A few years ago (dare I say it...SIX!,) I wrote a blog post about how we used our primary curriculum, Tapestry of Grace
here. I then wrote an update in 2014 about adding in a Dialectic student to the mix
here.
That post was the first in a series of 5 posts that have garnered over 3250 hits, by far and away the most popular posts I have ever done.
Back when I wrote it, we were living in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania and I had all grammar level students. I think with a rhetoric student (R,) dialectic student (D,) and my youngest barely still in upper grammar (UG,) that we are ready for an update.
First of all, I still take time in the summer to collect all of my books and make a list of which books I own (O,) have on Kindle (K,) or borrow from the library (L or H for Hope Academy here in Bishkek.) I also have Tapestry of Grace (TOG) in the Digital Edition (DE) and so I print all of my reading lists for each week, the Accountability and Thinking Question (AQ and TQ) sheets for my D and R student, any maps that I have from Map Aids (MA,) and all of our Literature worksheets for the year, or at least a couple of units if I am short on time. We also have had our oldest child doing a Timeline book for the past 4 years, so I print off all of the items/historical figures/dates that he will need to cut and paste into his timeline. Most of these I have procured from the old TOG Yahoo! groups. They are no longer active, since Facebook has taken over, but you can still ask to join them for access to their files lists...these files can be a treasure trove of help if you are new to TOG. At the end of this school year (we're currently studying TOG Year 4, the 20th Century) he will be done with his timeline and I will have the other two children starting their timeline books at the beginning of Year 1 in the fall.
You can see my list on the far left of books I need each week and an annotation as to where the books are located. Also, you can see my assignment book where I plan out our TOG assignments for each day of each week in the middle, and on the far right is that week's reading list from the TOG curriculum with any notes and additions that I have made. In the back, laying on the purple folder, are my future weeks' reading assignment sheets and our AQ/TQ sheets, Literature worksheets, and maps, waiting to be disbursed to the children each week.
Krypto's timeline book and folder.
Once all of this summer planning is done, the school year begins! I usually plan a week of school at a time. Sometimes it is done on Friday afternoon, but usually it is done on Sunday evening, when it is fresh and I am looking out over the course of the next week and seeing what our days look like and where/how to lay out the assignments to take "life" and other commitments into account. I start by reading the "General Information" sheet at the beginning of each week's "Student Activities" section so I have a feel for what we're covering and where I want to put emphasis.
Each of the children have an assignment book that I will fill out for them. I only do one day at a time. So, on Sunday night, I will write Monday's assignments in their book. They are free to then do the assignments in any order they want as they are old enough to know how long things take and which things are harder and should be done first or what they like to do before or after lunch, etc. Each afternoon, when we do our "Review" time together, we will discuss and write in the assignments for the next day.
A picture of Krypto's assignment book this last week.
You can see the following type of assignments each day:
Memorize Colossians 1: and a verse. This week they completed chapter 1 and begin chapter 2 on Monday. In the fall, they all memorized the book of Philippians.
Geography work...they have maps on Monday from TOG. The other days the older two are memorizing the flags of the world and Sissi is working on being able to find all of the countries on a map. She is currently working on Asia and the boys are working on the flags of the countries of Africa.
Math U See Geometry is what Krypto is working on. He is on lesson 29 now, very close to finishing up the book and beginning Algebra II.
AQs/TQs, TOG's Accountability and Thinking Questions that the children do 2 to 3 of a day and this then helps them to be thorough in their reading and ready to have a thoughtful discussion with me about their school work on Thursday or Friday.
Any specific History reading or Literature or Worldview reading they may have been assigned that day.
Working on a paper...currently Krypto has been working on an 'Espionage in the Pacific Theater of WWII' research paper. He is in the final editing stages of this month long project.
Chemistry for Krypto is the Apologia course and the younger two are doing Apologia's Water Animals book. He is taking it online with the Virtual Homeschool Group (VHSG) in their At You Own Pace (AYOP) program. All of the lectures are pre-recorded, but they have office hours and email if you have trouble. All of the quizzes and module exams are online as well.
Analytical Grammar has been a wonderful program to shore up all of our First Language Lessons (FLL) and Easy Grammar (EG) grammar training as Krypto prepares for national exams (SAT) and writing at a higher level.
Student News, all of the children listen to the CNN 10 student news program and then we discuss it. I have found it to be really great at keeping current events in front of our family and some wonderful discussions have come from watching this program.
Wordly Wise is a great program to build a child's vocabulary, just a few minutes several times a week.
Logic is a long lost art today! Krypto is reading a chapter each week of "The Thinking Toolbox" and then we talk about it in the afternoon during our review time.
"FOR" lines is Krypto reviewing his lines for his role as Lazar Wolf in Hope Academy's production of "Fiddler on the Roof." The show is at the end of March, so stay tuned for pictures.
I also want to add that the kids study Russian 4 days a week for an hour each time. We have a language helper that comes to the house Tuesday thru Friday and we are using the GPA (Growing Participator Approach) method. I often forget to write "Russian" in their notebooks, as they are doing it before they do the rest of their school work for the day.
Each of the children also have a Bible memorization journal where they write the verse (or two) of the day to help them memorize it and also any prayer requests or thoughts they may have about the section they are memorizing.
Sissi, quoting Colossians chapter 1 to me today.
Just a few of the literature books that we've borrowed from the Hope Academy library over the past couple of weeks.
Just a few of the past couple of weeks' History books the children have been reading.
Sissi is also taking a Craftsy class about how to do landscape drawings.
This past month, Sissi's writing assignment was to write a 3-5 page biography of someone we had been learning about in school, she chose Anne Frank and finished that up this week. Gwangi was doing weekly 5 paragraph essays pertaining to topics he was learning about in his History readings.
My artsy girl, she likes to spread all of her stuff around when she does school...I could not work this way. I love my piles and organization too much.
Gwangi, he is typing up answers to his AQs and TQs. I require them to write them out before we discuss them as I think that helps them to think through the topics and answers more thoroughly.
Krypto, working on his Analytical Grammar, and then he'll grade it. Sometimes I grade it, sometimes, later in the week, once I know he has a topic down, I'll let him grade it himself.
Science, we all love experiments. The younger two were learning about blubber as an insulation and so had to put a gloved hand in ice water and see how long they could keep it submerged and then cover a glove in petroleum jelly and submerge it to see if they could keep it under water longer, and sure enough, the "blubber" allowed them to keep the hand underwater more than 3 times as long.
SO, lots of information here, but I wanted to get it all out there and let you know how I plan our school year and how we do our schooling each day. Of course, if you have any questions or comments, feel free to let me know...and share your ideas, because we can all help each other to grow and find new things that might work in our school!
