restructure

So we learned in 2013 that the free-for-all of unschooling doesn't really work for us. At least at this phase of our educations - the very, very beginning - we need some structure. So I went back to the first homeschooling book I ever read, The Well-Trained Mind. We aren't nearly so strict as that book outlines (6 hours per day starting at age 6 - that's a bit much) but we're following the general principles from the book.

We have a section of our family room separated from all the toys that has been designated our school area. Here we are, complete with Valentine envelopes already hung up on the edge of the lower shelf:

The table has random toys and craft supplies in the picture. The usual centerpiece is a little wood box (thank you Home Depot Kid Workshop) with mini markers in it. They are the preferred writing utensil. The upper shelf has all of the things that is less frequently used - the extra blank paper, empty notebooks, blank folders, etc. The lower shelf holds the books that are in regular rotation or that the kids can read whenever they want, the scissors and glue sticks, and more markers. On the wall at the left, there are 2 corkboards - they are rapidly filling up with random drawings. Also on the wall, we have a number line, the schedule, and work checklists for Sunny and Posy. All of them are laminated so they can be written on with dry erase markers. I don't know if you can tell well, but below the shelves, AC put up some hooks for their backpacks. The door to the right goes into the storage room. The toys and playroom are directly behind the camera. It's a cozy little spot and I like that we have a place in our house specifically set apart for school. Sometimes we do our work in other parts of the house, and when the weather is warm, we'll do a lot outside. But still - we have a SCHOOL AREA. I think we needed that.

We were going to have our first day of school on January 2, but - of course! - half the kids were sick with ear infections and strep. Sigh. (It's been a rough winter for people being sick.) So I used it for more prep time and we started on Monday, January 6.

The first guideline for our school day is that we start immediately after breakfast. It doesn't matter if breakfast is at 8:00 or 10:00 - we start as soon as we're done eating. I'm shooting to have breakfast at 9 and start school no later than 10, but either way, it's flexible. Then we head downstairs to the school table.

1. We start with an opening. We pray, recite the Pledge of Allegiance, and work on memorizing a verse of scripture.

2. Language: Sunny and Posy are doing grammar, spelling lists, and handwriting practice sheets. Birdie and Magnolia, who are 3 and 2, get the handwriting practice sheets as well - they think they're the neatest thing EVER! I print them from First-School.

Grammar is from an online free PDF at Scott Forsman Reading - we're starting with Grade 1 and will go right on through it until we finish. What I like about it is that each grammar lesson is immediately followed with a writing segment - put to use what you just learned so it's not some abstract concept. Sunny isn't so keen on the writing part but we're plowing through it.

I pulled the spelling lists of about 10 words each out of the book, The Ordinary Parent's Guide to Teaching Reading. The word lists in the book are organized phonetically or teaching a general principle with word families and I just copied them. We take 4 days on each list - the first day, we talk about what the words in the list have in common. 2 - I give them fill in the blank sentences that I type up and print off the computer. 3 - There's a word game of some kind. 4 - the final quiz to make sure they know the words.

All of this is done at the table, then over to the couch for ...

3. Reading: I read books out loud to Birdie and Magnolia. When Sunny and Posy were their ages, I did a 1000 Book Challenge. I was tired of reading the same books over and over, so I decided to read them 1000 different books. Repeats of the same book didn't count. It took about a year and a half, but we did it. Now I'm starting the same thing with Birdie and Magnolia. Posy usually listens, and I have her read a few things out loud herself. She can read fine, but needs work on her verbal presentation of a book. Sunny is on her own with her reading - she's been getting Nancy Drew books from the library by the stack, and knocking them out pretty fast. She's also been reading the Wizard of Oz series for the 3rd or 4th time in the past 6 months. I should probably have her do some kind of weekly reading review and figure out some reading comprehension strategies but I haven't gotten that far yet. She can spit back the plot and explain it, and she asks what words mean that she doesn't understand. Am I missing anything from 2nd grade reading comprehension?

4. Break! And snack. We like snacks.

5. History: We started with chapter 1 of Story of the World Book 1: Ancient Times. I read the chapter out loud and we talk about it. I made a worksheet so they can write their chapter summary sentences for the review and any notes about supplemental reading, and another worksheet to describe activities that go with each chapter. We have the activity book accompaniment, so they also do a map and coloring page with each chapter. So far, Sunny is paying a lot more attention to this than Posy is.

6. Science: We're doing gardening this year as our theme. I found some books and a website to pull reading and activities from:

The Book of Gardening Projects for Kids - this isn't necessarily a book to sit down and read with a child, but it certainly has a lot of activities to do! I first found this at the library, and am buying it. This is the main core of my science "curriculum" for the year.
The Little Gardeners Guide - this is a very small book, but Posy loves it and has darn near destroyed it from looking at it so much (and sleeping with it). It's written for a child's level.
The Dirt on Dirt - the title makes me laugh. It's actually pretty informative! It's not just about gardening, so it's a little bit of a tangent. But we garden in the dirt, so I added it to the reading list.
24/7 Science - Where do plants grow? - this website is from the University of California, and in just the plants section, there are 360 different activities to do. Fabulous.

Obviously, gardening will be done outside as soon as the snow melts. In the meantime, we're doing little experiments with trying to grow sprouts on the windowsill (so far, that has bombed), we're looking up information in books and online to answer general questions (how many varieties of tomatoes are there, anyway?), and plotting our garden on paper so we have our plan when it's time to put seeds in the ground. We'll get seeds to start indoors with heat lamps in March. In our region of the world, seeds don't go into the ground until the end of April, so you don't start planting anything at all for your starts until at least March.

Now that I've looked at this overall schedule more thoroughly and put it into practice for a couple of weeks, I can already tell that science will need to move to the end of the school day once we take it outside. When my kids get out into the yard, there's no getting them back indoors for love or money until they've had their fill of sunshine and fresh air and dirt. So we'll go out to work in the garden, and turn them loose from there.

7. Art: I have lofty goals of learning about artists and composers. My kids want to color in coloring books, and draw their own pictures on the backs of their spelling list worksheets. So that's art so far. One of these days, maybe I can find a super-basic biography of someone at the library and sneak it into reading time.

8. Another break! This was originally our first/only break in the schedule. One day taught me the folly of that. Sometimes this is lunchtime.

9. Math: All of our other work can be done downstairs at the table, or really anywhere in the house. Math is on the computer at ixl.com, and right now, the computer goes last. As soon as I sit down at the desk, I have any number of kids climbing all over my back - "can I play computer games now?!" No. So we do math last and if they've done well with the day, they can go straight into computer games for a little while. (Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and Dora the Explorer are popular right now.) I don't have to pry them screaming from the computer to go do any other schoolwork. I hate that so I arranged it so I don't have to.

And that is our day. Kind of. That's the TARGET. If we started around 9 am and stayed on task, we could probably finish by noon. It's that whole "staying on task" thing that is the challenge. I'm trying to think if we've ever had a day when we've done every single thing on the list, and maybe a couple. As long as we do our beginning and end, the middle block (history, science, art) is more flexible.

We are going to do 2 co-ops this semester - Manchester on Mondays and Columbia on Tuesdays. Middletown wasn't quite the fit I wanted, so we're going to give Columbia a shot. The co-ops don't start until March, and I haven't seen the class schedules yet. I'm hoping for interactive, non traditional classes for them - I think the girls would get a lot out of them.