Planning Planning Planning

Our new home school year starts tomorrow, August 1^st, and I have been planning for a while. I have been asked several times....What curriculum do you use?

The answer is that we practice Eclectic Home Schooling. That means we take a multitude of resources and curriculum and create something that fits for us. There are several different types of home schoolers, but there are 6 main types.... Traditional, Classical, Charlotte Mason, Unit Study, Unschooling, and Eclectic.

Traditional- is basically you have a different book and workbook for each subject. A lot of full curriculum sets and your schools run this way.

Classical- (I am taking this directly from a google search): Classical homeschooling is based on teaching children in three stages, called the Trivium. The Grammar Stage (ages 6-10) focuses on absorbing information and memorizing the rules of phonics, spelling, grammar, foreign language, history, science, math, etc. The Dialectic Stage (ages 10–12) emphasizes logical discussion, debate, drawing correct conclusions, algebra, thesis writing, and determining the why’s behind the information. The Rhetoric Stage (ages 13–18) continues the systematic, rigorous studies and seeks to develop a clear, forceful, and persuasive use of language.

Charlotte Mason- focuses a lot on rich literature and living books

Unit Study- Is taking one topic and incorporating all subject around that topic. For example Trains. All subjects will have something to do with trains.

Unschooling- Is completely child led. If one day they have an interest in bugs then you learn about bugs, if the next is about cooking then you cook.

Eclectic- is taking aspects of several styles and creating something that fits you and your child.

If you are considering or have decided to home school I suggest you try different things. Do it for a while, don't rush into it, don't spend $100s on curriculum. You first have to learn how your children will learn and how you will teach. What your vision is for everything may not mess with how your children learn. Be Flexible. You can not plan everything and expect everything to work perfectly. Figure our what is practical for your lifestyle and what the kids respond to.

What I do is plan my top 3 basics. Reading, Writing, and Arithmetic and then let the extra's flow with the day, week, month, etc. with an end goal of what they need to have learned at minimum for the year.

Planning looks different for everyone, here is my idea...Piles, stacks, binders, and not shown my Brother's Brand Printer:

"You might be a bit of a nerd if......you drag a bunch of school planning stuff out into the living room so you can also binge watch "Doctor Who" on  the tv!"

For Math we are using Teaching Textbooks. With math being my weakest subject personally I need something that teaches and grades it for me, a full comprehensive math curriculum and so far TT3 is working well for us.

Writing I have them do a lot of copy work, journaling, and they write on any worksheets they accomplish.

For Reading we read a lot. I read to them, they read to me. They like computer games so I have decided to purchase Reading Eggs and Reading Eggspress for them this year.

I like K12reader.com for Spelling

Education.com for a variety of worksheets and computer games

Last year I implemented a schedule of subject to complete each day, and it worked well for us so I will be continuing it.

Monday—Reading, Writing, Math, Spelling, Health & Etiquette, Music

Tuesday—Reading, Writing, Math, Spelling, Spanish, PE

Wednesday—Reading, Writing, Math, Spelling Test, Computer Science, Music

Thursday—Reading, Writing, Math, Spanish, Kid's Choice, PE

Friday—Reading, Science, Social Studies, Art

Music and P.E have not been determined yet for sure, but laying out a list of subject that the kids know they have to do (in whatever order they choose) gives me a plan and them the freedom to do it in the order they want to.

We are a team, working together, Learning As We Grow!

End of our Home School Year

We have completed our first full year of home schooling! 1^st and 2^nd grade are in the books and it was great!

What does ending a year mean for us? The entire month of July for Summer break! This is new to us this year, our first partial year we took 2 weeks, but.....lesson learned we needed a little bit more time. It also means that I do some reports. Please Note: Reports of any kind are NOT required by the state of Illinois. I do reporting for my personal records. If we ever move out of state, if state laws change, if any truancy issues ever arise I want to be able to easily prove what we are doing.

What I do is start with this:

I use these grade level lists for both planning and end of year reports. These are non common core lists (that's a different discussion for another time), but this is how I stay on track.

http://nevadahomeschoolnetwork.com/world-book-and-common-core/

Along with this grade level list I write up a summary of each subject for each child with how they are progressing in that subject. I print and keep a copy of any website reports/scores that they complete. I also keep work samples for each month and this usually consists of between 2 and 6 writing assignments/spelling tests/worksheets so I can flip through and see their handwriting progress through the year.

All of this information is kept in a 3 ring binder. If anyone were to have cause to question our home school then I can quickly and easily pull the binders and prove what we are doing. It is also a good habit to be in because as they progress to higher grades then transcripts will need to be kept for college purposes. These reports are NOT REQUIRED for the state of Illinois, I do this for my peace of mind.

With end of year stuff complete it is time for a 1 month brain break. Why only one month and not the whole Summer like most public schools? This is a life style for us. During this month off the kids have done several educational things, it's only natural to want to learn and I don't want to hold them back. Summer slide is a real concern children face. By only taking a short break we significantly decrease the need for review to be able to move on. What works best for us is a 6 weeks on 1 week off schedule because we need little breaks periodically through the year.

Welcome to Summer....Have Fun! I know we will.......Learning As We Grow!