This year went about as smoothly as a year with a baby born smack in the middle of it could go. We started right after July 4th and finished at the beginning of April, with short breaks for Justin's birth, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Lent/Holy Week.
I know I shared all about our schedule for this year back in the fall, but I thought I'd update a bit about how it actually worked in practice...
As a reminder, this is what our ideal-day plan looked like this year:
Our days ran rather smoothly on these "rails." We certainly did not hold to this schedule every day! But the structure was there when we needed it.
Some things shifted around a bit by the end of the year, even for our ideal days. For example, the Latin and Italian in that "Work with Big Kids" block became independent work after Justin was born. Also, I started having the kids stay outside until 11:30, which means that the Bathrooms + Floors chore time got switched to the pre-dinner hour most days. I didn't do math with Cate daily--that pre-breakfast time slot is just itching to be used (my toddler sleeps in and littles are busy coloring usually), but I just can't seem to get going right out of the gate like that. I'd much rather catch up online or read while I drink an extra cup of coffee. That was definitely a discipline issue on my part! Luckily, we school math year-round, so Cate will have plenty of math time with me in the summer. Little things like these always creep up as we work through the year, but I just adjust and keep moving along.
The biggest benefit to having a schedule like this is the knowledge that if I
do need to make sure we stay carefully on task in a given day, I can follow this schedule and everything will get done. With a big family, it's valuable to know that there are indeed enough hours in the day for the items you are asking your children (and yourself!) to do. Beyond that, there is plenty of room for flexibility within that routine.
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As far as curriculum, we didn't adjust much at all. (Here were my plans for
Year 4 and for
Year 1.) We completed all of the readings we set out to cover in the fall, and we made satisfactory progress in our skill-based subjects. We switched out a couple of the memory work selections, and we did not get to all my handicraft plans. I did change one thing for the Big Kids: I added in Winston Grammar, one lesson per week, for Term 2 and 3, and we are liking it a lot. We then apply the concepts used to our dictation passage for the week and are finding it to be a nice combination.
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I promised to share how our Keeping went this year...
My Year 1 student kept a map for
Paddle to the Sea. (She chose the colors. ;))
She also started a simple timeline like my Big Kids have.
My Big Kids did quite a bit of Keeping for history and geography this year:
They so enjoyed working on these century charts. We will definitely be doing this again next year for the 19th century! I love how they each made different inclusions and presenting the people/events in different ways.
We read a California geography book this year,
The Cruise of the Arctic Star, as well as a biography of Fr. Junipero Serra in Term 2. They tracked the information from both of those readings on these blank watercolor maps they made at the beginning of the year.
They also kept maps for
Minn of the Mississippi and our Revolutionary War history readings. These should look very similar to the maps they used during Term 3 exams.
And they requested to start a Reading Log, so I printed out a simple form for them to use. Here's an example from my book-loving daughter:
I'm preparing a Reading Log they can keep in a notebook for next year, but this was a nice start to the practice.
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My Year 4 students have been doing one written narration a week this year. During our "babymoon," I increased it to two written narrations a week to lighten my load a little: one on Fabre's
Storybook of Science and one on a book of choice. (I have very chatty narrators, so it takes me far less time to read a narration and discuss it with them than it does to listen to their oral versions!) I also mentioned that rather than just a straightforward prose narration, as they had been doing, they could also choose to let their narration take a more creative form (a poem, a play, an illustrated paragraph, and so on).
In Term 3, Gianna continued with two written narrations by choice and really let her dramatic-poetic side come out. Writing is an activity she truly loves, and I wanted to share a few of my particular favorites. (If you're interested in reading some of her work, click to enlarge.)
As you will notice, most of her creative narrations are humorous too, with lots of inside jokes with me. (Like those morals! LOL) I had no idea that we would bond over her writing, but it has been so fun! She leaves her narration on my desk and then giggles until I read it. ;) I share these because I really feel like this is where personality can develop in a writer when one doesn't force them into a composition "formula."
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So the year ended, and we celebrated with a teatime treat and, naturally, books! I make a habit of putting aside used books I pick up that somehow connect to this term's readings. It's a lot of fun to come across books on similar topics (the kind that in another style of learning, I might pull as part of my kids' lessons and overload the schedule!) to add to an end-of-the-year celebration package. And bonus: my kids get to read a bit more about the topics that interested them from our school year during their free time.
The Life of Buffalo Bill (a vintage comic book version of his biography)
A First Book of Brahms (easy arrangements for my younger kids)
Brenner's The Boy Who Loved To Draw (a picture book about Benjamin West)
Edmonds' Drums Along the Mohawk (historical fiction set in the Revolutionary Era for
me -- NOT for the kids)
Schneider's Rocks, Rivers, and the Changing Earth (a tie-in with
Madam How and Lady Why)
Farjeon's Kings and Queens (couldn't resist after getting her
Heroes and Heroines for Christmas)
Coatsworth's The Fair American (Bethlehem Books reprinted this historical fiction book that fits nicely into Y4 studies--it's part of a series)
a vintage edition of
Robinson Crusoe (abridged, but I thought they'd enjoy looking at these very different and very fun illustrations now that they have read it)
Y
olen's Apple for the Teacher (another songbook)
Paul Revere's Ride (illustrated by Paul Galdone -- we already have the one illustrated by Ted Rand)
Leeming's Fun With Paper (they're very into origami right now, so I know this sloyd book will be a hit!)
If you're wanting to homeschool using AmblesideOnline but worried that your kids won't connect with one another if they're not all studying the same period in history: don't be! Even though I grabbed Buffalo Bill with Cate (my Year 1 student) in mind, the kids agreed that it rightfully belongs to everyone since they all loved listening in. On the other hand, Xavier and Cate were riveted by Paul Revere's Ride (a Year 4 poetry selection). Thanks to
Madam How and Lady Why, we have been making comments about landforms as we drive along all year--so much so that even though earth science is scheduled for Year 4, Cate wants Vincent to read her
Rocks, Rivers, and the Changing Earth because she thinks it will have "more about earthquakes and volcanoes and mountains and stuff." (It does, and it was a wonderful recommendation from one of my Mater Amabilis friends.) And
Kings and Queens--well,
that is certainly for everyone! Gianna has been reading relevant bits from each person's year to entertain us all. Brahms was a family subject, as were the folk songs that inspired
Apple for the Teacher. And Xavier grabbed up
Fun with Paper, which I intended for my Big Kids, and is attempting to decipher instructions despite not being able to read all that well! There is so much combined learning going on around here despite each student having his own "year."
Last but not least, we also took a trip to the theater for a performance of
The Winter's Tale to celebrate.
Shakespeare is probably my kids' favorite reading, and Gianna in particular memorizes lots and lots of lines for fun and is dying to act. Thanks to
Amber's recent posts on her Shakespeare club, I'm starting on a plan for fulfilling that need!
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We have about two months of vacation left before we start back up in July. In the meantime, I've got Year 5, Year 2, and another round of Year 1 to plan! We also do a light summer session, so we've still got a Morning Basket going and some short daily tasks. More about those another time.
So are you almost finished up with the school year? Any special ways to finish off the last term?
