New Resolve and a New Timetable

Well, we're back to 'school' with a vengeance. As Henrietta pointed out in the previous post, we aren't under any obligation to keep to school terms. But we had Dad on a two week holiday, so there was no way we were going to 'do school'. (We actually tend to keep to other terms, more or less, because of cousins being off school, swimming classes working in with school terms etc)


Anyway, while we were on holiday over the past week or two, the girls and I spoke quite a bit about things that were working and things that weren't.


We have now devised a fairly rigid timetable, and have decided to maintain it as much as is possible. It's quite a tight schedule, but we're going to stick with it for the first three weeks of term anyway and then we'll review it. The first couple of days back after a relaxing holiday can be a bit of a struggle anyway, but at this time of year - with dark mornings that cry out to you me that bed is the logical place to be - it can be rather painful! However, so far, so good.

After three weeks, we're going to review it. If the schedule has been too tight, we will take some days at the beginning of February to catch up. If needs be, we'll tweak the timetable and give a little more breathing space within it. I have suggested slaving for three 'hard working weeks' and then having one week of catch-up (and catching our breath!) each month.

Have any of you worked to this kind of schedule? If our initial three weeks prove do-able (just!), we may have a three-week month and play catch-up for the fourth week. We'll see.

The Wee Guy is lower primary level. His timetable has Maths and Language every day. We use Abeka for each of these subjects. As well as his daily diet of these subjects, I add a weekly (sometimes twice a week) spelling test (often done on the whiteboard, because he enjoys this so much more!) and a written piece of work. The subject varies week on week. A few weeks ago, we'd read the tale of Androclus and the Lion. So, Calum's writing for that week was a story of a dog coming to the rescue of a boy who'd fallen out on the moor (his choice).


He does memory work too. We learn Scriptures (Isaiah 40: 1-5 just now) and maybe some poetry (The Land of Storybooks, by Robert Louis Stevenson right now).

Each week, we do some map work and, with some inspiration from OMSH's wall map ideas, we're pinning pictures of different places on our wall and linking them up to the map. Sometimes we read about a specific country, think about issues that may be concerning believers in that country, and talk about how we could pray for the peoples of that particular nation. 

The world is a fascinating place.

Here are our wall maps at the moment.

The Butt of Lewis lighthouse and Afghanistan are our photos right now.

Our lighthouse the day we 'showed OMSH the world'

Our plan is to have a UK map to the right of the World, and a proper USA map to the left. 

The Wee Guy has also begun learning to draw. By this I mean that instead of just drawing his picture and colouring it in, we are trying to learn specific skills to make drawings more life-like. We are using Usborne's Drawing Animals. I have no skill in this area. I mean none whatsoever. 

Step by step....

This is his orangutan hanging from a branch. (I say 'his': we did do it together, following the step by step instructions, but it's mostly his work.)

In my book, this is good. Really good and artistic. But I admit to having the artistic ability of a piece of wood!

We read quite a bit together, and he reads for pleasure - at the moment, mostly these books:

You get the drift??

Then we spent hours listening to innumerable facts about soldiering through the ages.

"Mum, did you know.....?"

"Yes, dear"

"Did you?"

"Er.... no. I meant no..."

"Well, wait til I tell you...."

(Mum stifles yawn and feigns interest) 

Clearly, I was cut out for this homeschooling lark. I have such enthusiasm for all my children's interests. 

So, after all that, there you have a glimpse of the Wee Guy's schooling. I'll post about the girls' soon. 

Providing we haven't been besieged by a Roman Army, decimated by the Vikings or speared by the Greeks.

Do you have to keep to school terms?

We often get asked if we have to keep to school terms/do so many days a year/follow the local schools' pattern.

In England, the answer is no, we don't. Our obligation is to provide a full time education which is appropriate to a child's age, aptitude and ability.  There are various legal cases which define some of those terms, but nowhere are the hours/subjects defined.

The current legal guidelines are as follows

"What's required of you:the facts about home education are:

•you do not need to be a qualified teacher to educate your child at home

•your child is not obliged to follow the National Curriculum or take national tests, but as a parent you are required by law to ensure your child receives full-time education suitable to their age, ability and aptitude

•any special educational needs your child may have must be recognised

•you do not need special permission from a school or local authority to educate your child at home, but you do need to notify the school in writing if you're taking your child out of school

•you will need to notify the local authority if you are removing your child from a special school

•you do not need to observe school hours, days or terms

•you do not need to have a fixed timetable, nor give formal lessons

•there are no funds directly available from central government for parents who decide to educate their children at home

•some local authorities provide guidance for parents, including free National Curriculum materials"

However, having said that, we as a family *do* tend to follow school terms. When the children were all younger, we had fewer outside activities, so were more free to set our our timetables. As they have gotten older, and are involved in so much outside of the home,  it makes sense to keep to (roughly) the same terms as their schooled friends do. For example there are activity classes that only run during the government school holidays, which our children get involved in, as well as activities that only run during term time (e.g. gymnastics).

We do take time off during school terms for days out - if we time it right we can get to some of London's  busiest attractions when they are very quiet :-)

And also, we do not take the six weeks off in the summer that the schools do. We tend to have the first week and the last week off, and do some different activities/lessons in the middle - mainly the reading scheme.

Children who have imminent exams do not take many holidays!

We've had a longer break that normal over Christmas/New Year, since we went down with a ten-day tummy bug just before the end of term; and that combined with the time Julian had off (we don't do lessons when Dad is home); and a few educational days out, means we've not got back into routine properly till today.

We did return to lessons last Tuesday, but that was more a case of finishing off what had been missed, catching up, and   - the oh so difficult! - getting used to starting work at 6.45am.

Science year 5 and 6/grades 4 and 5

I was going to call this "super science" but thought this was a bit silly. Silliness apart, Apologia Elementary is super science.

When we started home education, I wanted to find science that was more interesting than the anodyne science that the children had seemed to do at school at primary school age and was delighted to find Apologia Elementary.

Apologia Elementary is a Christian, home education curriculum from the US but available in the UK from Conquest books who deliver very promptly. There are books around various themes-botany, astronomy, the human body and three on zoology. Each book is meant to take about a year although we've found they take a little less. The science is in much more depth than that we had seen done at a primary age previously.

A vaguely Charlotte Mason approach is used with text which can either be read aloud or the child can read and suggestions for narration and composition. The composition ideas use a variety of formats. The books are said to be suitable from ages 5-12. I don't think that my five year olds would have managed these books unless they were read to them with a fair amount of explanation. We are currently using them with our 10 year old and they are ideal for him.

One of the really great things about these books is the activities. Melting chocolate with a magnifying glass was a favourite. There are activities in each chapter and they are designed to be done at home with ingredients readily available. Conquest do supply equipment for all the activities but this is fairly pricey and it isn't difficult to find the necessaries around the house.
The picture below is our salt dough model of Olympus Mons after it had erupted.

Now, a confession, we started the first term of home education using the first zoology book. Our son found it so different from school science that we changed to a more standard curriculum for a couple of terms before he asked to do science in more detail and we went happily back to Apologia. In retrospect, I would have done some sort of fairly hands on science for a term before starting Apologia. Otherwise, Apologia Elementary is something I would throughly recommend.

Snow Day!

One of the things I love about home education is how flexible it is. We had a huge snowfall (more than I've ever seen in my life) over the last 24 hours, and when Julian couldn't get in to work because there were no trains (I know - most of the world can cope with a few inches of snow; London can't) I was able to announce a "day off" and send the children (they all went other than C who is studying too hard, and hates snow anyway) to the park with J.

I'm sure there will be lots of informal learning . . . and lots of fun. And no doubt, photos :-)

(I realise that I sometimes comment here using my other log-in ID. In case anyone is confused, "The Mom" who posts comments is me; I just set up a new ID for this blog. )

Maths choices years 5 and 6/grade 4 and 5

I've written about how we chose our curriculum but not about the actual choices.

This is about what we have chosen for maths and English, how we use those choices and our assessment of them ;that is, how they work for our family.
This has to have a health warning: what works for our son may not work in another family or even for other children in our family.

This year, and last year, we've used books from Galore Park as our main maths and English books. 

Galore Park is an English, secular publishing company which mainly supplies private schools. The course of study is wider than would be taken if we followed the National Curriculum. Many home educators use Galore Park and they have a Home Educator section on their website and home educator e-mailings.

Galore Park produce Junior maths and English books 1-3 to cover years 3-5 and then "So you want to learn maths/English" 1-3 to cover years 6-8. 

Maths

How we use these books: Unlike many subjects, as will become apparent later, we use these books thoroughly doing all the chapters and most of the exercises. Some of the early exercises in a chapter are very easy so we will either do these aloud or I will set a few to check that ds can remember how to do them, otherwise, I find the exercises about the right length. If we have some difficulty with a chapter, I tend to leave it and return to it later or occasionally supplement with examples from the older maths text book on Mother's Companion (more about this later!) or from the internet.

I lik maths so don't have an answer book but there is one available. I can't comment about this.
Ds uses Schofield and Simms for mental maths about once a week. This is cheap and cheerful, same as he used when he was in school and does the job.

How Galore Park maths works for us: really well-A*. We plan to continue using the "So you want to learn maths" series for the next couple of years. My only, minor, gripe is that it would make the book more interesting if there was some explanation of how a particular topic is used in "real" life.

English

How we use the book: We use the English book in a completely different way to the maths book. The word that best describes our use of this book is loose.
The English book contains two comprehensions around a theme, an exercise with suggestions for creative writing, two punctuation exercises, two grammar exercises, sections on vocabulary and spelling and on speaking and listening, followed by suggestions for further reading and for further research around the topic used for the comprehensions.  We actually use one comprehension, occasionally the creative writing and the punctuation exercise. The speaking and listening portion has provided some helpful ideas.
Occasional comprehensions have been avoided on the basis of their content.
We don't use the grammar as this is covered in more depth in Latin. I try to set writing around our history or geography. We also tend to use the real life opportunities of letters, e-mails and a private blog.
We use Schofield and Simms workbooks for spelling.

I am much less confident about marking English, particularly creative writing, than maths. Maths is either right or wrong and the right or wrong answer may have been achieved by a correct or incorrect method. English is a bit more complex. In view of  this, I brought the answer book thinking that it would help sadly it is just an answer book for the exercises and I have hardly used it.

How Galore Park English works for us: Not as well as the maths. B+. We may not use this curriculum next year for English. I am open to suggestions!

This Time Last Year...

As we approached the American Thanksgiving last year, we were reading this book.

The Wee Guy was also studying 17th Century History. It was a fascinating time - both the 17th century and our time of studying it.

We had a lapbook from A Journey Through Learning, and we had a great time learning about King Henry VIII and Queen Elizabeth I; about King James (I of England; VI of Scotland) and the Separatists

about the Mayflower, the Mayflower Compact and about the First Americans.

We went on to learn the amazing story of Squanto and of the First Thanksgiving

and decorated our walls.

We had a great time studying this period of history, and the fascination with it has never left the Wee Guy.

This year, we are moving further West. We're loving the Little House books, and the insight into this period of American history.

Comments: Genius Denied

Lots of interesting/thought provoking things have been said in the last few posts, so I thought instead of doing individual comments I'd try to pull my thoughts together. (I did say try :-))

Re Sharon's post on Genius Denied, my initial thoughts are that one of the huge advantages of home education is that it can be personalised for each child. In any family there will be children who excel at some things more than others.  Teaching at most schools is going to be aimed at the "average" child, and although there are programmes aimed at helping those who need extra help, that can never be the same as a curriculum which is chosen with that child specifically in mind.

No one knows as much about their child as a mother does (esp talking about infants here), and I am thankful that I am able to make the decisions as to what they study and when.

I also have to decide (much wisdom needed!) when they genuinely need a break from learning a topic to give them time to mature an absorb what they have learned; or conversely, when they need to be encouraged to overcome natural reluctance (or laziness!)

Some of my children would have really struggled with being in an "average" class; others would have fitted in ok. But at home, nothing is average. It doesn't matter too much if you are "behind" or "ahead". And any intervention needed to help a child (either an under or over achiever) can be made much sooner than would happen even in a caring school environment.

That all sounds very efficient and professional, grin, but there are times when it goes wrong. I have had once to move a child back three years in Maths (though she quickly caught up) because although she seemed to understand the concepts, she was using only her short term memory, quickly filling in answers (correctly) and then completely forgetting what she'd learned.

I've also had the children who are tempted to copy the answers out of the back of the book, so I think they are progressing well, and it's only a chance question that reveals they know nothing at all about what they appear to have learned (I've gotten wiser now, I remove the answers from the younger children's Maths books. . . !)

(Random photo of three little boys coming back from an art session at the library)

Edited to add that I have found with one child in particular, giving him more and harder work has made him work more and harder; prior to that he was bored and could be disruptive.  An idle mind is as dangerous as idle hands.