Summer Homeschool Schedule

The past several years we have had our break from school in April and May (and some of June) because here in Arkansas that's the best camping weather! And besides, by the time summer really gets going it's too hot to do much outside. Even during our "off" time we still keep a light schedule going. It gets CJ off of the Xbox for a little while and keeps his mind from tuning to mush.

Here is a sample of our summer schedule-

Monday:
Scout Merit Badge- work on for 30-40 minutes
BookShark 5 Science- Day 1
Building Thinking Skills- one worksheet
Chore- Clean off stairs and desk (clean off, organize and wipe down)

Tuesday:
BookShark 5 Science - Day 2
Einstein's Who, What and Where - 1/2 of next lesson
Classical Roots - 1/2 of next lesson
Chore - Pick up and organize all gaming stuff and dust shelf

Wednesday:
Scout Merit Badge- work on for 30-40 minutes
BookShark Science 5 - Day 3
Building Thinking Skills - one worksheet
Chore - (I leave this open for whatever I need help with that day)

Thursday:
BookShark 5 Science - Day 4
Einstein's Who, What and Where - finish lesson
Classical Roots - finish lesson
Chore - Laundry (wash, fold and put away) all trash out of room

Friday:
Scout Merit Badge - work on for 30-40 minutes
Building Thinking Skills - one worksheet
Chore - vacuum room

Do you take off completely from school work for a summer break? What does your summer schedule look like?

2016-2017 6th Grade Curriculum Choices

Wow! A lot of changes have occurred in our house in the last few months!! I've gone back to work full time and my husband is now working from home. Big changes that have thrown our homeschool schedule out of orbit. I tried really hard to just keep it business as usual, just leaving lists and pages of instructions for CJ to follow. That didn't work. CJ's great at doing the work when I'm gone but the books and resources we are using just weren't good for this. I was having to leave pages of details instructions and explanations about what I wanted him to. He needs very short straight forward instructions. Dad is here to help, but he needs clear straight forward instructions too! Next I tried cramming a whole week worth of instruction and teaching into one evening or morning that I was off work. I work retail so my schedule is whacky. That didn't work either. Too much information at one time.

     So, simple solution - and just one of the many things I love about homeschooling! - we are taking off now until June, except our co-op classes which end in May, so that everyone can relax and adjust to the new schedules. And I went on the hunt for curriculum that was more of an all-in-one. Something with everything laid out and organized and with a clear plan that CJ can easily follow on his own.

    Changes with our co-op (I told you we had a lot of changes!) actually helped make this process easier. We decided, as a group, to all use Oak Meadow and meet once a week to do some projects or experiments and go over the lesson together. I'm super excited about using this curriculum. I've wanted to use it for the past couple of years. I think it's going to work perfectly for us. It's written so that Connor can just open it up, read and follow the instructions. All the subjects; History, English, Science, are laid out the same so that there is consistency, which makes it  easier on both of us.

     With  a few other little things added in, this is what our 6th grade plan looks like right now:

Oak Meadow 6th- History, Science, and English

Bookshark 6th- Readers and Read Alouds (as time allows)- I really like this curriculum and wanted to find a way to use it and Oak Meadow. Since there in so way we can, or need to, use the full program, I ordered the IG for 6th grade history and we are going to go through the readers and read alouds, as time allows, using the guide for the schedule, discussion questions and whatever else we might want to do.  

Logic - Thinking Toolbox and Fallacy Detective

Vocabulary - Wordly Wise 6 and Vocabulary from Classical Roots

 Reading Comprehension- Einstein's Who, What and Where

                           

That's it.... now we just wait and see how it all turns out!

                          

Morning Routine

What do your mornings look like? Are you the early riser that exercises, showers and dresses before the kids get up? Is your house full of energetic kids that are up and running before 7am? Do you have circle time and cute baskets full of books and busy work? I must admit when I first began homeschooling I pictured my mornings like that. Smiling happy faces sitting around the breakfast table ready for a day of learning and fun.  Three years into our homeschooling journey and our mornings are far from spectacular. What they are is quiet, laid back, even a little lazy. Every time I read a blog post or an article about a fabulous morning routine I feel a pang of guilt that maybe I'm not doing enough.

I read a great post by Kris Bales over at Weird Unsocialized Homeschoolers that reminded me that my morning routine needs to work for me and yours need to work for you. And that's all. There is no right or wrong way to start the day.

The truth is as homeschool moms we have to stop comparing ourselves and our families to other homeschool families. The uniqueness of the homeschool community is what makes it great! Isn't that one reason we started homeschooling in the first place? To leave behind the cookie cutter world of public school that tries to keep everyone the same. Our routine works for us and that's all that matters.

So, I'm coming out of the closest with my morning routine! I'm proud of what we accomplish during the day and how it gets started is a big part of that, no matter how unexciting it may be.

Mondays, Wednesday and Fridays I get up just whenever the dogs wake me up. Usually around 7:00am. Tuesdays and Thursdays my daughter gets up early for classes, which wakes the dogs up, who in turn wake me up so I'm up by 6:30. I use the term up loosely. Being up on Tuesdays and Thursdays generally consists of moving from the bed to the couch and dozing again after the dogs have been fed and let outside. I'm usually up and moving by 7:30 or so.

Getting dressed consist of brushing my hair and teeth and putting on clean clothes. I consider "comfy clothes" (yoga pants, athletic shorts, t-shirt, etc.) getting dressed. Unless I'm going out, that is what I wear. 

My two favorite morning things: coffee and yoga. I'll sit and drink my coffee and watch the news for a few minutes and then do about 20-30 minutes of yoga. Not a lot I know, but it's better than nothing.  When coffee and yoga are done, the TV goes off and the music comes on. I despise daytime TV so it is rarely on during the day. Sometimes if I am feeling really energetic I'll get in a load of dishes or sweep the kitchen while I'm waiting of CJ to get up. He is usually up by 9:00am.

That's my mornings. Nothing exciting. I'm even feeling a little silly about writing a post about it! Hopefully, it will remind someone that just because your day or routine or schedule does not sound like someone else's that doesn't mean it is anything less than the best.

What do your morning look like?

What Our Homeschool Week Looks Like

We've been going for a little over a month now and I think we've found our groove. A typical week for us (if there is such a thing!) looks like this:

Monday
CNN Student News
Co-Op Classes 9:40 - 3:30
      IEW Writing, Real Science 4 Kids Physics, History Odyssey Modern Level One, Leadership and
      Art

Tuesday
CNN Student News
Writing-read source material and complete key word outline
Science-read chapter and take notes; finish writing lab report if not finished in class
History-20 minutes review countries for geography quiz; 20-30 minutes work on lesson
Math-Teaching Textbooks 6 one lesson
Spelling-2 pages
Vocabulary-16a and 16b
Grammar-Exercise 1 and 2
Reading-30 minutes independent reading (can be done before bed)
 Loop work until 3pm

Wednesday
CNN Student News
Writing-rough draft; revise and edit using checklist
Science-Daily Questions
History-20 minute country review for quiz; 20 minutes work on lesson 2
Math-Teaching Textbooks 6 one lesson
Read-30 minute independent reading (can be done before bed)
Spelling-2 pages
Vocabulary-16C and 16D
Grammar-exercise 3 and Playing with Words
Loop work until 3pm

Thursday
CNN Student News
Writing-type polished copy
Science-20-30 minutes on project
History-20 minute country review for quiz; 20-30 minutes on project; finish lesson if needed
Math-Teaching Textbooks 6 one lesson
Spelling-spelling test
Vocabulary-16e
Grammar-Test
Reading-30 minutes independent reading (can do before bed)
Loop work until 3pm

Friday
CNN Student News
Science-20-30 minutes on project
History-20 minute country review for quiz; 20-30 minutes on project
Movie / Documentary Day

Sunday Evening
Science-review study guide for quiz; finish project if needed
History- review countries for geography quiz; finish project if needed

Loop subjects are (these have changed some since we started):
Art
Game Time
Life of Fred
Sign Language
Uncle Sam and You
Logic
Typing
Photo Finch Photography

So far everything is going smoothly. I sit down on Sunday's and make out a checklist for each day. CJ likes to know exactly what he needs to be done for the day! We seem to be able to get through all of the daily things and still have time for one or two loop things.

Science Day

CJ LOVES science! He would gladly do school work all day long every day ... if it could be science! So, every once in a while we spend the whole day do crazy science experiments. One of our favorite websites to use Science Bob.

Today we did Build a Fizz Inflator, Fantastic Foamy Fountain, The Exploding Sandwich Bag, Make a Paperclip Float, Try Some Lava in a Cup, and Make a Balloon Rocket.

It was so fun! And a great way to take a break from some 'book' work and still learn a ton! Today we just did the observation part. Next week we are going to pick one and turn it in to a real experiment by changing some of the variables to see what happens. It should be fun!

First Day of 5th Grade!

Today was CJ's first official day of 5th grade!

 

We started the day off with a Morning Meeting. This is something new for us, but something I really think we need. We just took a few minutes to go over the schedule for the week and talk about the things we would be doing this year. CJ told me he wanted to be a little more involved with his schedule, he wanted to have a say in what he was going to do. So, I had him sit down and put the loop lessons in the order he wanted to do them in. I've added a couple of things to the loop since my last post. This is what our loop list looks like now and the order he put them in:

Geography
Art
Game Time
Life of Fred
Sign Language
Presidents
Spelling
Vocabulary
Reading
Critical Thinking
Typing
Poetry

After our Morning Meeting we headed outside for some first day of school pictures!  We are using a lighter schedule for now, until our co-op starts in September. That will be our Science, Writing, and History. For now, it's just Literature, Grammar, Multiplication Review, and the loop lessons.

Our first day looked like this:

9am Morning Meeting and First Day of School Pictures
9:15 - 9:45 Literature Reading - CJ has picked Treasure Planet for our first book
9:45 - 11:00 Loop

OK- so I admit we didn't stay on schedule too well. But we never do. My schedules are more like guidelines, so there was no surprise in that. But we made it through 2 loop items before lunch and did two after lunch (called it a day at 1:30), so the day was a success in my book! One day down-- 179 more to go!

New School Year and Loop Scheduling

We are getting ready to start our school year in July! Our summers in the South can be so hot that most of July and August we can't go outside anyway so the past two years we have taken most of April and all of May and June off for our 'summer break'. It has worked great for us. We can spend the mild days outside playing, camping, taking field trips, and going on vacations before the summer crowds! Another thing I love about homeschooling - flexibility! We get to school around our lives, not live by the school schedule!

This year I am going to try something new - loop scheduling. I've thought about it before, but just never given it a real try. I think this year I will really need to try to stick to it because we have so many extra things we want to do. By extra things, I mean things other than math, science and English, but still important things that I want to include. Last year however, I had a hard time balancing the core subjects and the extra stuff. We would spend to much time on extras and then not have time for the core stuff or vise versa. It seemed like something was always getting left out. I feel like a loop schedule will correct that. At least I hope it will!

To create our loop schedule the first thing I did was make a list of EVERYTHING (that I know of so far) that I wanted CJ to work on this year. My list looked like this:

Math, Memorizing Multiplication Facts, History, Geography, Literature, Writing, Reading Comprehension, Grammar, Spelling, Vocabulary, Typing, Science, Life of Fred, Poetry, Presidents, Logic and Art.

Then from that I listed everything I thought needed to be done everyday at the top and everything else went on the loop list. So then I had:

Daily:
Literature
Math
History
Science
Grammar
Writing

Loop:
Reading Comprehension
Critical Thinking/Logic
Geography
Life of Fred
Spelling
Vocabulary
Presidents
Typing
Poetry
Art

Some of the daily subjects may end up not actually needing to be done daily because they are done through co-op classes and I'm not sure yet what the assignment schedule will be like. But I want them on the daily schedule since the work will have to be done on time in order to turn in at co-op. I don't want it stuck in a loop.

 

Next, I had to figure out how the schedule was actually going to work on a daily basis. First, I decided our school day was going to be 9am - 3pm, with an hour for lunch 4 days per week. Why 9-3? Well, we aren't early risers so I don't expect us to be ready start before 9am and I figured with a loop schedule there needs to be a clear stopping point since there is no set check list of things that need to be done each day. Last year I used a checklist, some days we would be done by noon. Some days we wouldn't get done until 4pm. And most days we never got to everything on the list, so things always felt incomplete. There was little consistency and CJ would get a little stressed over not knowing from one day to the next when his school day was going to be finished. So, I just picked 3pm, it seemed like a good time to stop. I have always used a 4 day a week schedule. The 5th day is our co-op day and when co-op is not meeting, it's great to have a catch-up / movie / documentary day. I also had to figure out when to move on to the next thing on the list. My final schedule looks like this:

Daily:
Math (Teaching Textbooks)- one lesson per day
Literature (IEW Reading Roadmaps) - read aloud everyday, at least one chapter (about 20-30 minutes), with monthly lessons
Grammar (Jr. Analytical Grammar) - follow lesson plan w/curriculum
History (History Odyssey) - co-op class
Science (Physics) - co-op class
Writing (IEW) - co-op class

Loop:
Reading Comprehension (Reading Comprehension Grades 5-6 Workbook) - one lesson
Critical Thinking/Logic (Building Thinking Skills Level 2) - one lesson
Geography (Trail Guide to US Geography) - one lesson
Spelling (Spelling Workout Book E) - one lesson
Life of Fred - one chapter
Vocabulary (Word Wise 4) - one lesson
Presidents (notebooking) - complete one step
Typing (Typing Instructor for Kids) - one lesson
Art (various things) - 20-30 minutes
Poetry (Read and Understand Poetry Grade 5) - one lesson

After we go through all of the daily lessons and do any homework that needs to be done for co-op classes, we move on to the loop schedule, either completing one lesson or a time limit for each subject, and just work through it until the school day is over. The following day, after daily lessons are complete, we start from where we left off the previous day on the loop schedule. Does that make sense? For example, if on Monday at 3pm we are working on Spelling, then Tuesday, after the daily stuff is done, we will start on Life of Fred. I think this schedule will make me and CJ happy! He will have his list to follow so he knows exactly what needs to be done and he will know when he can be done for the day. I will be happy because I know that eventually everything will have a turn to be worked on! And then main reason I will be happy... CJ will be happy! Our days always go better when he is happy!

 

Have you ever tried a loop schedule? What does your daily schedule look like?