Halfway through the school year is always a great time to make some subtle changes to homeschooling plans. Now the time has come to polish up the plans for next term and making a list is always something that helps me focus my energy.
Where I Would Like to Improve
- 1. Timeline Project/Book of Centuries - Mr. B has been regularly adding to his timeline notebook each week from his history readings but very hit and miss with his other subjects. I am going to encourage him to be more consistent in drawing in events, people, and ideas from his anatomy study, literature, art, composer study, and government/economics. This will make it an even richer record of his learning.
- 2. Art History - Mr. B really enjoys learning about artists and art genres as part of his high school plans. This is something he normally spends extra time on each week. I see the need for some extra projects which are not on his plan. I need to be more accountable. Since my HFA Grade 12 plans do not include specific suggestions for art skills work, I will pull from my HFA Grade 8 plans which cover the same time period and are rich in lots of extras that Mr. B can pull ideas from more regularly.
- 3. Shakespeare and Opera - We did not fit in a single Shakespeare play last term at all. How did that happen? I have Merchant of Venice on the schedule for this term...prominent and on the priority list. B. Opera study is on my list of things to do (read major procrastination). Any suggestions? I know that I mentioned it before and I received some ideas so I will need to go back and look for titles as well.
- 4. Biographies - Mr. B likes the history "spine" we are using this year but I find it rather monotonous. Adding in some really good biographies last term helped make his study of the 20th century more interesting and living. His favorite was Einstein: His Life and Universe
. There is a list on Ambleside Online (Year 11) that contains a lot of possibilities so I will be looking some of these up at our library.
- 1.Nature Study using my More Nature Study ebook plans. Book 2 will be out on January 1, 2012 and will include advanced nature study ideas for high school age students. This was something I included in Book 1 (Autumn 2011) and it has been a great success.
- 2. Poetry using my plans with a little structured follow-up. I have complete plans and notebook pages on my Squidoo Pages.
- 3. Music appreciation using my Harmony Fine Arts grade 11 and 12 plans (free on my website).
- 4. Lots of writing using our IEW methods and notebooking pages.
3 comments:
So inspiring to mold and create curriculum according to your child's aptitude. Some of the ideas you've mentioned here are really going to be stepping stones for greatness!
Hi Barb! I've felt a strong need to do some tweaking over our break. I felt that we were not as organized and intentional this past fall as we have been over the years, and the girls agreed with me. Today is my organize-the-study day, and I hope this will move me from thought to action. Also, I intend to utilize your amazing resources, so our artist/composer studies will not be so hit-or-miss.
I'm sure I've told you what an inspiration you are to me, but it never hurts to reiterate that fact once in a while!
Thanks for your sweet comment Ellen. I do hope I continue to encourage other moms. When I share the minutia of our plans I wonder if it is helpful to someone. I know when I am reading other blogs I like to hear about the process and then see if I can apply it to my homeschool.
I am having trouble finding that balance between planned and unplanned learning right now. I think it helps to have a plan that you can be flexible with and add/subtract as the need arises. I work best that way. :)
Sipping my Kona coffee and thinking about you.....found a really good 100% Kona Whole Bean coffee at Costco this week, reasonably priced too.
Post a Comment