Idea-sharing thread anybody?

[egao_gakari]

Not quite a hits/misses thread. More like a "Implementation strategies that worked/didn't work" thread?

This has actually been our most successful year in terms of getting stuff done despite upheavals. It's our fifth year homeschooling, 8th and 10th. Things that worked really well for us:

• Grades. Turns out when they see "73 (C)" on a math test, they get motivated to study harder next time.
• To track grades and progress, I printed out grids of each kid's school work for the year (basically just the lesson numbers/test numbers laid out in a calendar style so that I can see how far behind we are) and stuck them in a 3-hole folder. I cross out each lesson when we finish it, and the next day I ask to see the homework and add a grade to the lesson. Rather than having one calendar with all the lessons on it, I have a math calendar, vocab calendar, grammar calendar, etc. Next year I'm going to expand on this by adding a "quarterly report card" grid to each subject calendar.
• Google Classroom. I probably won't continue this next year because it's a hefty amount of work for me on the front end, but (to the extent that I managed to input the quizzes for vocab and history into the classroom,) the auto-grading and tracking functions were great. 
• Online courses. They feel motivated by having other students and teachers who aren't mom. We've never tried asynchronous courses though, these have all been live with due dates etc.

Haven't figured out a working strategy yet:

• How to judge whether it's worth sticking with the original completion/year-end plans when crises happen. We can't seem to get through a school year without some kind of crisis or upheaval. Last year I attempted to factor this in by including at least one "catchup day" per month in the subject tracking calendars mentioned above, and planning not to finish the entire programs in certain cases. (Looking at you, GWTM.) But that still allows only 10-15 missed days per school year, and that wasn't enough for us this year. I think one of the kids had about 30-40 missed or partially-missed school days this year and the other had at least 20. In response, I cut out vocab study and part of grammar study and part of history study for the remainder of the year. But the kid who missed more days will be having to do math all summer long, and the fewer-days kid is resentful about having to catch up on missed work that "it wasn't my fault that I missed" (IOW, Mom wasn't available to teach the lesson that day). Do we just throw in the towel and give high school credit for a truly uncompleted course? I'm resistant to that. It's an honesty thing for me. I just don't think I can give Algebra 2 credit when the kid didn't even complete half the book.

[HomeAgain]

Things that worked:
-redesigning our workspace.  We moved upstairs to the laundry room/hallway alcove, which sounds weird, but it also was warm, sunny, and had a little bit of white noise.  There was just enough room for a table and computer desk, so ds doesn't have to move all over the house. 

-adding 'workboxes'.  Okay, it's a set of drawers from Ikea, the size of a medium filing cabinet.  Each drawer held a category: English, Science/Logic, Maths..and ds had all his materials ready, but out of sight until he was ready for them.

-giving him a weekly folder.  All printouts, worksheets, schedules..where in a folder on the table.  He didn't have to hunt them down.

For me:
-Stealing the 1-36 numbered dividers from a super old Sonlight binder and using them for my master binder.  I had everything ready to go, just needing to shuffle into ds's folder.  I could shift papers around as needed to accommodate for being ahead or behind, but I had a general idea of what was supposed to work with what each week because it was planned out.

 

Things that aren't working (quite yet):
-ds is still getting used to being in charge of his own schedule.  Trying to get him to plan well and not stack all the most difficult subjects for the last day is rough.  I'm hoping for more progress here next year.

[egao_gakari]

21 minutes ago, HomeAgain said:

-adding 'workboxes'.  Okay, it's a set of drawers from Ikea, the size of a medium filing cabinet.  Each drawer held a category: English, Science/Logic, Maths..and ds had all his materials ready, but out of sight until he was ready for them.

I love this idea! Each of our kids has a "dump box" to keep all their schoolwork in, but 3/4 of the time the things don't make it into the box... I've pretty much given up on their bedrooms, so long as I don't have to see the mess 😄 Wonder if the subject-by-subject approach would work better.

[HomeAgain]

5 minutes ago, egao_gakari said:

I love this idea! Each of our kids has a "dump box" to keep all their schoolwork in, but 3/4 of the time the things don't make it into the box... I've pretty much given up on their bedrooms, so long as I don't have to see the mess 😄 Wonder if the subject-by-subject approach would work better.

We had trouble with ds either leaving his stuff all over the table or dropping it next to him.  Neither works in that area of the house, lol.  This has kept him sufficiently tidy.  Everything lays flat so he just has to drop it in, something totally compatible with an 11yo's idea of "organization".😄

[egao_gakari]

OH I forgot to mention my favorite strategy. It's Saxon-specific. I don't go over every missed problem on the homework each day. (When I was a homeschooled kid, this was the approach that led to daily tears.) I just have the kids check their odd-numbered answers in the back and give themselves checkmarks and Xs. Next year I'll probably have them check the evens too, against, the solutions manual.

THEN each test day, I go through the next 4 lessons and circle problems similar to the problems that they got wrong on the test. Because the Saxon 3rd editions identify which lesson each problem in the problem sets and tests came from, it's really easy; if they got problems wrong on the test from lessons 42, 10, 38, and 27, I circle problems from those lessons in the next 4 problem sets. (I hope this makes sense to other Saxon users at least.) At the end of each teaching session, after going through the Practice problems for that lesson, we do the "circles." The kid has to work the circled problems in front of me so I can see where they are making the mistakes on the test. The kids like this approach because I then let them skip the circled problems when they are doing the problem set independently, and I like it because in almost every case, they have rocked those problems on the next test. Sometimes it takes 2-3 cycles (like DD just needed me to guide her through volume problems for about the last 12 lessons), but that's rare, and it always clicks eventually.

I came up with a grading schema that I'm happy with for the Saxon tests, too. I know John Saxon said you either get it right or wrong, no partial credit, but I don't think that's helpful. So...

• Skipped the problem entirely, zero work shown: -5
• Attempted the problem, but gave up/got a wrong answer and I can't follow whatever work was shown: -4
• Got the wrong answer, showed enough work that I can tell it's a procedural error: -3
• Got the wrong answer, showed enough work that I can tell it's a simple math mistake: -2
• Copied the original problem out wrong but then did everything right from there, or did everything right but failed to read an instruction like "Dimensions are in centimeters. Give your answer in meters," or failed to put a unit on the number, etc: -1

They rarely get 100 😄 

[LauraClark]

I can only think of one right at the moment: a second circle time. We have a circle time in the morning where we do memory work and Bible and then we split apart and they work on their independent stuff. I added a second circle time where we do a daily drawing exercise (about 15 min). It's right after our long lunch break and brings everyone together again before they go do the rest of their school.

Edited May 22, 2021 by LauraClark

[egao_gakari]

1 hour ago, LauraClark said:

I can only think of one right at the moment: a second circle time. We have a circle time in the morning where we do memory work and Bible and then we split apart and they work on their independent stuff. I added a second circle time where we do a daily drawing exercise (about 15 min). It's right after our long lunch break and brings everyone together again before they go do the rest of their school.

That's actually brilliant! We called it Morning Time and I cancelled it forever last year because of the amount of petulance I was getting from one of the kids every single day about how long it went and how they just wanted to get started on school. DH and I decided that we didn't want Bible reading to be a moment of hostility and contention in the house, so it was better to say, "Look, you're growing up and if you don't want to do the Bible together anymore, you have your own Bible, take ownership of your relationship with Jesus and read it yourself." We knew it was unlikely that they would have the maturity to do it regularly yet, but at the time it seemed like it was the better option versus fighting about it daily. Dividing it into Morning Time and Afternoon Time might have helped 😄 

I do occasionally hear them sigh self-importantly and say, "I haven't done any Bible study recently. I should really get back into it!" Teens are funny.

[HomeAgain]

Oh, I thought of another!

Poetry tea-time was a no-go in our house.  My kids like poetry, they like tea, they like sweets...putting the three together was Not Okay.  I have a kid who just likes to go through a checklist, not sit around a table discussing or reading.

I instituted Music Appreciation nights instead.  3 nights a week, while dh is at work, we decide on a theme for dinner music.  Most recently we've had:
One hit wonders
Jazz
Songs redone by other artists
Classical music sampled in pop
Socially-conscious/political music

The house loves it and it opens some eyes to some fabulous (and not so fabulous🤣) pieces that the general public has been exposed to over the years.

[LauraClark]

I thought of another one too: we made Friday a different kind of school day. Our math was logic puzzles, or baking, or a game. We wrote a couple lines and colored a page of a poetry book. We had an art class with a couple friends. I'm planning to do that again this year.

[LauraClark]

4 hours ago, HomeAgain said:

Oh, I thought of another!

Poetry tea-time was a no-go in our house.  My kids like poetry, they like tea, they like sweets...putting the three together was Not Okay.  I have a kid who just likes to go through a checklist, not sit around a table discussing or reading.

I instituted Music Appreciation nights instead.  3 nights a week, while dh is at work, we decide on a theme for dinner music.  Most recently we've had:
One hit wonders
Jazz
Songs redone by other artists
Classical music sampled in pop
Socially-conscious/political music

The house loves it and it opens some eyes to some fabulous (and not so fabulous🤣) pieces that the general public has been exposed to over the years.

That's a fun idea!

[Lori D.]

On 5/21/2021 at 6:45 AM, egao_gakari said:

Haven't figured out a working strategy yet:

• How to judge whether it's worth sticking with the original completion/year-end plans when crises happen... Last year I attempted to factor...at least one "catchup day" per month... But...  that wasn't enough for us this year...  In response, I cut out vocab study and part of grammar study and part of history study for the remainder of the year. But the kid who missed more days will be having to do math all summer long... I just don't think I can give Algebra 2 credit when the kid didn't even complete half the book.

Up through 6th-7th grade, I just planned for a 4-day week, and the 5th day allowed us to do all the fun extras, or time for projects -- or, catch-up. 😉 I think there is a tendency to plan too much. Homeschooled kids have parents (ahem... ME, lol), who think they can work 3, 4, 5, 6 hours straight and really absorb everything. 😉

Another idea: For elementary grades, maybe plan for 4-day weeks, and have some ideas/materials on-hand for short unit studies? So the weeks you DO finish in 4 days, pull out a fun unit study for the 5th day. On the weeks you need that 5th day for the emergencies and unexpected things, use the 5th day for catch-up. That would give you 36 extra days in a 36-week school year... 😉 Also, some unit studies can be open-and-go / pick-up-and-go, and could be taken along with you in the car for those emergencies.

HOWEVER, I see that your students are high school ages and beyond the ability to do those sorts of things... One thing I did in high school to streamline was to circle selected problems, if the student was "getting it". That allowed us to get ahead a bit in some areas to give us a cushion for when we were derailed by the unexpected at other times. Also before the year started, I would mark some books/resources with an * as a sign to myself that we could drop it if we started to get behind, and that would get us back on track. We also had 2 summers where we just had to plug along and do math -- once for a month into summer, and once, the entire summer. Not fun, but thankfully, that DS knew by high school that he really struggled with Math, and that is what it took to get through it. I would sit with him for that time each day during the summer, first to teach/tutor, but mostly to keep him company, and I think that helped a lot.

Just brainstorming (when not asked to -- LOL!)

 

On 5/21/2021 at 6:45 AM, egao_gakari said:

...Things that worked really well for us:

• Grades. Turns out when they see "73 (C)" on a math test, they get motivated to study harder next time.
• To track grades and progress, I printed out grids of each kid's school work for the year (basically just the lesson numbers/test numbers laid out in a calendar style so that I can see how far behind we are) ... Next year I'm going to expand on this by adding a "quarterly report card" grid to each subject calendar.
• Google Classroom...  the auto-grading and tracking functions were great. 
• Online courses. They feel motivated by having other students and teachers who aren't mom...

Great ideas for motivating! 😄 

Edited May 22, 2021 by Lori D.

[Lori D.]

On 5/21/2021 at 7:21 AM, HomeAgain said:

Things that worked:
-redesigning our workspace...just enough room for a table and computer desk, so ds doesn't have to move all over the house. 

-adding 'workboxes'.  Okay, it's a set of drawers from Ikea, the size of a medium filing cabinet.  Each drawer held a category: English, Science/Logic, Maths..and ds had all his materials ready, but out of sight until he was ready for them.

-giving him a weekly folder.  All printouts, worksheets, schedules..where in a folder on the table.  He didn't have to hunt them down.

For me:
-Stealing the 1-36 numbered dividers from a super old Sonlight binder and using them for my master binder.  I had everything ready to go, just needing to shuffle into ds's folder...

Yea for organizing tools and a nice study space! 😄 
 

On 5/21/2021 at 7:21 AM, HomeAgain said:

... Things that aren't working (quite yet):

-ds is still getting used to being in charge of his own schedule.  Trying to get him to plan well and not stack all the most difficult subjects for the last day is rough.  I'm hoping for more progress here next year.

Maybe try 2 short daily check-in times with him?

In the morning, check in #1: "So, what's your plan of attack for today? Remember we have that _______ happening later in the week, so you might want to knock out one of the tough subjects today or tomorrow and get that out of the way."  And then after lunch, check in #2: "Great job this morning! What's up for this afternoon? Any questions, or anything I can help with? Or, do you want any company now while you knock out one of the more difficult subjects for the week?"

Edited May 22, 2021 by Lori D.

[Lori D.]

On 5/21/2021 at 7:44 AM, egao_gakari said:

I love this idea! Each of our kids has a "dump box" to keep all their schoolwork in, but 3/4 of the time the things don't make it into the box... I've pretty much given up on their bedrooms, so long as I don't have to see the mess 😄 Wonder if the subject-by-subject approach would work better.

Each DS had a heavy-duty plastic crate that they carried from the laundry room into the living room for school. They pulled from the crate, and as  they finished each thing, they stacked it up beside the crate, and at the end of the day, put the stack by the crate back into the crate, and carried it back to the laundry room. Yes, it took a little while to train them into it, but it was worth it!

But, maybe this worked because we were all together in the common room. They only worked in their bedrooms when typing up a paper... It was WAY too hard for them to stay on task when in a separate room, even into the high school years... 😬

[Lori D.]

8 hours ago, LauraClark said:

I can only think of one right at the moment: a second circle time. We have a circle time in the morning where we do memory work and Bible and then we split apart and they work on their independent stuff. I added a second circle time where we do a daily drawing exercise (about 15 min). It's right after our long lunch break and brings everyone together again before they go do the rest of their school.

We did this too! Like you, the morning one was longer, with our Bible time, and the after-lunch one was shorter, and we did some fun supplemental game or logic puzzle. Sometimes we did vocabulary (English from the Roots Up), and did it more as a game. One of the favorite things we did was take the common sayings/adages in the What Your _____ Grader Needs to Know books and turned it into a "Wheel of Fortune" style guessing game. Great fun! 😄 

[Lori D.]

2 hours ago, LauraClark said:

I thought of another one too: we made Friday a different kind of school day. Our math was logic puzzles, or baking, or a game. We wrote a couple lines and colored a page of a poetry book. We had an art class with a couple friends. I'm planning to do that again this year.

Fun! We did this too! 😄 Through the elementary grades, Fridays were for educational games, sometimes an educational video, art, and longer projects and science hands-on. Plus, homeschool support group was on Fridays -- field trips, fun presentations/demos, etc.

[HomeAgain]

1 hour ago, Lori D. said:

Yea for organizing tools and a nice study space! 😄 
 

Maybe try 2 short daily check-in times with him?

In the morning, check in #1: "So, what's your plan of attack for today? Remember we have that _______ happening later in the week, so you might want to knock out one of the tough subjects today or tomorrow and get that out of the way."  And then after lunch, check in #2: "Great job this morning! What's up for this afternoon? Any questions, or anything I can help with? Or, do you want any company now while you knock out one of the more difficult subjects for the week?"

It's actually still a little more parent-intensive than that.  Many of his lessons still require me to work with him or next to him, but we're struggling with the autonomy of choosing what to do each day vs. the responsibility to balance well.  So while I try to guide him and give suggestions about balance, part of it is figuring out for himself that he really doesn't like that last day of the week. 😄

It's the hard part of transitioning to the teen years.  Knowing when to take control and when to let him feel the brunt of his poor decisions - I often have to take a deep breath when I just know it's going to end badly, especially after giving him plenty of information. 

[egao_gakari]

1 hour ago, Lori D. said:

One thing I did in high school to streamline was to circle selected problems, if the student was "getting it". That allowed us to get ahead a bit in some areas to give us a cushion for when we were derailed by the unexpected at other times. Also before the year started, I would mark some books/resources with an * as a sign to myself that we could drop it if we started to get behind, and that would get us back on track. We also had 2 summers where we just had to plug along and do math -- once for a month into summer, and once, the entire summer.

Good idea about identifying "droppable" items ahead of time! I love that. And I can think of one subject my rising 9th grader is pretty strong in, so I may be able to use the circling idea for that subject.

This is our Summer of Math #2 with DS. But not because he struggles with math. It is a long-term consequence of his not having done any of his math assignments last year, when I was very busy and just took his word for it that he was keeping up. If he'd been able to pass a late-stage Algebra 1 test, I would have just given him credit for the course anyway 😬 but since he couldn't, we switched curriculum near the end of 9th, went back to the beginning of Alg 1, and spent all summer and fall of 10th on that. And now we are spending summer before 11th getting as close to the end of Alg 2 as humanly possible before (potentially) sending him to brick & mortar in the fall.

If anyone was wondering where my subject calendars and grading approach came from, yes it was that situation right up there ☝️ never take their word for it! At least not more than 1 day in a row 😄 

[LauraClark]

1 hour ago, egao_gakari said:

Good idea about identifying "droppable" items ahead of time! I love that. And I can think of one subject my rising 9th grader is pretty strong in, so I may be able to use the circling idea for that subject.

This is our Summer of Math #2 with DS. But not because he struggles with math. It is a long-term consequence of his not having done any of his math assignments last year, when I was very busy and just took his word for it that he was keeping up. If he'd been able to pass a late-stage Algebra 1 test, I would have just given him credit for the course anyway 😬 but since he couldn't, we switched curriculum near the end of 9th, went back to the beginning of Alg 1, and spent all summer and fall of 10th on that. And now we are spending summer before 11th getting as close to the end of Alg 2 as humanly possible before (potentially) sending him to brick & mortar in the fall.

If anyone was wondering where my subject calendars and grading approach came from, yes it was that situation right up there ☝️ never take their word for it! At least not more than 1 day in a row 😄 

Oh my, how frustrating that must have been for you! I'm thankful for the warning. I've already caught ds7 doing similar things ("I took a shower" when there is a puddle of water next to the sink...), so it's good for me to think ahead to times when that might be an option and be warned against it.

[egao_gakari]

3 minutes ago, LauraClark said:

Oh my, how frustrating that must have been for you!

I cried a lot. I was angry at him for deceiving me but also angry at myself for not designing my work schedule (I'm self-employed) in such a way that I could have kept better track. That's one additional change I made this past year: no work hours before noontime no matter how much we need the extra cash. Homeschool isn't the thing to sacrifice in that situation, not longterm. So I have the 8am-12pm block to teach the hands-on subjects and set them up with to-do lists, and then DH keeps an eye on their progress during the afternoons while I'm working. The scheduling blocks have been a huge help.

[PeterPan]

On 5/21/2021 at 10:21 AM, HomeAgain said:

adding 'workboxes'.  Okay, it's a set of drawers from Ikea, the size of a medium filing cabinet.  Each drawer held a category: English, Science/Logic, Maths..and ds had all his materials ready, but out of sight until he was ready for them.

picture? 

4 hours ago, egao_gakari said:

yes it was that situation right up there ☝️ never take their word for it! At least not more than 1 day in a row 😄 

Truth!

If it makes you feel better, my dd had made 1600 pins (mainly about ballet tutus) before I realized what was happening. Turned that mistake into a credit, haha.

5 hours ago, Lori D. said:

Yes, it took a little while to train them into it, but it was worth it!

So much of my ds' stuff is still mom-driven. I need to train myself, lol.

On 5/21/2021 at 10:21 AM, HomeAgain said:

ds is still getting used to being in charge of his own schedule.  Trying to get him to plan well and not stack all the most difficult subjects for the last day is rough.  I'm hoping for more progress here next year.

Unfortunately, about the time they figure all this out, they are done with us and leave, sigh. 

[PeterPan]

In the strategies that did work category, I have the written list where you take your morning vitamins. Don't ask why it took me so long to figure that out, lol. 

[Lori D.]

12 minutes ago, PeterPan said:

In the strategies that did work category, I have the written list where you take your morning vitamins. Don't ask why it took me so long to figure that out, lol. 

lol. Slightly related, I discovered the importance of a mid-morning protein snack for retaining focus and concentration for everyone. 😉 

[Shoes+Ships+SealingWax]

For DS 8 (rising 3rd grader) things that have worked well: 

1. Workboxes. We have a 10-bin rolling cart that contains all of our materials for the day. DS can see everything that needs to be done for the day & has control over sequence; there was a learning curve, but he does well now. 

2. A block of independent time after lunch. “Quiet Time” has always been a part of our days for my own sanity. Time to rest mentally & recharge after eating. It forces him to find ways to fill his time as an (extremely outgoing) only child. At the end of the year he even took the initiative to occasionally attempt academic work independently during this time, which was cool to see. 

3. Game-schooling. We start every day with a tabletop game & it makes getting going SO much easier! I plan to switch this fall from two shorter games to one longer, so we’ll have to see how that goes but using the games in general has been fabulous. 

4. Depth over breadth. DS struggles with transitions & really likes to sink his teeth into things. We only do language arts, math, & science or history (alternating weekly) each day. Art is worked into other subjects or used as an “independent choice” subject. 
 

Things that do not work well for us:

1. Literature-based curriculum / big stack of books. DS cannot hang through a series of half a dozen picture books or several chapter books daily. Reading has to be interspersed with hands-on, active-participation tasks. He can’t do anything else while reading or listening aside from discussing or taking notes, as he can’t split his attention. Literature is typically read at bedtime, because by then his body is a bit calmer. 

2. Schooling “wherever”. DS needs structure, a quiet low-distraction environment, & a routine schedule. Occasionally lower-key things like a review activity or reading can be done outside or at the kitchen table but there’s a definite attentional cost. If it’s the slightest bit uncomfortable (windy, hot, humid, chilly, noisy, etc) forget about it. We’re slowly working on expanding what he can handle, but I have a feeling it’ll be a long journey. 

[egao_gakari]

10 hours ago, Shoes+Ships+SealingWax said:

We only do language arts, math, & science or history (alternating weekly) each day.

I love this idea for elementary. What more do you really need at that age? There's plenty of breadth to explore within those subjects anyway!!

[Not_a_Number]

Ooooh, lovely thread. I'll have to come back here to share what has worked for us this year, because it's been a year of MUCH experimenting. 

[Shoes+Ships+SealingWax]

56 minutes ago, egao_gakari said:

I love this idea for elementary. What more do you really need at that age? There's plenty of breadth to explore within those subjects anyway!!

Agreed. Our language arts is comprised of reading, literature, handwriting, composition, poetics, Latin-based vocabulary, spelling, & grammar. Last year DS even wrote a play script! Our approach to mathematics involves games, living books, hands-on activities, art, & various other projects or activities. We really enjoy diving into each thing! 

It made me VERY anxious in the beginning, though to see people’s mile-long lists of different subjects they were covering each day. Language arts, math, history, civics, science, Latin, foreign language, art, music, religion, philosophy, logic, etc... It sounded so overwhelming! 

Edited May 24, 2021 by Shoes+Ships+SealingWax

[Not_a_Number]

6 minutes ago, Shoes+Ships+SealingWax said:

Agreed. Our language arts is comprised of reading, literature, handwriting, composition, poetics, Latin-based vocabulary, spelling, & grammar. Last year DS even wrote a play script! Our approach to mathematics involves games, living books, hands-on activities, art, & various other projects or activities. We really enjoy diving into each thing! 

It made me VERY anxious in the beginning, though to see people’s mile-long lists of different subjects they were covering each day. Language arts, math, history, civics, science, Latin, foreign language, art, music, religion, philosophy, logic, etc... It sounded so overwhelming! 

We also do a very limited list. Right now, that's mostly math, Russian, history, science and piano. And history and science alternate during the week. We used to do writing, but we've integrated that into math and other subjects for now. 

But on the other hand, DD8 is working on high school math and is playing pieces that are grade 5 or so in piano 😉 . We far prefer going deep to going wide right now. DD8 does read widely, so I imagine she's getting a wide exposure... just not during school. 

[Not_a_Number]

Our biggest discovery this year: 

-- We need much firmer rules for school time than we have for the rest of our time. My kids were wasting an INTENSE number of emotional resources on whining and pleading with me when I was allowing them any latitude during school time. You know how many people say that their kids work best for other teachers or for pre-written curricula? We aren't using any of those (I'm very much a DIY person), and I didn't have any of that buffer for any of the subjects. I absolutely NEEDED them to listen to me well. 

Anyway, we seriously overhauled our discipline for school time. Right now, they have to be extra respectful during school time, they have to raise their hands, they aren't allowed to interrupt each other, they aren't allowed to whine and there are many other rules that have been implemented. And it's made a HUGE difference in their willingness to do work. Apparently, having more structure helps them focus their attention on the work. It's interesting, because it's absolutely not what I visualized when we started to homeschool, but it's been essential. 

Another very welcome discovery: 

-- I can actually design Zoom classes that work well! I watched many Zoom classes crash and burn this year, but I needed an online way to allow DD8 to maintain her friendships. And she wasn't doing well with unstructured Zoom play dates. So I thought and thought and thought and I designed a Zoom class for her and her friends that actually kept them all engaged with both the material and each other! It has worked so well that I plan to continue it -- I want DD8 to have a consistent social group, and the nice thing about Zoom is that you don't have to travel. So I'm going to mix that up with weekly in-person meet-ups and hopefully get a co-op going. 

A not-so-great discovery has been that I have pretty serious limits 😞 . I love doing Socratic questioning, but apparently Socratic questioning with an 8-year-old who barely listens to the words that come out of your mouth is REALLY frustrating. We're still trying to iron out how to let me teach in the way I like best without me getting so frustrated that it leads to unpleasantness and fighting and is bad for our relationship.

Anyway, that's a work in progress... we're currently experimenting with explicit time limits for interactive time. The problem is that DD8 both loves interactive work and also refuses to listen... if I could just send her off to do her own thing, it'd be easier! (We tried that this year. She was resentful about the lack of interaction and did the shoddiest possible work. So that's no solution.)

Edited May 24, 2021 by Not_a_Number

[egao_gakari]

2 hours ago, Shoes+Ships+SealingWax said:

It made me VERY anxious in the beginning, though to see people’s mile-long lists of different subjects they were covering each day. Language arts, math, history, civics, science, Latin, foreign language, art, music, religion, philosophy, logic, etc... It sounded so overwhelming! 

Yep, same here. TWTM even says repeatedly in the Grammar Stage section of the book that a kid who isn't solid on the three Rs needs the vast majority of time spent on that and if that means even history and science have to fall behind, that's OK. But I think we homeschool parents tend to just get excited about how many options we have, and the potential to learn something new ourselves while teaching the kiddos, that we overschedule 😛 Year by year, the more things I've removed from our schedule, the more actual learning has taken place!

[prairiewindmomma]

Things we did new this year that worked:

1. We bought older dd a desk from IKEA (during the great desk shortage of 2020) and had her complete her schoolwork in the girls' shared room. I also bought her noise canceling headphones.  She became much more independent in her studies and developed some good time management skills for a 6th grader.

2. I set up a daily math tutorial hour with each kid. They each needed it.  When I needed a pinch hitter tutor, my college aged son tutored algebra for my high schooler.  His brain works differently than mine, and sometimes that was just what was needed as my high school aged kid has good intuitive sense for some things but goes about problem solving in unusual ways.

3. I used amazon and target pickup relentlessly.  It was worth the extra $$ to just order and move on with life rather than trying to work things into a Stuffmart run or wait until I hit the $50 mark for free shipping for art supplies.

4. I reworked the workbox system (IKEA Trofast) to lump some things together and not other things.

5. I required more output in terms of google slides and the like for older dd. This better aligned her with her public school peers and with what we are seeing out in professional workplaces.  (Dh literally makes slide decks daily.)  

6. We put older dd through a rigorous grammar program this year---and it has paid off.  We also did some targeted reading comprehension work to try to move her into denser stuff.

7. I gave up on rigor for my 2nd grader. We did SOTW audio, and not anything from the activity guide. We did one math program, not two, as my other kids do.  We read LRFO for science, and went places with binoculars and pocket microscopes.  I chilled the heck out with my 5th kid.....mostly because I was tired.  I wish I had pushed a little harder on writing, but I am at peace with how the year played out. She did just fine. 🙂