I've started planning for next year. In future posts I'll share more details. Past posts on homeschooling planning can be found here.I hope you can see the pic on the left. It's a first draft of a timetable for my Year 1 boys for next year. They are going to have a summer schedule but it will probably be a very lite version of this.
Here is a Word 2007 version and here is a greyscale one in RTF mode.
Some notes:
- This is formatted so that there are 4 columns which could represent a four day week. It's also planned so that in the vertical direction it can be a daily rhythm for the lively 6 year old with plenty of breaks and variety in the subjects.
- However, I made it so that I could easily simply draw a line through boxes when that subject was done and therefore it could take 5 or even more days to actually complete (or less, for that matter).
- The light words have a purpose. I thought I could easily write notes in the boxes, either plans or logs of what we did. So for example I can write over "copywork": "5 words from SWR" or "began to write Scripture verse". Think of the subject heading as a watermark.
- Also, the large words in order will provide a visual programme for my Year 1 children, something that Charlotte Mason recommended.
- There is room for 2 readings per day because that's about the pace it takes to finish Ambleside Year 1. If there's any leftover I can put it in the Free Reading slot, ie at bedtime.
- Aidan will have a slightly different schedule. One thing I'm thinking is that I could work with them each separately for two days a week and work with them together on the 5th day. Obviously then it would take more than one temporal "week" to finish a planned sheet.
I am hoping that this layout supports my organization rather than complicates it. It's definitely a balance finding something that is both orderly and flexible enough to be useful!
Willa, I'm just curious; when you are using Ambleside, what kind of output do you have? I mean is it just a reading program and you discuss the books or does your son write out written narrations of everything he reads? That's the part of CM I always found unsatisfying. I think it is boring to write out all narrations and it made my kids shut down as far as any love of learning. We seem to need a mix of audio/visual, reading, workbooks, writing, discussion, quizzes etc for things to really take. All those bits of reading seemed overwhelming and then I never could get a good rhythm down for how to have some kind of definitive output so the kids had something more than a list of books to show for their learning. So what else do you do on top of the reading, or is it just reading? Or somewhere in between!
ReplyDeleteHi Faith,
ReplyDeleteI haven't got my auto-notification system working yet so I just saw this. Sorry not to reply sooner!
We just discuss and narrate so far. Some of the books we read together and some he reads on his own. I try to have read them recently enough so that I have some ideas of what the chapter is about.
Sometimes we do "extensions" -- that is, follow-up research projects or hands-on, if he has an idea or likes my ideas.
Sometimes I find online quizzes related to what he's learning. He enjoys these usually.
Separately, he writes some stories and does other projects (like cartooning) that have a writing element.
That's my 13 year old, of course; my littlies don't really write at all yet.
My family is not very good at "show-me work" -- ie, written or project outcomes to readings. It's very easy to overdo this in my family, and even narrating for every subject is deadening to me AND the kids.
I do have the core LCC type subjects where we usually follow a workbook or text of some sort. Progressing through those gives me enough feeling of accomplishment that I don't care if there's not as much production work for subjects like lit, history, science etc.
Another thing is that I reaaally dislike most teacher-driven curricula. It's not a good thing, just so visceral to me that I have to work around it. So Ambleside works for me for that reason.