LoveBaby Posted April 12, 2011 Share Posted April 12, 2011 You are so wise, mama! Can you come live with me for a couple of weeks and tell me what to do?! Your post about not as rigid of a schedule has me intrigued. I need some sort of framework, but we are *not* a 15min. increment family and I've never found the balance between complete rigidity and total...well...chaos! LOL Phonics Road is here to stay, balancing that with the other subjects as well as math, snuggling the babe, spending time with the pre-schooler and everything else...I'm at a loss how to accomplish it all in a week. Show me the way, mama!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mommamia Posted April 12, 2011 Share Posted April 12, 2011 Can you link to the post that Tina wrote. I'm intrigued as well.:001_smile: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnandtinagilbert Posted April 12, 2011 Share Posted April 12, 2011 (edited) Jesse, You brought a huge smile to my face. It's my birthday today and I've gotten so much love. What a beautiful blessing our Lord has placed upon me. I guess, I got to thinking, why do I need to plan out the materials I own that already have a schedule? It's so unnecessary to actually write out Singapore math since it's essentially, "do the next lesson" and since it's my 5th+ time around, I already know how to teach the stuff. It seems a 2 minute glance in my teacher's book really is enough! I don't need to type or write what is obvious: if you just finished lesson 46, finish lesson 47 next! The only planning I do for math is to sit down and place a post-it on the exercises that will come after the Practices from the Text. I place a capital "T" when they need teacher time. It took me about 10 min. per child to write out the info in their workbook. Planning done. PR is the same. Since there is already a daily schedule, I just chose which subjects to do each day. Now that I'm confident in the depth of PR, I know I have no hurry to get 'er done and since I watch the DVD in advance, I'm confident I'm finished planning. M-grammar + lit T-Spelling + lit. W - grammar Th. Spelling + Lit. F - Spelling + grammar I pick up my book and do what's next. The pre-planning Dvd-a-thon makes it grab and go. TOG is grab and go at this point, too. I have our days planned out so far as choosing books and projects, so I do glance for supplies, but for the most part, I pre-select projects that include materials I have on hand. I chose the books last summer by first looking in my own library, then checking local availability. I put a check mark and write down their location. It doesn't take long...I spent part of one day doing this for all 4 TOG levels. I do the same for the writing assignments, but save choosing the discussion ?? for the week b/c I like to base those on our discussion, needs, and preferences (all of which change regularly). Science has become do what we like (We're still enjoying Netflix science right now) and then we do whatever recent skill from PR writing to complete our notebook (outlining, paragraph, narration, lab sheet) etc. It's really an extension of PR, using science studies. This makes me Very happy and creates an easy balance in our science. We're actually spending more time on science b/c the videos are longer, yet I get no complaints! Since I have our memorization in place from summer planning, it's also a "grab the folder and practice" skill. I insert this between subjects to break up the monotony. I teach first and let the boys go off independently thereafter. This has Really motivated them to get their work done so they can go and play. Somehow, it all works out well. Here's what our day looks like. My day looks like this, starting at 8: Math with Ax Man/assigned reading for The Ant Ax finish math/Math with The Ant/Playtime for toddlers and Alexander the Great 5 min. memorization or 10min computer drill time in lieu of family memorization PR & Math w/ Darling yet Diva; Both boys finish their math and assigned reading while I do PR w/ Ker IF they finish, they have free time Breakfast which I do limit to 30min total time PR w/ Ax & Ant/; AtG practices addition math facts using a Holey Card (w/ no timing) Snack for littles and I meet with the Elders (who have 45-1hour subject slots for the day. I set the timer and just tell them to move along) while the Little League watches a science video. Writing skills for science family memorization time Lunch + family bible History (read, video, map, activity, whatever for the day) the Little League is finished, so I take a break, clean up, then meet with the Elders for the day to review Latin and go through science or history discussions as necessary. I don't watch the clock (except for memorization sessions) and we work until it seems we've done enough. Some days that means simply "the next lesson" other times, it means breaking PR grammar or lit. into 2 days. Whatever feels right. Some days, we won't write in science or history, so on the next day, we'll review what we learned. I have even tried a few different things. Two weeks ago, we watched a video and they took notes during the video (according to ability, I assigned how many they were responsible for). Then I had them stand up and form complete sentences from their notes. The next day, we took their notes and wrote a paragraph and colored a picture for their notebook. It is really that simple. Hanging on the wall where I can see it, is a piece of paper that has: PR Math History Science Memorization Bible I make sure I hit each area, each day, and we're good. No times. No colors. No 5-zillion columns. It Can be that simple b/c I'm settled in what we use. It's so, so, so freeing! We do so much schooling, we read so much, we have fun, and I am no longer the rabbit from Alice in Wonderland, running around crazy b/c "I'm late! I'm late!" What a wonderful world! Edited April 12, 2011 by johnandtinagilbert Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnandtinagilbert Posted April 12, 2011 Share Posted April 12, 2011 Can you link to the post that Tina wrote. I'm intrigued as well.:001_smile: Here it is: Katrina,I have thought something about you for some time....you're not giving yourself enough credit! You're finishing up year 3 of your home schooling adventure, right? You know what you want in schooling, right? You know your philosophy, right? You even know what materials can help guide you to that direction, right? SEE! You are in a descent place as a home schooler. I TOTALLY understand how nice day to day schedules can be, but let me share something weird that happened here this year....I dropped the grammar school scheduling! I put up the list of "subjects" and wrote down our long term goals and all the "skills and content" I prefer to include (poetry, music, narration, outlining, read alouds, etc.). I make sure we cover the important things however many times we need each week (PR-3days each, daily memorization, etc.), and then I go round and round that schedule from there, making sure I've hit our goals each week. We have met our goals Every.Week. which was not the case when we stuck to our daily-incremental schedule. I swear the "pressure" for me to complete the schedule made me a worse teacher many times, although not every day! Oddly, Not having it all written out has offered me a sense of freedom and took away all the pressure. I am happier. We are getting the same amount of work done, but with more joy from mom. Hindsight continues to tell me to Enjoy this journey more and more and more and letting go of my obsessive planning (at least a little, cuz you know it's tough to drop that obsession all the way), has truly made our year better. The teacher in you seems so in love w/ HOD, but the heart of your whole family seems to lead you to keep everyone together as long as you can (our heart is there, too). Perhaps using MFW will allow you to work out the SWB recs you respect so strongly, still give that sweet CM touch, and open up the door for PR, which your dc are missing. Although I greatly appreciate having all of your goals met from one direction, you can still meet all those goals, including some of your favorite providers, by using an eclectic approach. I'm no help, I guess, just wanted to say, *I* think *you* can do better than you think without the day to day plan laid out for you. As much time as you (hee hee -- me, too) spend here, you have a TON of time for planning! :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LoveBaby Posted April 12, 2011 Author Share Posted April 12, 2011 You are wonderful, mama!! Thank you! Netflix science.. I'm assuming you just stream science videos for them to watch and then have them narrate or discuss? That sounds awesome. My kiddo's have been watching Mythbusters and last week built a gocart/boxcar out of an old bed frame, shutters and other junk from the neighbors shed. That is the best kind of science there is, IMO, for kiddo's under 7th grade. You better believe I counted that as science. We are also learning the art of "keeping chickens":lol: and have counted that as science as well. I'm going to keep pondering your post and see if I can work out a flow to my day that makes sense and allows us to complete what I want to finish. Thanks again for all of your wisdom and sharing it so freely! Happy Birthday! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnandtinagilbert Posted April 13, 2011 Share Posted April 13, 2011 You are wonderful, mama!! Thank you! Netflix science.. I'm assuming you just stream science videos for them to watch and then have them narrate or discuss? That sounds awesome. My kiddo's have been watching Mythbusters and last week built a gocart/boxcar out of an old bed frame, shutters and other junk from the neighbors shed. That is the best kind of science there is, IMO, for kiddo's under 7th grade. You better believe I counted that as science. We are also learning the art of "keeping chickens":lol: and have counted that as science as well. I'm going to keep pondering your post and see if I can work out a flow to my day that makes sense and allows us to complete what I want to finish. Thanks again for all of your wisdom and sharing it so freely! Happy Birthday! Thank you for the b-day wishes. Yup, Netflix science is just that way. We even have been pausing and doing Beakman's experiments. It's been fun! A quick narration, etc. and we're in the money....love the co-cart from Myth Busters! The show is in our que, too. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AppleGreen Posted April 13, 2011 Share Posted April 13, 2011 I just wanted to thank you Tina for your oh so helpful posts, as well. I would love to come hang out at your house for a day just to see your flow. Happy b-day! PS~I am really liking PR thus far! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnandtinagilbert Posted April 13, 2011 Share Posted April 13, 2011 I just wanted to thank you Tina for your oh so helpful posts, as well. I would love to come hang out at your house for a day just to see your flow. Happy b-day! PS~I am really liking PR thus far! Welcome :) :party: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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