Summer plans and goals

This is the time of year I love.  We relax the schedule and look back on the year to evaluate our progress.  We look forward to next school year to see where we want to go.  And, we finish out our current year with lots of fun hands-on learning.  This year we will wrap up our year 1 studies with the Americas and botany.  We will visit local Native American sites and (hopefully!) grow things if my black thumb doesn't get in our way.  I am also working on planning some fun field trips for next year related to our year 2 studies-geology, astronomy, and the middle ages.

I think my favorite part, though, is to look back at what we have accomplished this past year.  I stop and evaluate where each of my little students is at currently, how far we have come, and where we hope to go, and I make a list of goals to focus on during our relaxed time over the summer.

For us this summer, we will be working on reading fluency with 2 kiddos, and early reading with a 3rd.  My current 3rd grader (almost 4th grader!) was just diagnosed dyslexic.  His summer goals involve improving his reading and spelling skills with some new materials which will hopefully appeal to his awesome dyslexic brain.  We will be using some of the materials provided by the Scottish Rite, along with Apples and Pears.  My 5th (soon to be 6th grader) hopes to spend lots of time reading this summer.  We don't school all summer, but we do try to keep our activities sensory-rich and learning-rich.  School isn't separate from our life, rather it is our lifestyle and we tend to be all in when we are studying a particular topic.

My oldest (soon to be 11th grader) is actually beginning his junior year early this year.  He will be in France in January as an exchange student, so we are starting schoolwork in June.  He will be taking a dual enrollment class, as well as starting his history and lit, math, and thesis work for the year over the summer.

When I look back at what we have accomplished, and set new goals for the summer and future school year, I try to be careful to look not just at academic goals, but also at character issues and study skill related issues in each child.  I want my children to be self-motivated and independent learners.  We use tools through the year to try to encourage them along that path.  For example, beginning in 6th grade, my kids set their own schedule using a planner.  They decide which work they will accomplish which day and week.  They set their own goals and schedule.  I come behind them to make sure they are accomplishing the work at a pace they need to meet, but they are responsible for deciding how to break the work down by day and week.

Even for my younger children, I try to give them time management skills and independence by using work plans beginning in 1st grade.  All the work they need to accomplish in a week is written onto their work plan, and it is their decision how and when to accomplish each task over the week.

Other issues we look for and encourage include note-taking, study skills, and listening skills.  Oftentimes, if you are self-teaching mostly by reading, you lose the opportunity to develop your listening and oral note-taking skills.  To attempt to teach these skills to my children, we watch videos and documentaries, use Khan academy and Coursera lectures, and take advantage of open courses available free online, such as those offered by Yale and MIT.  We also require oral presentations from the kids over the year in a variety of environments, as well as their regular written work such as research projects beginning in middle school, and shorter projects in the elementary grades.

I love watching them grow and learn each year.  In the midst of the daily grind of the school year, it is easy to miss the progress.  Taking time to look back and reflect allows me a chance to see how far they have come.  And laying out specific goals allows us to stay focused on where we are headed.  And always I try to stay focused on the fact that they don't have to learn everything in one year, or even when they are young.  They will repeat so much of the same information in high school.  If we are struggling in an area, we work on that area over the summer more intensely, but always recognizing that those character issues and study skills issues are the most important in the younger grades to prepare them for high school.

Planning--how do I keep up with all this?

So many people, especially those just starting out, struggle with how to organize and plan.  What does that physically look like?  My system is just that--my system.  It works for me.  You will have other needs and preferences, but maybe this will give you a good starting off point or some ideas you can pick and choose from.  You are welcome to use all of these ideas, none of these ideas, or pick and choose as it works for your family.

To begin with, I separate by grade level and by year of the WTM cycle.  I have a folder for each grade level and a binder for each WTM year.  In each grade folder, I break my plans for the year into 36 individual weeks--math, language, foreign language, logic, art, anything else that is grade specific.  I don't put a lot of detail here.  I just divide out the curriculum or resources into an even flow over the course of the year.  I build in lighter weeks around holidays and toward the end of the year as I can. 

In each binder, I lay out my rough plans for grammar stage, logic stage, and rhetoric stage history/literature and science.  Typically, this is a chart with a range of weeks (say week 1-4), a topic we will study during those weeks, Kingfisher pages related to that topic, SOTW chapters related to that topic, and additional resources I might have collected related to that topic.  See my post on teaching history for more detail.  I do not break these plans into what I plan to cover each week in particular.  It is a rough guide.  I tend to make these plans at Christmas the school year before, but normal people could do this planning over the summer-ha!  I keep these binders and grade folder intact and on my shelves so that when the next child comes to that grade, I can just pull out the folder and tweak for his/her specific needs.

Storing curriculum--I have shelves where I keep grade-specific curriculum in order.  At the beginning of each set, I put the grade level folder so that it is easy for me to distinguish.  I also have a shelf (or 2) for each year cycle of WTM with history, literature, art, music, and science resources related to that specific year. 

Throughout the year then, we do 4 weeks of school and take a week off.  We complete 32 weeks between the middle of August and the middle of May.  I spread the remaining 4 weeks out over the summer as we have time, to complete a full 36 weeks. 

I use those break weeks to do my specific planning for each child.  I take their folders and write out a workplan (see my post on workplans) for each of the next 4 weeks with what I expect each child to complete in each subject over the week.  I can go through each subject quickly because I have a list of each one in the folder with my year-overview plans.  I can also evaluate if a child is struggling somewhere or if something isn't working.  During those break weeks, I also decide how to divide up the history/lit/science plans I have over the 4 weeks and write out those plans.  This break week is great for gathering any supplies we might need for history or science, going to the library or ordering books to read, field trips, appointments, educational movies, or any other ways to solidify the learning we have just completed.  It gives my kids a chance to re-charge and process the previous 4 weeks, and it gives me a chance to get caught up on everything in my world.  This is by far one of my favorite homeschooling decisions.  Some people take a break after 5 or 6 weeks, but work it out over a real calendar. With Christmas break in the middle, you finish about the same time regardless.  4 weeks is about what it takes my kids to start acting like they need a break. I want them excited a learning at their peak.

I often use free resources like the ones you can find free on the Donna Young Printable website to create my lesson plans.  I love paperwork and organizing though.  You might not.  You might just want to create a simple word or excel document to lay out your plans. 

I don't keep grades until my kids enter high school, so I don't do a lot of record keeping for the younger grades, but I do keep their workplans and each month evaluate their progress.  See my post on high school to learn more about how I record keep for those years. 

This system works for me and makes my life easier with lots of kids and repeating grades every other year with a new kid.  I do not want to re-create the wheel.  In a couple of years, I will be to the point that I have grade level folders for all grades and I only have to re-evaluate for specific kids each year.  Almost there!

What does a day look like? Workplans and Independence

I get asked all the time what a typical day looks like at my house.  The short answer is that changes from year to year.  I have never homeschooled without a toddler and or infant underfoot or on my hip...or both.  Year to year, we might start earlier in the day or later, read aloud during naptime or over lunch, or even take turns with a little one, if they are a particularly difficult or distracting little one.  More on all of that in the next few posts. 

So, it changes, but the routine is basically this.  We get up at a set time.  My kids do their best work in the mornings, and we typically start at 8.  Last year, we started at 7:30 because my then 2 year old was a late sleeper, and we could get a lot done before he woke up for the day.  We school during the morning for a few hours.  The preschool/kindy kids do Montessori during that time, and the older kids do language, math, and other work on their own.  I might stop at their table to do language with them or to answer a question, or they might get up to watch a math DVD.  I might stop in with a little to introduce a new lesson or to some group work, but each day looks a little different, with the same kind of flow.  We all work together in the same classroom space from high school down to the toddler on the floor playing.  Life isn't quiet and uninterrupted and their school environment isn't either-ha! 

We usually wrap up around 10-11 and then will head upstairs to eat lunch and play.  My high schooler is probably still working at this point or has found somewhere to read quietly or is signed into the computer for an online class.  After lunch, my youngest kiddos nap and I do history or science with older kids.  My high schooler is on his own.  I will have discussions with him as needed, or in the evening, but he rarely needs my assistance.  We do have a designated time each week to discuss his history/literature and science work.  After naps, we typically head out the door to an activity or the park. 

This is our typical Monday-Thursday.  Friday is reserved for art and music--mess and play, history projects that are more involved and we didn't get to, science projects that are more involved, or if we are in a unit study, we dig in more with that on Fridays.  And my high schooler attends debate and speech on Fridays.  With my English as a second first language learners, Fridays usually involves listening exercises and fine motor skill building.

The key to making our school work like this is independence.  I know, I know.  I can hear you now.  Not all kids are independent.  My oldest was not at all.  And it took years, but that was still our goal with him.  He has it now.  More on how we got there soon. 

I start them early with independence.  Montessori is naturally conducive to independent work.  In 1st grade, as we transition to more traditional schooling we start workplans.  Each week, each child gets a new workplan in his binder with all the copies he might need that week.  Each child has his own shelf with all the resources he will need for the year.  That child is responsible for going through the workplan and completing that work by the end of the week and placing finished work in the back of the binder.  I can not always stop working with one kid to run check and see if another kid has finished his work.  If the child has no questions, the work goes in the back when it is finished, and I can check as I come around.  This cuts out the multiple kids screaming, "look!  I finished it!!  Mom!!  Look!" that tends to happen otherwise, and which interupts everyone else that is working. 

The workplans I write are basically checklists of the work they should complete.  I use a form that is basically a series of boxes, and I put one subject in each box with the work to be complete, the book to be read, the memorization work to focus on, etc.  If a task should be done each day over the week, I label 1 2 3 4 next to the assignment, and the child can check a number each day.  Workplans give them control over which tasks they do when.  And it also helps them take ownership of their own work.  They are responsible for making decisions about what subjects to do which day.  If a child wants to finish the week early, they can.  If they want to do all of a subject on Monday, they can.  They are learning time management and decision making skills.  My 1st graders get a workplan, and I guide them through these skills over the course of the year.  By 2nd grade, they are able to get right to work on their own each day. 

For those kids that are not as self-motivated and independent, it might be a longer process, but it is a worthy goal.  Stick with it.