Keeping it interesting
We just finished our 4th week of school. Well, we did 3 weeks straight, took 2 weeks off, then spent 2 weeks on our last lesson. Buuuuut, who's counting, right?
All the blogs and websites I follow are a-buzz about curriculums. As you know, our curriculum this year is no curriculum. Or OUR curriculum. We are doing what works for us, at Kara's pace, the way we want to. I do all the work myself and spend lots and lots of time on my lesson plans. But all those curriculums are so pretty. They are organized and neat and....and, maybe I should look at some of the ones the moms out there swear by. So, I researched as many as I could - like 10 - and all seem not quite right. I guess our choice is right so far.
My goal for this year: keep it interesting, including changing it up as often as necessary. I found several websites with completely free curriculums heavy on the computer work (which Kara wants), so we'll touch on it here and there as we go. Also, I plan to do block scheduling - pick a subject that we're into and spend the whole day on it - master long division, geography, whatever. So far, we've done unit studies - pick a subject, borrow loads of books about it from the library, and get reading, spelling, vocabulary, science/social studies, whatever from them. The units so we've done are wolves, butterflies, planets, and Africa. Next week is Ancient Egypt, then deserts.
My early assessment is we're moving at a good pace. We don't plan to take this many breaks once everyone goes back to school, and definitely not when the weather turns yucky.
Early on I promised myself I wouldn't plan the whole year and I wouldn't number the days we've done so far. Those things just drive me crazy. Literally. :-/ So far, so good, but it's hard to resist!
I hope your summers have been going well - mine has been spectacular!
All the blogs and websites I follow are a-buzz about curriculums. As you know, our curriculum this year is no curriculum. Or OUR curriculum. We are doing what works for us, at Kara's pace, the way we want to. I do all the work myself and spend lots and lots of time on my lesson plans. But all those curriculums are so pretty. They are organized and neat and....and, maybe I should look at some of the ones the moms out there swear by. So, I researched as many as I could - like 10 - and all seem not quite right. I guess our choice is right so far.
My goal for this year: keep it interesting, including changing it up as often as necessary. I found several websites with completely free curriculums heavy on the computer work (which Kara wants), so we'll touch on it here and there as we go. Also, I plan to do block scheduling - pick a subject that we're into and spend the whole day on it - master long division, geography, whatever. So far, we've done unit studies - pick a subject, borrow loads of books about it from the library, and get reading, spelling, vocabulary, science/social studies, whatever from them. The units so we've done are wolves, butterflies, planets, and Africa. Next week is Ancient Egypt, then deserts.
My early assessment is we're moving at a good pace. We don't plan to take this many breaks once everyone goes back to school, and definitely not when the weather turns yucky.
Early on I promised myself I wouldn't plan the whole year and I wouldn't number the days we've done so far. Those things just drive me crazy. Literally. :-/ So far, so good, but it's hard to resist!
I hope your summers have been going well - mine has been spectacular!
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