I have been spending a lot of time putting together the lesson plans for home school for the remainder of the 2011/2012 school year. We have 24 weeks of school left when it starts back up on Monday January 9th, 2012. There are a number of those weeks that are short weeks due to a holiday Monday or Friday but that's no big deal.
I plan to sit down and talk to the kids today to get their opinion on a few things. As you know homeschooling is new to me and we started in November after two disastrous months in a public school. It did not leave a lot of prep time and I only had a week from the time I provided notice to the DDSB to the date that we were ready to begin. I wanted to take time while they are off school for the winter break to properly prepare my lesson plans for the remainder of the year.
There are a few different ways we can go from here. I have been wondering if it isn't better to pick two subjects such as English and Math and spend 12 weeks completing those two subjects (meaning we have met the desired outcomes for their grade levels in the particular subjects) before moving on to two more subjects. Then again we could continue as we have been where we do all of the subjects within a week and continue working on themes.
It will be interesting to see which they choose or if they come up with their very own schedule that they would like to propose. They always seem to amaze me so I will have to wait and see.
I have found some wonderful resources on the internet that provide me with everything that I need (lesson plans, supporting material etc all by grade and province expectations). If you happen to be home schooling you might want to look at websites such as eco kids, earth rangers (great for maths and sciences), epals is a wonderful site that I am only beginning to explore. Here kids can be matched up with other kids their age to become traditional pen pals or epals. They can do projects on each others countries, cultures etc. I am very excited to have found this source for the kids and I have not finished reviewing all that they have.
The DDSB also outlines all of the curriculum expectations by grade so that I can ensure that my kids are on par with their peers regardless of where they are receiving their education. I have to say that I LOVE home schooling the kids. It is a wonderful opportunity to spend more time with them. To give them the one to one teaching time making sure that they thoroughly understand everything that they need to before moving on to the next lesson. I am watching their confidence begin to grow slow but sure. It is nice to see the positive changes in the kids since we have started homeschooling.
The only draw back for the kids in homeschooling is that they do not get to see their friends everyday through out the winter. It is dark by 5pm so none of the kids are out playing after dark. Mind you we all pretty much hibernate in the winter. It has been bitter cold here this week with the windchill it has felt like -27C here which is -17F for my American friends. Too cold to do anything outside if you ask me!
I think the challenge of doing a top each day for 30 days is going to have me racking my brains pretty early on for topics. Is there anything that you would like me to write about or explore? I would love to hear your comments and suggestions.
Keep Warm my friends.
© 2011 Rhonda
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