Week 9 Plans for Year 7

I wanted to see how things go in this form. I have been winging it the last couple of weeks, and so I thought this might help me see at a glance where we are going.

The first page is for the things we do similarly every day. I don't intend to check everything off every day, because it would be too much, but that gives me a reference.

The second page isn't really Monday through Friday. I just listed all the different things we are doing or trying to do, with spaces for writing in exactly WHAT we are doing.

I put a blank version in doc up. It's just sort of a basic calendar form, really. ... a version of a form a friend showed me that she uses to help her kids get through their daily work.

Weekend Planning Thoughts

I love the idea of Collaborative Units at Monkey Manor. She also calls it the IMIUAWGA (”I Make it Up as We Go Along”) Method.

I guess this is what we do too. I made this form to help me with retrieval. Also, Maureen Wittman offers this Unit Checklist (pdf) (HT: Mary M.) and there is also this KONOS unit planner at Sprittibee's.

I am trying something new -- jotting down notes and links on a google documents page that automatically updates (hopefully). Here are Notes for Year 1. Right now it is a bunch of Waldorf-related links. It somehow occurred to me that some of the Waldorf ideas for bilaterality, like finger-knitting and form drawing would tie into Aidan's occupational therapy goals. And Paddy could probably use the help, too.

And one more thought -- all the Waldorf reading reminded me of how much I like beautiful things. If I had my dream homeschool, it would combine simplicity and order with beauty -- small order, right? Anyway, I want to ponder the thought that teaching is first of all an art, and the days when things go best are the days I try to "encounter" my kids (to use an embarrasingly over-employed quasi-religious term) rather than either back off totally or jump in totally. I think that is what I get from that "collaborative" term, which I've also seen compared in attachment parenting literature to a kind of "dance". With dancing, even missteps can be OK and relationship-building.

Day 34

Morning Time

• 3 chapters of The Blood Red Gauntlet (which is a book about Lepanto)
• Charles V -- from Christ the King

Studies:

• Math -- worked for a long time on Angles and have basically finished Unit V from MEP. Lots of progress on this! he has learned a lot of the things that Sean only learned this year.
• Latin -- 2 exercises -- 1 translation and one changing singular to plural in the 3rd declension.
• Greek -- just a couple of Scripture clozes.
• Religion -- more of Chapter 4 in Creed in Slow Motion.
• Science Q&A on matter, atoms, etc. He did well.
  

On His Own:

• Fra Fillipo Lippi from Knights of Art
• I have given him The Dark is Rising by Susan Cooper.

Summary for Week

I'm reconstructing since I missed logging Thursday for some reason. Wednesday was a Not-Day because we had to go into town for Aidan's regular labs, and then run errands and shop while we were there.

Anyway, the details of yesterday seem to be lost in the mists of time already, so I will just have to say that we did do some studying.... though I don't remember precisely what. But that was Day 33.

In general, this academic week was quite spotty and minimal. We haven't really gotten back our momentum since coming back from our travels around the turn of the month. After doing this logging thing for several years I am aware that we always have a slump in October. Reassuring -- I guess! Basically, my attention span lasts for just about six weeks and then I'm thoroughly bored with the whole thing and ready to throw it all in and change to a new method. If I just live with that and put in a bit of variety I can usually get back on track before too long. That is why I like an Ambleside-type focus with a LOT of subjects and books, so I can pull in some of the neglected ones to help with my boredom problem.

So that wraps up Week 8. I'm still averaging BARELY more than 4 days a week.

Day 32

Morning Time:

2 chapters of The Blood Red Gauntlet
a couple more sections on John Calvin and the effects of the Reformation, from Christ the King

Together:

Math -- on angles and geography
Greek -- a bit of vocabulary -- he did great.
Latin -- an exercise on Verum aut Falsum
Logic -- Square of Opposition

Kieron's Independent:

Math -- measuring angles with protractor
The Boy Scientist -- start chapter 2 on Galileo
Book of Discovery -- Science in Ancient Greece

Paddy

Math -- counting by tens, some adding -- about 4 pages of his book
Reading -- another section of the LMR Primer
Catholic National Reader -- Primer -- lesson IV

Aidan

Matching numbers to squares
Finding numbers in a hundreds' square
counting objects (up to 41, with a little help!)

Day 31

A quick update -- today I was quite sick but luckily it was our minimal day. I had to cancel Aidan's OT, though.

Morning Time

I finished reading the tale of The Tempest --- Kieron was disappointed that Caliban didn't really come into it after the beginning ;-). We read 2 more chapters of The Shakespeare Stealer.

Then we looked at and discussed a map of the division of Europe after the Reformation. (from Historical Atlas of the World)

Other bits and pieces

Kieron did Math on Thatquiz. -- finding perimeter and area.

He read more of The Jungle Book. That wrapped up the academic day.

Not much done with the little ones. Aidan has been into spelling words with his magnets on the refrigerator. He has quite a collection on the fridge door. .... van, bus, cat, dog, etc. He also surprised me by picking out the word "book" from a page the other day.

I read to Paddy a bit and asked him a few math problems from Ray's Primary Arithmetic, but mostly I just slept.

BBQ'd ham sandwiches on toasted hoagies for dinner, grated cheese and pickles and onions on the side, along with fries, and sliced apples. And storebought cinnamon rolls for dessert -- courtesy of Grandma who brought them by last week. So a sort of processed, diner type meal but our freezer is a bit bare and I didn't feel up to anything "real".

Domestic Culture

Remember my category called "Localitas"? I thought I needed a category to put all the mundane, local, community, and well, DOMESTIC little goals, habits, or ideas that fly into my mind occasionally but fly back out without a net to put them in. Another name above: Domestic Culture. It might sound a little less pretentious and abstruse than Localitas.

(The picture is of the shells Kieron got to collect on the beach when we were up in Oregon last week)

I lost the document where I was writing these categories so I think there are some missing, but here are the ones I can remember. There is plenty of overlap among these but this is to help me remember and brainstorm:

• Liturgical Year/Church Activities -- activities related to the liturgical season, things going on in our church, family and family devotions and sacraments.
• Calendar -- following the secular seasonal cycle -- a place for things like that "Fire Awareness Week", "Novel in a Month", and that type of thing.
• Field Trips/Local Events -- the type of thing that's announced in our local newspaper.
• Personal Knowledge -- things like address, tying shoes, mundane things.
• Habits -- Character as expressed through action.
• Life Skills -- knowing how to do various things.
• Nature Study -- pretty obvious -- our ventures into our local area.
• Local Geography -- same as above, with hands-on geography component.
• Community Opportunities & History -- sort of like "community events" but less temporal -- more about the long-standing unique fixtures in our local area, and the lore and culture.
• Family and Friends -- pretty obvious -- letters to grandma, playdates, etc.
• Family Heritage -- our history, our "lore", all the family tales that come up in conversation.
• Household Chores & Doings -- our regular jobs around the house, and seasonal work as well.
• Physical Therapy -- this counts physical exercise for the healthy ones in the house.
• Handicrafts -- obvious -- teaching things like knitting, sewing, woodworking etc.
• Vocational Abilities -- about the transition process -- never too early to start thinking about that.

I am going to develop a list of books and websites to help me decide on what's important. For example, I found a very inexpensive book on Do It Yourself that is a book form of "E-How" (which is also often very useful for me). This may seem unnecessarily complicated, but this mom didn't teach her first three children to tie their shoes. They picked it up on their own and then taught their little siblings. Of course, this is OK some of the time, but I'd still like to be a little more... .intentional.

A lot of this type of thing can be incorporated into Morning Time (an idea which I find SO useful) and carried out informally during the day.

How to Plan for Domestic Culture:

Right now I'm simply keeping a running list, which goes somewhat like this-- I can add things as I see the need:

Put shoes away in consistent place

Bathroom hygiene

Appointments for dentist

Write to grandma and grandpa

Stack firewood

Make map of neighborhood -- put natural features in it with key.

Fire awareness.... find out what they already know.

Read about bats.

Start thinking about costumes for Halloween.

Apple Orchard -- visit?

Visit Pumpkin Patch -- with homeschool group.

Pray for our priest.

Make a seasonal display for our table -- get the kids to help.

and so on -- you see how it goes.

Plans for Week 8 -- Year 7

This week I'm going to try something different.... putting my plans on here so that at the end of the week I can just sum up what we did and what we didn't do, and what my plan adjustments are.

Math:

We are up to Unit 5 at MEP Year 7. It is about Angles (pdf). The pdf link takes you to the Teaching Notes on the unit, which I have been liking. They give some background history on the topic in question, which makes it at least theoretically possible for me to hook it into our history.

So far, this seems so easy for Kieron that I have been wondering if Year 7 in the UK is comparable to Grade 6 in the US. Does Year 1 begin in Kindergarten? If you know, please comment; I won't be too tragic, because I did feel that Kieron needed some solid review this year and also a more "humane" math that was more exploratory and less "complete these 25 problems".

Preparation: Print out the workbook pages, look over them. Look over the teacher's note.
Extensions, Supplements:
Drills at thatquiz.org (review of decimals, graphs, algebraic equations -- practice on angles)

Latin:

We are progressing through the second unit in Latin is Fun. There is some more on third-declension grammar, and then a series of exercises. At the rate we are going it looks like we shall be at the end of Unit II in 2 more weeks. At the end is a sort of cartoon dialogue, which looks like it will be fun for Kieron.

Preparation: Write out a chart for nominative and accusative singular and plural, for the first, second and third declensions. (or have Kieron do it).

Logic

(Introductory Logic) Lesson Eight -Nine -- square of opposition.
So far Kieron hasn't had any trouble grasping any of these lessons. We only do it once or twice a week, which makes it easy, and start every lesson (well, almost every) by reviewing the last lesson. I shall have to think of ways to apply it sometime. ...in composition, perhaps??

Possible Extension:
He has expressed interest in those verbal logic puzzles you can find from different sources, where you have to put possibilities into a chart to exclude them, etc. So if I can find some of those, it would be a nice change of pace. Note to self: Look in closet, and online. Also look at Building Thinking SKills for figural puzzles.

Composition:

Copywork -- choose from things that come up -- poetry, perhaps.
Try the short-answer narration intensive I did with Sean... type out some questions for Book of Discovery, OR use the Chemistry book or Core Knowledge 5.
OR do review from last week.

Here are the plans for Week 8 (pdf) of history integrated with science, literature etc (see the gifs on the left)

Pantry Checklist

After this, I will have only one inside section left to write out -- the entrance area. Then the other jobs in the rotation are outside jobs, which change a bit seasonally -- for example, right now we'll be winterizing everything. I might have to figure out a different way to list those.

Kitchen Checklist #2

This is the second part of the kitchen jobs. I thought that by dividing them up into sections I would find it easier to focus on an area per day.

Kitchen Checklist #1

Our kitchen is big, so I divided it up into two parts. My plan is to attack it daily -- rather than just do it as part of my rotation as I originally planned. I have some extra time in the morning when I'm seeing Sean off.

Day 30

Morning Time

• Chapter of The Blood Red Gauntlet
• Another section of The Tempest

(littlies were restless)

Year 7 (Kieron)

• Latin, page 30-31 -- grammar (third declension accusative) and more vocabulary matches.
• Greek -- review of vocabulary
• Math -- lesson 4.2 -- dealing with money -- we did this as mental math.
• Oral quiz on science concepts and vocabulary --- matter, elements, atoms, etc.
• Free Reading: Starting The Jungle Book.

Year 1a (Paddy)

• reading/religion: (we are working slowly through the Living My Religion primer) -- pages 16-17
• Word Mastery -- "silent E", and some review drill on phonics.
• Math -- plus-2s. He knows them pretty well and can do them in his head.

Day 30 -- Conference

The problem for me with lesson plans and resource lists is that they shut me down. Just looking through a booklist or list of activities or even a narrative-type plan is overwhelming. The best tip I ever got about coping with this was by Wendi Capehart somewhere on the Ambleside Online site. She said that she ALWAYS writes her own lesson plans and page breakdowns, even if she is basically just rewriting what she got somewhere else. When I read that, I realized that there is something about the kinesthetic element in writing things out that helped me during college days with studying, and helps me now in sorting through what I really think is doable, vs what is just discouraging or what I can't get into.

Anyway, that's off the point, except that I am calling this the second "Conference" day. I will have Kieron do math and maybe Latin, but right now here is where it stands:

Morning Time:

• Several more chapters of Despereaux.
• Several chapters of the Shakespeare Stealer
• Another section of Lamb's Tempest.
• Another section of Christ the King, Lord of History (about Martin Luther) -- read and discussed.

Aidan

• Invented a study method for himself. His V Tech phonics board has a "word-making" game. You can put in any three letters. I was trying to get him to do his Handwriting without Tears book and then he started typing the words from the HWT page into the phonics board. He did this for quite a while.
• Some oral math. I tried to get across the concept of "adding zero". Limited success.
• Now he's asleep. He has that cold.

Paddy and Kieron

• Playing with Bionicles right now, so I'm not interrupting them.
• Kieron made cookies
  

Sean

• ...gets to come home at four again.

Off now to write a weekly report. It will look thin this week except for reading, but hopefully back up to speed next week.

Jacob's Algebra Lesson Plans

While I was looking for something else, I found these lesson plans for Jacob's Algebra integrated with history, at Living Math. Nice!

While I'm thinking about it, I had this basic page breakdown of Jacob's Algebra from last year when Sean used it.

Day 29 -- Conference Day

Inservice Day

I am "counting" this day, but it will be an unschooly day for sure. For evidence, I will cite the fact that my 9 year old is asleep (we all have colds) and my 12 year old and 5 year old are making a huge tent -- the kind that looks like the cobwebs on our ceiling rafters, only traversing half our loft. Oops, the 9 year old woke up!

I read several chapters of The Tale of Despereaux to Paddy this morning, at his request. His aunt was reading it to him when we were at Oregon. Since I am starting in the middle, I asked him about the story a little, and it appears he can comprehend enough of the nice, old-fashioned language to grasp the plot line, at least.

He also read me the bookmark : ). Gee, he can really read. Also, I forgot to mention that a few days ago while I was napping he was reading to me from Tintin. When he got to the long parts he would say "blah -blah-blah" : D.

Then he did about ten pages of his first grade math workbook, and about 4 pages of his MCP PHonics B. Orally, not in writing. I didn't tell him to do all that. I usually ask him to do one or two, but once he's on a roll.....

And now Kieron is making him do little odd jobs for "fake money" to get into the tent. Though this type of situation is potentially volatile, they seem to be enjoying it so far. It's just that I have to think of the jobs, which makes it difficult to focus on writing ;-). Could be worse, I suppose.

So in general, Paddy had a pretty full first grade day.

Kieron finished reading The Gauntlet which I gave him yesterday.

General Life Log:

• We were busy yesterday, since Clare had an orthodontist appointment in town 60 miles away. While we were in town we did some shopping, and then Sean had a doctor's appointment after his football practice. We stopped by his school and hung around until practice was over. The doctor looked at his knee and thought it was all right. I let Sean do most of the talking.
• At night Sean got bogged down with his geometry homework. He was tired and so was I. I could NOT figure out how you were supposed to calculate parallel and perpendicular lines from an equation. Finally I got it, and explained it to him so that he semi-got it. Then I dreamed about them all night. I doubt if Sean did, though.

Sean's high school is having short days for the next couple of days, for parent/teacher conferences. I may just call today something similar (a conference for me and myself, LOL) and
devote some focused time for restart. Since we got back I've been having trouble refocusing, so some planning and brainstorming time might help. It's nice outside, so maybe we will do some nature type things.

The Bookworm linked in Outdoor Hour to this Handbook of Nature Study blog by Harmony Art Mom. Also, while I'm talking about "subject blogs" or "teaching blogs", I put some on my sidebar this weekend. And my friend at Our Hearts Haven told me about this Homeschooling Thespian blog which doesn't seem very active right now, but looks like a good resource. There are some links on the sidebar which would be fun to explore.

The kids have added a flashlight to the tent-world experience.

I am going to try to read to Kieron later. I want to find out what happens with the Lepanto book. I love fall, and crackling fires, and adventure stories.

So, the agenda, should we get to it:

• Afternoon Time (slacker substitute for Morning Time)
• Outdoor Hour
• Some baking?
• Planning Time (I want to look for coloring books for the children -- maybe print out and organize some of those October ideas)

Gathering for October

A little late in thinking about October -- we were travelling as the month changed, so I didn't have time to prepare much. But I found out this month that if you google "October Themes" you can come up with quite a bit of "teacher-y" stuff like these at:

• Education Place
• ABC-Teach
• Ed-Helper
• AtoZ Teacher Stuff
• Enchanted Learning

There are a whole bunch of October links at Mrs Jackson's page, some resources here, and Preschool October Themes here.

• October Poetry and Lore at this site.
• The October 2008 issue of Sparrow Tree Square is out.

Last but not least, the Catholic Culture Liturgical Year overview for October.

While looking for other things, I found this Our Elementary Homeschool Blog. There are links to a Preschool Blog, and a High School Blog. Wow, I like the way this blogger organizes!

Day 28

Morning Time:

• Read chapter 3 of the Blood Red Crescent (in honor of the anniversary of Lepanto).
• Read Creed in Slow Motion, first part of chapter 4 -- "Maker of Heaven and Earth")

Both the little ones were there and listening.

Kieron

• Logic, lesson 7 -- about categorical statements and how to make them. Did exercise.
• Latin, beginning of Unit II on family -- read the Latin passage and translated.
• Math -- a review of graphing, and some work on reducing fractions
• Maps, Charts and Graphs -- lesson 4, on Map Keys
• Bible History -- review of Cain and Abel, started reading about Noe.
• Usborne Book of Discovery, read page 56 on Early Science
• Chemistry unit -- from old science worktext, read pages 3-4, discussed solids/liquids/gases.

So all this only took about an hour and a half. My unschooling side is happy, but my classical side wonders what's up with that. Is this is a superficial education??

He finished Edmund Campion yesterday, read Cure d'Ars to the end and started reading St Dominic and the Rosary.

Paddy

• An online addition game.

Aidan

• A bit of phonics drill.
• Part of a read-aloud, The Pancake.
  

Day 27

Light day today, getting back into things after our trip.

Morning Time

• Chapter 1 of Shakespeare Stealer
• first bit of The Tempest (from the Lambs' Tales of Shakespeare)
• A bit of Christ the King, Lord of History, on the Renaissance.
• discussion (from questions he asked) about papacy, Spanish Inquisition, and the differences between Protestants and Catholics.

Kieron

• Copywork ("full fathom five my father lies... etc" -- he had to transcribe my cursive -- none of my children know how to read cursive so I thought I'd start teaching that)
• Thatquiz.org -- 20 simple algebra questions -- he did great.
• Read St Edmund Campion
• Started reading The Cure D'Ars
• Started reading The Gauntlet -- not exactly his time period but simple enough reading level so that if he doesn't read it this year it will probably be too young for him.

Afternoon

• Trip to Library and market -- Kieron life skill practice in buying things there for me.
• Kieron made cupcakes.... late birthday for me I guess ;-).
• Clare is watching War and Peace after reading the book last month.
• Weekly housekeeping chore rotation.
  

Other miscellaneous life events:

• Kevin and Brendan went to the Patriots/49ers game on Sunday, in SF.
• Sean won as JV qb on Friday, score 28-14 against Dos Palos, team at 2-2 presently.
• Clare had her second bout of SATs on Saturday. Like a disease!

Notes:

• I'm going to try breaking up the log more like I did above. Aidan and Paddy are usually around during Morning Time as passive recipients, though I direct it mostly to Kieron's level. Our afternoons are usually more free-floating, as described.
• Aidan and Paddy didn't really have formal academics, though Paddy has been reading a bit on his own and Aidan made shape cookies with playdough and played with duplos and with his phonics board.

A few handwriting --OT links

A page with handwriting resources: Teaching Your Child to Write
Hand Strengthening Exercises.

Also, here is a set of occupational therapy resources called Write it Down (pdf). I printed them out quite a while ago so I'm setting the link here in case I need it again.

Day 26

We are back from our vacation, and I am going to count this day as Day 26 even though we didn't really do anything formal. Kieron did/is going to do some division problems, and Paddy read to me a bit.

Kieron read some books while on the trip:

• A Murder for Her Majesty
• The Green Knowe series (four of them, anyway).
• The Indian in the Cupboard

Paddy listened to part of Tale of Despereaux (his aunt read to him)

They got to explore and play on the beach, and Kieron started a shell collection.

Also, lots of various kinds of socialization and outdoors time.

So next week we'll continue with Week 7!