Comments on: A New Year and A Giveaway

By: Valerie Neal

Valerie Neal — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 14:25:51 +0000

We usually slow down in November, doing a fun unit study on Pilgrims, Thankfulness, or just fun. Then in December focus on the Advent season, this year we also did a Live and Learn Folder on A Christmas Carol, then watched the movie.

To get back into the swing of things, we keep an eye on the calendar, and the Friday before getting back on track I start reminding everyone.

As for evaluating, I keep 2 planners, one on paper and one on computer (for year end print out). I keep some pages in my paper panner that are for “notes” and for things I see along the way. Some may call these goal and/or evauation sheets, I just call them notes. I watch along the way for what is working and what is not working, check heart attitudes, and if it is not a heart issue I tweek it imediately so it does not become a heart issue. We changed Math midstream this year, what we were using had worked fine in the past, but my son just became bored and was falling behind. I looked around and found something a little more challenging and “exciting” and went with that.

I am always keeping my eye out for what is out there, and looking for “free” and on sale things to pick up along the way, which works better for us as we cannot afford a big expense once a year. I also have to watch that this does not become to time consuming, as I could spend hours on the computer. We buy some new, some used and have started using ebooks. Yes, ebooks use ink and paper, but you only print out what you need and need less shelf space and can buy ahead when you find a good deal.

Hope I did not go on to long, I have just found that keeping an eye on things as I go takes less time in the long run than spending the summer to evaluate, research, and then scramble.

Valerie Neal

By: Jenni Saake - InfertilityMom

Jenni Saake - InfertilityMom — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 18:46:54 +0000

We school “year round” with a nice long planned break from Thanksgiving through New Years, another couple of weeks around Easter and a few weeks off in the summer. We also have enough flex in the schedule to take occasional long weekends or other random days off for special events, field trips or just family down time.

By: Danica Bailey

Danica Bailey — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 17:57:15 +0000

Experiments! Anytime we take a break I try to use fun things to get us back into the mood. We’re pretty much unschoolers but we do have some formal things we do (math practice, writing practice, spelling) and doing experiments works great for us to get a little formal back into the day.

By: Ann

Ann — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 17:23:07 +0000

We did less in December, and didn’t stick to our schedule much…but now we are back in the swing of things. Having a little trouble transitioning from one activity to another, so have started using games as a reward.

By: Ann

Ann — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 17:20:36 +0000

We didn’t totally give up up schooling for December, but did a lot less. Now that we are back in the swing of things, I feel like I am starting all over, my son fights me every step of the way! My answer to him is: let’s play a game. We are doing our phonics and reading first, then playing word Bingo, and that gets him ready to move on to the next projects. HE doesn’t know that it is still schoolwork! I’m only just in my first year of home schooling, so I’m sure that there are other ways to get kids motivated that I haven’t thought of yet.

By: Nancy

Nancy — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 16:43:44 +0000

We took a two week break in Dec. My dd & I found that it gave us a needed break from “everything” and a time to so enjoy each other & prepare for Christmas. During the break, I took time to set up our New School Plan from Jan to June. I give her a lesson plan one week at a time; but, I do a month up at a time so I am always a little ahead of the game.
Nancy

By: Teresa B.

Teresa B. — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 13:05:59 +0000

We give ourselves a long break, doing very light school in December so we can really celebrate the season without worrying about the other topics. We just started back this week. I have all of the assignments planned/set in the computer, but I assign things only several weeks at a time. I don’t want to fall behind in my lesson plans so this way if we need to go over something again because we didn’t get it or circumstances took us away for a day, we can catch up easier.

My kids seem to do better attitude wise with the structure of a schedule. So after having a month of non-schedule, I think we are all ready to go back to school with little problems.

By: Shelly

Shelly — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 03:25:57 +0000

A child that actually volunteers to get up earlier?! Wow But talking it out with the kids is a good idea. My eldest would certainly have some input. Thanks for your comment!

By: Kristi Flanagan

Kristi Flanagan — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 23:57:22 +0000

One thing I tried this year was to ask my kids what they thought – how was the year, what we should do differently. I actually asked them at the beginning of the school year and again after winter break (yes we took one!). One thing my oldest son (12) and I came up with was for him to get up earlier than his sisters so that we could have total one-on-one time to go over the lesson plans for the day. This has helped tremendously – with my stress level and his feeling like he has my time to ask questions. The other input from the kids is for more art lessons, so I’m working on incorporating that.