Pam L in Mid Tenn Posted July 10, 2012 Share Posted July 10, 2012 (edited) Life is extremely busy at the moment. It is making it hard, almost impossible, for me to plan school. And, we are looking ahead to very unpleasant happenings. MIL is extremely ill and will need some serious 24 hour care until she passes. She lives 2 hours away. I may be picking up more responsibilities at work and may be asked to work 5 days a week, 4 - 6 hours per day in the fall. (This is happy, not "unpleasant") I have already penciled in an overview plan for 10 weeks. I am not putting a date on the planner. We'll use the planner as a checklist ignoring the days of the week printed on the paper. We've already started reading the first chapters/modules/ lessons so in a way I feel "ahead". Not knowing my work schedule or my "care-giving" schedule is making it extremely difficult to plan our written assignments. I would like to have a general plan for each chapter of each subject written down for the first 10 weeks. Then if "life" dictates, I can drop the written assignments and only assign reading if necessary. I know that this coming year will not be "normal". At least I know that beforehand! What types of written assignments to you require? Specifically, what to assign for: BJU Geography? Apologia Biology? Christian Light's Story of Constitution? BJU Economics? Apologia Physics? Great Source American Government? These books are things that my 9th grader and 12th grader will be using this year. Any suggestions on planning for an "unknown" upcoming year? Thanks! Edited July 10, 2012 by Pam L in Mid Tenn adding Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Susan C. Posted July 10, 2012 Share Posted July 10, 2012 What types of written assignments to you require? Specifically, what to assign for: BJU Geography? Apologia Biology? Christian Light's Story of Constitution? BJU Economics? Apologia Physics? Great Source American Government? These books are things that my 9th grader and 12th grader will be using this year. Any suggestions on planning for an "unknown" upcoming year? Thanks! Hi Pam, I have used quite a few of what you listed, here is what we did: BJU Geography: read, did study questions, chapter review questions, maps, tests. We didn't do anything else, it was a full year. Let your student check study questions, chapter review questions, and maps in the T/E so all you have to do is give the test and correct it. BJU is great for including everything on the test in study questions and review questions, so your student will be ready for the test if everything is corrected. Apologia Biology: read, did on your owns and study questions, did experiments as they appeared and lab reports immediately (important to not get behind w/lab reports or you have to redo experiment to remember). Lab reports of dissections were pictures of the dissection w/labeling. The other experiments were informal lab reports. Let your student check study questions in answer key (answers to on your owns are in the text). Then, again, all you have to do is give the test and correct it. Dd did virtualhomeschoolgroup.com free online course, quizzes are on your owns, are online, and tests are very similar to Apologia's, also online and graded for you. The lectures were great and it was a great help. BJU Economics: read, study questions, chapter review questions, and a few items from the student workbook (for project credit). Again, let your students correct. You can glance at what is done before giving the key if you feel the need to. Then test and correct. Apologia Physics: same as biology, lab reports may be slightly more detailed if there are calculations. Virtual Homeschool Group has this course, some years it is live, other years you just watch prerecorded lectures. Quizzes and tests are online. Government: we did a different text, but we did the text, and went over questions orally and our text has online tests that self corrected. We had a lot of car time when we were doing this course, and had many very interesting discussions. We did this course as a get 'er done, no reports, I had test grades and gave dd a good grade for bringing a lot into our discussions (she had read the text and was prepared). Please don't let your unavailability hold your kids back. Let them fly and do spot checks! If you/they keep everything caught up (doing labs and lab reports as you go, tests at the end of each chapter, and stay caught up with study questions and correcting them, you will be fine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pam L in Mid Tenn Posted July 10, 2012 Author Share Posted July 10, 2012 Thanks Susan! Your post was helpful. You listed each component of the chapters for me. I've just been looking at the books thinking,"How am I going to do this?" Your list also helped me remember what assignments I've given in the past. My 9th grader will be fourth time I've taught some of these books. Dh will be our physics teacher. I'm going to let him completely take the lead there! I think I need to list each component of each subject out on paper first. Anyone else want to chime in and tell me about the written assignments that you require in your home? :bigear: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pam L in Mid Tenn Posted July 11, 2012 Author Share Posted July 11, 2012 :bigear: Anyone else? I'd like to muse over several opinions please. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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