The Mid-Semester Cull -- dropping what doesn't get done

[alisoncooks]

So here's what didn't make the cut:

 

• my homemade handwriting sheets (we'll continue handwriting, less scheduled/formal)
  
• our We Choose Virtues kids coloring pages -- they're super-cute but didn't get finished, and I am tired of the half-finished papers taking up residence in our "to do" file.
  
• The busy-work alphabet pages that I had for my 4 yr. old. Pointless really. We're doing phonics in other fun ways.
  
• Quite a few of the Little House on the Prairie activities I'd scheduled. We're just reading the books now and that's A-okay with me (and the kids!) Sure, we're still occasionally doing a fun thing (shaking cream to make butter, dressing up in our bonnets and play-acting -- it's just not scheduled and stressful for me.)
  

 

 

So, most of it seems to be busy-work and I'm glad to be tossing it. (But, oh, what a waste of time, $$, etc.!)

 

But I'm tired of holding on to JUNK and trying to fit in low-quality STUFF at the expense of our better stuff (b/c it ties up my time and energy). It's freeing!

 

Have you done any mid-semester culling yet?

[2_girls_mommy]

Well, I did plan on continuing on w/Drawing with Children. We did it for 2 years, getting through the first 4 chapters. We were supposed to get into chapter 5 this year with me preparing and teaching the lessons and having a formal art time, but I haven't been able to fit it in.

 

DD10 is doing an art class at co-op and gets art books at the library and does projects on her own.

 

I am not doing a formal art time w/dd8 this year. So far we have done projects related to history and science, but no formal lessons. It is just using the skills we acquired through DWC in the past mostly. I did buy some Usborne art books that we will read along w/history.

 

I do want to get back to our art lessons at home, but don't have an hour free for it this semester. I have something in mind for changing things around next semester.

 

Also Homeschool Science Fair is getting dropped this year. We have done it for the last 2 yrs, but we are actually doing so much science this year that I don't want to stop what we are doing for a month or two to work on one big project. Another year I hope we will do it again. But this year's science momentum should not be interfered with.

[EmmaNadine]

Oddly, this thread gave me the impetus to go look at all that stuff I bought and haven't used and figure out how to add some of it in. This is our first year homeschooling, though, so we have slowly been adding in something every week or so as we establish a routine and his attention increases.

 

I put together a binder with lots of fun worksheets (I have several kindergarten skills workbooks that I bought at various places) and mazes, etc. This is now going to be "the daddy binder." Daddy can work on this as review stuff with him in the evening for a few minutes as review.

 

Edit: I realize this probably came across as super braggy. Look at me, we are awesome! :P Really, the only thing I haven't changed since we started two months ago is our handwriting program. Third reading program, third math program, slowly figuring out how to add in some science, and we finally made it to the library's storyhour for the first time last week. So I'm just so glad to find something that will work. I hope. I may have to bribe my son with ice cream.

Edited October 24, 2012 by EmmaNadine

[~Anna~]

So, most of it seems to be busy-work and I'm glad to be tossing it. (But, oh, what a waste of time, $$, etc.!)

 

But I'm tired of holding on to JUNK and trying to fit in low-quality STUFF at the expense of our better stuff (b/c it ties up my time and energy). It's freeing!

 

This is exactly what happened here. It's our first year, and since my DD likes workbooky type stuff somehow I ended up with a bunch of STUFF (which I said I wasn't going to do, but you find something cheap and it's so appealing). So, I have ditched most of that (there were a couple that were good and we were almost finished with anyways) and I am starting to just do one main thing for each subject instead of trying to fit in all of the "Junk". It has definitely been freeing!

[Holly]

--I dropped ILL for DD and added Writing Strands 3...although I'm not sure it's working yet either. She struggled with the composition lessons of ILL, and that seems to be where we need to be spending our time. I am continuing with PLL for DS.

 

--We switched Spanish programs. I had an inexpensive program from the bookstore, but the lessons are very odd. There was one about pretending they were aliens from another planet. :confused: I'm sure some moms could pull that off, I'm just not one of them. We just started Salsa Spanish, and I think they'll enjoy it more.

 

--We were reading Children's Book of Virtues, but switched to Missionary Stories with the Millers for our character development book. They are really enjoying it!

 

--Our Apologia lessons were taking forever to finish with a 2-day/week schedule, so we switched to 5 days/week and it's so much easier on everyone!

 

That's about it. I also cut out a ton of busy work from last year! My days are so much easier. This is my first year planning on my own, and I've made tons of schedule changes, but I'm pretty happy with our current one...although we are only on day 2 of it. :lol:

[Woodland Mist Academy]

Great thread! Thanks for starting it.

 

We're in the midst of this right now. Sometimes it's hard to decide if I should drop something completely or just accept that once or twice a month is enough to keep it.

 

Reading what others post is good motivation to make a decision one way or the other. Thanks!

Edited October 24, 2012 by Hilltop Academy

[Down_the_Rabbit_Hole]

After the first few weeks of school I did a major overhaul. I pretty much tossed out all of our curriculum and replaced it with doing things more relaxed. Dropped schedule making also.

What went:

FLL 3- replaced with MAD LIBS and writing sentences as we learn the parts of speech, diagramming our sentences, writing, and poetry

Galloping the Globe- replaced with Children Just Like Me and spending a 2 weeks on each country, week one is on the geography of the country, week 2 is on the culture.

Apologia Astronomy - replaced with reading library books and doing experiments, we still are using the notebook though

Wordly Wise - we are still using the words but dropped the exercises.

Spelling Basics -I am using her writing to find spelling words

 

We did add in a weekly theme to be used across the curriculum. I get library books on the theme, set up a theme table to explore the theme, and use the theme as our subject for English sentences and writing work. Art has been added too along with weekly nature hikes.

[Wheres Toto]

I've been going through my file cabinets and games pulling out all the stuff we haven't been using or that my kids have both outgrown. I have a ton of alphabet coloring pages, handwriting pages, dollar store workbooks (MIL), file folder games, RS Abacus book and bunches of other stuff. I'm bringing it all to my next 4-H meeting to see if any of the moms there want it.

[Farrar]

The things we don't get to are all supplementary, so they stay. We'll do some bits and pieces at some point, which was always the idea.

[alisoncooks]

I've been going through my file cabinets and games pulling out all the stuff we haven't been using or that my kids have both outgrown. I have a ton of alphabet coloring pages, handwriting pages, dollar store workbooks (MIL), file folder games, RS Abacus book and bunches of other stuff. I'm bringing it all to my next 4-H meeting to see if any of the moms there want it.

 

That reminded me: I took all my file folder games (the ones that I spent $$ on the book, laminating, etc...not to mention all the time cutting) and gave them away to another home-schooling mom today. I got tired of them mocking me. :p Seriously, though, I still have enough open-ended practice games and honestly, my kids prefer to play learning games on the computer and I'm fine with that (ie. Reading Eggs vs. a file folder game on beginning sounds -- the kids much prefer RE).

[NASDAQ]

We actually could add extra right now, and kept everything we started with. I think I'm surprised that _anything_ is getting done this late in pregnancy.

 

Also I'm a terribly unambitious planner!

[Aurelia]

I dropped poetry memorization, it seemed like overkill since we just began Classical Conversations. Other things have moved from "daily" to "a couple of times a week", like geography and Latin. I think they're important enough to keep doing, but not important enough to do every day. I switched to an audio book of Our Island Story, because I'd like to finish it, but I don't want to read it aloud myself. :tongue_smilie: It's still going v e r y slowly. We have yet to get going on art or the new level of WWE...

[kdownie]

We've dropped back considerably on Truthquest American History with the Binder Builder. She gets history in co-op, and at 38 weeks pregnant, my days are just not as productive as they were 6-8 weeks ago.

[Chrysalis Academy]

Well, I uncharacteristically started this year very mellow and not overloaded, so I've actually been doing a mid-semester ad-on. This is a nice problem to have! ;) I'm working towards spending time on history, lit, and science each day - I had started the year alternating history & science weeks. It doesn't happen every day, but we're starting to ramp it up a bit.

[SnMomof7]

We actually could add extra right now, and kept everything we started with. I think I'm surprised that _anything_ is getting done this late in pregnancy.

 

Also I'm a terribly unambitious planner!

 

When are you due? I'm on the 3rd of November :).

[Soror]

I've already culled and am adding and tweaking here. We've added in poetry memorization (the kids were disappointed that we weren't doing any this year), doing more science and history (interest led- project based), switched from RSD+BA to just BA, HTTS to Spelling Plus +Dictation Plus and adding learning LoE cursive.

[MrsBanjoClown]

We have dropped ETC and doing Classical Conversations at home.

[Dmmetler]

I think I'm going to drop back on field trips and outside activities once we get past the ones we're committed to. DD loves them, but I'm feeling like it's just not worth it to drive 30 minutes each way for a 1 hour class, or even for a 2 hour one where half the time is spent doing the class, and half of it is spent playing outside with other kids.

 

I've dropped the VP timeline cards and Lyrical Earth Science except for use in the car. I also feel like I'm hanging on by my fingernails to Spanish. I may just go to buying books in Spanish for DD to read on her own for awhile. I've also heard that our public library has Mango available, so I might try putting DD on that instead of doing a curriculum for the rest of this year.

 

I've dropped most of the SL core 6 literature books. DD simply wasn't interested in them, and she's doing a lot of reading to prep for the NME. So I'm letting her focus on comparative mythology instead.

[Woodland Mist Academy]

KISS Grammar didn't make the cut. We might use a lesson from time to time, but it didn't earn the right to retain its usual slot in our day. ;)

 

(ETA: It's not because it wasn't getting done. It's just not a good fit. Time would be better spent elsewhere.)

 

I'm still in the midst of the cull/re-evaluation. Thanks again for the thread.

Edited October 26, 2012 by Hilltop Academy

[LittleIzumi]

Art.

Geography.

Spelling.

 

With bing pregnant, we cut back to the essentials. I want to add some back in slowly....

[Hunter]

I dropped French this week. Trying to fit it in either frustrates me or takes away from something else more important. I'm sad it doesn't fit in. Time to pack it up and get it out of my sight so I can stop being sad. I'm easily distracted. Out of sight and off the schedule, and it will quickly fade from my little peabrain, which will be on to trying to squeeze something else in that doesn't fit.

 

Hmm...maybe it would be cheaper and less messy to leave it in. I don't tend to buy as much when I'm seriously overloaded, and ABSOLUTELY sure everything won't fit into the schedule. I could just leave it as a dusty reminder, on the edge of the table. :lol:

[Woodland Mist Academy]

Spelling Wisdom got the boot today. We will miss it a bit, but it didn't meet our criteria for staying.

 

Working through my dd's list of misspelled words is a better way to spend our spelling time at this point. (The dictations in Spelling Wisdom were getting long and time-consuming.)

 

Also, poetry memorization was getting neglected. We chose poetry over Spelling Wisdom. :)

 

I think it's a great program. It was bittersweet to let it go.

Edited October 30, 2012 by Hilltop Academy

[Terabith]

We're struggling here, and a lot just isn't getting done even though I think it's important:

 

Spanish (pretty much dropped it, so we're not doing any foreign language)

 

typing (REALLY need to get on this, bc it IS important for my youngest with dysgraphia)

 

spelling for my youngest. We're doing phonics, and I think AAS 1 would be good but I've misplaced the book and there's only so much we can do with words.

 

Geography for my youngest; map skills for my oldest. (She's still doing a US geography/ cultures book.)

 

Editing practice for my oldest

 

Religion. They go to Catechesis of the Good Shepherd at church. I haven't even been doing Bible reading with them, and I really do need to do that.

 

Science and history have not been getting done as often as I'd hoped, but they are still getting done.

[momto2Cs]

We've "rearranged" a few things...

 

Added in Writing Skills and ILL for ds

 

Dropped ETC and added in PLL for dd, keeping Reading Pathways though!

 

Dropped our mishmash approach to history and are just using OUP's World in Ancient Times (with documentaries & some hands-on activities)

 

Will be adding in Zaccaro Math - Primary Challenge for dd, Challenge for ds. The rest of math is LOF and Math Mammoth, both of which we really like.

 

Dropped our mishmash approach to science, and are now working our way through How Nature Works

 

Our pared down yet challenging approach seems to be working well!

[srs]

We have pared down to just ETC, RS Math, and HWT daily. The other stuff is just if DD asks to do it, and she reads on her own a few times a day, including reading to her brother at bedtime. This has been working really well so far and has helped me balance the school needs of the oldest with the needs of the younger two.

[Dolphin]

The things we don't get to are all supplementary, so they stay. We'll do some bits and pieces at some point, which was always the idea.

 

:iagree:

 

We haven't really gotten into history and Geography yet, we have watched some videos etc.... but I am waiting until soccer season is done before we start that. This year (year 3) I was a lot better at not getting things I won't be using.

[Ruthie in MS]

We're in the middle of our huge home renovation (and still living here) and school has been cut back a bit. I had originally intended to use Expedition Earth by Confessions of a Homeschooler to study countries and cultures (which I bought everything to use) but right now that is way too involved. We started FIAR this year and I only intended it to serve as a "We're tired of doing EE. Can we do something else?" kinda thing. But we actually love it and want to use it as our main curriculum.

 

Got cut so far:

Apologia Astronomy-- We enjoyed it at first but now I can't bring myself to open the book again. :lol:

Expedition Earth-- Like I said, way too involved for us this year.

[kandty]

The things we don't get to are all supplementary, so they stay. We'll do some bits and pieces at some point, which was always the idea.

 

Same here!

[jujsky]

I haven't culled anything yet. Everything is working, though some things aren't working as well as I'd like them to be. I'm not in love with History Odyssey, but I built our literature selections around it, so I feel I'm stuck with it for the year. Besides, if I switch just to SOTW at this point, I'd almost have to go back to the beginning and read it in order. I'm also not in love with REAL Science Odyssey, but I think it's more that the levels I chose are too easy, and we're not getting enough books to read along with the program. I'm on the fence about sticking with it next year for Chemistry, which I've heard is good, or switching to NOEO, which sounds more inclusive. Typing and Russian aren't getting done as much as I'd like them to be, but they ARE getting done at least a couple days/week, so we'll keep plugging away at that. Next year, I intend to add US geography, which I've learned is a weak spot for my kids.

[julikins]

Just today my 5th grade dd and I talked things over and we decided that she's better off finishing R&S English this year instead of trying to fit it in with ILL. She enjoys it more and is using a writing program, Writing Strands. I'm sad to drop ILL but need to cut some things so we have time to do everything else.

 

I'm doing MFW but instead of doing everything every day, I'm trying to preread history and science and consolidating it to 2-3 days per week. The two weeks I've done it have gone a lot better than before. I might add another science component later on once we get things down. I'm just feeling that science is a little light this year for my 5th grader.

 

I've switched from AAS 4 to Megawords 1 for my 5th grader--she's enjoying it more and I was tired of teaching AAS. And my son's Handwriting got changed from teaching cursive to practicing his printing--he's just not ready yet.

 

I had a whole involved list of books to read for the year, and I've had to simplify it--only 2 read-alouds at a time instead of 4. I just couldn't fit it in and therefore it wasn't getting done. I also outsourced one of the series (Narnia) to audiobooks so we all can listen and I'm free to take care of the baby or cook or something other than sitting reading-aloud.

 

I've gotten rid of some workbooks that my son enjoyed doing last year, but he's not into them any more. They weren't necessary anyway. It's a relief and we're finishing by 3 every day instead of 5. Whew!