A Planning Retreat 2009-2010 - Page 2

[AngelBee]

Honestly, I have no clue what I am doing. I feel :

[splendid]

I use a planning program to create my pans for next year. It helps me think and I can see if I am putting too much on ds's plate.

I'm thinking about adding social studies this year. I may use the Discover America books along with the activity guides as a base, and then contacting each states tourism board to have them mail me freebies about their state. We've already completed 6 states with friends so I only have 44 + DC to complete.

For Math, we are just going to continue with Singapore and the intensive practice books.

History, I'm thinking about going with SOTW instead of History Odyssey but I'm not sure.

Art- we started with Drawing with Children and then stopped. So we are going to reboot that.

Science- I've already planned that out. We are doing Life Science, split into 3 different units.

[water]

splendid- how do you like Drawing with Children? I am looking for a new art program/approach to use for next year...my ds does like to draw, it DwC very labor-intensive for me? or can it be done with fairly little prep? I am not very good at big complicated projects...thanks!

[splendid]

Originally Posted by water

splendid- how do you like Drawing with Children? I am looking for a new art program/approach to use for next year...my ds does like to draw, it DwC very labor-intensive for me? or can it be done with fairly little prep? I am not very good at big complicated projects...thanks!

This is what I have written down in my blog:

My area does have Monart classes, they are a big chunk of change and I would need to drive there during the day (still no car). The chunk of change I could probably swing with some creative finances but the drive would be a no go. So I bought the book and am using the lessons plans from http://www.redshift.com/~bonajo/dwclp.htm along with additional exercise sheets at http://www.donnayoung.org/art/draw1.htm. I will participating along with Gilbert. I should also add that I’ve decided to only do the first 14 lesson until the end of the school year, and then continue with the other lessons that are posted at the beginning of the next school year.

I decided to use Sharpie markers, I found a 28 pack at the evil empire store for under $20, I figure for a novice as myself it was a safer alternative.

I did it along with my son and with both had a lot of fun.

[lotusdebi]

:
We're moving away from the unschooling and relaxed eclectic homeschooling we'd been doing. We're going to try a lot more structure this Fall, mostly due to my older son's recent autism diagnosis, and the things I've heard about how kids with autism need more structure. I don't have the faintest clue how to do this! So, I'm reading this thread for ideas. :

[heatherdeg]

Well, I spent this year kind of figuring everything out... what we want to learn (if anything) and when... how we work best... what curriculums we want (if any). I think after a year of really looking into it (at a relaxed pace) and really "doing" homeschooling (vs. preschool, where he'd been) I finally have a handle on next year.

We're doing MBTP and I already have all 4 concepts.

We're doing Saxon 1 for math with some "Hands on Standards" here and there. But really, Saxon is sufficient in this respect. I just happen to still have that HoS book.

I'm not sure about reading. He's level C for Abecedarian, but too young for the content and focus required there.

And then we'll do our enrichment classes. I have a list of "places to check out" for classes in the fall, but no clue what will fall where and therefore what we're doing. I know language instruction is on the list--but not yet sure if it will be formal classes or if I'm just going to buckle down to regaining my fluency in French (and possibly add Spanish) and impart that on the boy.

I've ditched the whole daily planning thing and have a modified workbox system that is REALLY working nicely for us. I've been using it more to direct his play on days we don't do any dedicated learning. 6 boxes with a rainbow color patch velcro'd to the outside. On top of the drawers is his laminated sheet where he has to make his rainbow by completing each box. If I only fill 3 drawers, then his rainbow already has 3 colors completed (those boxes are empty). Then I have 3 other drawers with "Work with Mommy" patches. They're Sterlite 12"x12" stacking drawers... 3 drawers in a unit. They totally rock.

So that's where I'm at.

Thinking of incorporating some kind of art and music instruction... will have to look at the links in that blog entry. Thanks!

[Mama~Love]

Originally Posted by AngelBee

Honestly, I have no clue what I am doing. I feel :

Me too . 's to you!

I doubt I'd get a whole day to MYSELF to plan out next year. I'll have to do it in bits & pieces.

[annettemarie]

Words of Wisdom (in 100 words or less, LOL!)

We take for granted the rhythm of breathing: filling our lungs with air and emptying them again, drawing something from outside into us and then releasing something of ourselves (for we make the CO2!) back out into the world. But how aware are we of the way the soul breathes also-- taking in the content of the world though eyes, ears, etc., transforming it and releasing it again, maybe as a poem, a piece of knitting, a nice clean kitchen? This "soul breathing" goes on all the time and one can see the different rhythmic patterns in it.

--All Year Round, Christine Fynes-Clinton

[Fairy4tmama]

Originally Posted by annettemarie

We take for granted the rhythm of breathing: filling our lungs with air and emptying them again, drawing something from outside into us and then releasing something of ourselves (for we make the CO2!) back out into the world. But how aware are we of the way the soul breathes also-- taking in the content of the world though eyes, ears, etc., transforming it and releasing it again, maybe as a poem, a piece of knitting, a nice clean kitchen? This "soul breathing" goes on all the time and one can see the different rhythmic patterns in it.

--All Year Round, Christine Fynes-Clinton

Thank you AM this really *speaks* to me.

[Ravin]

DD is leaving for a month or so at my mom's, so I will have plenty of time to finish planning. I designed planner pages, and have laid out lessons for the first half of the year (16 weeks) in Latin, Math (probably at a slower pace than DD will want to take it; which is why I wrote in pencil), History, Geography, Heathen Studies, and Science. I need to add in more activities for science, and for Heathen Studies, but the outline of each week is there.

I still have phonics/reading, literature, memory work, and art (I want to use Drawing with Children) to plan.

[babycarrier]

bumpity

I'm finding great resources for many museums in the teacher section with activities outlined that use the museum. Will implement this as I think Thursday will be trip day.

[annettemarie]

The life of hearth and home is contradictory to the busyness of modern materialistic society. It is less, slower, simpler. It is sitting and reading. It is the fireplace. Meals together. Board games. Going to the movies. Taking walks. Watering the garden. Doing nothing. Brunch. Watching the sunset. Lying in the hammock. These things are not frivolous; they are essential. They are the foundation. They are the roots. They are sacred time. All expansion into the world requires times of contraction, of doing nothing.
- Peggy O' Mara, A Quiet Place, "Hearth and Home"

[Mama~Love]

Originally Posted by annettemarie

We take for granted the rhythm of breathing: filling our lungs with air and emptying them again, drawing something from outside into us and then releasing something of ourselves (for we make the CO2!) back out into the world. But how aware are we of the way the soul breathes also-- taking in the content of the world though eyes, ears, etc., transforming it and releasing it again, maybe as a poem, a piece of knitting, a nice clean kitchen? This "soul breathing" goes on all the time and one can see the different rhythmic patterns in it.

--All Year Round, Christine Fynes-Clinton

Originally Posted by annettemarie

The life of hearth and home is contradictory to the busyness of modern materialistic society. It is less, slower, simpler. It is sitting and reading. It is the fireplace. Meals together. Board games. Going to the movies. Taking walks. Watering the garden. Doing nothing. Brunch. Watching the sunset. Lying in the hammock. These things are not frivolous; they are essential. They are the foundation. They are the roots. They are sacred time. All expansion into the world requires times of contraction, of doing nothing.
- Peggy O' Mara, A Quiet Place, "Hearth and Home"

These made my heart & soul happy : ! Thanks AM for posting them. Maybe I'm doing something right afterall?!?

[rahrahgobg]

I've started planning my curriculum for next year these past few weeks. My child is 5, and I have been HS him for a year. I didn't really write stuff down and plan, just did things by ear - did Phonics K and different math things with him all year. From looking at some Math K curriculum's, I can see he needs 1st grade math, and he is on 1st grade Phonics.

I use Saxon Phonics b/c that is what my local college library has for me to use free, and I kind of like it. 1st grade is definitely more involved than the K one. Lessons are twice as long.

Math - the library has a bunch of math curriculum too. I checked out SRA/McGraw-Hill math and I really like it for him. So I will use that

History/Geography: Story of the World & USBorne IL Encyclopedia - Mosaic free curriculum that goes with this. I didn't order the activity guide for SOTW because of this. www.bringinguplearners.com
I also have him put together a map of the US and then we go over states. He knows 1/2 of them.

Science: on the Bringinguplearners website, she recommended a science curriculum, the author has a Yahoo! group for it - he was a professor for some time. Anyways, she sold me on it. I will be getting that soon so I can plan out my lessons.

Must concentrate more on neat handwriting. I have the D'Leanian book out from the library.

I also teach him sign language

Art/Music - I need to implement more listening to classical music - I want to do tea time (I like the CM method). You have a snack, put classical music on, look at some artwork, discuss it, also discuss any behavior that needs work (manners)...15 minutes a few times a week.
Otherwise, art projects go with other activities.

I'd like to have music time everyday where we sing some songs and read one quick story and then move onto something else.

Along with CM outside time, identifying trees, nature journal, history journal...

it's a bit overwhelming, but we'll figure it out!

Yeah, to the CM hard core...I'm starting before age 6, but I have to or he would be going to a state-funded school...

[annettemarie]

Words of Wisdom (in 100 words or less, LOL!)

Be sure that your children each day have

*Something or someone to love
*Something to do
*Something to think about

~ Charlotte Mason

[True Blue]

I'm planning constantly now...I have to admit, I love the hunt!!!

So far, I'm thinking:

DS (7, 2nd grade):
RightStart C, First Language Lessons, HWT, and probaly the 2nd grade advanced reader list from Singapore, but the reader choices are still up in the air. I'm also wondering about using some Writing With Ease, but still not sure if that's overkill. I might have to order it and see...worst case we don't use it til 3rd grade when we finish FLL. I also have Language Lessons for LIttle Ones I'll have him do sometimes. It might sound like a lot, but I like to change things out here and there to avoid boredom with the same activities every day.

DD1 (will turn 5, kindy):
RS A, continue Headsprout, HWT first grade (she's into writing and almost done with the kindy book already), and Language Lessons for the Very Young.

I was thinking of Singapore science workbooks, and the read alouds from Sonlight 1...but then I looked at Winter Promise again...so I'd really like to get Animals and their Worlds to do with both of them. I think they'd really like it, they are totally into animals and such, and it fits the bill of both science AND literature.

I was also thinking about History Odyssey. I'd like to start history a couple of days a week, and I think this fits the bill. Or, I might just do SOTW itself...I don't know. I'd like to get the cd's to listen to for sure, bc I get tired of reading aloud LOL. HO seems like a nice spine though with activities and such, but it might be too much with WP. I might just listen to SOTW while doing the coloring books from HO, and maybe get the workbook for occasional activities. Maybe someone here as advice?

I'd love to get Artisitic Pursuits, and more Come Look With Me art books...they loved the one book we did last year.

I'm having fun reading about different curric's and hunting the classifieds for used stuff!!! That said...have you checked Amazon? They beat out even Rainbow Resource and the used stuff for many books, especially the Peace Hill Press stuff. For less than many of the books used, I can get them new and shipped for free...cd's too!

[dannic]

subbing! I need to get into gear! Our budget this year is extremely small AND the library is now charging 50$ for out of city residents, with a limit of 5 books checked out at a time. :: I could take the fee if it weren't for the limit, but will not pay that for such lame services...I need all the inspiration I can get!

[annettemarie]

Dannic, that's awful!

OK, the first thing I'm going to do is sit down and figure out what main lesson blocks I want for the third and fifth graders. The kindergartener is easy-- we'll be working through the alphabet with fairy tales, Waldorf-style.

[MyLittleWonders]

Well, I think I figured out at least most of our routine - daily, weekly, and yearly. I do need to work on getting us started earlier in the morning, but here's what we are doing:

Get up/wake up/eat breakfast
Spelling/writing
break
Math/Grammar/cursive & printing practice
break
Lunch
Read aloud/Phonics - Hooked on Phonics/listen to story on CD
Free time

Somehow in there, though, I want to fit in Latin and Spanish. I just don't know where/how. Maybe Fridays can be foreign language days (or Wednesdays if we do the PE class again). We do the above schedule 4 days a week; if the boys do the PE hs'ing program, then Wednesdays become our "off" day. Maybe we can fit in foreign language somewhere.

A good friend of mine who also hs's and I decided that we were going to get together 1x a month for art and music. She bought the Meet the Master's program (she is in a charter and gets so much money per kid per semester). So, I think we'll do one artist and one composer each month. We both want to introduce them to our kids, but don't know how to do it and feel there's safety in numbers.

Dh and I decided that a good year-round schedule would be taking the last week of every even-numbered month off - so basically, we'd have 7 weeks "on" and 1 week "off". (We'd still keep up with reading - both them to us and us to them across curriculum subjects, just no sit-down stuff.) Plus, we'll take off some days that dh has off (but not all of them as we definitely do better when we stick with our routine with dh home).

And I decided that I don't want to block schedule science and history, so we'll just do some reading from both subjects during the week - maybe trying to do some science reading during the first part of the week and history reading during the second part of the week. I have decided not to order History Odyssey; I think I'll go through SOTW and just jot down which chapters go with the pages from the Usborne Encyclopedia - I think I like the Usborne order better.

And, I figured out how to integrate Writing with Ease while still doing First Language Lessons - I wrote down all the suggested writing elements and the number of weeks recommended (for example, 2 weeks working on proper names, 2 weeks working on names of cities). We now do dictation from spelling 2x a week and copywork sentences focusing on the writing elements 2x a week. Then we keep FLL all oral.

[JesiLynne]

Well, I got my retreat and it was more than I bargained for.

End of May I got Sigatoxin producing E.Coli, so I had to be hospitalized for 5 days and have been home on bedrest ever since. Good News is I have nothing better to do than sit down and plan things. It's taking me way longer than one day though, I think I am on day 5, I'm revamping so much from what I used to do, and redoing binders, and planning things out, figuring out how to use new books, etc.........