Anybody want to brainstorm 2017-18 afterschooling plans?

[SKL]

I am of two minds - throw my books out the window and let the kids just do school homework and independent stuff, or double down and somehow get more efficient with after-school / weekend time.

 

Math:  The kids want to continue Sylvan tutoring / enrichment into the school year.  Sylvan agreed to help with math homework if it's a heavy homework day when they go.  (Otherwise I don't see how we can fit it in.)  I will help them work though math homework as needed.  As long as they are doing Sylvan, I don't expect to ask them to supplement at home, except as needed to cope with the day-to-day school work.  (Except I will try to do some fun stuff that is math-related.)

 

Reading:  The school does enough here.  We will continue to do audiobooks & read-alouds and the kids will attend the monthly book clubs.  I have a few materials for literature that I downloaded from the net, and if we read those books, I'll see if the materials are helpful in an afterschooling context.

 

LA:  I would like to continue with some vocabulary books I have.  It depends on time constraints.  I will say that their school's spelling curriculum does a good job with vocabulary.  As for grammar, I have lots of stuff and we do need to work on it, but time will be the issue.  I'll try to do some on the weekends.

 

Science and Social Studies:  Continuing with the monthly boxes and magazines the kids get.  Some outdoor and museum activities, some videos that I have.  May use some science story books for read-alouds or weekend work.  Some travel.

 

Cooking:  we have some fun cookbooks that correlate with school subjects - math, science, social studies.  I keep talking about using them.  I will try to do this on the weekends.

 

Music:  just practicing their instruments.

[Earthmerlin]

I am of two minds - throw my books out the window and let the kids just do school homework and independent stuff, or double down and somehow get more efficient with after-school / weekend time.

 

Math: The kids want to continue Sylvan tutoring / enrichment into the school year. Sylvan agreed to help with math homework if it's a heavy homework day when they go. (Otherwise I don't see how we can fit it in.) I will help them work though math homework as needed. As long as they are doing Sylvan, I don't expect to ask them to supplement at home, except as needed to cope with the day-to-day school work. (Except I will try to do some fun stuff that is math-related.)

 

Reading: The school does enough here. We will continue to do audiobooks & read-alouds and the kids will attend the monthly book clubs. I have a few materials for literature that I downloaded from the net, and if we read those books, I'll see if the materials are helpful in an afterschooling context.

 

LA: I would like to continue with some vocabulary books I have. It depends on time constraints. I will say that their school's spelling curriculum does a good job with vocabulary. As for grammar, I have lots of stuff and we do need to work on it, but time will be the issue. I'll try to do some on the weekends.

 

Science and Social Studies: Continuing with the monthly boxes and magazines the kids get. Some outdoor and museum activities, some videos that I have. May use some science story books for read-alouds or weekend work. Some travel.

 

Cooking: we have some fun cookbooks that correlate with school subjects - math, science, social studies. I keep talking about using them. I will try to do this on the weekends.

 

Music: just practicing their instruments.

This is a great thread & I'll post my plans once I figure them out, LOL. Which cookbooks do you have that tie-in academics? Also, I'm looking for a social studies themed subscription box & would love to hear what you're using!

[debi21]

My ds8 is going to start 3rd grade at a public full-time gifted program in three weeks. I have no idea how it's going to go, how he will fit in the class academically, and how much (and what quality) homework there will be. I also don't know what extracurricular opportunities will be available for him. So I have no idea how feasible anything I plan will be, but that doesn't stop me from thinking about it. Also, I'm anxious.

 

My top priority is to keep doing math with him. Sometimes it goes well and other times poorly. I know he is better at math than I was at his age, but I don't know how good he is compared to others, and what level he'll be looking at in this school. Sometimes he says he likes/loves math, and other times, hates it. Probably because I'm giving him hard problems and/or he is 8 years old and doesn't want to focus and work. He still has frustration and temper tantrums when he finds problems hard, and that's what I'd really like to improve. His highest peak of motivation is the state Math Kangaroo award ceremony. He was 2nd in state in 1st and 3rd in state in 2nd grade and he said to me he'd like to come in 1st (so he can have all the ribbon colors). I told him I thought it was possible, but he'd have to work a lot harder. I told him if he spend the hours doing math that he spent on his preferred extracurricular that he'd have a chance. I don't know how brilliant the other children are. So my desire is to do 20-30 minutes of work a day, but it's going to depend on school hw I'm sure. I have CWP, Singapore Challenge workbooks, Zaccaro's, a Borac book, BA, plus there's MK problems. I think I will buy one of the MOEMS books this year, and maybe upgrade to higher grade levels on some of the others.

 

Other than that, I would like more reading or more read alouds and for him to keep practicing the violin, which he just started this summer. And then to introduce him to more non-academic skills through whatever extracurriculars we can fit in. I'd love to find a sewing class not for homeschoolers, a good art class, and I keep thinking about boy scouts. I let him dabble in other things he's interested in through computers, apps, books in his free time - some science, geography, and programming here and there, but I'm not pushing any of that and am glad he is interested in these things.

[SKL]

This is a great thread & I'll post my plans once I figure them out, LOL. Which cookbooks do you have that tie-in academics? Also, I'm looking for a social studies themed subscription box & would love to hear what you're using!

 

The cookbooks include:

• Eat your math homework
• Eat your science homework
• Eat your American History homework
• The Math Chef
• The Science Chef
• The Science Chef Travels Around the World
• Science Experiments You can Eat
• Kids Around the World Cook

I also have some art books with science, geography, or math themes, math games from around the world, etc.  Who knows when we'll be able to use them, if ever.

 

Their monthly subscription boxes are Tinker Crate (science / engineering) and Little Passports USA Edition, World Edition, and Science Expeditions.  The World Edition is really too young for them (ages thru 10), so I just signed up for 6 months as my youngest turns 11 in January.  The USA (states) one is recommended for ages 7-12.  We just started the geography ones so I'm not sure how good they are, but my youngest seems to like them.  The science boxes are pretty good though.  We've been getting the science ones since Christmas.

[winterbaby]

I have to double down. The school has proven they simply can't be trusted to teach math, and bouncing from topic to topic on an ad hoc basis hasn't gotten us far, so I'm doing a full math curriculum (EngageNY).  To do a full curriculum on an afterschool/Saturday basis is very ambitious, but I will be happy if I can finish the current grade level (5th) by the end of next summer. Unfortunately I can't start early because we are busy with very necessary review. This also, sadly, continues to bump some enrichment/logic type things I want to do like CSMP but I still have my eye out for when I might squeeze them in.

 

For social studies we are doing Classical House of Learning Literature (Ancients, logic stage) with mostly oral output (will probably take more than a year), and a unit on the American Revolution of my own making with library books etc. which I am using to teach outlining. I also plan to have her continue on Sheppard Software for geographic knowledge.

 

I'm also DIYing a mostly library book based earth science.

 

English is always fraught because they do so much at school, but what they are doing is really the wrong thing. Developmentally inappropriate expectations like five paragraph argumentative essays in fourth grade, based on a whole boatload of dreary educrat-written nonfiction which frequently has errors about history or science, pushes politics, etc. I'm torn because I don't want to pile on, but I also don't want to let those models stand. We read lots of good literature, and we have a vintage "language lessons" style book I draw lessons from. What I would really like would be for her to start Writing & Rhetoric but I don't know if I can have her do that much extra formal work. What I mainly do is encourage her creative writing, an area in which she is very gifted, but she tends to start things and then drop them, so we talk a lot about organization (she has a dedicated binder for it) and planning. She continues to need handwriting practice, and I'm considering starting her on a typing program.

 

For religion we're continuing to use "God's Hand in Our Lives" Bible curriculum which is free online, but which I actually like better than what they use at our church, where they abruptly jumped from baby stuff with dumb crafts to Very Serious Catechesis.

 

I'm in a unique situation where the school is an absolutely necessary social outlet given her special needs and their willingness to work with them, but fairly hopeless academically, so I feel I have no real choice but to send her, and then afterschool fairly aggressively. Happily, I have found she benefits from the added structure, and the time between arrival home and bedtime is long enough (six hours) to accommodate both a few chunks of real work and plenty of downtime.

[Earthmerlin]

I feel like every year I learn the same lesson. That being that I can't re-do every subject at home. Luckily I found a school that does a good job with the basics which allows me to concentrate our efforts on what I think of as the "cultural" things. I'm doing 2nd grade from the Mind in the Light curriculum for history, literature, poetry, and art. I'm also been inspired by the traditional Waldorf 2nd grade plans to include some reading about tricksters and highlight examples of saints and heroes in our study of the Middle Ages. I bought some of the MCT books too although I'm not sure if we'll start that this year.

 

My daughter will have her first confession this year so we'll spend some time preparing for that by going through the 10 Commandments.

 

This seems to be a good combination for us. The school uses a decent math curriculum and does old school grammar. They don't focus on quality literature or things like Fables, fairy tales, and poetry. We can read good books at home and have discussions about what we read. We spend a lot of time talking about what words mean and why an author chooses one word instead of another. We've been reading the mirror poems and talking about how when the order of the sentences are reversed, the meaning changes.

I like this bit about word choice. I think I will start using it at home now too!

[Bluegoat]

I am feeling a little unsure about what to do with dd12 in the coming year.  She's starting jr high, grade 7, so that will be a change in itself.

 

But more than that, she's going into a French immersion environment, which means she'll likely be using a lot of mental energy for that, regardless of what her other class work looks like.

 

And she is busy with after school things too - violin and orchestra, piano lesson, and Pathfinders. 

 

My feeling is, we'll be doing your first plan SKL - just working carefully on homework, especially making sure she is keeping up in math.  That may mean doing a little extra here and there.

 

Where I feel a little worried is in whether she is challenged at all in her English reading - so far I haven't found the ps does that here.  There is no encouragement to read above level.  My teacher friend suggested it would be worthwhile to mention this to her English teacher, because when I suggest reading, typically she pulls back. 

 

I am hoping that they will do some real history this year, as it was her favorite homeschool subject, but they don't have it at all in elementary school here.  My memory of it in jr high is that it's kind of lame local history, but I am keeping my fingers crossed.  The fact that she has a solid background in more general history may make it more worthwhile.

[ReadingMama1214]

DD will start at a Spanish immersion program for K. We won't do much as far as formal academics for the first semester. She has no hw for K.

 

Since she's reading on a 3rd grade level, I will still require her to do 15min of reading aloud to me (she reads throughout the day to herself and siblings). I'll also reinforce some spelling rules casually.

 

We will start more formal devotions for Bible and I will combine this with journaling and have her use a primary journal (drawing and writing space) to journal a sentence about our bible study. This way we can touch on grammar and spelling informally.

 

I want her English LA skills to stay on track so we will add in spelling eventually. Nothing too formal though.

 

We do the zoo and museum memberships and plan to go regularly. She also does ballet and will begin piano in January.

 

She's reading The Curious Kids Science Book (for fun) and I plan to work through the experiments with her for science.

 

I love the idea of cooking that involves academics.

[AggieMama]

Oh boy, I'm not sure I want to think about this. I have one starting school on the 16th and the other one starting school on the 21st. The school year is too close for comfort.

 

2nd grade - Singapore finish up 1B for review and start on 2A continuing get through 3A or 3B hopefully, Primary Math Challenge, Beast Academy 2A-D; Reflex Math, WWE1, FLL1, SOTW 1 with activities, Galloping the Globe, lots of reading, AHG activities, swim lessons, maybe dance in the spring

 

1st grade - Singapore 1A-2A, Primary Challenge Math, WWE1, FLL1, Reflex Math, SOTW 1 with activities, Galloping the Globe, lots of reading, AHG activities, swim lessons, maybe basketball

 

I'm not sure what I'm going to do about science other than Bill Nye and Magic School Bus videos.

[AprilMayJune75]

I have less ambitious plans this year in the area of afterschooling. DD is starting a combined 6th-7th-8th grade and I think that the academic load is going to get much more intense than it's been for her before.

 

We have done a gentle introduction to Latin this summer (through Song School Latin, which is way below grade level, but easy to slide in for 10 min-day). As soon as we're finished with that, I am going to order Latin for Children.Hoping to be finished with their first year by the end of next summer so that she can start the second year on track with the start of school next fall.

 

She'll use Khan Academy to review and reinforce math concepts. I may also need to order some workbooks to help focus on specific topics; we'll see how it goes.

 

I want to keep up the reading momentum she's built this summer. The library's summer reading program did a great job in challenging her to read books from different genres and read consistently every day. Each year, the school has offered the Pizza Hut reading program, but that stopped in 5th grade. Therefore, I am going to design my own reading incentive program for the school year, similar in requirements to the summer library program. We will be incorporating some specific books from the Ambleside Online site and another Charlotte Mason education website. I will also include poetry and memorization of documents/speeches.etc from History, such as the Gettysburg Address. Of course, she will also be able to choose a few books on her own each month, just to read for fun. I am only at the starting stages of putting that together, but DD is very excited about it! I will pick 9 incentives (dinner out at the pizza place, or mini-golf or a movie at the theater) and she can choose one to do each month that she completes her "Challenges".

 

Other than that, we're going to start cooking dinner together two nights a week and add 4H and First Lego League Robotics. (SKL, thanks for the cookbook recommendations earlier in this thread!) She already has piano lessons, swim lessons, and AWANA.

 

It feels like a lot now that I'm seeing it written down.

[amymarie3]

We do public school 2nd grade for our twin boys. 

 

Afterschooling:

1 day a week Gymnastics at a non-competitive gym.  This is our only out of the house afterschool activity.  My DH is adamant that we restrict afterschool to 1 hour a week we will look at adding a second one when they hit third grade. 

 

Daily Reading: a book AT reading level instead of what the teachers think their reading levels are.   Best I can tell they are at about 4th grade level for reading as well as comprehension but the teachers just ignore it and teach them at the high end of their grade level.   It means a ton of extra work for mom to keep them from backsliding like they did last year, end of year they were almost at the same place they had been at the start of the year. I keep the reading loose from their point of view though.   Primarily they read on the bus and at bedtime, I'm trying to keep it untimed and gentle.  I have them read aloud to me on a regular basis to work on those skills since the school doesn't.

 

Daily Handwriting:  Our school didn't care about handwriting at all last year.  In fact they ignored it enough that we are seeing a possible dyslexia issue with one child that the teachers didn't pick up on.  They do one page a day of Spelling U See.   Great program that they really enjoy.  The one page takes about 10 minutes.

 

Spelling: I have one boy who is a natural speller, it's awesome to watch his little brain churn.   The other boy has a tougher time.  I'm not sure what spelling will look like this year but I am planning to use the method put from Andrew Pudewa on spelling and the brain.  Waiting on the teachers for this one.

 

Daily Math practice: they are working through Math Mammoth doing one page each day if the school didn't send anything home.   Math games on the iPad including TODO Math, Monster Math, and Code Spark Academy.  We do a chapter of Life of Fred together each week just for fun, am going to look into beast academy just for fun.  The school does okay with math but they ignore the advanced levels my boys are at so there is a ton of boredom. 

 

History: Our school teaches NO history that isn't part of social studies until 6th grade.   At home I am going to do American history using This Country Of Ours as well as a ton of other resources that I just can't seem to stop picking up!

 

Literature/Fables/Poetry: I have a book basket where I rotate through a series of books as read alouds.   I also am starting to add in some of the shorter classic childrens books to their "Bus Box".  We keep a box of books for them to pick from so that they always have a book when they are riding the bus.

 

Music:  I have a playlist of classical music that I play when we are on the ride to school and they want to read books in the car.   I have another playlist filled with music that I want them to hear and memorize.  We listen on the way to school and other times we are in the car. 

 

 

[LovesToLearn]

 

Edited August 17, 2017 by reeree307

[LovesToLearn]

We do public school 2nd grade for our twin boys. 

 

Afterschooling:

1 day a week Gymnastics at a non-competitive gym.  This is our only out of the house afterschool activity.  My DH is adamant that we restrict afterschool to 1 hour a week we will look at adding a second one when they hit third grade. 

 

Daily Reading: a book AT reading level instead of what the teachers think their reading levels are.   Best I can tell they are at about 4th grade level for reading as well as comprehension but the teachers just ignore it and teach them at the high end of their grade level.   It means a ton of extra work for mom to keep them from backsliding like they did last year, end of year they were almost at the same place they had been at the start of the year. I keep the reading loose from their point of view though.   Primarily they read on the bus and at bedtime, I'm trying to keep it untimed and gentle.  I have them read aloud to me on a regular basis to work on those skills since the school doesn't.

 

Daily Handwriting:  Our school didn't care about handwriting at all last year.  In fact they ignored it enough that we are seeing a possible dyslexia issue with one child that the teachers didn't pick up on.  They do one page a day of Spelling U See.   Great program that they really enjoy.  The one page takes about 10 minutes.

 

Spelling: I have one boy who is a natural speller, it's awesome to watch his little brain churn.   The other boy has a tougher time.  I'm not sure what spelling will look like this year but I am planning to use the method put from Andrew Pudewa on spelling and the brain.  Waiting on the teachers for this one.

 

Daily Math practice: they are working through Math Mammoth doing one page each day if the school didn't send anything home.   Math games on the iPad including TODO Math, Monster Math, and Code Spark Academy.  We do a chapter of Life of Fred together each week just for fun, am going to look into beast academy just for fun.  The school does okay with math but they ignore the advanced levels my boys are at so there is a ton of boredom. 

 

History: Our school teaches NO history that isn't part of social studies until 6th grade.   At home I am going to do American history using This Country Of Ours as well as a ton of other resources that I just can't seem to stop picking up!

 

Literature/Fables/Poetry: I have a book basket where I rotate through a series of books as read alouds.   I also am starting to add in some of the shorter classic childrens books to their "Bus Box".  We keep a box of books for them to pick from so that they always have a book when they are riding the bus.

 

Music:  I have a playlist of classical music that I play when we are on the ride to school and they want to read books in the car.   I have another playlist filled with music that I want them to hear and memorize.  We listen on the way to school and other times we are in the car. 

 

This was helpful to me. I have one boy in second grade; he is also very bright and I am also trying to afterschool for not more than an hour a week. 

 

I looked up Life of Fred and I am super excited about it! I would like to add that. Which book are you doing? How do you like it?  Have you completed any that you would want to sell to me? Thanks

[SarahW]

I drafted out my plans - thought I'd share.

 

For fyi - he's 2e, and has no homework from school. And his school is not-English, so I'm trying to keep him at least on grade level for English LA. And I'm an LCC-er with a stem kid. Oh, and he doesn't go to Sunday School or other Religious Ed.

 

Math: BA4, 5?, CTCo. Algebra/Geometry

Latin: LfcA, Minimus Secundus, LfcB

Greek: Basic Greek in 30 Minutes, Elementary Greek 1?

Science: The Elements, Solar System Music, CLNR5, Science in the Ancient World

Language Arts: 

Reading: Reading Detective? Just So Stories, Greek Myths, Holes, Poetry

Writing/Grammar: Editor in Chief, Grammar for Middle School, Reading and Reasoning 1?

Spelling: Spelling Power 6

Religion: Faith and Life 4, Art 5 for Young Catholics

Coding

 

Sunday - Religion, Greek, Editor in Chief, Coding

Monday - Math, Latin, Science, Coding

Tuesday - Math, Greek, LA, Coding

Wednesday - Math, Latin, Science, Coding

Thursday - Math, Greek, LA, Coding

Friday - Math, Latin, Science, Coding

Saturday - Math, Latin, LA, Spelling, Coding

 

The coding he does on his own. That's his choice, and I ask that he commits half an hour to it. Not counting that, afterschooling is about an hour/day.

 

I do things by units, so the LA may be grammar a bit, then it might change to be myths for a few weeks, and when that's done.then something else. I'm going to try to intersperse Science and LA this year, but may go back to just doing one at a time for a whole week. We'll see how it pans out.

 

Oh, and we're already part-way though some of the things that I listed above, so that's why there's so much stuff for each subject, lol. The additional things are for when we finally get done with what we're doing now. We might not even get to some of them this year. But I'm trying to think what can be stored and what I should leave handy (or buy).

 

[Renai]

 

I drafted out my plans - thought I'd share.

 

For fyi - he's 2e, and has no homework from school. And his school is not-English, so I'm trying to keep him at least on grade level for English LA. And I'm an LCC-er with a stem kid. Oh, and he doesn't go to Sunday School or other Religious Ed.

 

Math: BA4, 5?, CTCo. Algebra/Geometry

Latin: LfcA, Minimus Secundus, LfcB

Greek: Basic Greek in 30 Minutes, Elementary Greek 1?

Science: The Elements, Solar System Music, CLNR5, Science in the Ancient World

Language Arts: 

Reading: Reading Detective? Just So Stories, Greek Myths, Holes, Poetry

Writing/Grammar: Editor in Chief, Grammar for Middle School, Reading and Reasoning 1?

Spelling: Spelling Power 6

Religion: Faith and Life 4, Art 5 for Young Catholics

Coding

 

Sunday - Religion, Greek, Editor in Chief, Coding

Monday - Math, Latin, Science, Coding

Tuesday - Math, Greek, LA, Coding

Wednesday - Math, Latin, Science, Coding

Thursday - Math, Greek, LA, Coding

Friday - Math, Latin, Science, Coding

Saturday - Math, Latin, LA, Spelling, Coding

 

The coding he does on his own. That's his choice, and I ask that he commits half an hour to it. Not counting that, afterschooling is about an hour/day.

 

I do things by units, so the LA may be grammar a bit, then it might change to be myths for a few weeks, and when that's done.then something else. I'm going to try to intersperse Science and LA this year, but may go back to just doing one at a time for a whole week. We'll see how it pans out.

 

Oh, and we're already part-way though some of the things that I listed above, so that's why there's so much stuff for each subject, lol. The additional things are for when we finally get done with what we're doing now. We might not even get to some of them this year. But I'm trying to think what can be stored and what I should leave handy (or buy).

 

 

 

SarahW, what "solar system music" do you have?

Edited August 19, 2017 by Renai

[SarahW]

SarahW, what "solar system music" do you have?

 

 

Oh yeah, sorry, I really posted a rough draft.

 

It's solar system symphony - http://teachyourchildpiano.com/solar-system-symphony-sm-page-1/

 

I'm trying to sneakily sneak in music appreciation. I don't know if it will work, lol.

[Pen]

I guess now that ds is back at b&m school this fits us.  Maybe.

 

I am not sure how much time there will be After School including sports.  

 

How do you all plan out what can be done in limited afterschool time including eating, some down time, homework, chores....?

[SKL]

I guess now that ds is back at b&m school this fits us.  Maybe.

 

I am not sure how much time there will be After School including sports.  

 

How do you all plan out what can be done in limited afterschool time including eating, some down time, homework, chores....?

 

I try to go in with a target for how much time should be available for academic work and exercise each evening.  Then, within that time, homework / organized sports come first.  If the homework and sports spill over and take up the whole evening, nothing else gets done.  Some days there is no real "down time," so I plan for some evenings (usually Friday and/or Sunday and part of Saturday) to be "free" and let the kids do what they want.

 

Aside from quick things e.g. picking up after oneself, I don't plan chores on week nights.

[Hilltopmom]

For my 14 year old-

 

Audiobooks for literature. Many her choice, some mine.

They are only reading two books in ELA this year, & IMO, that's not enough.

 

But with a full course load & her disabilities, audio books it is.

 

And she also has dance- every day after school.

 

For my preschooler (3 mornings a week)-

 

All about reading pre & lots of games

Edited August 21, 2017 by Hilltopmom

[SKL]

One of my kids wants to continue the writing class they took in the summer.  It will only be once a month during the school year.  I think I will plan it when they don't have conflicts.  There is no homework or prep for it.

 

I'm having a hard time letting go of some things I wanted to do this summer.  So tempted to try to push them into the school year.  Trying to be realistic....

[Dmmetler]

Waiting to get all of DD's syllabi so I can figure out just how heavy of a class load she has. So far, we have lots of time to add extra stuff and extend, but all it takes is one heavy class. Going from homeschooling to have a total of 1 class that is completely "mine" is proving tough.

[SKL]

Speaking of audiobooks, I think that is a great addition - whether you want to call it afterschooling or not, I don't care.  :)

 

I am thinking of trying to plan classic audiobooks with the intention of teaching some history and maybe other concepts that way.  I need some suggestions.  The possible constraint is that our library system doesn't seem to have that many audiobooks.

[Bluegoat]

Speaking of audiobooks, I think that is a great addition - whether you want to call it afterschooling or not, I don't care.  :)

 

I am thinking of trying to plan classic audiobooks with the intention of teaching some history and maybe other concepts that way.  I need some suggestions.  The possible constraint is that our library system doesn't seem to have that many audiobooks.

 

This is really what I am thinking too, for dd12.

 

I just can't see giving her too much otherwise.  She has a piano lesson once a week plus practice, violin lesson, orchestra and practice.  She is going to pathfinders once a week.  Plus she wants to learn to do archery - I'm not sure how I'll manage that - maybe get her dad to take care of it.  And she was going to finish up with choir because it was at the same time as orchestra, but now she has found one that is at a different time.

 

Maybe we should start a different thread for audiobook suggestions.  I really am a little concerned that they are still not doing any real history for grade 7.  I keep thinking of rude things to say about the ss curriculum when we see the teacher.

[Dmmetler]

I'm thinking I need to come up with carscholling stuff, too-we have a lot of driving. Great Courses and audiobooks.

[SKL]

Well we finally got the results of the state tests my kids took in the spring.

 

This is their first time taking these tests - they took the Terra Nova in grades 1-4 - so maybe that played into it, or who knows what, but we didn't so so hot.  Though, we did do well on the parts *I* consider most important - reading and math reasoning.

 

The feedback is pretty useless, but it was interesting that our school scored below the state average in math, which is odd because it is a high-standards private school.  I guess my complaints about math last year were legitimate.  It tells me that we need to do more with it outside of school.

 

We also did sucky in writing, which is no surprise since our school really hasn't done much with that.  This year they have a more focused writing course / teacher, so hopefully things will be better.  I don't think I can take on comprehensive writing at home.

 

And science - no surprise there, because our school almost never covers more than a third of the science book (often less) and I hate the text that they use.  But I'm not really worried about that right now.  They can catch up in science once they have a decent teacher / program.

[Bluegoat]

Well we finally got the results of the state tests my kids took in the spring.

 

This is their first time taking these tests - they took the Terra Nova in grades 1-4 - so maybe that played into it, or who knows what, but we didn't so so hot.  Though, we did do well on the parts *I* consider most important - reading and math reasoning.

 

The feedback is pretty useless, but it was interesting that our school scored below the state average in math, which is odd because it is a high-standards private school.  I guess my complaints about math last year were legitimate.  It tells me that we need to do more with it outside of school.

 

We also did sucky in writing, which is no surprise since our school really hasn't done much with that.  This year they have a more focused writing course / teacher, so hopefully things will be better.  I don't think I can take on comprehensive writing at home.

 

And science - no surprise there, because our school almost never covers more than a third of the science book (often less) and I hate the text that they use.  But I'm not really worried about that right now.  They can catch up in science once they have a decent teacher / program.

 

Given what you've said here, I am really curious what "high standards" is supposed to mean?

[SKL]

Given what you've said here, I am really curious what "high standards" is supposed to mean?

 

Yeah, I know.  I'm a bit confused myself.

 

They always advertise that our school does better than all sorts of benchmarks and averages.  (And they did do above average on the LA and science sections, and probably overall.)

 

In the past, my kids have been among those getting pretty high scores.  (Well, one of them still did score well this time, except she was average in science and a couple other sub-tests.  She is not at all average in science actually, but I suppose it depends on what questions they decided to ask and how she was handling the testing process.)

 

My advanced kid and my slower kid both had the same areas where they did better / worse.  Since they are so different, I am going to assume that the areas that were lower for both of them were just not covered well by the school.

 

My slower kid blew away the 3rd grade state reading test, scoring in the top category, even ahead of her sister (the book fiend).  But on this test 2 years later, she did pretty sucky on the LA part.  The little bit of breakdown they give says she did fine in the reading but majorly sucked in the writing part.  I'm gonna assume they just postpone good writing instruction.  I know our school does well in writing contests in 7th & 8th grade, so maybe they just believe in a different approach.

 

Or maybe this test just blew because it was the first time our school used it.  I seem to vaguely remember my kids reporting some problems with it.  But it's been so long.  You'd think that with computerized testing, you'd get the results back sooner.  :/

 

I'm bummed mostly because my "slower" kid, who is actually pretty smart despite some learning challenges, saw the scores and feels badly about them.  Her comment was, "oh well, I'm an athlete anyway.  I don't care."  But you know she does care.  She has other bad stuff going on and didn't need to see that.  But i is what it is, I guess.

[SKL]

My kid might also need vision therapy again.  They say we could schedule it on Saturdays.  Maybe that was a factor in the test scores too.  She did get new glasses (bifocals) after that ....

 

Anyhoo ... if we do therapy, there will be that much less time for afterschooling.  :/  Well, short term pain, long term gain ....

[meganrussell]

So far, this is what I have planned.

 

For all of us, we will be doing ancient civilizations and the Bible, three days a week, with Saturdays for the crafts, recipes, and other fun stuff. The readings shouldn't take long and will be an extension of our already present nightly Bible time.

 

My 4th grade daughter will be doing one page in Math Lessons for a Living Education, one page on Evan Moor Reading Comprehension workbook, and one lesson in Language Lessons for Today. This will take around thirty minutes, but she has no homework and needs the extra practice. Plus, if we homeschool later on, I want her to be in the right spot in these books (because I'm OCD).

 

My 1st grader has a math page, sight words, and spelling words homework each night. I do want him to do extra math from The Complete Book of Math each night if he wants to. He also reads me a book daily (Henry and Mudge or the like).

 

They will all read for 20-30 minutes before bedtime, their book choice (unless they have school assigned books).

 

I would like to have a game night, and play geography and math games.

 

I miss my kids...

[Earthmerlin]

For my 3rd grader, I plan on increasing her arithmetic fluency. More science & social studies (including current events) is also on the docket. Spanish & French literacy continues to be important as well. Expanding her computer skills (along with coding) will also be an area of interest. However, with her approaching 8th birthday, self-sufficiency skills are on my radar. Setting goals, developing study skills, building financial literacy, & honing executive functioning are all top priority this year.

[Earthmerlin]

My ds8 is going to start 3rd grade at a public full-time gifted program in three weeks. I have no idea how it's going to go, how he will fit in the class academically, and how much (and what quality) homework there will be. I also don't know what extracurricular opportunities will be available for him. So I have no idea how feasible anything I plan will be, but that doesn't stop me from thinking about it. Also, I'm anxious.

 

My top priority is to keep doing math with him. Sometimes it goes well and other times poorly. I know he is better at math than I was at his age, but I don't know how good he is compared to others, and what level he'll be looking at in this school. Sometimes he says he likes/loves math, and other times, hates it. Probably because I'm giving him hard problems and/or he is 8 years old and doesn't want to focus and work. He still has frustration and temper tantrums when he finds problems hard, and that's what I'd really like to improve. His highest peak of motivation is the state Math Kangaroo award ceremony. He was 2nd in state in 1st and 3rd in state in 2nd grade and he said to me he'd like to come in 1st (so he can have all the ribbon colors). I told him I thought it was possible, but he'd have to work a lot harder. I told him if he spend the hours doing math that he spent on his preferred extracurricular that he'd have a chance. I don't know how brilliant the other children are. So my desire is to do 20-30 minutes of work a day, but it's going to depend on school hw I'm sure. I have CWP, Singapore Challenge workbooks, Zaccaro's, a Borac book, BA, plus there's MK problems. I think I will buy one of the MOEMS books this year, and maybe upgrade to higher grade levels on some of the others.

 

Other than that, I would like more reading or more read alouds and for him to keep practicing the violin, which he just started this summer. And then to introduce him to more non-academic skills through whatever extracurriculars we can fit in. I'd love to find a sewing class not for homeschoolers, a good art class, and I keep thinking about boy scouts. I let him dabble in other things he's interested in through computers, apps, books in his free time - some science, geography, and programming here and there, but I'm not pushing any of that and am glad he is interested in these things.

Regarding sewing, consider Joann Fabrics. Our local store has a rotating set of classes.

[Earthmerlin]

This is really what I am thinking too, for dd12.

 

I just can't see giving her too much otherwise. She has a piano lesson once a week plus practice, violin lesson, orchestra and practice. She is going to pathfinders once a week. Plus she wants to learn to do archery - I'm not sure how I'll manage that - maybe get her dad to take care of it. And she was going to finish up with choir because it was at the same time as orchestra, but now she has found one that is at a different time.

 

Maybe we should start a different thread for audiobook suggestions. I really am a little concerned that they are still not doing any real history for grade 7. I keep thinking of rude things to say about the ss curriculum when we see the teacher.

What is Pathfinders?

[vonfirmath]

What is Pathfinders?

 

Scouting?  I see a UK scouting group by this name

 

And a Adventist religous group (Similar to AWANA?)

[Bluegoat]

What is Pathfinders?

 

In girl scouts, we have several levels - Sparks, Brownies, Guides, and Pathfinders are the 12 to 14yo group.

 

Unfortunately, we won't be able to do it after all, as they changed the meeting day.

[SKL]

I decided to switch my kid to a different Sylvan program - homework help - and only do it on Wednesdays going forward.  Saturdays are when they have the school sports games, 5K runs, etc.  Having the homework help on Wednesdays, in between youth group and gymnastics, will hopefully take some pressure off.  My kid will probably not be pleased, and this will cost a lot more, but I think it is a better choice for us right now.

 

So I will probably do some workbook stuff on Saturday afternoons - with math and LA.  I know I already said we were going to do LA workbooks, but we sure haven't started that yet.  :P

 

So far, there has been no real opportunity to do after-schooling at home on school nights.  If I'm lucky, I manage a read-aloud and we do our audiobooks in the car.  If we have 20 minutes to spare, one kid wants to play with her hair and nails and the other wants to read or play piano.

[Mabelen]

My 8th grade daughter loves to keep busy. I am so not like her, but I have learned to roll with it. As extracurriculars, she has piano, bassoon and Indian dance once a week each plus practice. Then she has FTC robotics club 3 times a week, and Girl Scouts, maybe 1 a month. This is what she likes. She argues that this way she uses her time better, since she can't afford to procrastinate!

 

Anyway, our afterschooling is extremely limited. For Spanish, other than me continuing speaking Spanish with her, she usually watches a Brainpop movie while she has breakfast. I tune into a Mexican radio station whenever we are in the car. This has worked surprisingly well. She really listens and it gives her exposure to Mexican Spanish versus the Spain's Spanish I speak at home.

 

Math wise, she does one on one online tutoring twice a week. This is also working very well. She clicks with her tutor's teaching style and has gained a lot of confidence in math.

 

Other than that, we occasionally read to each other, but we are pretty happy with her school classes.

[TrustAndLove]

I enjoy this thread! It is a good idea to write things down and it gives me new perspective when I read it later on,

 

- the most important skills DD8 is working on this year is to manage her time: know how to handle her school work, homework, responsibilities such as cleaning up her room independently. Two months into the new school year, she is doing well: working on her homework in her room and can focus better.

 

- for the after school learning, we do theme based. From now to December, the themes are:

Math: math circle and Beast Academy

Science: FLL

Language: NaNoWriMo

Other: drama, reading club, hockey

 

For next January:

Math: same

Science: STEM circle

Language: WW3k? However she is not that interested.

Other: hockey, scouts

 

- we do not have a set weekly schedule: DD8 chooses what she wants to work on. School work takes priority. We usually focus on one, at most two items from list above everyday.

 

- her interests change, so our themes are changing as well. Personnelly, that is the biggest advantage of after schooling.

Edited October 18, 2017 by TrustAndLove

[Earthmerlin]

For my 3rd grader, I plan on increasing her arithmetic fluency. More science & social studies (including current events) is also on the docket. Spanish & French literacy continues to be important as well. Expanding her computer skills (along with coding) will also be an area of interest. However, with her approaching 8th birthday, self-sufficiency skills are on my radar. Setting goals, developing study skills, building financial literacy, & honing executive functioning are all top priority this year.

Does anyone have suggestions on titles of textbooks for a comprehensive look at both history & then science? I'm thinking SOTW & its activtity books for history along w/ additional literature. For science, I ordered a used 3rd grade textbook we can read & reference plus I have recently signed up for Groovy Lab in a box & then Mystery Science online. I'd like to finally get neat chemistry things in there as well. I'm to the point where a comprehensive text or guide will help me hit all areas of the disciplines & not forget anything.

 

So aside from SOTW any suggestions on a history spine? Also, any recommendations on an elementary science text?

[amymarie3]

So I just re-read my post from July and thought through where we are now that more than a month of 2nd grade is behind us.  I decided an update might be useful for someone. 

 

Afterschooling:

1 day a week Gymnastics at a non-competitive gym.  (Yes, and this year they are in a class of just boys with a teacher who seems to be pretty good.  They are advancing nicely, and having fun doing it!)

 

Daily Reading: a book AT reading level instead of what the teachers think their reading levels are.   

(This is a challenge.   The boys are advanced readers and the school is completely ignoring the fact.  They regularly read books for 3-4 graders at home and the school only allows them to read picture books and Magic Tree House.   Conferences are next week and I'm going to have to bring this up with the teachers.   

 

Our approach is to make sure that at home they read more advanced books.  They also have about a half hour on the bus so the bus ride has become their read to self time at a higher level.  So far it seems to be working, it's just hard to figure out what books they should be reading.)

 

Daily Handwriting:  Our school didn't care about handwriting at all last year.  In fact they ignored it enough that we are seeing a possible dyslexia issue with one child that the teachers didn't pick up on.  They do one page a day of Spelling U See.   Great program that they really enjoy.  The one page takes about 10 minutes.  (We are continuing this through the school year and it is a great program.  They are still boys who don't see a need to have good handwriting but it is still good practice.)

 

Spelling: I have one boy who is a natural speller, it's awesome to watch his little brain churn.   The other boy has a tougher time.  I'm not sure what spelling will look like this year but I am planning to use the method put from Andrew Pudewa on spelling and the brain.  Waiting on the teachers for this one. (This year spelling is taught at the teachers discretion, there is no formal spelling program for 2nd graders.  Unfortunately the son who is the natural speller has the spelling lessons and the other one doesn't.   At home they have to BOTH practice the spelling lists from the on boys teachers.   It's going well but I'm not sure it is worth the time.)

 

Daily Math practice: they are working through Math Mammoth doing one page each day if the school didn't send anything home.   Math games on the iPad including TODO Math, Monster Math, and Code Spark Academy.  We do a chapter of Life of Fred together each week just for fun, am going to look into beast academy just for fun.  The school does okay with math but they ignore the advanced levels my boys are at so there is a ton of boredom. 

(Math in school is a nightmare.   They are both doing 3rd grade math with no problems and little instruction.  One teacher challenges my son and the other day he came home over the moon because she taught him multiplication tables!  The other son gets no extra work from his teacher.   All math instruction at this point is at home.  They still are working through Math mammoth and are doing great with it.   We have added the math game Prodigy as well.  They both love the layout and style of the game.)

 

 

(The next section is where things changed a ton.  I have started working our way through the Build Your Library 2nd grade curriculum with the boys.   It focuses on Medieval history and uses Story of the World as the history spine.   I needed something laid out for me and this one is great.  We do all the History activities, all the Science readings & activities when we have time, and we will be reading all the literature selections as audiobooks in the car.   So far I am loving it.  The boys don't seem to care much but when we are reading it they enjoy it and they have already started making some connections.  I am hoping to work all the way through it even if it goes longer than this year.   1 week of the curriculum is taking us about 1.5 - 2 weeks which I think is a good pace for afterschooling. )

History: Our school teaches NO history that isn't part of social studies until 6th grade.   At home I am going to do American history using This Country Of Ours as well as a ton of other resources that I just can't seem to stop picking up! 

 

Literature/Fables/Poetry: I have a book basket where I rotate through a series of books as read alouds.   I also am starting to add in some of the shorter classic childrens books to their "Bus Box".  We keep a box of books for them to pick from so that they always have a book when they are riding the bus.

 

Edited November 7, 2017 by amymarie3

[amymarie3]

LovesToLearn:   We started with Apples in kindergarten and worked our way up to Dogs.   At this point we have slowed down with so much else going on and I am trying to decide how to move forward with LoF.  The boys love it when we do it but it is more time consuming and I want to do it with them.  For now we are reading a chapter or two every couple weeks.  We read it super slowly because they would chew through the whole thing at once if I would let them and I want to make sure they understand the concepts as we get to them.   

 

If I were starting now I would still start with Apples and just move quickly until it started getting harder for them.  The story is pretty cute, and it's good to reinforce the basics.

[Scienceandstuff]

My child is in a french kindergarten, and the focus there is on getting kids to speak French.  His comprehension is coming along. We are trying to support the French with vocabulary memorization, and teaching him, and getting him to repeat simple phrases to use in the classroom.

 

Learning to read English then is all home based, and we've got Bob books and Now I'm Reading Books.

 

We're using the Childcraft Encyclopedia as the basic text for Earth Science and Astronomy. and THOTW for Ancient History. I'm not really anxious that he learn this stuff at this point, but he is as curious as anything, and I have to come up with something to keep him occupied. 

 

He is starting to learn to control a pencil, and we've loaded up on tracing, number and letter workbooks. He loves the Kumon tracing book so much that it won't be much longer for this earth.

 

The fun part is dreaming up projects.

We did quite a bit on air -- weighing air, water condensation, etc. He had a keep weather kit that is mostly busted, but was fun until the wind blew it against a wall. I ordered a rock kit that had him fascinated. The rocks got weighed on a balance and thrown into a bowl of water (floating pumice blew his mind). I think I managed to get across the basic idea that the biggest rocks aren't always the heaviest rocks, because density. We have fossils to make with his toy dinosaur, a water filtration system to build in a milk jug., and dropped marbles into flour to make craters like you see on the moon. I am searching for a cardboard telescope kit, we will do some of the moon phases with a flashlight and some balls in a dark room. Make a solar system.  We live within 5km of two observatories, but keeping him up at night is a tricky prospect.  A few history projects will overlap with earth sciences:  he got an Egyptian archaeological dig kit, and we are going to build a Roman road and run his playmobile chariot over it. Legos will be used for building a pyramid, and a section of the Great Wall of China. 

 

 

Ancient Polynesians

-Colouring book and Outrigger Canoe, Easter Island building kit (nano blocks)

-Book of Myths : The Things Maui Did and the Austronesian Folk Tales from an Asian Folktales book

 

Ancient Egyptians

-Hieroglyphic stickers, pyramid projects

 

Ancient Greeks

-Parthenon kit, kid's sized discuss for "olympics" and if I can get my hands on some uncleaned greek coins maybe another archeological dig followed by some chemistry to get the scrud off them.

D'Aulair's Book of Greek Myths

 

Ancient Rome

-build arch out of plaster of paris dried in ice cube trays,  Roman numerals in a wax tablet, make an oil lamp out of bake-able clay

 

Ancient China

-Paintable Terra Cotta Warrior from Art in History, Chinese Abacus

Myths : Monkey King and Chinese Folktales

[Earthmerlin]

My child is in a french kindergarten, and the focus there is on getting kids to speak French. His comprehension is coming along. We are trying to support the French with vocabulary memorization, and teaching him, and getting him to repeat simple phrases to use in the classroom.

 

Learning to read English then is all home based, and we've got Bob books and Now I'm Reading Books.

 

We're using the Childcraft Encyclopedia as the basic text for Earth Science and Astronomy. and THOTW for Ancient History. I'm not really anxious that he learn this stuff at this point, but he is as curious as anything, and I have to come up with something to keep him occupied.

 

He is starting to learn to control a pencil, and we've loaded up on tracing, number and letter workbooks. He loves the Kumon tracing book so much that it won't be much longer for this earth.

 

The fun part is dreaming up projects.

We did quite a bit on air -- weighing air, water condensation, etc. He had a keep weather kit that is mostly busted, but was fun until the wind blew it against a wall. I ordered a rock kit that had him fascinated. The rocks got weighed on a balance and thrown into a bowl of water (floating pumice blew his mind). I think I managed to get across the basic idea that the biggest rocks aren't always the heaviest rocks, because density. We have fossils to make with his toy dinosaur, a water filtration system to build in a milk jug., and dropped marbles into flour to make craters like you see on the moon. I am searching for a cardboard telescope kit, we will do some of the moon phases with a flashlight and some balls in a dark room. Make a solar system. We live within 5km of two observatories, but keeping him up at night is a tricky prospect. A few history projects will overlap with earth sciences: he got an Egyptian archaeological dig kit, and we are going to build a Roman road and run his playmobile chariot over it. Legos will be used for building a pyramid, and a section of the Great Wall of China.

 

 

Ancient Polynesians

-Colouring book and Outrigger Canoe, Easter Island building kit (nano blocks)

-Book of Myths : The Things Maui Did and the Austronesian Folk Tales from an Asian Folktales book

 

Ancient Egyptians

-Hieroglyphic stickers, pyramid projects

 

Ancient Greeks

-Parthenon kit, kid's sized discuss for "olympics" and if I can get my hands on some uncleaned greek coins maybe another archeological dig followed by some chemistry to get the scrud off them.

D'Aulair's Book of Greek Myths

 

Ancient Rome

-build arch out of plaster of paris dried in ice cube trays, Roman numerals in a wax tablet, make an oil lamp out of bake-able clay

 

Ancient China

-Paintable Terra Cotta Warrior from Art in History, Chinese Abacus

Myths : Monkey King and Chinese Folktales

How did you weigh air?

[Lecka]

I did this in middle school with a balloon.  We weighed a balloon, and then blew it up, and weighed it again. 

 

It was hard to keep the balloon from rolling off the scale, we had to balance it on the side, and it was a question whether we were pushing down on the scale that way. 

 

I remember it being very interesting! 

 

We also learned about static electricity with a balloon, and put a balloon on the end of a tube and heated the bottom of the tube (with a light bulb I think?) and watched the balloon blow up (actually I don't remember this very clearly, I'm not sure exactly how we heated the air, or if it was a balloon that we used). 

 

 

Edited November 29, 2017 by Lecka

[Tsuga]

I am of two minds - throw my books out the window and let the kids just do school homework and independent stuff, or double down and somehow get more efficient with after-school / weekend time.

 

What a coincidence.

 

Math:  The kids want to continue Sylvan tutoring / enrichment into the school year.  Sylvan agreed to help with math homework if it's a heavy homework day when they go.  (Otherwise I don't see how we can fit it in.)  I will help them work though math homework as needed.  As long as they are doing Sylvan, I don't expect to ask them to supplement at home, except as needed to cope with the day-to-day school work.  (Except I will try to do some fun stuff that is math-related.)

 

We are continuing Beast Academy. We are behind for the older kid (now in 5th) but I want her to do all the 4th grade books. She doesn't need the math, she needs the logic.

 

 

Reading:  The school does enough here.  We will continue to do audiobooks & read-alouds and the kids will attend the monthly book clubs.  I have a few materials for literature that I downloaded from the net, and if we read those books, I'll see if the materials are helpful in an afterschooling context.

 

Kids do enough here. They are light years ahead in reading and love it.

 

LA:  I would like to continue with some vocabulary books I have.  It depends on time constraints.  I will say that their school's spelling curriculum does a good job with vocabulary.  As for grammar, I have lots of stuff and we do need to work on it, but time will be the issue.  I'll try to do some on the weekends.

 

I need to find something for kid 2 (3rd, in Chinese immersion) to learn to spell. Halp.

 

Science and Social Studies:  Continuing with the monthly boxes and magazines the kids get.  Some outdoor and museum activities, some videos that I have.  May use some science story books for read-alouds or weekend work.  Some travel.

 

I am so behind on this, but the public schools here are pretty good. I bought the Timeline game to play, and it has already started a ton of good discussions. 5th grader is into Hamilton and musicals, 3rd is into civil rights. So I'm trying to encourage that because they get breadth at school, so what we need is depth.

 

 

Cooking:  we have some fun cookbooks that correlate with school subjects - math, science, social studies.  I keep talking about using them.  I will try to do this on the weekends.

 

Ugh. We need more home economics. We're more working on saving at this point, and learning budgeting. Somebody wants an XBox so I said, if you pay for it, you can have it... this may have been a mistake.

 

Music:  just practicing their instruments.

 

Wouldn't just practicing be awesome? #1 now has a second instrument in school. She's doing really well. #2 just needs to practice.

 

Science is hard. They have tons of opportunities for other science at school, but it's a little slow. I think we might end up doing most of this through scouting because they both want to join so I'll be the Science Mom.

[AprilMayJune75]

I had a lot of plans at the beginning of this year. Then Lego League took over our entire fall and we didn't complete any of them. We spent Christmas Break kind of recovering and half of January fighting illness. 

 

The only thing I have had DD do with any consistency is read a book that is at her level for at least a half hour each day. DD's school decided to do the Pizza Hut program, and another, this year, so I opted to table my custom-made program until next fall. She chose to participate in a local spelling bee in January and advanced to the regional spelling bee (mid-Feb), so we've been going over the 800 words on the word list for the past couple of months. Other than that, we just play lots of board games at home; some promote deep thinking, strategy, etc. Others are just for fun. 

 

Last week, I picked up all the levels of Vocabulary from Classical Roots. I plan to start with the first one (Level 4) this month and just work my way through them (one per semester) until DD is finished with Level B (8th grade book) at the end of 8th grade. Then she can do Levels C-E during 9th, 10th, and 11th grade. It looks like a gentle program, one we can add in for 15 minutes per day, and should reap benefits when it's time for DD to take the SATs and ACTs.

 

 

 

 

[SKL]

Checking back in, we are just lucky if we get all the homework and test study done.  And at this stage, picking my battles is the theme of the day.  I don't see us getting to the point where completing a supplemental workbook page rises to the level of a battle worth fighting, at least until summer break.  :P

 

I have their teacher sending me some of the homework on Fridays so they can start it on the weekends.  This allows them to get to bed at a relatively reasonable hour most school nights.  However, it means I don't add additional "mom work" on the weekends.

 

What we are still doing:

• Sylvan on Wednesdays as mentioned above.  When the teacher is good, the "homework help" is helpful for my eldest, and she does appreciate it.  My youngest is doing a 2-hour stint of supposedly advanced math.  This is at her wish.
• Audiobooks.  I've gathered a bunch of classics, and we've gotten through a pretty good list of books so far.
• The middle school book club - one book per month, and the selections have been pretty good.
• Read-alouds:  we've done some relatively young fiction books, and a little nonfiction to shore up concepts they were learning in school.  I have some ideas for future books, but we'll see what actually gets done.
• Scouts - we are currently doing the World Heritage badge, and I'm leading it, which means at least my kids have to do it well, LOL.  In the fall, they worked on the zoology badge among others.  So some science and social studies, LOL.  I plan to start the financial management badge with them soon.  And they are still in the pen pal program, though they haven't written any letters recently.
• Travel:  we made it to New York (my kids' first time) and we circumnavigated the globe over Christmas break (India, Australia, New Zealand, Fiji, LA, with brief layovers in Singapore and UAE).  Although there was no time for formal study, one can't help absorbing something from a trip like that.  :P  I still plan to read with them the books I have bought about these and previous vacation spots - just not sure when they will rise to the top of the priority list.
• Monthly subscriptions:  right now we are only getting Tinker Crate, Little Passports US (state geography), and Faces magazine.   The other subscriptions ran out.  We are behind on them anyway.  If we ever catch up on the backlog, I'll consider new subscriptions.
• One of my kids reads voraciously, so that might count for something.  :P
• Cooking:  still very rudimentary, but they get dinner on their own at least a couple nights a week.
• Music:  they practice maybe 2-3x per week plus 2x at school.  Should be doing more, but again, picking my battles ....
• Sports - they have 1 or 2 sports activities most days.  One kid's main thing is horse riding, the other kid's is her gymnastics performance team.

[vonfirmath]

 

Scouts - we are currently doing the World Heritage badge, and I'm leading it, which means at least my kids have to do it well, LOL.  In the fall, they worked on the zoology badge among others.  So some science and social studies, LOL.  I plan to start the financial management badge with them soon.  And they are still in the pen pal program, though they haven't written any letters recently.

 

My daughter did the Zoology badge at the Tenderheart level last semester. They spent a night at the Zoo at the beginning of January to end it.

 

They will be doing World Heritage at the Camporee we are going to.