High school Form+U+La

Sarah's probably worried about high school because I am. Although she's only entering 8th grade she's thinking ahead. I'm reading everything I can get my hands on about homeschooling high school. Seems like the best advice so far is to look at college entrance requirements and work backwards.

Currently I am reading Barb Shelton's book, Senior High: A Home Designed Form+U+La. Although she doesn't seem sold on the idea of college (I am planning on it for my kids) there are some helpful ideas for planning and record keeping. Another point she brings up is that although we need to be mindful of requirements if our children are college bound, we don't need to necessarily follow the standard public school format for teaching required subjects to be eligible for college admission. That gave me alot to think about!

Almost a High Schooler

Sarah turned 13 in May. I don't know what happened on that magical day, but she has started showing signs of wanting to grow up and be responsible. :-) Happy day for me! She's made lists, organized a calendar, started gathering materials for projects and activities early in the day, finishing things she starts (like laundry), and overall showing more maturity.

She continually talks about starting high school and the need to get it together so she can go to college. (Yay!) This week she pulled a copy of Shakespeare's Julius Caesar off the shelf and started reading it to get a "head start" on high school literature. When she realized it was difficult to understand, she checked out the movie from the library to get an overview before digging into the actual text again. (Smart thinking!)

My baby is growing up! :-( and :-) all rolled into one.

Charlotte Mason

I've been doing some reading on Charlotte Mason. My biggest takeaway is her scheduling and narration. I really like how she breaks the subjects into "times" rather than assignments. My girls think getting their schoolwork finished is a race. Most of what I assign them is the same even though they are two years apart. I wish they would learn to spend the time they need to really absorb something that they read and when they are in a race to finish two chapters in a day, I don't feel like they do.

I wouldn't really consider us year round schoolers, but I guess we are because we never quit doing math for any length of time and we are always reading. This week we are doing an experiment. "Last year" we used Core 5 of Sonlight and because of all our travelling, we didn't quite finish all the reading before the typical summer break. So, instead of assigning pages for them to read, I told them they needed to read 30 minutes of the assigned book each day and write down for me the pages that they read. Later, I asked them to tell me everything that was in the story that day and what they thought might happen tomorrow. Sometimes, I have had to prod for more information, but overall they have been doing an excellent job of telling me the story and nobody is concerned about who read more in the 30 minutes. (I thought this might be a problem ~ they are pretty competitive.)

I am considering using something similar in the fall, but with more subjects. I almost wonder if they might actually accomplish more if they work diligently for short spurts of time. We'll see how it goes.

Skiing

So, we've been skiing 3 times this year (thanks to the great homeschool deals offered by local ski resorts!) As you have probably heard, the Carolinas have had a blizzard like year which has made for great skiing. We were fortunate enough to be able to go after some monster snow totals...

Planning for Next Year

I guess you could say I'm a planner, but that would be an understatement. I'm already working on a curriculum plan for next year. Some people have asked me how I can even think about next year when this year is only half over. I can because I worked on this year at this time last year. Now, I'm just implementing the plan, and that doesn't take alot of effort on my part.

One of the benefits to having a few years of homeschool under my belt is that I have finally figured out how my children learn. Another advantage is that as they get older, subject matter choices begin to become more clear based on college entrance requirements.

Now I'm not saying that we don't run into "bumps" with what I've decided to do every now and then, but when that happens we all just adjust. I can also be flexible. For example, we have loved Sonlight the past two years ~ history is their favorite subject and they both love to read, but as we have worked through this year I have found the schedule that is laid out in the instructors guide to be more than confining. In November, I found a few other booklists online with some great read alouds that fit into Core 5, so I picked them up and we have really enjoyed them.

In getting ready for next year I made a big "spreadsheet" of book titles that were suggested to go along with World History (basically Core 6.) Instead of sticking with the Sonlight list, I added Beautiful Feet, Notgrass, Winter Promise, and Mystery of History. I also scoured Books Children Love and All Through The Ages for things I thought would fit well. Unfortunately, my world history book list was MUCH too long to do in a year's time.

So, I decided next year we would focus on Ancient History. We'll do one more heavy study of this time period, then probably leave it for good. Waaaa! :-( That means my kids are getting old! I have narrowed my list to about 30 really good books (fiction and non-fiction) that cover the beginning of time through about 200 AD. Now I'm on a mission to add them all to our collection.

I'm not sure why I go to all this trouble of planning and research when there are good programs out there that would be fine to purchase and teach "straight out of the box." If they missed a book here or there, they'd still probably be better off than most kids. I guess it's that part of a mom that just wants the best for her kids and if it takes a little extra work to make it the best, I'm going to do it.

Farm City Day

Whoa! I haven't been around in awhile. I need to catch up. Let's see. October 3 we spent a lovely day at the local Farm City Day Festival. It's like a small town fall festival. They have vendors, a scarecrow contest, music, hayrides, ect. The 4H clubs have a big tent and each club provides an educational display and a craft.

Our group has been searching for something interesting that we could do year after year to minimize the planning and prep for this event. This year I think we've found it! One of our families has started "raising" bees. What would a farm be without a bee? Bare. That's what. No fruits or veggies without those little pollinators. So, they did a display about bees and their grandfather built us a small glass hive which was a huge hit with everyone. Who doesn't like looking at bees up close without the fear of getting stung?

Our craft was an easy pipe cleaner bee pencil topper.

Looks like next year the Hawks will be teaching about bees again. :-)

Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes

I've GOT to make some changes! Our current homeschool schedule is killing me. We are finishing our 3rd week of school tomorrow and the girls have already read over 600 pages of history, done a major project on the Pacific Islands and another on Australia, learned all about the digetive system and cells, moved ahead every day in math, plus continued all the other "smaller" subjects like spelling, language, Spanish, logic, and Latin/Greek. Throw in piano practice, 4H, AWANA, art lessons and babysitting for Sarah and I'm one overwhelmed mama.
For the most part, nothing take a great deal of time except history. So, I think we are going to have to cut back on that even though that's the girls' favorite subject. It's just taking TOO much time! Is there anyone out there who has used Sonlight Core 5 that can give suggestions on what is critical for this year?

The Fair

The fair opened here on Friday. I've never been a real fan of fairs. They are dusty, the rides are unsafe, the food is junk and everything is expensive. But, the girls enjoy entering projects and then going to see if they won any prizes.

In the years past, they have always placed very high with everything they entered. This year was a little different. The competition is getting tougher and to be honest, they didn't put alot of thought and prep into the items they entered this year.

Nevertheless, we had fun.

Rebecca won 3rd place for a beaded necklace she made and 2nd for a colored pencil drawing. I personally think her drawing should have won first. The first place picture looked like it had been traced from a coloring book! Here's Bec's:

Sarah only entered two items, neither of which won anything.:-( But she did help with the county 4H booth that won first place. :-)

First Day of School

Sarah 7th Grade Rebecca 5th Grade

First day of school pictures are pretty popular right now, and our house is no exception. Can you believe they have sweatshirts on? It was chilly - 51 degrees - this morning. I must say, our classroom probably has one of the best views in the state.

By lunchtime, we had finished most of our "together work" and the girls were working on some independent assignments. They are both really excited about a year long project on countries the Eastern Hemisphere. They aren't excited about spelling and math.

Veteran homeschoolers say it gets easier as they get older because the kids start to take on more responsibility, and thankfully, I'm starting to see that in both of them - at least for today.

Homeschoolers in the News

If you know me, you know I'm a big Florida fan. Having Tim Tebow lead the football team as the quarterback is especially fun since he was homeschooled K-12. Now, he uses his platform as a famous college football player to promote causes with an eternal impact rather than focusing on building his prospects for future personal fame and fortune. So, from time to time, I will post articles about him on the blog.
Enjoy this one. :-)
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/30/sports/ncaafootball/30tebow.html

Scheduling

I finally got my scheduling for the year finished. I knew WHAT I was going to use for school this year, but I hadn't figured out the details of how or when.

People have all kinds of ways to "schedule" their year/week/day, but this is how I do it.

First, I make a list of all the "subjects" I want to teach. I make a separate list for each child, because then I write next to each subject, the way I plan to teach it.

Like this...

It looks like alot, but some of the "subjects" only take 5-10 minutes, and some aren't done everyday. Then I make another list of how many times per week each subject needs to be assigned in order to achieve my objectives for them. For example, math is assigned 5 days per week, but logic only 3 days per week.

Next, I look at our calendar and assign the subjects a "day". Notice in the picture below Tuesdays seem to be lighter while Wednesdays are heavier. That's because we have two "extras" (piano lessons and art) on Tuesday afternoons, but Wednesdays we're home all day. Each child gets her own because their schedules are a little different and they are in different grades, so the amount of work required is a little different. This schedule is flexible depending on our actual week, but I try to follow this guideline as best I can.

Next, I move to planning a specifc week. I only do one week at a time -usually on Sunday afternoon - so that I can make adjustments as needed depending on our schedule. Below is a picture of the sheet I use. I just made it on Exel. Each child gets her own up on the fridge Sunday night. I make a copy of each one and put it in a binder for my own reference, because they mark theirs up pretty heavily. If you're wondering what "couch" is, that's our reading time that we do together in the morning. "Extras" are any appointments/lessons we have.

When it's filled out it looks like this...

The "x's" in a box means that subject is not assigned on that day.

We've used this little "grid" assignment sheet for years. When they were very young, I didn't post it on the fridge. They didn't really know I had a plan. We just moved from one fun learning activity to another. When they got a little older they got one of their own every day, but with far fewer subjects than I've listed here. About 2 years ago, they got one for the whole week. Each year it changes a little, but the overall concept stays the same. I tried to change the layout of this little assignment sheet this year, but it made me confused, so I went back to the old standby.

Do you have any scheduling tips?

When do you start?

This is why I don't start a full school schedule in August. I have to turn this...

Into this...

Not to mention all the berries that are made into jam, corn and peas that are shucked and frozen, beans that are snapped and canned. It is ALOT of work, but so nice to have in February.

This year the girls have been a super help - peeling, cutting, chopping, measuring, filling jars. I'm very thankful they enjoy doing it.

So, we'll be starting "official" school in September when the kitchen isn't so hot. When do you start?

Where do I go from here?

I feel like I'm in the twilight zone. Isn't that another world for middle school? The place between having fun without a care in the world elementary school and the get down to business, college entrance, and your future is at stake, high school.

Part of me wants to continue the unstructured learning that we have done the past five years, and the other part of me worries that if I don't get a little more "rigid" we'll miss alot of the credits needed for college entrance. Part of me thinks, but they are still babies, and part of me is reminded (daily) that they are becoming individuals and will (sooner than I'd like) be leaving my nest.

So what's a mom to do? Their personalities are shining through and they are testing the waters of independence. I want to push them academically, but at the same time I don't want them to lose the love of learning they have. I feel like I should be pointing them in some direction to help their future. But what direction?

Several wise homeschool veterans have told me "Don't let the good get in the way of the best, especially as your children get older." They are completely different in almost every way, so this year is going to be a fun journey discovering what is "the best" for each.

Welcome to my new blog!

Many of you have been reading my blog posts on my website, Homeschool By Design, but I have found that posting there has become tedious and time consuming.

We'll see if this makes it easier for the blogging part anyway.