Wednesday, April 30, 2008

Report from the Trenches.....

My goodness, if I have any faithful readers on this blog you surely must wonder what happened to us! We have been so busy, and it's the kind of busy-ness that you look back and wonder what is it exactly that you've been doing! LOL! (though to name a few: doctors appts. for my sick baby, practicing and playing for a wedding on 24 hrs notice, cooking meals for a pregnant friend on bedrest, etc. etc. etc.)

School has been somewhat of hit and miss for a couple of weeks. School in the sense of sit-down and complete paperwork, etc. I try to always be teaching the children no matter what we're doing or what is going on. There are so many lessons to be learned in everyday life, both of the academic and non-academic nature.

However, consistency with the "pencil and paper" is important too. That builds on everything you're hoping to accomplish. So we are putting our noses back to the books with a vengeance between now and our much anticipated vacation....4 weeks, 6 days away! YAY!

I think I've mentioned before about considering a year-round schooling schedule. I'm intrigued by it because I know that after 2-3 months of no schooling at all, you spend the first portion of the year in so much review. I would like to keep the momentum of learning rolling full speed. I'm still looking for the best way to accomplish this. There are several ways people do it. One system I know of is to consistently do 4 weeks on, 1 week off throughout the year, except for a longer break at Christmas, of course. The other system takes shorter breaks for Spring and Christmas and instead of taking 3 months for summer, only take the month of July for example. Of course, the ultimate beauty in it, is that when you're homeschooling you can adjust any schedule to fit your own needs. I do think it's nice to approach it with some semblance of order, though. Just makes you feel more prepared, and if you have to change something you can.

If any of my readers are more familiar with the year round scheduling, please share your thoughts and experiences with me! And what do you think of the schedules I've mentioned??

Blessings on the remainder of your week. I plan to get back to my weekly reports now that we're cookin' again! :O)

7 Words of Wisdom:

a tom said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
a tom said...

(sorry, don't know how I deleted my first post)
Well, I just wanted to say that I enjoyed reading through your blogs and was excited to see your homeschool one. Wes and I have been thinking about homeschooling our children and I look forward to reading your updates.
Adela(Kready)Campbell

Kim M. said...

I like the idea of "year round school". I know that my kids are always ready about a month before school starts. And I am always ready for that structure. I am sure the same goes for home-school. Thank you for the comment on my blog about the nature journal. I have been thinking along those lines. I read an idea somewhere about doing a Creation Notebook/Journal. I thought that was a good idea.

Julia said...

I was just thinking, "why are we doing school in the Spring when we are all longing to be outside and then not schooling in the Summer when it's too miserable to be outside all day? So we've not been so intense this Spring and just plan on finishing up through the Summer. We will probably do reading and history through Summer since we "finished" Math and Science. This keeps us sharp, but still gives us a break. I do like the sound of your 4 weeks on 1 week off idea, if you try that let me know how you like it.

Kim M. said...

Hey... a question. Have you any experience with KONOS curriculum? I'm looking into it and I'm just not sure yet.
mjkmatlock@yahoo.com

Tara said...

Kim,
I'll email you!

Kim M. said...

Thanks! :-)