Tag: homeschool schedule

Decisions Have Been Made!

~ wattlesandcombsfarm ~ Leave a comment

It’s decision time in our home. I have been putting off a few decisions lately because I was not ready to get back to school. However, the motivation has finally kicked in and I have figured a few things out. First, we will be trying out a four-day school week this year. This is what I wanted to try, but I also asked my kids which option they wanted, and they both agreed the four-day week sounded good. Instead of having weeks off during the school year, we will have every Friday off. We will still take about a week and a half off during Christmas time but that’s about it. Because we have decided on this schedule we will have to start school sooner rather than later. My plan is to school for 45 weeks instead of 36 so that we get all our days in. That means we will be starting school on July 17th and schooling until late May. I do plan to keep track of our days so that if we do something like a field trip on a Friday we can possibly knock off a few days towards the end of the year. Once May hits I want to be done with school. Something about the sun finally coming out after a long winter makes all of us lose our minds and all we want to do is be outside. I am really hoping this schedule works for us this year. I like the idea of it, because this will give me Fridays to grocery shop, put the house back together, and do whatever other tasks get overlooked during the school week. I am sure there are moms out there who can keep it all together during the school week, but I am not one of them. Having Fridays off will give me the chance to get everything back under control.

Final Curriculum Choices

Since the start of the school year is so close now, final decisions also had to be made for curriculum. I knew from the beginning that we had a couple of things from last year that needed to change. For example our Math curriculum. We have used Math-U-See every year except one. There is absolutely nothing wrong with this program, and I love the idea behind it, but it wasn’t working for us anymore. The biggest problem is that my 10-year-old and I can’t do math together. At least not fully. She either wasn’t understanding how I was teaching it or she was being plain stubborn and refusing to even try. Math is the one subject that could derail our entire day. I did not want our homeschool year to be made hard again because of one subject. To help this I started looking for online math programs. My hope is that if someone else is explaining the concepts to her she will listen and understand a little better. I looked at a ton of options before we made a decision. I have never used this program before but I am hopeful that it will be what we need. We are going to be trying CTC Math for this school year. https://www.ctcmath.com/how-it-works/home-school. My husband and I both liked the sample video that was posted and the way the concept was explained. I am also hopeful that this will be good for my 12-year-old as he starts getting into higher math that I can’t help with as much. I was not great at Math in school and we have always known at some point there would need to be a switch to a tutor or some kind of online math program. Outside of math our days go pretty well, so I am hoping this will help our days run as smoothly as possible

The other big change is our Science curriculum. I have talked about this a few times and the fact that we haven’t found a good curriculum yet. We have tried a few different options but I have never been pleased with any of them. I had every intention of going with Noeo Science or Elemental Science this year but changed my mind last minute. I read a bunch of reviews and neither program sounded all that great. I ended up deciding to try out Berean Builders this year. We will be using Science in the Age of Reason https://bereanbuilders.com/ecomm/product-category/elementary/science-in-the-age-of-reason/. While looking for a science curriculum I stumbled upon this awesome resource and we went ahead and ordered the books and experiment supplies from Home Science Tools https://www.homesciencetools.com/. This is a website where you can order experiment kits that go with a few different curriculums, but you can also order difficult-to-find experiment supplies and even dissection kits. It’s a pretty cool resource if you have experiment-loving kids.

As for the rest of our curriculum, most of that is staying the same as it always has. For Language Arts, we will continue to use mostly IEW https://iew.com/. We use their writing program, Fix-it-Grammar, and handwriting. Spelling and Vocabulary are covered by Spelling Power https://www.rainbowresource.com/product/002784/Spelling-Power-5th-Edition-Adams-Gordons.html?, and Wordly Wise https://www.rainbowresource.com/hSearch.jhtm?keyword=Wordly+Wise#keyword=Wordly%20Wise&mpp=24. Then I add in reading and read-alouds to round out Language Arts. For History, we will continue to use Story of the World. https://welltrainedmind.com/c/series/the-story-of-the-world/. This year we will be using the fourth book in the series and adding in other resources as needed. I have a ton of encyclopedias laying around as well as Who Was Books that are always a good add-in. That pretty much covers everything. The only thing I am still deciding on is an Art Curriculum. My daughter loves art so I am still looking for something for her to do. I think I will probably end up using Artistic Pursuits https://artisticpursuits.com/home.

Homeschool Planner

I have also decided to change our homeschool planner. I know I said I wasn’t going to do this because I loved the online one from Well Planned Gal, but I think it might be a little overkill. I am still struggling with this decision but I think I will skip it this year. I can always go back in and re-subscribe if needed. My thought process behind that is that the online planner is great to print out for records, but I don’t really have to keep those. My state does not require it and sometimes I think I am making more work for myself. I like having the records, but no one is ever going to look at them, so do I really need to put in the effort? I did go ahead and custom-create a printed one, also from Well Planned Gal, and then I am working on creating my own. I don’t typically like planners with a ton of extras, so making my own basic one might be a better option. https://wellplannedgal.com/. I do have a bunch of printables available in my teachers pay teachers shop if you have any interest in looking at those https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Phk-Learning, including some planner pages. This year I am trying to make things as easy as possible. There is no need to overcomplicate and make my year harder for no reason.

Final Thoughts

I have never really had a motto for the year before but this year I found one that I am hoping my daughter can use.

Attitude over Aptitude will determine your Altitude

We had quite a few struggles last year with our attitude. I really want to work with her this time to understand that a good attitude will get you further than almost anything. It will also make the school day go by faster. I am hopeful that the changes we have made will make this year run smoother and that our Friday breaks will give us something to work towards. Ready or not, school starts in about a week and a half.

Year Round Schooling?

~ wattlesandcombsfarm ~ Leave a comment

It’s that time of year again. Planning for the upcoming school year is in full swing. I’ve been looking into curriculum for weeks now, but the task at hand is deciding on our schedule for the year. One of the big benefits of homeschooling is you can really make your schedule be whatever you need it to be. In years past I’ve tried the six weeks on and one week off schedule, but that hasn’t really worked for us. We inevitably get off schedule for one reason or another, and end up having to take no breaks in order to finish the school year at a decent time. I don’t like the idea of following the school system schedule either. This has never really appealed to me. I typically like to start sooner than the schools do and finish sooner than the schools do. So this year I am playing around with a few different ideas.

Required number of days

First, let’s talk about what is needed for a school year. I know each state has their own guidelines, some like you to hit a certain amount of hours, but most I have seen recommend 180 days. That is a typical length for an academic year. If you break that down the way the public school system does it equals 36 weeks, or four 9-week semesters. That really makes it easy to plan your year. Breaking down the work to be done for the year becomes pretty simple when you can see the chunks that you have to work with. It also gives you a good idea of where to stop and sort of evaluate everything to see how it’s going. I usually like to do that each semester, and if I miss that mile marker at least at the halfway point. Whatever schedule I use I have that 180-day requirement in the back of my mind. Then I look at a calendar and figure out when I would like to finish and count backward from there. This also includes time off that I would like to take and holiday breaks. We like to finish in mid-May, plus have plenty of breaks, so I typically start school much sooner than the public school system does. This is where I am stuck currently. I have a few ideas playing around in my head and I can’t quite pick which one I want to follow.

(School year calendar https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/2023-2024-School-Year-Calendar-9745675)

Four-day school week?

The idea that I am thinking about this school year is a four-day school week. Monday through Thursday with every Friday off. A couple of programs, including BookShark have schedules for a four-day week. Most of those however still consider Friday a school day, but use it as a make-up day or a “fun Friday”. Meaning you do your co-op, field trips, or fun subjects like art on Friday. We have used that schedule in the past, especially when we used BookShark curriculum, but for me, fun Fridays always ended up being nothing Fridays. I would start the school year off strong but over time we ended up needing the break and sort of let Fridays slip. So, the idea that I am playing with for this year is actually taking every Friday off completely. We wouldn’t use it as anything other than a rest day. Obviously, if we needed to use it as a make-up day we could, or take a field trip, but mostly it would just be a down day. A day during the week to sort of re-group, run errands, put the house back together, or get done anything else that we need for the week. The problem with doing this type of schedule is figuring out how to make it work best. I still need to get those 180 days of school done. In my mind, I have two options to make this work. First, is to make our school days longer. If you get five days of work done, in four days, you have to do more work each day. I don’t love this idea, because who really wants to school longer each day. Our school days are typically done by 2pm and I really like that. I don’t know how well my kids would handle adding another hour or two of school each day. I know that sounds like an early school day if you are used to public school, but homeschooling gets more done in less hours because we don’t have to switch classes, or wait on other people. So, having them school longer would actually be asking quite a bit more of them school work wise. In theory, it would be ok since they would be getting a full week-day off, but I don’t love this option. Where I am leaning is schooling for 45 weeks instead of 36. 180 days divided by 4 means 45 weeks of school. This is quite a bit longer of a school year, and would essentially put us in a year-round school schedule. I like the idea of this, so does my son, but that would mean we have to start school in the next couple of weeks. No-one likes that idea. However, being done by 2pm means they wouldn’t miss much of the summer anyway. There would still be plenty of time to hang out with friends and play outside. If we do decide on this schedule I really need to get in gear with curriculum ordering. We have enough on hand to start the school year and be fine, but I do have a few things I need to order. Typically the media shipping that curriculum uses takes a while to arrive, so I need to get that done now. Either way, whatever we decide, the school year is a lot closer than I am ready for. Like the kids, I also enjoy summer break. It gives my brain time to relax and get re-motivated for the task ahead. That’s where we are at right now. Still enjoying our time off, but getting ready for what’s ahead, whichever schedule we choose.

What a Week

~ wattlesandcombsfarm ~ Leave a comment

This last week wiped us all out. As I sit here typing this post my 11-year-old, who never takes a rest, is laying down for a nap. Like many people around the country, we got a lot of bad weather last week. For us, it was snow and about four days of constant wind. We have 5ft. tall snow drifts in our backyard and our poor neighbor had her entire garage and front door blocked off. For most of the week, it wasn’t safe to leave our house. The wind caused whiteout conditions and the roads around us shut down due to safety. Because we homeschool this shouldn’t have been a big deal but on top of the bad weather, we also had the crud making the rounds in our house. Tuesday morning my oldest woke up and didn’t feel well and then was down and out for the next 2.5 days. I don’t actually know if he had the flu or just a simple bug, either way, he did not feel well. Of course, as soon as he got over it my youngest came down with the same thing. She always gets it a bit worse and had a high fever for an entire day before it broke. I was hoping to get a good week of school done this week to make up for the last one, but it looks like we are going to need at least another day of rest. Mostly because no one has slept well in days. (I just took a break to go check on my son and turns out he has a fever again. So I guess here we go with round #2.) All of that to say we are once again off schedule for schooling. It’s beginning to look like we may end up needing to take the entire month of December off since Christmas will be here before we know it. Later today I am going to sit down with a yearly calendar and take another look at our homeschool schedule. At the beginning of the year I had planned for us to use a six-week on and one-week off schedule. This means there was plenty of time off worked into the year. We even started a few weeks early to help this schedule work. So, although we are off schedule we are not in any trouble for the school year. This is once again one of the benefits of homeschooling. A typical school year is 180 days of school but I get to decide how and when we use them. We can start early or go year round if we want to as long as we get our days in. It’s nice not having to rush through sick days or push too hard. Even though I don’t want to take this time off, and I feel a little stressed about having too much time off at once, it isn’t a big deal. I am going to use the rest of our sick time, however long that may be, to take care of the kiddos, our home, and rest. At least the weather is better than last week.

Home and Back Again

~ wattlesandcombsfarm ~ Leave a comment

One of the big benefits of homeschooling is the ability to have a flexible schedule. This last week we took some time to travel to Texas and be with my family that I haven’t seen in a few years. It was WAY overdue. Our trip started with a 17-hour drive. On top of the drive, we were pulling our camper which adds a few extra hours to the total drive time. To say we were exhausted is an understatement, but after two days we made it home. Since this would be the only holiday we were home for my mom went ahead and planned Christmas and a birthday party alongside Thanksgiving. We pulled into her driveway and were greeted by a house completely covered in Christmas lights. My mom has always done the holidays big. We spent the next week eating too much food, laughing a ton, and really just soaking in time with family. There really is nothing like time with your family to sort of re-ground you and remind you of who you are. Especially if like me, you don’t live anywhere near them. It felt so good to actually be a part of the family holiday celebrations again. I am so thankful that we didn’t have to rush this trip. Homeschooling allowed us to take our time and just hang out. We didn’t have to be home by a certain time and we ended up staying an extra day because we wanted to. Once we were back in our home our break was extended to give us a few recovery days after another two-day drive to get back home. In total, we took two weeks off school and it is all scheduled in the yearly plan. I love the life that homeschooling allows us to live. We get to do so many amazing things together and we get to do them on our own time. This time it was a trip to Texas. I can’t wait to see what the next adventure will be.