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October 26, 2007
Week ??
Week something or other.
Ooh, what a difference a plan makes! I've always prefered to do this homeschooling thing by the seat of my pants. Yes, I like to plan, and make extensive booklists and schedules, but here's my little secret: I never mean a word of it. Planning is fun, but in reality I really don't want to be tied down, not even to a plan of my own devising. Especially to a plan of my own devising, because I know how I plan.
But gosh, my kids are getting older, and they keep wanting to know what the plan is. They don't like it when I wing it. I think they're suspicious that as long as I don't have a plan written out, I'm tossing extra work at them whenever I can get away with it. They're right. Heh heh. I'm an overachiever. I will always go for the extra work; I will always plan more.
But I tried something new this week, and I think I've finally got it. I was able to see all the week's assignments at a glance. I was able to make sure no one day was overwhelmed. And something must have worked, because:
1) Connor did all the work I assigned him;
2) I did not stress out about the work I assigned; and
3) He finished with plenty of free time to spare, as he should.
Cool, eh? Here's the wrap-up:
Connor did Dad's math assignments, learning how to deal with operations with positive and negative numbers. He zipped through the fourth declension in Latin (who doesn't, after living through the third?). He did an entire week of analysis for Classical Writing; midway through the week he smashed his finger in the door, so a good deal of the analysis involved him dictating and me writing.
I'm going to pause for a moment to explain "analysis" to those of you who do not use Classical Writing: This is where we play around with analyzing and rewriting sentences. At our level, a week of analysis includes: Reading a narrative, dividing it into scenes, and analyzing the scenes for particular elements; pulling out sentences and parsing the nouns; diagramming the sentences, and rewriting them by changing the words, changing the style, and condensing them into the smallest sentence possible. This is brilliant stuff.
He did a couple of page in a punctuation workbook, which I have chosen for him because, to look at his rought drafts, he seems to never have heard of punctuation before.
He did map work on a map of the ancient Americas.
Other than that, he read. He read a chapter of Famous Men of the Middle Ages, a chapter of Our Island Story, a chapter from Hakim's "The Story of US" vol. 1, "Rikki Tikki Tavi" by Kipling, several fairy tales out of "The Blue Fairy Book," a version of "Pinocchio," a version of Aladdin and the lamp, several pages from the Kingfisher History Encyclopedia and "The Story of Mankind," and several from "Ancient America: Cultural Atlas for Young People."
I read to them from "By The Shores of Silver Lake," and Green's "King Arthur."
All in all, that is not too bad. Oh, and piano, karate, drama, etc. OK, so se skipped karate this week. It was just one of those days. We did a drawing lesson, too, from Mark Kistler's "Draw Squad."
Science, you ask? Well, he and Aidan had a field trip to the County Commissioner's office, to see what the county is doing to promote alternative energy. I say that covers science. The County Commissioner kept scaring Jeff by repeated use of the phrase "fiduciary responsibility to the citizens." It's scary because we used to live in Keller, Texas, where a government official talking (seriously) about its fiduciary responsibility was about as likely as Bill Clinton being faithful.
Oh, we watched a NOVA on genetics, too.
Aidan did some Singapore math, and some Right Start E math. He did a great deal of Galore Park Latin. Right now, Galore Park is my favorite Latin program, ever. I love it. I have not yet found anything I don't like about it. It's fantastic. Buy it for all your friends.
Aidan also started reading "The Hobbit." He listened to a couple of chapters of Story of the World in the car, and he read a chapter of Famous Men of the Middle Ages, and Our Island Story. He did piano, and drama, and the field trip .... and that was it for Aidan.
Griffin did a little of All About Spelling. For math I did a game with him in which I had him add numbers on the abacus, trading where necessary. He "got" the concept instantly, which is a big relief because this has been a very difficult concept for him to "get."
Lachlan played.
I'm linking our plan for next week, so that, if you're so inclined, you can see how I've worked this out. The blue assignments are Connor's (6th grade), the red are Aidan's (4th grade). The black are both. Notice that we're taking Halloween off.
Monday I'm going to see a gastroenterologist, to see if maybe he can figure out why I've been more or less ill for the past year. Your prayers and/or good thoughts are appreciated. I'm a little nervous, and I would like to be well again.
Oh, we also went to the dentist this week. One small cavity for Connor, but Lachlan makes up for everyone else. Is it bad when the insurance/payment lady at the dentist's office gasps in surprise when looking up your insurance, and recommends a discount card to you, instead? Yes, it's bad.
Posted by lynx at October 26, 2007 2:06 PM
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Comments
Sigh...this is inspiring me to really get back into a groove. Our summer unschooling experiment is over, though it had some good outcomes. I, too, need a bit more of a plan and have been easing back into AO. This is pretty motivating! Thanks, S!
Gina
Posted by: Gina at October 27, 2007 11:24 PM
You're probably sick because you're down there in all that mold and pollen all the time, and your immune system has been compromised.
Noelle and I were constantly sick when we lived there, but that went away after moving to Los Angeles. Yes, all the houses are half a million dollars here. Yes, our gasoline is almost four bucks a gallon. Yes, it's always crowded and the taxes are high...
...and we don't care.
Say hello to Jeff for me.
Posted by: Larry Stimely at October 28, 2007 12:42 AM
What a great week!
What a great idea.
I can honestly say we have never completed an entire day of homeschooling on any day probably ever ! :-)
I figure I just am expecting too much and that's why :-)
I'm ready to have a meeting with my student though and plan a week for him this week.
Every year he gets Nov.1 entirely off school, music practice, etc. Oct.31 is a candy fest. I do the Eat all you wish of the candy oct 31 and Nov 1st . . .then I take it away (more or less)
Anyway. . With that Day Off here, it will be a good time to start fresh with a schedule :-)
Thanks for the the idea !
I'm off to view your assignment sheet!
Posted by: LH at October 28, 2007 8:11 AM
I just got an email from Ray saying my GP Latin materials are on the way, so it's nice to hear another vote of confidence. :) Awesome week y'all had. Now I feel embarrassed about ours. :}
Will be praying for you today. Good luck.
Posted by: KathyJo at October 29, 2007 9:19 AM
ok, i know today is just monday.....BUT we (ok I) want to know how it went at the gastro.....when do you get results?
Posted by: sozzled at October 29, 2007 11:13 PM
Larry, when you say "down there," do you mean Texas? 'Cause we don't live there any more. And all my allergy-related illnesses got MUCH better when we left. I am allergic to mold. At least in Michigan, most things die during the winter. It's a good thing.
Thanks, E :) The doc did tests, and lined me up for more tests. I guess I'll know more in a couple of weeks. He wants me back on the meds that neither my GP nor I thought was working. I know he's testing for celiac, but I don't yet know what else.
And, of course, he said I should lose weight and de-stress my life. So like a good girl, I got on the @#)(**@ elliptical this morning.
You will understand my great distress, e, when I say that one of the things that bothers my stomach the *most* is alcohol. Talk about sad.
LH, it's easy to go overboard on the expectations, isn't it? This week things are going scarily well again. The work is getting done, and they have tons of free time. Weird.
Nice to see you, Gina!
Posted by: Stephanie at October 30, 2007 8:42 AM