I'm having an.. irritation issue with some of the 'official' stuff dd is supposed to be learning. Because I'm new (and I know this!) I'm using the worldbook list as a guide. But I can't help but be annoyed when I'm supposed to teach dd stuff like... dressing for the weather. At 6!! Basic hygiene... at 6!! I'm adding stuff to make it more indepth, but honestly I just can't force myself to say.. spend more than 2 minutes teaching something like "wear your boots when there is snow", since umm.. she KNOWS that. She's had 6 years of nagging :lol: Should I just skip that sort of stuff altogether? There are plenty of things she doesn't know, so not like we'd run out. How long should I really spend on 'community helpers' for someone who already knows that stuff? Or should I add on Tax Auditors and Lawyers? Oh wait.. I can teach that in careers :roll: My other issue is my planner. It's awesome when we are trucking along. But this week she had an off day, really very cranky so I gave her a mental health day. Get out the white out. Now I've been sick since Thursday.. would be in bed if I was anyone other than the mom :shock: so more white out.. LOL. I love my list, and it really does help, but it gets hard if something happens or something I've planned is a big NO GO due to my enthusiam and my dd's complete LACK of it. More white out. Maybe I should just order a case of it?? Or I was thinking.. I could just white out the days of the week on top, then we could do the 'planner' when we have school, and there'd be more wiggle room (and less umm... white out.). Any ideas there? I was also thinking maybe a weekly list would be better but.. organization probably isn't my strong point so I might get off track even worse. Suggestions?
First, skip it. I never dwell on things I know my son knows well. I'll mention things just to make sure he's not clueless (or better yet, I'll make him teach me, because teachers always learn more than students). Second, I use excel. It's easier to shift a cell to the next day/week than to erase or white-out something and then write over it. With excel, I can move an entire week if I want to. Very painless.
Just pick out the stuff she already knows and eliminate it. That's the beauty of hs. In ps, the kids can be bored out of their minds going over stuff they already know but have to do again because theres other kids in the class. This is your classroom! YOU make the decisions about what to teach!
I also don't see any need to go over stuff she already knows well. World Book just lists stuff that is "typically" taught in a certain grade level across the country in ps. I'm sure there are 6yo ps kids across the country who don't know they need to wash hands to get rid of germs because germs make you sick -- and I'm equally sure that their classmates who DO know it are bored to tears at having to say it over and over again! I have to say I have one in my school who at 7 had not a clue about what order the seasons occur in, what was appropriate to wear, what nature does in each one, what activities we engage in, and so on, so we really did have to cover that! Just mention it to be sure, then move on! Have fun, sweetie!
I would make your planner per day, but leave the day/date blank. That way you can mark it on the day you do it. Or better yet, make a rough plan for each day, but use a separate book for writing down what you actually did and when you did it. I agree with others too, if they know it, do a quick review if you think they may need it, then skip it.
That's exactly why I HATED doing "lesson plans" when I was in the classroom!!! I would do all these plans for the week, and they'd all be off within the first hour of Monday! I'd much rather just not write anything down, and do "the next lesson" in the book. SOS is driving me CRAZY, because I can see how terribly far "behind" it tells me I am! Oh, and I concure. Just skip over the common-sense stuff that any semi-intelligent 6yo would know!!! Or maybe take five minutes and say, "OK, you tell me how you would dress if it were snowing out...."
That's the great thing about homeschooling, she doesn't have to sit through 'typical' lessons on things she already knows just because it's what children that age are taught! Our state performance standards for 1st grade science are things my 1st grader learned when he was THREE! YES THREE!! He would be bored to tears if I limited his science to the 'typical' 1st grade science. He also can't read on a K level, so I don't stress and push him to read on a 1st grade level. I am aware of our state performance standards, but I don't teach by them at all. I also don't plan I tried it for a short time, didn't like it LOL too much work for me and we prefer to follow the child's interest and let them decide what we do and spend time learning about. Life presents great learning opportunities that are real world, hands on and relevant at the time they come up, and at 6, I'm not willing to pass those up to follow a plan. Like, why would you teach a child about fall during spring? (I know it's s silly example-but it makes my point, ya know?) We learn about things as they come up. Answer all questions, research and find answers we don't know, etc. I do have some things I want him to know/learn, so I guide when needed, but I don't have set in stone plans a day or week or month in advance.
That is why we homeschool, so we can move along to the things our kids actually need to learn and skip the things they already know. I love being able to work at our own pace. I track our progress by writing things down in Homeschool Tracker after we have finished them. That way I don't have anything to erase or delete. I know what I want to do each day, I just don't bother writing it down officially until we actually get to it.
I would not teach the child what they already know. If the law of your state requires that you teach something specific, I would just mention it in passing to the child or expand on the topic to a level that would interest the child. Just be creative in fulfilling your state's laws. As for keeping track of what is being taught as in a schedule, I mark down what is taught/learned/read that day. For example, in my son's curriculum he read about William Claiborne set up a trading post on Kent Island in 1631. In his daily schedule I would write down "read about William Claiborn, added to timeline." on the day he read about William. I don't know exactly what my son is going to learn each day since I did not write the curriculum. Jackie, SOS is driving me crazy too for the exact same reason. After the first four weeks of school my son was so lost (failing half of the quizzes and tests) that my wonderful husband took over the teaching of science. They had to start from the beginning again. We are so far behind now.
As far as the planner thing goes.... I also like it written out in a planner for my own reference. And when we miss a day or do not get everything done I just circle what we did not do and make it up on one of my make-up days. And I planned in a LOT of make up days. I only planned for 4 days a week with four weeks on and one week off. This leaves me with tons of flexibility so we can be laid back and not always feel behind.
Meghan, thank you for starting this thread. I'm feeling the same way with my planner. We have so many things that we have skipped because we have run out of time or something has come up. I usually put a check beside things as we finish them and it's driving me crazy to see things that are "unchecked"! Tomorrow, we are going to have a library/catch up day. Thanks, everyone, for letting me know I'm not to only one!
As far as planners, I make up a schedule maybe 2-3 weeks at a time, IN PENCIL. Then when the student has completed the assignment, he/she uses a highlighter to indicate that it is finished. So, since it is in pencil I can change it, and the highlighter makes it my planner and my logbook at the same time. As far as World Book or any of those What my ------ Grader Needs to Know, skip them!!!! They will give you more worry and upset than they are worth. Every time I've ever opened up one of those, they only made me worry. And state requirements are usually vague enough that you can have a very broad interpretation.
I make a workplan for the week for each child that they refer to for their assignments. I write in pencil so I can adjust the assignments as the week goes on. I have log books for each child that I fill in at the end of the week. That's where I list everything they actually did. It works really well for us.
I'm fighting with the kids to write their assignements down and check them off. With Rachael, I'm not so much asking her to do that, but to keep track of the TIME SPENT on each assignment, and turn that in at the end of the week. I think I'm going to have to go to giving them some kind of reward if they have it at the end of the week. Only trouble is, at their age, cheapie little stickers or dollar store toys won't do it! I'm going to have to spend REAL MONEY on something.
My 5th grade teacher used to use tickets. You earned one ticket when you did something exceptionally well. When you saved up enough tickets (and you did have to save up) you got to 'buy' a reward. They were actual tickets which you would get at a fair or something, so it all seemed very 'official'.
I plan a week at a time on a computer spreadsheet, print it out and put it in my working notebook. As we complete assignments, I put an "X" on the square. If we don't get to something or we went in a different direction I just move it to another day or note what we actually did. At the end of each week, I correct everything on my computer spreadsheet to reflect what we actually did that week and throw out the working copy. I have each weeks schedule showing what we actually did and I use that as my record. I looked at the World Book and decided that I really didn't need to follow it. I've already sent 3 children through public school and I didn't think World Book was really very accurate. I have enough stuff to teach without wasting my school time on things that my kids have learned from everyday life.
I have a rough draft of everything I want to teach the kids, mon-thur.. I don't write down what they done until the end of the day.. I do homeschool year round so I have plenty of time for make up day.. You will learn as you grow and what's best for your family.. I use to use the world thingy but than it got tooo much for me.. So i pray and pray and prayed for guidance as to what the Lord wanted me to do.. And I can say I am a much happier mama.. I figured my children will have the rest of the school year to learn and learn and learn some more.. My boys are age 7,5, and 3.. One basic thing I do always do at this age is the R's per say, reading, writing and arithmetic.. The rest i do is extra learning.. But I am sure your doing a great job..
