Tiramisu Posted June 18, 2015 Share Posted June 18, 2015 History, geography, and science, each done once a week. For the fourth day, or fifth when we don't have coop, we will play Professor Noggin card games. Ancient Civilizations or the Wonders of Science. Dd likes things like games. It might get old fast, but I'm going to give it a try. We could also watch a history or science video. I will also NOT have her do spelling, and rely on WT for that and vocab. Literature will be her choice. It worked with dd14 who placed into honors writing and lit in high school. She'll still have to work on handwriting and typing. No way around that for now. 12 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heidi Posted June 19, 2015 Share Posted June 19, 2015 I think it's great! Or you could do three days of history, then the next week three days of geography, and the next week three days of science, and so on. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
km123175 Posted June 19, 2015 Share Posted June 19, 2015 Simply is the name of my game for the coming year. If I want to do this for the long haul, I've got to find solutions that don't make me overworked and burnt out. Good luck finding what works for you. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
quietchapel Posted June 19, 2015 Share Posted June 19, 2015 Love it! This is what I am doing to simplify this year: Combining approaches of various methods- this is for dd 11 Math daily Essay Mon, copy work Tue, dictation We'd, correct essay Thur English daily Read ( through reading list, like Robinson) Latin and recitation work Narrate That is it 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scbusf Posted June 19, 2015 Share Posted June 19, 2015 Love it! Here's what we are doing: 1. Ditch all of the hands-on projects. I spend so much time and money tracking down supplies and then we never finish the project. 2. Combine all 3 kids as much as possible. My K'er is going to tag along with history, geography, and anything else I can think of. 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swainsonshawk Posted June 19, 2015 Share Posted June 19, 2015 I'm all about simplifying! Spelling/Copywork/Handwriting all coming from Dictation Day by Day for each of my kiddos. We will use spelling city/writing them down to practice the spelling words three days a week (that's all I do school!) Writing will be done as a group--I've picked projects from Bravewriter's partnership writing and we will beef up or ease up as needed per kid. Not teaching Science--letting enrichment school do that--2 days per week. History is reading from massive collection of history picture books or from hakim's condensed us history--I've already scheduled it out. We will also do history pockets with the little ones because my kids like to color. Older child will do narrations. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mommy5 Posted June 20, 2015 Share Posted June 20, 2015 subbing - this is a great thread. I really really need to simplify right now. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tawlas Posted June 20, 2015 Share Posted June 20, 2015 I'm starting to use afternoons for school too :( I'm sad about this because I loved us all to have afternoons "off" but I've got three students in grades 1 to 4 next fall and it was causing me stress to try and cram it all in with just a Ker this past year. This might seem like the opposite of simplifying to some, but having more time to get things done (take time to talk with them and go sideways occasionally) will help me remember that I'm teaching human beings whom I love lol. Just please pray that the 2yo continues to nap at 1pm!! 10 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2ndGenHomeschooler Posted June 20, 2015 Share Posted June 20, 2015 I'm going to simplify by doing school six days a week from breakfast to lunch. This will allow us to have a predictable routine where we all know what to expect and the sixth day will allow us to finish by lunch each day. I'm clearing my personal commitments/responsibilities from the morning schedule to allow me to focus on my DC's education. No teaching piano lessons, attending voice lessons, grocery shopping or housework between 9am and noon. The kids' morning activities like karate and sign language class will stay and be considered an important part of school. I'm going to get books/SOTW/stories on CD so that time spent in the car traveling to morning classes can also be used for school. We can also work on memory work and math facts in the car. (No reading and writing for us. We get car sick!) I'm going to tie writing, grammar, spelling, and copywork into history, science and literature. I'm going to have the year planned out in advance but without dates attached, just a certain number of planned lessons per subject that we move through. All supplies will be gathered and copies made. It will all be organized and ready to move to the next thing. I am going to remember the importance of field trips, documentaries, and educational games and give those things time in our school day. I am going to plan many of these things into my year plan so they don't get skipped. I'm also going to provide my children with plenty of free time to explore their own interests. I can't wait to see what they come up with. I am going to work hard this summer to establish a solid morning (before breakfast) and evening routine that will allow most of the regular daily chores to be accomplished without me needing to micromanage it all. This should also help the school day plan to happen more easily. This all makes a beautiful, idyllic picture in my head. (The planned out year with all supplies gathered and organized is especially beautiful in my mental picture.) I'm sure it won't be as wonderful in real life as it is in my head but hopefully it will be better than this past year! 9 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MinivanMom Posted June 20, 2015 Share Posted June 20, 2015 This year I'm going to simplify by: -Moving all appointments and check-ups to the summer. It's just takes up too much time to do non-emergency stuff during the school year. -Doing all my prep during the summer - including making all those copies! -Slowing down the pace of some of our electives like art and logic. I need them to not take up so much time each week, and I want to be able to drop them completely on weeks that are especially busy. -Limiting the kids activities during the summer and winter. I just need an off-season to counter-balance the crazy of the fall and spring seasons. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RootAnn Posted June 21, 2015 Share Posted June 21, 2015 I am going to remember the importance of field trips, documentaries, and educational games and give those things time in our school day. I am going to plan many of these things into my year plan so they don't get skipped. I schedule in the two former, but haven't ever schedule the third (except for last year when I did 'schedule in' an art card game once per month). Will have to try that this year, if I can fit it in! 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kasien7 Posted June 23, 2015 Share Posted June 23, 2015 I've gone from having one homeschooler and 4 in school (2 years ago), to next year having four homeschoolers and one left in school. Previoulsly, I pieced together what I thought was a brilliant eclectic curriculum in which everything was interconnected. When we studied the physics of light, we read about light, we studied chiarascuro in art history, we learned how to do shading in art, we learned Greek and Latin roots involving light....you get the idea. It took MOUNTAINS of time to plan everything and to find the resources to go with everything. No more! With four at home, ranging from 9-13 years, I have to seriously simplify. And I have to plan. Which I hate. I announced to my kids just today that this coming year, we will be starting a new homeschool schedule. We will be schooling all year. Yes, we will take time "off" this summer, we will not officially school when we are on trips, or when cousins are visiting. But we will be schooling this summer. During hockey season (5 hockey players in our family) we will not be schooling on Mondays, although this is when I plan to schedule their music lessons, and we will probably do read-aloud. Does this sound crazy? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EndOfOrdinary Posted June 23, 2015 Share Posted June 23, 2015 It was the greatest thing in the world this year when I finally was able to tell my son, "watch a science video. Be sure you can talk to me about it like an intelligent person." And it worked. We even tried it with hisotry, "listen to a history lecutre, and be able to talk to me about it." I had to make up a big link list, but whoa, totally life changing! I applaud your simplicity. May next year be less stressful and full of smiles! 9 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tiramisu Posted June 23, 2015 Author Share Posted June 23, 2015 It was the greatest thing in the world this year when I finally was able to tell my son, "watch a science video. Be sure you can talk to me about it like an intelligent person." And it worked. We even tried it with hisotry, "listen to a history lecutre, and be able to talk to me about it." I had to make up a big link list, but whoa, totally life changing! I applaud your simplicity. May next year be less stressful and full of smiles! What a great idea! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TyraTooters Posted July 25, 2015 Share Posted July 25, 2015 That's kind of the approach we are taking. We are doing SOTW (with the AG), geography will be tied in with SOTW (I'm cheating!), and science will be interest lead but I think we might start it off with the human body. The plan is to read one chapter of SORW each week and do one or two activities to go along with it on the 'off' days, maybe in the afternoon on the days that we have co-op. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
journey00 Posted July 25, 2015 Share Posted July 25, 2015 This sounds almost too simple to be possible, yet it's brilliant. (No, I'm not being sarcastic. This had never occurred to me. I am going to steal your plan right away: History, geography, science and civics each done once a week. We don't do co-op. We previously did all these subjects twice a week, combining two on the same day. This is MUCH better. THANK YOU!) I really like this also! Along with the 1 subject done once a week, do you also do writing, reading, math, etc? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Garga Posted July 25, 2015 Share Posted July 25, 2015 This year I'm going to simplify by: -Moving all appointments and check-ups to the summer. It's just takes up too much time to do non-emergency stuff during the school year. What are those appointments? All I can think of are well-child visits and one dental appointment (but the other will have to be in the winter--every 6 months.) What am I missing that I'll kick myself for later in the year when we have to schedule something on a school day? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chrysalis Academy Posted July 25, 2015 Share Posted July 25, 2015 I'm working on ways to simplify & streamline too. I'm posting mostly just to not lose this thread, I'm enjoying reading y'all's ideas. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
m0mmaBuck Posted July 27, 2015 Share Posted July 27, 2015 I need to simplify too. Sigh... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lucy the Valiant Posted July 27, 2015 Share Posted July 27, 2015 I've gone from having one homeschooler and 4 in school (2 years ago), to next year having four homeschoolers and one left in school. Previoulsly, I pieced together what I thought was a brilliant eclectic curriculum in which everything was interconnected. When we studied the physics of light, we read about light, we studied chiarascuro in art history, we learned how to do shading in art, we learned Greek and Latin roots involving light....you get the idea. It took MOUNTAINS of time to plan everything and to find the resources to go with everything. No more! With four at home, ranging from 9-13 years, I have to seriously simplify. And I have to plan. Which I hate. I announced to my kids just today that this coming year, we will be starting a new homeschool schedule. We will be schooling all year. Yes, we will take time "off" this summer, we will not officially school when we are on trips, or when cousins are visiting. But we will be schooling this summer. During hockey season (5 hockey players in our family) we will not be schooling on Mondays, although this is when I plan to schedule their music lessons, and we will probably do read-aloud. Does this sound crazy? Not crazy! We do this! But for us, it's all in the psychology. We totally END school in May, and then fritter away a couple of weeks, and then verrrrrrry slowly do 20-30-minutes of school each summer day. If we thought we were working on last year's work, we'd be dying, all of us, . . . BUT . . . knowing we are "getting a head start to make next year so much easier" makes the summer work super easy and quite enjoyable (they do need a little structure, even though we tacitly agree not to talk about it). I also make sure to point out in the busy fall months how much harder our lives would be if we hadn't done all that school work over the summer (muahaha). And, truly, we don't do much, but that little bit each day really chips off quite a bit, come reckoning day in September. We all think we're privy to some big secret plan for Earning Free Days in Autumn. :) 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KeriJ Posted July 27, 2015 Share Posted July 27, 2015 Not crazy! We do this! But for us, it's all in the psychology. We totally END school in May, and then fritter away a couple of weeks, and then verrrrrrry slowly do 20-30-minutes of school each summer day. If we thought we were working on last year's work, we'd be dying, all of us, . . . BUT . . . knowing we are "getting a head start to make next year so much easier" makes the summer work super easy and quite enjoyable (they do need a little structure, even though we tacitly agree not to talk about it). I also make sure to point out in the busy fall months how much harder our lives would be if we hadn't done all that school work over the summer (muahaha). And, truly, we don't do much, but that little bit each day really chips off quite a bit, come reckoning day in September. We all think we're privy to some big secret plan for Earning Free Days in Autumn. :) That's kind of what we did, but we did a low key geography study this summer which takes that subject off our plates for the school year. and just enough science so that we can go lighter during the school year. Then I'm thinking of doing history in the fall, and science in the spring. 3 R's all year. Simplicity is my goal this year!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tiramisu Posted July 27, 2015 Author Share Posted July 27, 2015 That's kind of what we did, but we did a low key geography study this summer which takes that subject off our plates for the school year. and just enough science so that we can go lighter during the school year. Then I'm thinking of doing history in the fall, and science in the spring. 3 R's all year. Simplicity is my goal this year!! I like the history in fall/science in spring idea. ETA: But I realized if we did history in the fall and she liked it, we may never get to science. I guess we could always do a history year this year and a science year next. LOL. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peaceful Isle Posted July 27, 2015 Share Posted July 27, 2015 Simplify.... I am packing to move this week, and I am ALL about simplifying! I have so many textbooks! My poor kids, I'll probably give away half their rooms if they don't stop me. :) I am simplifying school a lot this year. My boys, I am going to just relax, and keep plugging along with the basics, and read them history and science. My girls are doing online type school this year, so that is a big help for me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mrs Twain Posted July 30, 2015 Share Posted July 30, 2015 Making all of the copies in the summer before school starts is one of the best tips I ever got. I try to make every subject open and go so all I have to do is pull out the next lesson each day. That has decreased stress a great deal. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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