Missing you, Lisa. So little blog time! Here's a Wordless Wednesday, Art edition (imagine that!).

aw. I know just what you mean. My baby started 4th grade this week. That's a "step up" grade around here. You should see all the reading I have planned for him. I can't believe he's only a foot shorter than I am already. Raising children goes by too quickly (until 14-15, where you look forward to some fast time, then it slows down after that year of 2-year old teenager!). :grouphug: He's still little, though. Enjoy him some for today, please.

I make many things myself, but when I can, the Dollar Tree has some wonderful teacher supplies for $1. Can't beat it!

Got a simple UG one on my blog. Easy, no pressure scheduling! I love it! There is also a schedule or two on Homeschool Launch, also in my siggy. Hope they help.

Utilize the teacher's notes. If you can spend some time there, it will make so much more of the program abundantly clear and will let you, the teacher, feel confident in where you're going. Allow yourself to see what comes next, so you are certain to include the skills necessary to complete the next level expectations. Choose a couple of projects from each unir. Or pick lots of easy to do in one day projects. You can over do hands on just like you can overdo everything else (too much can exhaust this teacher). If you help your children see the big picture, sooner than later, they'll be able to paint it themselves. Read the Dialectic materials so you can learn how to facilitate Socratic Discussion. It will make you a better teacher across the board. Remember to keep younger years relaxed and enjoyable. Utilize your teacher's notes for high school -- you can't read all the books for multiple levels. It's simply too much! Have some fun and don't be afraid to make TOG your own. Read great TOG Blogs...they are so encouraging!

Just wanted to encourage that just like everything else, you'll both grow into the Logic Stage. You put in the practice and one day you'll go, "Wow. That was a great discussion." and you'll smile b/c you'll remember this post! It comes. And like another poster said, you are thoughtful, caring and dedicated to this journey. You'll make a way!

You see...your mind is in a good place! You're still taking about color-coding. You know I LOVE some color coding! HA! And notice, I'm an hour late b/c of puter time.....oops.

I'm assuming you have 1 dc in Dialectic and the others in grammar stages. WELL, if we do everything....and I mean everything...in the grammar stages, we spend about 7-8 hours total for the week...Here is what our week looks like this week. Keep in mind, italics mean independent work and underlined means on the computer. This is for a K, 3rd, 4th grader for week 1 of our school year. Monday 2 hours together ☺Vocabulary Intro. – read through vocab pages/show picture ☺Core Read Aloud – SOTW 4 Ch. 12 ☺Mapwork: world map major rivers major deserts (the LG just did continents with me while the other 2 labels Rivers) ☺Veritas Cards ☺Assigned Reading - Five Children and It (one month + book report on this) Tuesday 1 hour (Totally independent on most days for personal reading time) ☺Assigned Reading - Five Children and It 1 month + book report 65pgs. Per week ; Read Aloud: In Coal Country 10pgs (wk ½) ☺Mapwork daily practice w/ maps in plastic sleeves ☺President’s Song YouTube ☺Quizlet: Learn practice vocab words ☺Assigned Reading - Five Children and It Wed. 1 hour together ☺Read Aloud Core/Literature The Wonderful Wizard of Oz pg. 1-33; Albert Einstein ☺Mapwork ☺ Quizlet: Scatter ☺Veritas Cards ☺Assigned Reading - Five Children and It Thurs 1-2 hour (mostly independent, but some working together for notebooking, which is individual time while the other read) ☺Assigned Reading Trial and Triumph Ch. 40; Albert Einstein ☺Mapwork ☺President’s Song ☺Quizlet: Space Race ☺Notebook Key word outline ☺Assigned Reading - Five Children and It Fri. about 1 hour together and however long (up to 45min--- 1hour independently taking tests). ☺Map Test ☺Vocabulary Test ☺Literature Worksheet ☺Veritas Cards ☺President’s Book - Read then add to project Roosevelt pg. 34-36 ☺ Famous People Book pg. 40, 94, 52 ☺Assigned Reading - Five Children and It Other weeks will include a special project and that will stretch out our Fridays. I choose long term projects for Unit Studies like the President's booklet and Prez. Song. We use memorization for Unit Studies, too (Veritas Cards). We always do food at the unit studies..that doesn't take much prep, really. We read papers/narrations/summaries and have book discussions of an agreed upon book for older children. This allows for "Discussion Fridays" where Dialectic and Rh. students to have 1.5 hours (D) and 2-2.5 hours ® on Fridays for discussion, then complete or alter their answers. Long Fridays for me, but allows them time to get their work done. Because of the amount of reading for each level, I'd say the D and R students spend 2-3 hours daily on TOG...but remember, my kids do Every.thing. Loads of reading. Loads of writing/notetaking etc. Here is the D activities we complete: o History □ Literature □ Lit. Analysis o Discussion □ Church History □Mapwork o Vocabulary □ Famous People □ President Cards o Activity □ Note taking o Summarization □ Timeline All read from each category and the Rhetoric complete the same, but they also read the government. We only hold discussions and answer questions for lit and history. We'll do Philosophy in year 1 and government as a Dual Enrollment in the local college. I still have them read gov't documents and I make sure they understand the political scene, but I do not require written questions. It takes them about 3 hours per day. They also complete 1 or 2 big projects per unit, which are displayed for celebration. Often times, instead of the suggested read aloud, I read the church history book at lunch time. Yes, it's a lot, but I always see TOG as Humanities...which covers so much more than just history! This is also why the younger kiddos do each language art 3x/week, not 5x. We get enough done in every category and also have enough time to apply what we learn.

If time is tight and demands are high, I'd rather invest in PR and ease up on history or science. PRs foundation is critical, while other areas are gravy. After stumbling with older children, I encourage you to make time for what matters most...and so far as school, that means super strong math and 3Rs for a while (like K-3). That's my philosophy, though. The first to get dropped around here are the extras!

:iagree: We all have our highs and lows. That's why we come here...the people here understand the home schooling roller coaster better than most families and friends! It's a teacher's lounge, only better and without all the smoke!

It doesn't have to be overkill. Is it necessary to do all of the language arts every day? Can you assign each branch 3x/wk.? That helps a great deal with overkill over here. I find word root studies to be priceless and a great "instead of" typical vocab programs. We seem to carry over more understanding from roots than we did from vocab. Of course, ymmv. TOG D&R have lots of poetry, UG/LG has some. That works for our school b/c I just want exposure in the young years, but analysis in the older. TOG handles that for me. If they are more science and mathy, I'd put in some living books in those areas, if you're not already. Hope those thoughts help. Have a great day!:auto:

So, practically speaking here's my suggestions..... let the kid's pick the berries :) Make a giant shopping list Start with the big picture --- dividing days, etc.---then work down to the particulars Plan for the first session of your school (I believe you mentioned qtrs) first, so you're ready to start, then get back to the rest (as opposed to getting one subject ready for the entire year) Before you do any planning, spend a week debunking rooms (did that last week w/ the kiddos). Use tarps to get any garage sale items out the door, not just moved about (did that last week, too). Get your school area in order so as you go, you can grab and return, knowly freshly where everything is. Let the 5th grader really help out with breakfast and lunch. Eat well and live on the coffee food group. That's all I got! I'm supposed to be off this puter in 8 minutes! EIGHT MINUTES....I'm shouting at myself, and I sound like the rabbit in Wonderland! EIGHT MINUTES!:willy_nilly: And for good measure....:cheers2: soon you'll be :coolgleamA:

I know EXACTLY where you are. I still have to do a good bit of your list and we started school yesterday. I keep going back and forth between: Tina, you're burnt out on home school (it's year 13 in the making); Tina, you have too many things on your plate (what to cut?); Tina, it's been a busy + lazy summer, so you're just ill prepared. Couple whatever is going on with some serious personal issues and I'm kind of a mess. I can work my way out of it, but still, this is not the start I prefer. :grouphug::grouphug::grouphug: one hug for each week you have left to get things moving.

Weeelll...I'm ready enough, but not as ready as I wanted to be. The first 11 weeks of school are planned out to the day and activity. I'll have to pick up the rest before the 22nd of August, when my classes start up again. It's gonna be a hairy 3 weeks, but I've got to get moving before all the housework, projects, etc. we finished are trashed again! :tongue_smilie::001_huh: Say a prayer for me, please. It's not like we're really changing anything, except K is registered and "for real" this time and my adult life is gonna take some more time, but it's one of those years where several of the kids are bumping up a level and will require some guidance as they step it up. That means this year, they'll need a lot of mom time. I can handle it, I'm just gonna be b-u-s-y. So, as usual, I can't enjoy the boards as much as I'd like. I'll miss ya'll.

I don't use them for someone that young, but I do often use them with grammar students. I have a box, I put vocab words in it, they pull the word, we work with the word. Repeat until finished with vocab list.

:iagree:

We enjoy the literature. For D, you're not only getting great reading, but you're also given instructions on the how's whys and whats of literature analysis. It's great b/c the teacher's notes give you all you need. We also have a "Book basket" in the spirit of Sonlight, so if there is something we really want to read, it's there for us. You'll also find a ton of crossover in the two programs as reading lists. We do writing aids from 4-6, then Write Shop 7-8, then back to WA for high school. It' makes for a nice blend of easier for me instruction (WS is so step by step) and a variety of assignments or high school and UG so we get lots of writing practice. Marcia is much more creative than I so far as assigning variety. In agreement w/ the others so far as vocab. It's so TOG related that you aren't doing a vocab program; although incorporating vocab into writing and Latin/word study is enough imho. so we no longer do a separate program (ours is incorporated into The Phonics Road, then to The Latin Road). Another thing I really enjoyed about TOG was the teacher training. TOG taught me how to do Socratic Discussions and since there are answers provided, my dc always have great examples on how solid answers to Socratic Discussions should look. It really helped our understanding of classical strategies in teaching and learning.

That's right. Also, once your child can handle it, you can assign some reading independently. We're breaking into some required independence this year, so while I only teach history 3 days a week to my grammar kids, the other two days of the week they are doing independent work like reading and rote drill on the computer or map practice. I'm flexible where necessary (i.e. if there are 7 famous people in one week, I'll spread them out instead of teaching them on one day). It works out great. My general schedule is on my blog. I'm in the process of daily lesson plans right now. If you'd like to see them, I'll put a few weeks on HomeSchool Launch. Then you can see what a typical, packed (we've been doing TOG a long time, so don't expect yourself to do all that we do, we really and truly built up to it). It probably won't be up until Friday though. I've been planning all day and I'm pooped! 9 full weeks of TOG and 5.5 of science all planned. So much more to do, but I'm happy with my progress!

:iagree: with all the great advice here. Take a peek at my blog. THere's a schedule (or 3 or 4) to get ideas on how to bring the whole together. It does take some adjusting, but then, life is better w/ TOG :)

We start with the big speech, then I remind them that if we don't finish our work on time, then they have less time to play. Hang in there :) You already know it gets better!

This is the first of our unit studies that we're coordinating with TOG4. It can stand alone though. I have targeted a 3rd & 4th grader, but I suspect a 5th grader would enjoy this also. If you'd like MSWord copy, go to my Homeschool Launch page (in siggy). The additional worksheet I created is also there. FLIGHT 7 lessons Booklist The Story of Inventions by Michael J. McHugh, Frank P. Bachman pg. 305-314 Apologia Exploring Creation with Zoology 1: Flying Creatures of the 5th Day Jeannie Fullbright pg. 6-8; 10-12; 41-49 (stop at Preening); 57-60 Usbourne Internet-linked Science Encyclopedia Flight pg. 142-143 Book Basket How Stuff Works Marshall Brain Gliders pg. 12-13; Airplanes pg. 2-5 The Way Things Work David Macaulay pg. 114-121 Eyewitness Book Flying Machines Andrew Nahum 1-62 Inventors Martin W. Sandler pg. 74-81 Experiments Apologia Glider Design pg 10-12 Wright Brothers Glider http://www.grc.nasa.gov/WWW/Wright/ROGER/1903model.htm'>http://www.grc.nasa.gov/WWW/Wright/ROGER/1903model.htm'>http://www.grc.nasa.gov/WWW/Wright/ROGER/1903model.htm'>http://www.grc.nasa.gov/WWW/Wright/ROGER/1903model.htm Usbourne pg. 143 “See for yourself†Internet Links from http://usborne-quicklinks.com/usa/usa_entity_pages/usa_select_link.asp?lang=usa&lvl=2&id=1203&From=142&To=143 http://scifiles.larc.nasa.gov/kids/D_Lab/acts_flight.html'>http://scifiles.larc.nasa.gov/kids/D_Lab/acts_flight.html'>http://scifiles.larc.nasa.gov/kids/D_Lab/acts_flight.html'>http://scifiles.larc.nasa.gov/kids/D_Lab/acts_flight.html - basic forces of flight http://www.planemath.com/activities/pmenterprises/training.html basic forces of flight http://www.rafmuseum.org.uk/london/learning/aircraft_controls.cfm'>http://www.rafmuseum.org.uk/london/learning/aircraft_controls.cfm'>http://www.rafmuseum.org.uk/london/learning/aircraft_controls.cfm'>http://www.rafmuseum.org.uk/london/learning/aircraft_controls.cfm aircraft controls http://www.tryscience.org/experiments/experiments_begin.html?nosedive'>http://www.tryscience.org/experiments/experiments_begin.html?nosedive'>http://www.tryscience.org/experiments/experiments_begin.html?nosedive'>http://www.tryscience.org/experiments/experiments_begin.html?nosedive paper airplane directions http://www.workman.com/more/games/fliersclub/'>http://www.workman.com/more/games/fliersclub/'>http://www.workman.com/more/games/fliersclub/'>http://www.workman.com/more/games/fliersclub/ paper airplane flight simulator http://www.worsleyschool.net/science/files/paper/airplanes.html'>http://www.worsleyschool.net/science/files/paper/airplanes.html'>http://www.worsleyschool.net/science/files/paper/airplanes.html'>http://www.worsleyschool.net/science/files/paper/airplanes.html making paper planes go farther Vocabulary Lift, drag, weight, thrust, airfoil, Bernoulli’s principle, air resistance, streamlined, control surfaces, ailerons, elevators, rudder, rolling, yawing, pitching Movies The Magic Schoolbus, Taking Flight (online) Wright Brothers’ Flying Machine by Nova Lesson 1 - The Story of Inventions by Michael J. McHugh, Frank P. Bachman pg. 305-314 - Fill in the blank outline (worksheet I generated) Lesson 2 - Wright Bros. Flying Machine – Netflix - Notetaking while watching the movie (they will take notes, then form sentences from them for a summary lesson) Lesson 3 - Apologia pg. 6-8 - Apologia pg. 7 “Try This†photograph for notebook then caption as the write up - http://scifiles.larc.nasa.gov/kids/D_Lab/acts_flight.html - basic forces of flight - Usbourne pg. 143, “See for yourself†photograph and write up Lesson 4 - The Magic Schoolbus, Taking Flight (online) - RA Usbourne pg. 142 - define airfoil, Bernoulli’s principle, lift, thrust, drag, air resistance, streamlined via kids create original definitions, then copywork or dictation Lesson 5 - RA Usbourne pg. 143 - http://www.rafmuseum.org.uk/london/learning/aircraft_controls.cfm aircraft controls - Define control surfaces, ailerons, elevators, rudder, roling, yawing, pitching kids create original definitions, then copywork or dictation - http://www.tryscience.org/experiments/experiments_begin.html?nosedive paper airplane directions - http://www.workman.com/more/games/fliersclub/ paper airplane flight simulator - http://www.worsleyschool.net/science/files/paper/airplanes.html making paper planes go farther Lesson 6 - Apologia RA pg. 57-60 - Apolgia experiment pg. pg. 10-12 - photo journal w/ write up Lesson 7 - Apologia RA 41-49 (stop at Preening) - Apologia draw the feather diagram pg. 43 - Wright Brothers Glider http://www.grc.nasa.gov/WWW/Wright/ROGER/1903model.htm (photograph for notebook)

Grammar school in the morning; middle school in the mid-afternoon; high school in late afternoon. Our range is so wide, there is no way to teach them all at once.

So, after a successful meeting with the West Point recruiter, who said everything I've been saying forever :glare:, ds requested that we follow TOG according to the one week schedule b/c, "I want the challenge." SO, although I roll my eyes b/c I've been telling him this forever and a day, I am admittedly THRILLED that he asked for it. Finally, maturity has arrived! 10th grade will never be the same :D Celebrate with me!

What a great way to be accountable. I am also naturally LAaaaazy. It takes real effort to do this job! So, I'm off again to plan some more for next week! Hope all continues to go well, OP!

I'm glad this was your decision. From reading your original post, I would have suggested keeping him home. Your uncertainty is probably spiritual leading. Best wishes for a wonderful and enjoyable school year. YOU CAN DO IT!