Well, Summer is over....well, Summer break is. Texas doesn't start feeling like Fall until the end of October.
Nevertheless, Cottonwood Academy has been back in session for 3 weeks now. Last year we started after Labor Day, but this year, we started earlier because my husband surprised me early with the announcement that for my 40th birthday in October, we are going to see my family in Honolulu. I haven't been back in 14 years. I haven't seen my grandparents in 10 years, since their visit to Texas. So...woooohooo!! We are getting to take advantage of homeschooling by getting a vacation during the school year at lower prices.
This meant that I had to carefully plan out lesson plans...well, I thought it did. The planning turned out to be only two days of real planning. I was glad it went smoothly and so far the boys love the schedule.
I get asked, as I discovered...like many homeschooling Moms, how does a homeschool day work?
~How long is the day?
~How much time do you spend on each subject?
~How many days a week?
~How many subjects do you personally teach?
I finally feel like I can answer these. Last year I was the one asking them..panicking about those questions, and agonizing over whether or not I was doing it right, even half way through the year. So, if this is you, don't panic, don't stress! I know it's easier said than done, but when people say, "You can't mess up!", they really are right.
Once you have found your curriculum, picked out your literature, sport/extracurricular activities for the year then the planning begins.
NOTE: This may not work for everyone, or you may have many children at all different ages, so the planning for each day will be different than ours.
"How long is our day?"
It depends. I know that's not helpful, but it's realistic.
We get up between 6:30 & 7 and they make their beds, do their morning chores and eat breakfast. Then, we usually begin at 8-8:30. However, today it was 9AM, because I got new medication and apparently it made me really tired and I had trouble getting up. This is the "reality" part...sometimes things happen and health comes first. Turns out they slept in too. So, no big deal, we started later.
"How much time do you spend on each subject?"
I have told the boys 25-30 minutes per subject; but, math may be longer for extra review or History because I get really into it {smile}. We generally have 30 minutes for lunch; but, I sometimes read literature during that time, so it ends up being a working lunch.
So far we have been finishing up around 2PM, so a total of 6 hours. Yes, they end earlier than public school and accomplish a lot of material, with one-on-one attention and I'm able to go at each child's pace. Which for my boys, has put them a year and 2 years ahead in learning.
"How many days a week do you homeschool?"
Well, last year we did 4 days a week. It was great! We finished the year 2 weeks before their public school counterparts and also started school a week later. But, this year I wanted less of the time crunches we felt daily last year. Trying to finish up a subject quickly to make it to P.E. classes, Science Lab Group, etc.
So I went crazy researching. I kept hearing and reading about so called "flex-days". This is a day that is "flexible", that allows for extra curricular activities and doesn't interfere with core curriculum (Math, English, Science, etc.). Looking at our calendar, Tuesday was our busy day. We exchanged P.E. for golf this year, we already had piano lessons at our home Tuesday mornings and Science Lab Tuesday afternoons.
So, I sat down with the times and looked at making Tuesday a "flex-day". I was thrilled...it worked!!
Typical Tuesday "Flex-Day" Schedule:
8-9AM- Morning "Brain-Pop" video(fabulous app for all subjects), "This Day in History" (another great app), these total less than 10 minutes. Then, they do their Daily Warm-ups for Math and English, (again less than 10 minutes). Then, with the leftover time in the hour, we have time for review on the weeks lessons, extra help, or even time to discuss the next weeks revisions if needed.
9-10AM- They working on their typing program.
10-11AM- They have 30 minutes each piano lessons. While one is getting their lesson, the other one is studying their Spanish, with workbooks, flash cards, and the Spanish program Mango FREE through our library.
11-12:10PM- We read our literature, eat lunch, and get ready to go to golf lessons.
12:30-1:30PM- Golf lesson for both
1:30-1:45PM- We run home clean-up and zip over to Science Lab
2-3PM- Group Science Lab
This "Flex-Day" allowed me to really focus on the core subjects the rest of the week and also have plenty of time for what I call the "enrichment" part of school. This is Art, Music, Foreign Language, and any other electives, which for us is Typing and Golf.
The boys at their golf lesson. They're the 2 smaller people with a coach :-)
Last weeks Art lesson was the history of Origami. The best part of this lesson, was using the book my grandparents in Hawaii had given me when I was 7.
On, the question of how many subjects do I personally teach, question....I read to them the literature. Not that they couldn't read it themselves, but being that I have a 5th grader and a 7th grader, they are at different levels of learning and vocabulary. This way, I can expose them to books they wouldn't normally gravitate towards, (therefore broadening their literature and vocabulary horizons), and we all read it together.
{Some examples are the "classics", like Mark Twain's books, Swiss Family Robinson, etc.}
Then, I can point out vocabulary words they possibly haven't heard or used, and put them up on our board. Also, I have a great opportunity to really go over the material, (what the author was trying to convey, how we as a reader would react if we were the character, etc.). My boys are both audio learners, so this is a great way to get more information to stick too! Plus, I also found they asked more questions and felt compelled to research new things they were learning from examples in the books, such as historical accuracy or historical political questions, etc. Therefore, again broadening their knowledge.
I realized last year, that I should have looked at each literature selection I wanted for the year, and use them as additional teaching tools for history or holidays. For example, "The Witch of Blackbird Pond" centered around the 17th century, it could have been read during the months when we were studying Colonial America. I realized the lost opportunity to make real connections to a mental time line. We all know that stories always help us remember key events. Now by using literature along with the curriculum, hopefully the curriculum will stick in their minds, just THAT much more.
This year, I started completely over with U.S. History, reselected literature, looked at Holidays for the year, and then organized it all.
We started with "Hawaii's Story" by Hawaii's Queen Liliuokalani, because of our Hawaii trip. I wanted the vacation to also be educational. What better way to learn about Hawaii, then to listen to Hawaii's last queen tell her history, of her islands and her people. I divided the number of pages by days we had before the trip and that led to how many pages to be read each day.
I did this with "A Christmas Carol" too. I wanted to make sure we started it and finished it by our Christmas Vacation. So if there are deadlines to meet for your literature choices, this works well.
I also planned art, informational videos, and other fun items I have collected over the years, around each of these themed spots in our curriculum. It has already proved to be awesome! I went through Brain-Pop (an amazing app for all school subjects), family genealogy, and educational games, that would correspond with our literature, history, and science.
Only three weeks in, and both boys have said the extra tools I'm using, make it much more interesting. In my opinion, by using many different learning tools, the new information then becomes concrete knowledge.
We are on our way to a great year! Here's to wishing you all a great school year too!
Happy Homeschool Planning!
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