Have you started planning for fall?

[aly9712]

Just wondering what you guys were thinking about for next year? My daughters will be fourth and kinder.

 Oldest daughter has math that's "outsourced" to mathnasium.  We're thinking about joining a 4H club, she swims competitively year round and will be staying after school twice a month for girl scouts.

I'm thinking we're reaching the point that parents talk about as kids get older- busy afterschool schedules. Thankfully they both attend a Montessori school where homework is very limited, if given at all.

Youngest daughter will most likely sign up for some type of art program or martial arts. Given her age, she will be limited to one activity and will continue Saturday morning swim lessons. Along with weekly library trips, I'm thinking that's about it for us next year.  I'm feeling waaaay over the need to use a formal curriculum at home. Any one else reach this point when their child reached upper elementary?

[SKL]

My kids are going into 2nd.  I have some of the planning done:

• They will be in aftercare at the school, and this year I expect them to at least honestly attempt their homework and test prep during aftercare.
• They are signed up for Little Gym classes on two school evenings plus Sunday afternoons.  They will also have swimming most Saturdays.  I plan to look into nearby martial arts offerings, as they are ageing out of karate at the Little Gym.
• Piano lessons are pretty well lined up, same as last year - weekly at school during aftercare.  We'll practice at home, targeting 4 days per week.
• I bought a copy of their social studies and science books, and their health workbook.  For Miss A, I plan to preview these from time to time (along with online reviews/quizzes) in order to avoid a last-minute freakout when I find out there is a test the next day.  I also bought a lot of basic individual books that teach science and social studies concepts, which I will use as part of our at-home reading.  Last year I found that this helped to improve test performance.
• I have a ton of math materials, plus I will have online access to the text and workbook they will use in school.  We'll definitely be spending significant time every day on math.
• I have downloaded the school's LA workbooks (reading practice, grammar, and spelling) so Miss A can preview what they are doing in school.
• I may re-do The Listening Program for Miss A, but I'm not sure.
• I will ask our vision therapist to give us some brief exercises we can do over the school year.  If needed I'll set up periodic VT sessions.
• I now have memberships at two science-oriented museums, so hopefully we'll get time to go there to supplement what they are studying in school.  Last year we didn't get up there much.

I don't have a fixed schedule for the academics at this point.  Mostly I plan to preview what I think will be happening at school in the next few days, work on solidifying math concepts, and do lots of reading.

 

For Miss E, who doesn't need much in the way of academic support, I have some independent stuff for her to work on as she pleases, and I am also thinking of getting serious about Spanish - just because she needs something challenging to do.

[Caroline]

For DS6, we are doing a bunch of stuff I got from the Critical Thinking Company.

 

For DD8, we are reading classic books.

 

For DS12, well, I don't have big plans.

 

DS18 is going to Georgia Tech. I am assuming his academics will be taken care of. I'll probably continue to send him interesting articles by email. DS12 will probably read the same articles and they can discuss over Skype or FaceTime.

 

All of the ones at home will be playing academy/select soccer with practice two nights a week and have one-four games on weekends.

 

I am thinking we need to do a family geography study, too.

[Uff Da!]

This is what I've planned so far and will re-evaluate every five weeks.

DS's Preschool:  Fine motor activities, music activities and something else that I can't remember at the moment..... :gnorsi:

 

Everyone:

Saturdays: Song School Latin

Sundays: Song School Greek

 

Most Days (*5 weeks on, 2 weeks off):

• Homework and/or a page from the weekly packet (DD-Math and Handwriting, DS- Kumon fine motor focus)*
• Dinner Lessons (Thank You Journal, Integrity Kids, and FLL2)*
• Violin
• Reading Time: include something from “Choose One a Day†and a book from our literature list

 

Choose One A Day

• Life of Fred
• Usborne World History
• Fallacy Detective (edited examples)
• Early Readers +
• Minimus

 

 

Grab Bag (5 weeks off and 2 weeks on)

Money Games/ Board Games/ Science Kits, Ancient History Activities, Junk Box Robotics, Snap Circuits, Education Unboxed, Starfall, Scratch, Lego Mindstorms?, Artistic Pursuits, Draw Write Now, Museums, Zoos, Field Trips in general

 

And lot's of carschooling CDs.   :hurray:

[Bang!Zoom!]

Math and History are the big focus here. Neither one will be addressed on level or content wise for PS this year.

 

Anything we get done beyond that is sheer gravy.

 

I have no idea what their idea of "Homework" is...or when she'll recover from the introduction of PS. I know she'll be exhausted and jello head when she comes home at first.

[EKS]

I will be homeschooling geometry (Derek Owens/Jacobs).  I will likely also homeschool art using the book You Can Draw in 30 Days as a springboard.

 

As for afterschooling, my plans are:

 

Finish Hake 8 (44 lessons to go)

 

Do some sort of writing lessons, either homegrown or perhaps WWS 2

 

Read classic literature (I'll read some aloud and assign some)

 

Finish HO2 and start and finish HO3

 

If there's time, watch the TC lecture series The Joy of Science

[aly9712]

Wow ladies. Perhaps it's that I'm expecting baby #4 in October that has me thinking there won't be much time for supplementing academics.

I'm just hoping to stay sane this year!  You all inspire me.

 

Alycia

[Guest ilovebirth]

I just discovered this place while searching for ideas to do 'after schooling.' I haven't met anyone who does this. I know a handful of charter school moms, most of which have homework afterschool. My girls attend a public Montessori Charter School so there is little to no homework. I struggle just to get the reading in each day. I'm easily overwhelmed with how to fit it all in. I day dream of homeschool, but hubby won't ever go for it so here we are.

 

My oldest is in 4th as well. They have been open for 3 years and have had 3 grades in each classroom. This fall they will be doing only 2 grades per classroom to make it easier to follow state guidelines. My 4th grader will get to be in the 5th and 6th grade class, as a handful of students are invited to do so. I was feeling wishy washy about how well they're being educated, but when they invited her I felt like that would be great for her!

 

I KNOW she needs spelling and I figure so does my 2nd grader. I need to learn more of how they're doing it there so I don't confuse them, but the results are NOT good.

 

I will also have a Kindergartener, 3 year old and almost 1.5 year old when school begins. ALL GIRLS :-D

 

So, my question is where do I start? Music, PE, and Art are on a parent volunteer basis at school. I know they've learned quite a bit about countries which they love. My 9 year old started a report on a country this summer just for fun. I don't know that they've learned much history so that idea intrigues me...

[Bang!Zoom!]

ILB, you might want to see if your library has a copy of "The Well Trained Mind" by Susan Wise Bauer. Even if it doesn't appeal to you, classical education ideas abound here. It's more a method, a map, a guide. You might find something interesting there and also it would take some of the mystery out of words that get flung about here..

 

Also, go to the Rainbow Resource Catalog and order yourself a free copy and have it sent home.

 

Visit other areas of the board, they are not all inclusive full time homeschooling boards, all sorts of people in different situations visit around here.

[Uff Da!]

Welcome ilovebirth!

Here are some threads from others who were just getting started.
http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/topic/445800-totally-clueless-about-afterschooling-please-help/?hl=%2Bnew+%2Bafterschool

http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/topic/442302-new-to-afterschooling/?hl=%2Bnew+%2Bafterschool&do=findComment&comment=4514995

http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/topic/412546-new-herehow-do-you-plan-out-things/?hl=new+afterschool&do=findComment&comment=4166069

Jen's blog is a great resource: http://teachingmybabytoread.com/

 

[MistyMountain]

I'm actually not sure at all. I was hoping to do more this summer then I did. I am trying to just make a better effort this last month and let go a little. Last year for kindergarten I was able to work with dd on a pretty regular basis. I got more reading in then math because she was having trouble learning to read for a while and it shows because now she is a good reader but she struggled a bit in math. In kindergarten dd only had 2.5 hours of school and her homework load was light. She got a homework folder every Friday that we finished on the weekend and sent in on Monday. Since she had nothing during the week and only 2.5 hours of school I had some time to work with her.

 

This year she will be in full day school and might have more homework and homework to do everyday. It is hard to predict if I will have time to work with her or not and how much time I will have and where to fit stuff in. I was thinking of doing the opposite of last year and work with her on weekends with after school stuff and do home work during the week. We will see. She is finally making progress with math facts using 2 + 2 does not equal 5 and I want to keep working with her with that but there is no way we will finish before school starts and I don't want to stop it completely and lose the momentum she has. She will girl scouts during the school year and I might add in some martial arts.

 

DS won't be doing preschool this fall so I will have time to work with him. I plan on taking him to playgroups like the all year hiking group and working with him.

[mathnerd]

What afterschooling for the past year has taught me is that it is impossible to predict how much will get done for smaller kids during afterschooling, more so if you thow in afterschool extracurricular activities into the mix. Kids spend a long day at school - it is tiring even when the curriculum at school is undemanding - sitting and following instructions, hard play at recess in all kinds of weather, PE, walking to and fro from school etc in addition to extra curriculat sports. My DS was really tired during the school year. I had a grand spreadsheet with weekly afterschool plans broken down into 25 minute slots for each subject I was going to tackle. But, the reality was, my child would go to his Tae Kwon Do class after school and then collapse into a heap and not want to do any work at all, let alone finish a worksheet on reading comprehension or complete piano practice.

So, I reluctantly cut out many of the "fun" subjects and stuck to Math and LA mostly because I wanted to do the extra curriculars - and I try to teach my child to put in his best effort to everything he attempts - which means putting in the number of hours and practice for all of those activities.

This year's plan is really tentaive - he will change schools to a more academic private school with longer school hours and more homework. We will still do math and LA intensely. But, I might pursue more science than last year (maybe enter him into a Destination Imagination contest so that we can work on a bigger science project) and more computer programming and robotics. Anything else like geography, history etc will be shelved and pulled out during vacation time, maybe.

Good luck.