When we come back from Thanksgiving break (we're taking the whole week off b/c we're travelling, might be able to count a day or two as field trip, but for the most part, not schooling). anyway...when we come back I need to get two full history units done before Christmas break (hubby's off two weeks at Christmas, so I want to take all of that off). Anyway, I have one unit that would take 7 days, one would take 4 days, I think. The problem is the 7 day unit. The book I picked is WAY too young for my 5th grader....she'd do it b/c she's loving the way we're doing read alouds, but it's just n ot challenging enough. Now...I have another book she could read and do a Glencoe Literature Guide along with it (great site, btw!!!)...but I think it would take her 9 days, realistically to finish it). Then that means we might no finish the 4 day unit. AAAHHHHH!!!! What do you think, should I just bite the bullet and TRY it? Or let her do the easier book, and just not feel bad about it??? THANKS!
Could you flesh out the simpler book so it's a little more interesting and challenging? Maybe you could come up with a one or two day project related to something covered in that book. This would give you the flexibility you need to finish before Christmas.
And why, exactly, MUST you finish two units by Christmas break? My tendency would be to take the whole 11 days to do the harder book, then make up the time after Christmas somehow for the 4-day unit. Like do ONLY that for two whole days, instead of doing it with all the other subjects and take four days. OR work a couple Saturdays in the spring semester. OR work some during Easter week instead of taking the whole week off (I don't really know what your plans are for that week, but in case....). OR work a couple days longer at the end of the school year. But that's just me.
Well...the reason I need to get them done, is for the rest of the schedule. We've kinda been dilly dallying through stuff. LOL I'm trying to get us to a point where we'll be finished our 180 days AND our curric by then end of May. Also, DD has been a little NOT challenged by the book we're using with this unit, and she's saying that she's enjoying the cuddle read-aloud time BUT she feels it's a "baby" book. I don't blame her. I just don't want to do two "baby" books in a row and have her feel like I'm not looking to her needs. It MIGHT be possible to do the simple book with her brother AND get the 4 day unit done with him and just let her do the full amount of time on the one Unit since her book is harder. And just have her do a day or two to catch up over the Christmas break and just not count it towards our days? She'd probably do that for me if it's just reading/answering questions type stuff. The other thought is let her finish up the literature component for that unit while just doing the history component for the next unit, maybe. The 4 day unit has no literature unit....it's just textbooky stuff. Hmmmm....I did talk with her, too, and she read the back of the harder book and said she REALLY wants to read that one. I let her look at the Lit guide from Glencoe, too and she said that sounded really neat and wants to do it! AAAAAHHHHHH!!!!!
I guess I'm kind of wondering what the Literature book is? In all honesty, I would probably do the Literature unit with BOTH children and downsize it for the younger one. Plan a craft or read something pertinent to them. The younger ones would probably love it if big sister read aloud to them for awhile. I would get rid of the "easy" one. You can always come up with coloring pages, math pages, social studies pages for the younger ones that might go along with the work unit. Many of those books even have simpler "versions" or movies made of them. Can you work something out along those lines?
Just as an FYI - when are you taking off for Christmas? According to my calendar, if you take off on the 21st, that gives you THREE weeks, not two, if you come back from thanksgiving on the 30th. Otherwise, maybe you could do the more difficult book as a read aloud? Try to double up on a few chapters so you can meet the two week deadline? Then she can still read the easier book and enjoy it for what it is.
Yes...I realize that it's 3 full weeks. But we have 1 day for co-op, and two other days for field trips (1 is Nutcracker, 1 is a Ceramics Studio). So out of 15 possible school days, it leaves us with only 12 days. (the other stuff counts as school too, but it's not curriculum work, does that makes sense?). Talked with both of them tonight about it. My son is excited b/c I found a lapbook that goes along with his book, so he'll read aloud to me to practice reading aloud, and he'll do the lapbook. I think he'll like a change of pace from what we've been doing. My DD really got a look at the lit guide....we're going to do some of it, but not all of it. There are pieces that require a "class" of people, so figuring how to do them individually might pose a challenge. BUT...for the most part she can do the lit guide. I'm going to spread the book over the 12 days (that's 2 chapters a day, and some of the lit guide each day). The two history book units will span the 12 days too...so she'll be still doing the lit component on the 4 days that are the last chapter for the year. My son won't have a lit component to the chapter....but that's okay, he's 3rd grade, and he's more ready for a break than she is!!! LOL My DD is sad we're taking a week off for Thanksgiving and 2 weeks off for Christmas....I think she'd do Easy Grammar and Teaching Textbooks every day through vaca if I let her. I might just let her! (i'm not sure why Grammar is one of her favorite subjects, but it is. She adores it! SICK CHILD!!!)
Couldn't you just ad a Saturday? I mean not do all and total school work on a Saturday but if you really want to do both units couldn't you just do the reading or activity for that unit on a Saturday?
We work on Saturdays when I am gearing up for a long break. Right now my girls are working every Saturday for the next month so that when their Grandparents come for a visit they won't have to do any school and we won't fall behind.
Sorry. We do history where we're following a textbook (The History of the US - Abeka). Also Geography (I think it's a Spectrum Geography book). For each chapter in the textbook, I also add a literature component that I base a lot of their Language Arts off of. My oldest fills out a sheet that she has to write a summary sentence for the chapter, spot for words she didn't know so she can look up in the dictionary, AND copywork, she picks her favorite sentence from the chapter and copies in her best handwriting. This is really all her "penmenship" since she doesn't really do handwriting work anymore. What happened was is the book I picked to go w/ the textbooks chapter 5 was way too easy (set for a 4-8 year old, and she's 10 and an advanced reader) for her. So I found another book that would fit with that period of history but would take longer and I wanted to get Chapter 5 and 6 done before we break for Christmas. With Chapter 6 I had not really picked a literature book to go along with it...so it was going to take a lot shorter time to complete. What I've decided to do is have my daughter follow a literature guide for the book (which is "Witch of Blackbird Pond") while my son reads "The Courage of Sarah Noble" for Chapter 5....and since there's no literature for chapter 6, I'll let my daughter finish up her book while we're doing the few days of chapter 6. Did that help?
Now why didn't I think of having DS pick his favorite sentence out of the chapter and copy it in his best handwriting? Good idea. His writing is like chicken-scratch.
LOL! Oh...never answered the Saturday question. My oldest is a competitive gymnast and has a gymnastics meet every weekend leading up to Christmas. Fun, fun, fun!
