Stop the Press!! A Last Minute Change in the Lineup!!

Nothing like changing your mind in the last few weeks before school starts. On top of the schedule change I'm implementing some other changes. I've been reading about right-brained learning in the above book, Right Brained Children in a Left Brained World. We've always known Z is more of a creative, right-brained learner, but the above book gave some specific tips on how to teach a child of this sort. So it has left me re evaluating the curricula we use. After much angst I have decided to give Cambridge Latin a try. It's a whole-to-parts course instead of a parts-to-whole course like we have been using.

 We have used the Latin for Children series from Classical Academic Press. We used half of Latin Alive I also from CAP last year. I love CAP's Latin products. Latin for Children was fun, made Z interested in Latin, and allowed us to really put the Latin-Centered in a Latin-Centered Curriculum. Latin Alive took the knowledge to a new level with a program that is full and rich. Latin Alive touches on grammar, vocabulary, and readings. With the state mottos being discussed at the beginning of each chapter, you can see how America has a Latin heritage as well. Z started to get bogged down in Latin Alive after a few chapters. We had a chaotic year and that didn't help. 

However, after reading more about right-brained individuals I've come to believe it's not just the chaos bogging him down. Last night Z and I watched Sorcerer's Apprentice. 

There is a scene in the movie where they drive through a mirror and everything is backward. It was easy to tell where you where but the navigation and reading anything was hard, because it was backward. Imagine trying to learn that way. So I'm Nic Cage, I have the curly hair and would love a black sorcerer's jacket and the car...,anyway. Z is my apprentice and in trying to teach him I may need to look at a few things backward. I think Latin is one of them. I have some right-brained, creative tendencies myself and it's easier to tweak a subject I know well. Well, I'm learning Latin just a smidge ahead of Z. I learn well in a linear fashion. It's the way I was indocrin taught in school. But to learn in, ingest it, and twist in a short time frame is too much for this aging wizard's brain.

So we're switching gears. This was a hard decision. I ordered part of the Cambridge components today. Once I have a chance to preview them, then I'll know better if we'll being combining it with Latin Alive in some manner, or using Cambridge exclusively. No matter the decision my plan is to finish Latin Alive I and continue with Latin Alive II and III as part of my self-education. I love the DVD component and how Karen Moore presents the information.

Maybe it's a good thing we don't homeschool year round. I need the summers to plan, obsess, research, and change my mind. All of those at least twice.

Planning 201: Retreat and Regroup

The planning is driving me crazy!!!

Just when I thought I had it all figured out, I opened my mouth. I found a link that discusses the one college class at a time. Oh my! Z would love this, I thought. I mentioned it to him. He was excited, about an academic thing. "That would be a cool way to learn," says he. 

What did I get myself into? 

 This is either a bright idea stirring in my head or my subconscious telling me to keep my mouth shut in the future. 

Anyway, I look at our schedule. I know Z is not yet old enough, focused enough to handle one class at a time, not for four to five hours a day. So..... (hear my brain whirring?)

I decide we COULD do some classes in that manner. In fact, that sounds like a cool idea! Less subjects per day, same information covered in a year. Yes, I start to like this idea. So....

I spent the last two days figuring out how to make it work. I was almost out of printer ink already, I thought my binders/planners were complete. OF COURSE NOT!!!

This is how our new schedule is going to look:

These classes will be done all year, but we will rotate weeks:

• Latin (odd weeks)
• Math (even weeks)
• English writing & Mechanics (odd weeks)
• Literature (even weeks)

We may cover less Latin in this manner, we'll spend more time each day in math, yet it will work with what I have planned. 

 Our yearly schedule is approximately six weeks on, one week off. We'll have six total sessions of school. These subject will be done in pairs, five times per week, allowing two sessions each for completion.

Session 1 & 2: 

• Art History
• Formal Logic 

Session 3 & 4

• Japanese
• History

Session 5 & 6

• ICT (Information, Communication, & Technology)
• Philosophy

We'll continue with read-alouds and assigned reading throughout the year. Z will also be pursuing computer programming studies throughout the year. 

This allows me to pull out philosophy and art history, which I had integrated in logic and history, and allow more emphasis on them. I've also tried to pair an easier subject with a harder one. Philosophy and ICT were purposely put at the end, in case this whole thing crashes and burns. It won't be the end of the world if we miss a little bit of those subjects. 

I also think this is a more realistic plan as far as how Z and I operate in the classroom. We'll still have time for rabbit holes. In fact my cover for my teacher's folder in a folder from movie Alice in Wonderland. I also added this quote from the book as it reflects how I feel some..okay, most of the time. 

"Do you think I've gone round the bend?"

"I'm afraid so. You're mad, bonkers, completely off your head. But I'll you a secret. All the best people are." 

Planning 102: The Art of War aka Lesson Planning

If I get creative later today, I'll post some photos of my organization, my planning, THE plan. But the gist of it is, I'm almost there. 


I finished course descriptions and lesson planning yesterday. Before you get too excited, realize I WILL change those plans during the year. I tweak, I'm flexible. We get behind in one subject and ahead in others. 


I was just looking for a pithy quote to add, about knowing yourself, knowing your limitations, but this one seems more fitting. 

“Victorious warriors win first and then go to war, while defeated warriors go to war first and then seek to win.” -Sun Tzu (The Art of War)


Yes, I'm laughing, that's a better quote for lesson planning. Winning first, then the war. 


Because I know I'll tweak, planning and printing out the entire year of schedule has never worked for me. By week three we'd be off schedule and my somewhat anal mind would be bent out of shape because the schedule was off. We'd be grumpy at school, I'd be thinking about those pieces of paper more than my student. 


So this is how I plan: 

• Decide which subjects to do (this usually takes about six months of waffling, I'm already working on plans for the 2012-2013 year) Our scheduled subjects for 2011-2012 are:
• Latin I
• English
• Literature
• Math
• Introduction to formal logic and philosophy
• History, Science, & Humanities
• Computer Science
• Japanese I
• Decide which books, curriculum to use for each subject (see above comment, also applies here)
• Plan school schedule. Next year we are doing about six weeks on, one week off. We'll have six sessions of school for a total of thirty-six weeks. 
• Schedule out lessons for the year. I use a semester planner from Donnayoung.org for some subjects, others I use a table designed word document. 
• For subjects that are open and go, like Latin, I write what chapter/section/lesson to do for each week. This helps me be accountable to our planned timetable
• For subjects that require merging several books together, such as history, I spend time reading and sorting books before I write up loose lesson plans (I'll make this the subject of another post, to show how to merge several books)
• Start to assemble teacher's planner. (I'll post pictures later) I've included the following sections:
• Calendars - yearly and monthly. I also include a height chart to gauge his physical growth over the year.
• Weekly - I print off weekly lessons one to two weeks at a time. 
• Syllabi - Yes, I write these for every class. I consider it practice for high school, and a time to think about what we are really trying to do with these classes.
• Schedules - this is the weekly schedule. We generally tweak three to five times during the year.
• Reading/Media List - a place to keep track of what we read, what we watch.
• Grading, Evaluations, Hours - we are required by the state to keep track of hours. We're also returning to formal grading this year. I have an evaluation form that I plan to use after each session. 
• Extra curricular Notes, Misc - I've put in some encouraging notes from some of the moms that amaze me. Plus notes on any extra things we do. 
• Assemble student's planner - Z's planner has most of the same things mine does, except the grading, evaluation, and hours. I'll give him a summary at the end of each session. 
• Plan my learning ahead (I've been working on this for a while) This year I have a lot of learning and reading ahead to do. I've broken down each class into what we will cover each session. I'm trying to get my studying done in a few subjects before we start school. I've been working on algebra this week. Having it written down, broken into six week segments, is most helpful. I don't feel so rushed
• Make sure all books for the current year are shelved. Make sure all readers and reference books are shelved. 
• Set up binders/folders for each subject for student and teacher. (I'll explain this in another post as well - that's where I'll talk about my pro-click binder :grin:)
• Make sure Z's desk is cleaned off and ready to go (So not there yet)

I enjoy planning, I'm a planner by nature. Some of this year's has challenged me. We still have some things in transition phase. I'm looking forward to getting back to school, there's so much to learn, so much to do.