Well since we've had a thread for people who are finished, how about people who are..

[PeterPan]

NOT. :D I keep inching closer, honest. I've been putting lessons and creating steps and syllabi in my ipad, but now I get to that stage where I have to back off and streamline, make sure I'm realistic, make sure there's not unnecessary duplication, toss some things, keep some things. Always before I've chosen everything in the spring and by fall found some of the stuff was a terrible fit, that she had basically outgrown it. So I'm sticking to my line that I'm waiting till we get closer to let it gel so it fits her better. :D

 

And if you're bopping in on this thread and ARE finished, wanna share how you go from the materials in your hands to the implemented plan for your kids? I tried a dash with workboxes, but they were out of sight, out of mind for us. I thought about the Calderwood planner where the student takes the syllabi for all the subjects and makes his own daily plan. That ownership seems good, right? Talked to dh about it, and he said dd wasn't even close to ready for that, to just focus on clear plans that she implements every day, like it or not. She'll like it, but he was just saying she wasn't ready for that step of planning herself, that she'd be prone to wheedle it down and make a mess of it. Of course maybe that's a commentary that I'm still not doing a good job of planning for her? Maybe it's more of a commentary on work vs. ease. :lol:

 

So anyways, feel free to gab about your imperfections in planning or how you got it so great. :D

 

And does anyone have any opinion on LOGIC for these kids? I've been eyeing the James Madison Criticial Thinking course...

[Critterfixer]

I'm not quite done with planning. I've got all the materials, I know how I want to implement them, and what I want to use for everything (except history-but I've got a working plan!) and now it's time to tweak the daily schedule. I set one, then work it, and see what works and what doesn't. I make adjustments as I go and keep track of them on the master copy so that by the time August rolls around we'll have hit our groove.

Basically I take my current material and work it with next year's schedule. And I start in on the new subjects in July so that I get comfortable with them and the lesson plans. This year the new ones are both Memoria Press materials, so they have been pretty easy to work with so far (Prima Latina and Christian Studies 1).

It's a work in progress.

[Verity]

With us in limbo I'm nowhere close to finished planning for my three kids next "year". We are losing our house so within 4-8 weeks we are moving somewhere...to add to the mix dh has been interviewing with an out of town company so we could be moving there.

At this point I'm starting to box things, see what old curriculum and toys I can sell, give away or pack...

 

For next fall I have my Aspie's math and latin figured out, we still have some WWS to complete and I bought Lightning Lit 7...still need the books. MUS works for us and we've been happy with CAP Latin so that should be good, we will see about the writing and lit - my aspie really struggles with those.

 

I have ideas on history and science but can't decide which way to go because I would really prefer to combine the boys but that probably isn't realistic with the wide age ranges. Mainly I have to get a good solid foundation in American History this year even if I slight the rest of the world - we need to move on if I want to start over with Ancients for my youngest any time soon!

 

I'm still struggling getting my youngest to read - he can't get CVC words still - I know he has some kind of speech/articulation problem but needs an evaluation.

 

Middle son needs visual processing eval and OT for his hands - but overall is the most independent and capable of my kids at this point.

 

It's all pretty overwhelming. Right now I am glad that I homeschool because at least I don't have to worry about dealing with new schools, new IEP's, etc... I am really hoping that we will finally get good insurance coverage to help with these eval's and therapies that are needed for all three boys.

 

Thanks for letting me dump! :P

[merry gardens]

Finished with my plans for the next school year? I'm never finished planning. :lol:

 

I like variety and novelty mixed into my routines. We get most of the basics done through routine. But I also plan for the unplanned.

 

Reading: I like Barton. It's very thorough so I plan to continue with it through all ten levels.

 

More Reading: I read out loud to the kids and they read books on their own. I could plan that more, but I don't. I have a couple of "go-to" books that we read on a regular basis. (At one time they were planned, but now they're routine.)

 

Writing: :confused: Looking at EIW. I've often looked at it but I'm afraid of that program for some reason. I hear rumors of a co-op near my home doing it, so I'm waiting for info on that. If that doesn't work out, I'm considering an online class for my eighth grader. For my others, we tried some BraveWriter last year and I like that approach, so I might try it again. I might do a little bit of this and a little bit of that. Or just a very little bit. I have a fear of teaching writing because that's where I see all the dyslexic failings in spelling, grammar and basically our every inadequacy down on paper.:blushing: If I don't start out with much writing, I'll get to it at some point during the school year more intensely. In any case, writing has finally advanced beyond letter formation and simple legibility for most of mine, but I'll be working on letter formation too with my younger ones.

 

Grammar: I looked at Winston Grammar last year but decided on something else. Now I bought Winston Grammar for next year. And I have an assortment of other products/ideas/approaches/games that I'll probably pull from as needed or as the mood strikes.:lol: (Barton covers grammar concepts but I like to do more.)

 

Math: I really like Singapore Math for k-6 so that's settled. I'm not sure about math for my 8th grader and won't really be sure until we find what works for him and me. Singapore was too teacher intensive for me in 7th. We have Teaching Textbooks' Algebra and we'll probably start with that, but maybe not. :001_unsure: I just don't know.

 

Science: We kind-of live science. We go through science books together in more intensive studies as the mood strikes me. The mood strikes me often. :D My kids got the math and science genes from both my husband and me.

 

History: No idea yet. We have a history museum membership this year that we're using a lot.

 

As I write all this out, I realize it sounds kind like I don't know what I'm doing. (That's because I don't know what I'm doing.:tongue_smilie: ) But...I have a good sense of balance. We have the basics down with a couple good programs like Barton and Singapore Math. As we go about our school year, the way I do things allows me to quickly adjust to needs and interests and life.

[Leonor]

With us in limbo I'm nowhere close to finished planning for my three kids next "year". We are losing our house so within 4-8 weeks we are moving somewhere...to add to the mix dh has been interviewing with an out of town company so we could be moving there.

At this point I'm starting to box things, see what old curriculum and toys I can sell, give away or pack...

 

For next fall I have my Aspie's math and latin figured out, we still have some WWS to complete and I bought Lightning Lit 7...still need the books. MUS works for us and we've been happy with CAP Latin so that should be good, we will see about the writing and lit - my aspie really struggles with those.

 

I have ideas on history and science but can't decide which way to go because I would really prefer to combine the boys but that probably isn't realistic with the wide age ranges. Mainly I have to get a good solid foundation in American History this year even if I slight the rest of the world - we need to move on if I want to start over with Ancients for my youngest any time soon!

 

I'm still struggling getting my youngest to read - he can't get CVC words still - I know he has some kind of speech/articulation problem but needs an evaluation.

 

Middle son needs visual processing eval and OT for his hands - but overall is the most independent and capable of my kids at this point.

 

It's all pretty overwhelming. Right now I am glad that I homeschool because at least I don't have to worry about dealing with new schools, new IEP's, etc... I am really hoping that we will finally get good insurance coverage to help with these eval's and therapies that are needed for all three boys.

 

Thanks for letting me dump! :P

 

Just sending you a hug and will pray for you.:grouphug:

[happygrrl]

Just throwing out there that Analytical Grammar was the perfect curriculum for my aspie this past year. We had previously done R&S orally (no writing assignments) but it wasn't really sticking, and also after so many time through I was *done* with it. AG with the DVD's has been amazing!

[Heathermomster]

OhE...Have been exchanging e-mails with my son's IEW tutor for next year. I'm in the process of helping her find a location to teach two classes. She learned that it's not legal to teach more than one child at once, in her home. She limits class size to 4.. It's a local zoning issue apparently. Anywho...If she doesn't find an open classroom, I'll be teaching DS IEW myself....Honestly, I'm starting to rethink the whole issue of private tutoring anyways. DS is done with Wilson too. (A Wilson tutor tested DS up to book 12 and outside of spelling, he aced it.) Basically, we are in limbo until this classroom business is straightened out, and I will now have to make a back-up plan...So much for best, well made plans....

Edited June 28, 2012 by Heathermomster

[tabrizia]

Well I had my plans mostly set, except for not being positive on exactly what we were doing for history for DS, and then he had his accident. I think we're going to try to do most of what I had planned before, but not knowing what his therapy schedule will be for the autumn and not knowing if or how his fall changed his learning style/memory it is tough to figure out exactly what we are doing.

 

Fortunately he is starting Kindergarten so I am not to worried about it at least, though I hate being in limbo trying to figure things out. I did start the process to join the unschooling friendly umbrella school in my state, so if we don't do as much "book" learning as life learning we should be set there at least.

[peacefully]

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[SkateLeft]

I haven't done any real planning yet for my SN kid, but he's only going into 1st grade, so I've got it a lot easier than the rest of you.

 

Over the next few weeks, we've got our regular followups with the endocrinologist, developmental pediatrician and audiologist. We just finished quarterly OT and speech evaluations, so I'm sort of marking time until I see just where we're at. Once I get all the progress reports and figure out any medication changes, I can start working on what he'll be doing in the fall.

 

That's my excuse... er, plan... ;)

[PeterPan]

Along those lines, I'm putting together an "independent reading list" for ds... Anyway, I'm going to do my best to recreate that and ask that he select books from that list. I'm also putting together a "menu" of reading activities from which ds gets to choose. Beyond this, I'm won't be scheduling his reading at all.

 

...

As far as how our day goes, workboxes have been very helpful to us here. I don't think I use the system the way it was originally intended. It's really just a glorified storage system for us, but it's a very useful one, because ds can easily see the subjects we absolutely need to cover and choose among the ones that are optional. Most days he selects in what order we proceed with the activities.

...

Anyway, as you can see, I am very, very far from having any sort of clear plan. But it's actually less anxiety-producing for me to start out the year intending to be loose and unstructured than having made up pages and pages of grand plans, only to chuck them after a few days. I've come to realize that ds needs only a very loose structure and likes everything to be very fluid within that structure, so that's what I've been trying to figure out.

 

On the reading lists, what you might do is the inverse, giving him the genre checklist and helping him find the sections of the library where he can locate those books. Don't do for him what he can do for himself. I did that with my dd at one point, and it worked out quite well, just needed a little guidance to get started.

 

On your workboxes, SEE is the operative word here. And yes, it's glorified storage, lol. What are you doing that differentiates optional and essential?

 

Yup, loose structure and fluid within that structure, that's us!!! :lol:

[TippyCanoe]

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[peacefully]

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[PeterPan]

Doodler, I wish I could see the ebb and flow thing as easily as you do. Do you realize it *in the moment* or more *in retrospect*?

[PeterPan]

Wow Yllek, none of what you're listing is what my dd read at that age, and she was an extremely advanced reader. :(

 

You know what helped me is TruthQuest. Headed us right into old, well-written historical fiction. Your ds strikes me as one who might like biographies. Our library has an entire section of juvenile non-fiction with shelves and shelves and shelves of biographies. So I didn't mean to turn him loose, mercy. I meant for instance you'd put on the sheet: biographies. Then you'd walk his butt over to that biography section, point to the shelves, and say choose. And if he didn't chose, you'd start pulling for him till he had a pile to take home and chose from. Then you'd put on the sheet: poetry. And you walk his butt over to the whole shelf of books you have saved up for all your grand intentions of poetry study (we all have this, right? our little collections of Young People's books and Whitman and Dickenson anthologies and Sheldon and whatnot) and you say CHOOSE. And if he does, again, you pick 3 to go in his pile. Then you put on his checklist Newberry award winners (because our library segregates all those out into a couple shelves, making it easy) and you walk his butt there and have him choose. Repeat with picture books and non-fiction and any other sections your library has.

 

At least that's what I did. My dd never read any Harry Potter or any of that weird stuff you described. She was way too busy reading other stuff. In 2nd as I recall she read Swiss Family Robinson over and over and over. The VP catalog is awesome for getting a sequence of age-appropriate classic lit. They also throw in some interesting, newer series.

 

She did recently read through the Alex Rider series, but she's 13, not 7, kwim? She didn't bat an eyelash at them. I have no clue if they're decent or not, as I didn't pre-read. So what's appropriate and fine at 13 might be disturbing at 7. I'd head him toward non-fiction. The adult non-fiction sections will sometimes have wonderful books for young, capable readers. I got this one book for my ds that is all up close pictures of bugs taken with microscopes. Adult section, but it reaches down to a little dc, kwim?

 

So yes, when we did our list it was with say 8 genres and it was totally guided and those were the sorts of breakdowns I had. I had to do it because she was in this rutt where she was reading comic books (antique, but comic books!) all day instead of anything meatier. I actually had to put them ALL AWAY and convert her over. She still likes comics, but at least it broke the habit. There's lots of real stuff for capable readers. Has he started reading COFAs yet? The book "Who Then Should We Read?" is also a good source for older series. COFAs were *huge* in our house for a number of years. I don't have all of them, but we're pretty close. They have timelines in the back when you get the older editions (not the really old silhouettes and not the newer paperbacks but the hardbound older ones), and that was neat to see how her use of them changed as she started making connections.

[Joani]

I'm planning for six this year instead of two, with four new to homeschooling, three fairly new stepchildren and my first highschooler. I'll probably be too worn out from planning to actually teach them anything. :tongue_smilie:

[PeterPan]

I'm planning for six this year instead of two, with four new to homeschooling, three fairly new stepchildren and my first highschooler. I'll probably be too worn out from planning to actually teach them anything. :tongue_smilie:

 

Oh dude sister, you need those Joanne Calderwood planners and to see if your kids can carry some of that themselves! http://www.urthemom.com/Home_Page.php :D

[TippyCanoe]

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[Halcyon]

To be honest, i am having a hard time getting any private time to actually get this done! I am wroking more this summer than i was last summer, and we did just move so we are still unpacking.....i am finished with a few subjects for older, but not the tough ones. I keep telling myself i will do this at night, but i am too tired, and during the day the boys are distracting...actually, they are not too bad, bt i find it hard to focus when they are arou d. And dh is travelling nect week! U. They are goi gto camp ina couple of weeks for a week, then again in late july, so i am shotting for then to get it done. Plus, we are converting our garage into a homeschool roomM! :001_huh:

[PeterPan]

Plus, we are converting our garage into a homeschool roomM! :001_huh:

 

Ooo, that will be fun!

[peacefully]

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[peacefully]

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[Heathermomster]

 

When Doodler describes her talking DD, she could be describing my son. He talks about whatever is on his mind, finds interesting, or entertaining. It's a blessing but can be annoying at times. It's like thought spillage, particularly when taking on new info.

 

Illek, have you looked here for reading material? The link goes to the Great Book Store. DS would have benefited from these books when he was younger. DS used this A World of Literature book for 2nd grade, and the book is amazing. It's filled with fables, tall tales, short stories, and poetry.

 

 

 

[PeterPan]

VP=Veritas Press

COFA=Childhood of Famous Americans. The newer biographies have been rewritten, and I'm not sure of their quality. The older, oop ones were VERY enjoyable to my dd.

 

The books in the VP catalog are usually pretty advanced for the ages. We typically read them a grade ahead and found them a good fit. Many are boy-friendly or adventurous. They also include literature/living books for the other subjects (math, logic, etc.), so it gives you more ways to intrigue him.

 

It's definitely a challenge! :)