Curriculum advice needed: Keep it simple

[Vernal]

Our "school year" starts in January. I already have a list made of new things to order that I made in November. Then life happens in a big way here. I need some help deciding what to use to just keep getting school done for a while. This is what I had planned for DS8 and DD7:

 

DS: MP 1st grade reading. He's struggled some with reading.

 

MUS beta. Changing from CLE. The tight spiral wasn't working too well for him. We did most of alpha along with CLE to get a feel for MUS, and it worked out pretty good.

 

DD: MP Reading 2nd grade. She's doing great. Reading fluently.

 

AAS 2

 

Singapore 3a-3b This would be new for her. She's a mathy kid and CLE was not enough for her.

 

Both/together:

 

NAC 2

 

MP Literature 2nd grade

 

FLL 2

 

WWE 1-2 ( we started 1 several months ago)

 

SOTW 2

 

Science loosely following WTM suggestions. No formal curriculum, just read books of interest within the topics outlined in the WTM for 2nd grade (earth science and astronomy)

 

EM geography

 

MP's 2nd grade enrichment.

 

So looking over this list, I just can't do all this everyday right now. It's basically a continuation of what we've used in the past. . But our days were pretty long and mom intensive. And the planning .... Just can't do it right now. I want something to just keep moving forward for now. Especially for DS and reading. He's just started reading more than CVC words and I don't want to lose any hard fought ground with him. An IRL friend suggested getting Life Pacs. I looked at them and that's just not for us. So what I need is a reality check. What's the most important thing right now and how can we just keep going until we can find a new normal.

 

I did want to add: Maybe I need something different for phonics for DS? But I don't know what. I have OPGTR, but he needs explicit instructions and practice practice practice. Maybe slow down with that?

 

And Singapore for DD. This would be new for us and I know there's lots of moving parts. Would MM be a better choice for right now?

 

And I didn't plan on doing all of that everyday. Lol. Phonics, math, and handwriting everyday. With FLL, WWE, MP lit, about twice a week and either history or science. Then fill in with the other stuff.

Edited January 8, 2017 by Vernal

[HomeAgain]

Keep math, keep reading. Drop the literature and have them listen to audio books from the library.  Drop geography and enrichment.  Drop spelling since you're also doing NAC (copywork).  You can pick it back up later.

 

If you don't have the printed activity page pack from SOTW, I would probably order that to cover geography and history in a more git-er-done way right now.

 

If we had to go back to bare bones, this is what I would do:
Math

Readers

History for everything else: copywork, integrated science, geography, literature, adding in what we could as we went along, but making sure I had the pages from the activity guide already in a printed pack so I could pull a worksheet as needed.

 

[maize]

If you like what you have been using, how about doing a loop schedule? Do reading and math everyday (and really you can drop the reading lessons for dd if she is reading fluently; I never did lessons past the point where it just clicked for my kids) and put everything else into a loop. Of you have 3 hours to devote to school each day you do reading (maybe spelling for your dd if she is not a natural speller) and math first, then start with the first item in your loop. Let's say you get through history and literature that day. Great! Next day, you do reading and math and start where you left off on the loop, maybe you're on science. Just keep up with that pattern. Some days may be more productive and some less but you get to every subject on a regular basis and the core skill subjects get worked on every day.

[Vernal]

Thanks for the ideas so far!

Edited January 8, 2017 by Vernal

[Guest]

You're not meant to do all of that every day!

 

I'd drop mp literature workbooks...They are regurgitate-info busywork imo.

 

I'd do sotw twice a week, with the activity book.

 

Geography twice a week.

 

Phonics *or* spelling, math, reading AND read-alouds every day (read alouds on non school days too!)

 

Copywork thrice a week. WWE is your copywork for now.

 

Go outside as often as possible. Play a game--any game- or do a puzzle every day...

 

And that's it.

[PeterPan]

Our "school year" starts in January. I already have a list made of new things to order that I made in November. Then life happens in a big way here. I need some help deciding what to use to just keep getting school done for a while. This is what I had planned for DS8 and DD7:

 

DS: MP 1st grade reading. He's struggled some with reading.

 

MUS beta. Changing from CLE. The tight spiral wasn't working too well for him. We did most of alpha along with CLE to get a feel for MUS, and it worked out pretty good.

 

DD: MP Reading 2nd grade. She's doing great. Reading fluently.

 

AAS 2

 

Singapore 3a-3b This would be new for her. She's a mathy kid and CLE was not enough for her.

 

Both/together:

 

NAC 2

 

MP Literature 2nd grade

 

FLL 2

 

WWE 1-2 ( we started 1 several months ago)

 

SOTW 2

 

Science loosely following WTM suggestions. No formal curriculum, just read books of interest within the topics outlined in the WTM for 2nd grade (earth science and astronomy)

 

EM geography

 

MP's 2nd grade enrichment.

 

So looking over this list, I just can't do all this everyday right now. It's basically a continuation of what we've used in the past. . But our days were pretty long and mom intensive. And the planning .... Just can't do it right now. I want something to just keep moving forward for now. Especially for DS and reading. He's just started reading more than CVC words and I don't want to lose any hard fought ground with him. An IRL friend suggested getting Life Pacs. I looked at them and that's just not for us. So what I need is a reality check. What's the most important thing right now and how can we just keep going until we can find a new normal?

 

I don't hang on K-8 very much, so I'll just ask. What's happening? My MIL died this past semester and I got pneumonia, then bronchitis, and got diagnosed with asthma. And dd finished her semester of DE classes in a flurry and went away to college. It's been kinda crazy! For me, I have help in the home. My ds has ASD and ADHD on top of his learning disabilities, and I bring in workers 10 hours a week or so using a disability scholarship. It helps me breath, makes sure I can get dinner on. They can't do what I do, but I find things they are really good at that they can do.

 

As an aside, I got myself a Roomba for Christmas, and it's WONDERFUL. I only have so much strength/energy to give right now (not fully recovered from the bouts), so I love that I can plunk it down, push start, and have things done. I think getting help, whether with robots or humans or whatever, is really important. I think putting your (limited) energy into routines that make for PEACE can be really good! I wouldn't focus first on academics. Focus first on your family, on routine, on a peaceful home life. Have a morning routine that makes for peace. Your kids are old enough to have a chart on the wall or a checklist and to work the plan with supervision. Put your energy into nurturing that routine. THEN let the academics flow from that routine and grow from that peace. 

 

I know homeschooling seems like a big deal, but there is almost nothing that HAS to be done at that age. There's stuff that could be done or would be nice to be done, but there's a lot that could be done in unusual or more peaceful ways and be fine. When my dd was in K5, I had a lot of health problems and very low energy. I'd lie in bed and read to her. I kept a lot in a dishpan and I would just read through the pile. We read books on religion (missionaries, a children's Pilgrim's Progress, character stories), memorized bible verses and poetry, did the SL read alouds, etc. It worked for me and was good memories!

 

My dd did the VP online self-paced history, and that might be a really good fit for your kids. Or SOTW, which of course is very conducive to reading aloud. :)  For science, honestly just get some Magic School Bus videos and call it good for a while. When I had my ds, some blessed soul here on the boards sent me an entire BOX of science videos. She said let dd (who was almost 10) watch them and call it good. It fit the stage where we were! It's ok to make some choices like that.

 

I've also done Mom's Day Off once a week. I can't do that with ds, but it worked well for dd. I'd give her a checklist and just say do it. It would be really awesome stuff she could do on her own. Or she'd finish a short list and then go to Grandma's to do cool things like fold napkins and sew. Bringing in a mentor or sending them out to a mentor can be a really good strategy when life is rough! My MIL is gone now, and those are precious memories for dd.

 

Is your vitamin D low? Remember that we're going into the time of year where EVERYONE starts to go downhill and get crazy. Our vitamin D drops, and February hits. It can be ugly! When I don't feel well, I need to pull back and focus on routine, on peace, on joy. I'd rather do a simple thing with engagement and feel like we connected. So if this is a stage, maybe find a little something joyful that fits the situation. The MP 2nd grade enrichment could be that. So you eat breakfast, confirm they did their morning checklist, sit down and do the MP enrichment together. Then they work through their lists. 

 

Now, given that my own ds has SLDs, I'm a little concerned when you say your 7 yo is struggling to read. At that age, honestly, I'd be getting evals. The new standard is evals and diagnosis of dyslexia before 1st grade. It's high time! I would get a CTOPP run and get that checked out. There's no benefit to waiting. The old standard of waiting till 3rd grade is no longer recommended. 

 

If your ds has dyslexia, it would be nice to know and get that modified. Your focus might shift a bit. It seems like your list of stuff might fit your older dd really well and not so much your ds. It seems like there's a gap in their functioning. Gender increases that gap, sigh. 

 

But whatever, I'm not saying he's dyslexic. I'm just saying it might explain some of what's going on and that it would be very appropriate to go ahead and get him tested. It's not jumping the gun at all. Right now a lot of what you're doing is print driven. If he's dyslexic, you might end up modifying that. And if you're like oh no, he's not dyslexic, well then even so it doesn't sound like print-based is really working for him. That means your gut is right that LifePacs would be going the wrong direction for him. And even if your dd *could* do them, they're so not necessary for this age. Seriously, I've btdt, and I would do videos, kits, simple stuff.

 

My ds really likes Snap Circuits. You could buy a big kit and have them work through the books. My ds loves watching videos like Outrageous Acts of Science and anything from the History Channel. More multi-sensory but stuff they can do sort of independently.

 

I agree I would put the energy/time you have into math and LA for them. If your dd is a fluent reader, you can give her a diversified reading checklist with categories and she can drive the rest herself. I used a checklist like that with my dd. I used VP for history, so I'd hand her a HUGE pile of books each week to go with the card. I'd just hand it and walk away. (I'm a horrible history teacher, lol.) Her checklist had categories like poetry, science, biography, etc., and she'd just find books, read, and fill it in. Sort of cover your butt, something got done, no work for mom.

 

The BJU science online is only $99 right now, and it's super fab. I did some with my ds two years ago and am looking at buying another one or two. Because of his SLDs and SN, a lot of what we do is together, teacher-intensive. I like having some things he can do independently. Nuts, the kids like being independent and being able to do things themselves! And really, the BJU videos are very, very good! You can go to their site and look at the demos. 

 

I like where okbud is going with her streamlining. That's usually how I quantify things too. Like I'll go ok something for math, something for LA, something they write (like a couple sentences, dictation, a journal prompt, whatever) every day and then just enrichment at a level we can really get done beyond that. And I bring in my video slaves, computer courses, etc. All that flows from the PEACE of the morning routine. You can choose not to do things, because you can come back to them later. At this age, you can do an entire year of science in a summer, mercy. I used to intentionally leave subjects uncovered (science, art, etc.), with the plan to hit them in the summer. Stop trying to be so perfect and schoolish. You don't want to lose your LA or math skills, sure, but for the rest, really, exposure, multi-sensory, serendipity. 

 

You know, another trick I did when my ds was born was to get all the SL read alouds for a core on audio. Like literally the whole pile. Now people use audible and ipads to play things, so do it that way. You can even get audiobooks through the library. But think about that, a whole core of history, BAM, with just a pile of audiobooks! Do some things like that and call it good.

 

When things are hard, I would put your energy into things that are stabilizing. Morning routine is good, but also put your energy into something nice like park day once a week or something simple like that. Your kids will remember it much more than a geography curriculum. Or just have board game day. Buy a new board game and play from your pile once a week. Play board games and call it school! It will be stabilizing, memorable, and IT IS SCHOOL. 

 

I've been playing this with my ds, and it's easy to modify to make more challenging as they get better.

 

Ticket to Ride First Journey Board Game : Target

Edited January 8, 2017 by OhElizabeth

[Clemsondana]

At that age, math is/was every day. We also do 'reading and', which depends on what the child can do. If we were still working on phonics, we'd do 'reading and spelling', where we read the words and then spelled them back orally. Maybe they'd read out loud to me for a bit. Once reading was fluent, we moved on to doing reading comprehension some days, with grammar and/or writing, possibly with this tied in with vocabulary. I didn't see any point in doing true grammar or writing until reading was fluent, and once reading was good, then everything became less mom-intensive and they could do a spelling, vocabulary, or grammar workbook on their own if I felt that they needed it. We also didn't do writing until handwriting was solid (5 minutes/day of HWOT).

 

We don't do both history and science every day - I do blocks that are 3-6 weeks, depending on subject. We start every year with a few weeks of geography, them move on to world history, then a science unit, then art history. The new semester has science, American history, and music history. The methods and length of the unit vary based on the topic, age of the student, preference, and abilities. This is often fun - I may read aloud, or they read independently, or watch a video, or do a workbook, or build or draw something, or we make a chart together.

[kiwik]

If they like audio books you could get SOTW2 as an audio book. If they like colouring get them something to colour related (or build with lego, draw or just rest). My kids learned heaps from a combo of Magic School Bus/Sid the Science Kid/Popular Mechanics and Eureka Science. I am now trying to ease them into documentaries.

[Guest]

+1 for sotw audio books.

[Guest]

We had a basics year last year. i used CLE Math and LA along with reading all the books on our shelves. That was it for formal school time. The extras can wait. How about just read the MP Lit instead of doing the guides?

[Vernal]

Thank you your replies. So they can still get into college if we don't do grammar in 2nd grade right? 😀 J/k. I was looking over what my plans were and realized it's just too much right now and kind of freaked out a little. So this is what I'm thinking our plan will be for now::

 

DS: Finish Phonics and read books.

MUS Beta

 

DD: Read more books. Start spelling curriculum eventually.

Math - still undecided if I should switch to Singapore like I originally intended, MM, or stay with CLE. I have to get the next level of something. Right now she's teaching herself division for fun lol.

 

Together: continue cursive

Listen to SOTW2 on CD

Read books. Whatever we have here ( which is a lot ) and what the library has. No more lists for a while. I MAY have pushed myself over the edge with the lists. 😀

 

And thank you Oh Elizabeth for your long and thoughtful reply. DS isn't dislexic, but he does have some fine motor delays and very mild cognitive delays from a brain bleed shortly after birth. Believe me he's had all the tests!

[SoCal_Bear]

If you have a mathy kid, just the regular Singapore TB/WB may not be enough of a challenge. Consider adding in Challenging Word Problems (no instruction) or the Fan Math Process Skills in Problem Solving (has instruction) for Singapore word problems. I know it doesn't take anything away...but that's the best part of SM to me.

 

Edited January 9, 2017 by calbear

[kiwik]

You could try a combo of MM with BA. MM is self teaching but a bit too thorough for my mathy kids (ds7 insists he has to do every problem) but it also cheap leaving money for BA or another supplement.