I have taken advantage of our winter break to plan out the rest of our year. So I now have a spiffy spreadsheet divided into the charter school's academic months, and then into weeks, with a basic outline of which units, lessons, and chapters need to be covered each week. I also chose our history and science projects/experiments for the rest of the year. I plan to alternate, so we have a history project one week and a science experiment the next. The week we do hands-on history, we'll do science worksheets, and vice versa. So with the new plan in place, we'll finish up Ancient History by spring break, and then finally we'll move into the Middle Ages! We'll also finish all math, writing, phonics, and science by the first week of June.
I also plan to implement a sort of block scheduling for history, science, and music/art appreciation. We'll do the basics daily - reading, writing, math - and then....
Monday - history
Tuesday - science
Wednesday - geography, local (county) history
Thursday - project day
Friday - Park Day, or gymnastics
We were trying to do every subject every day, but it has gotten to be too much! So hopefully this will work well for us. And from what I did with the weekly outlines, I can go in and do daily lesson plans pretty easily.
Other than that, we are ready for 2010 to be here! 2009 has been a challenging year, and I am wishing for a smoother ride in the next year. I have a few minor resolutions, and some goals, and am encouraging the kids to set goals too. Organization continues to be a major goal for me! I need to actually implement the ideas I have for simplifying and organizing my life so that I can be places on time, get homeschooling (and my own homework) done, have a fairly tidy home, and so forth! Oak Meadow parent/teacher resources talk a lot about the need for routine, something we are sadly lacking in, and that I would like to have. I really believe that if my kids had a regular routine, they would do a better job keeping up with schoolwork, chores... all the day-to-day things that really need to be done.
So, keywords for 2010: Organization, simplification, routine!
It is always great to be able to look back on the year, and to be able to use that as a jumping off point to plan for the new one.
ReplyDeleteBest wishes for 2010!
Sounds like a plan!
ReplyDeleteHappy New Year--best wishes for a healthy, happy 2010!
I love the look of your blog. It's very visually appealing.
ReplyDeleteI'm also jealous that you sound so organized. Hopefully that will be me at the end of the week!
Kelly (from WTM hive)
I think I am going to do the block scheduling in 2010 also. It seems like it will work better then trying to do everything, everyday which is only putting us behind. I need to get in gear and get organized this week.
ReplyDelete