and 1.5 years in a year 1 class, so that in year 2 all kids start in February and do a full academic year in their grade (Feb - Dec). Kiwik's son's birthday is such that he will have 1.5 years in the year 1 class unless they can make an exception and let him bump up to year 2 after only 6 months in year 1. As it is set now, he will be one of the oldest in his class in year 2 because of the May birthday cutoff. In America he would not have started until February next year at 5 3/4 and done one academic year (Feb-Dec) of year 1 (which is USA kindergarten).

 

I will add that in some schools they separate out the new entrants and year 1 classes, so that kids don't feel like they are in year 1 for 2 academic years. Our local school would have her son in 'new entrants' for 2014, and move to 'year 1' in 2015. Kids spend somewhere between 1 month (a November birthday) and 6 months (a May birthday) in the new entrants class, and then all start year 1 in February. Kids with Feb - April birthdays would just begin year 1 a few months late, and join the year 1 class on their 5th birthday.

 

Clear as mud.

 

Ruth in NZ

[Amy M]

Didn't see this in March, but we also school according to the calendar year. (In South Africa) we start mid-January right around my birthday. :/ This year is going well so far, but I didn't get a big break in between school years, since we took an extended break in the middle of last year to visit the States. Now that everyone's talking about summer break coming up and being almost done, I'm feeling a little sad, being at the beginning of the workload!

 

This year, I added a kindergartner and do a bit of preschool with my 3yo. I also began teaching my son piano. And I began tutoring some village boys in math, so we'll see how that continues. My husband took foreign language and Bible for me this year, so that helps. Otherwise I'm trying to find a balance and not put too much curriculum into our schedule. I'm also trying to begin self-education with TWEM.

[IsabelC]

So how are we all doing with planning for the new school year?

 

Are you having a summer break? Continuing through the 'holidays'? Lighter or different schedule?

[Slache]

It's going to be our first "real" year. I still need RightStart and at some point we'll start SL 3/4 (fairy tales), but he doesn't want to sit for it yet. Our lineup is SWR, RS A, SL 3/4, Piano, and Spanish. I'm hoping to get a good 45 minutes in a day.

[IsabelC]

We are continuing with our light program over the rest of December and January.

 

All the kids are focusing on numeracy and literacy, with everything else being fairly interest-led.

 

Come February the kids will be starting 6th, 4th and 2nd grade (I have decided to effectively skip Ms. 6 a grade as she's almost finished her grade 1 stuff already, but shhh don't tell her - I told her she was doing grade 1 a couple of months ago and with any luck she won't notice she didn't do it for a whole year).

 

and we will be on a fuller schedule incorporating history, science and arts.

 

I have got to get my 'official' written home ed plan updated to reflect what we'll be doing as we are due for monitoring soon.

 

And going to start my new blog as part of my record-keeping requirements.

[Deee]

Today is our last day of year 8! You can probably hear me singing from here!!!!!!!

D

[kiwik]

Tomorrow is the last day of school. Over summer I want to finish EIW3 (ds7) and work on doing 4 square plans so he can get organisec easier. Also do some revision and extension maths a little (ds7) and start MEP1 (ds5). Since ds7 missed nearly all the handwriting instruction this year due to being at one day school I am tented to start teaching him cursive and touch typing.

[Rosie_0801]

We haven't done much for three weeks because either I was sick or it was too hot to be bothered, but the weather has dropped so we're back to a light schedule again. I don't think it will last long, then it'll be back to lounging about!

[GoVanGogh]

Tomorrow is our last day of school. We are just limping to the finish line, as I broke my arm two months ago (just got the cast removed and now in rehab and mostly unable to use that arm yet), DS was sick for two weeks in the middle of that, then the in-laws came to visit. It has been a crazy season!

I have done very little planning for next school year, due to the broken bone adventure. Couldn't lift or carry books, couldn't use three hole punch, etc. I have just piled up papers and amazon orders for the past month, now need to find the time to sift through and come up with a schedule/plan.

 

What our loose plans are for seventh/eight grade, non-neuro-typical child with wide spread in abilities:

Art of Problem Solving for maths

World geography, using Build Your Library seventh grade program for the template

Geology and astronomy for science, using an assortment of texts we selected together (I need to get busy looking for labs and field trips)

 

Need to work on: critical thinking (will use an assortment of books from Critical Trhinking Co), grammar (likely will use Anaylitical Grammar), writing (unsure of yet, this is our worse subject and he is getting outside help with it right now)

 

Spelling: DS finally had a breakthrough with spelling this year. I plan on using an online spelling list (a few years below grade level) from a textbook manufacturer, while using passages from literature and poetry for dictation.

 

Continue on with outsourced French.

[IsabelC]

How are we going with gearing up for the new school year?

 

I have posted my latest plans here. (Any comments appreciated.) 

 

What about you?

[Grover]

I am still sorting stuff for putting away and tidying up the library.  I intend to finish that next week and then get onto organising for the new year.  Mostly it'll be carrying on with what we're already doing, but I'd like to stretch DS a little more and get him thinking again if I can. 

[kolamum]

Ha, I thought this was an old thread someone dragged up because of the origional start date on it. We are in the S. Heimpshere so we also school February - December. Which means we're close to gearing up. On the table we have:

 

Oldest:

Bookshark 6 & 7 {he's halfway through 6 due to starting it midyear; he'll wrap it up & then move into 7}

MUS {he's halfway through one book & will wrap that up before jumping into the next}

WP LA 

Sequential Spelling {finish off the book we're in & move right into the next}

WWS Book 1 for Terms 3-4

Writing Rhetoric for Terms 1-2

General Science

Discover 4 Yourself Bible Study

French 1

Hoffman Academy Cont.

 

Middle

Sonlight Core D

MUS {he's nearly done with Delta & will slip right into Epsilon}

WP LA 4 & 5 {he started it late in the year so we'll finish 4 & slip into 5}

Sequential Spelling {same story as before}

Writing Rhetoric Book 1 {terms 1-2}

Scout's Guide To Good Paragraphs {terms 3-4 or we'll obtain the next W&R book}

Noeo Chem 2

Discover 4 Yourself Bible Studies

Latin 1

 

[SparklyUnicorn]

I school year round.  I don't really have set start and end dates.  For purposes of the homeschool regs here I submit my plan at the end of June.  So technically it's June to Juneish...  And then we are all over the place in terms of where we are at in various books/subjects.  So often times I find myself planning for a few things at times not common.

 

[IsabelC]

We're going to be pretty year-round too, but it's exciting for the kids to be 'going up a grade' (despite the fact that nothing is really being done on grade level anyway).