This is not my idea of a wonderful Saturday, but I'm sure it will pay dividends later. I'm choosing to be joyful about it. LOL
I spent 7 hours working on lesson plans. We realized last week that Mondays are so horrendous because it takes me a solid hour to get the older ones lined out for the week...then I have to do us. My big confession is that after 18 years of homeschooling - I DON'T USE LESSON PLANS! I haven't for many years. I teach directly from the assignment sheets of TOG - before that it was SL....which had the plans there anyway. I simply do what we do.....and it works. HOWEVER, for the older children it was getting very time consuming to explain over and over how to FIND ALL THE ASSIGNMENTS of TOG.... Mike and I decided it would be a good investment for me to spend a few hours at the library on Saturdays. It went well.
I spent 4 hours at the library. I got Jamin and Jared's plans done. I picked out books on cows and butterflies (Monarch's are coming). I corrected a lot of work.....I put in a solid hour on Jamin's portfolio from LAST year which needs to be turned in by December.
I came home and spent an hour with each boy going over the assignment sheets.
Meanwhile, Michael kept the younger ones and they had FUN...and I'm choosing joy! ::snort::
Ah yes...we figured out what the bouncing in the van was all about....it seems we did not throw a counter-weight.....the tread was separating from the INSIDE. I shudder to think of all the freeway driving I did on Friday. SO....we now have new tires - and truck tires are not cheap. ::sigh:: Jamin offered us a no interest loan. ::snort:: Sure love these young men.
Mike took me out to DQ this evening. We came home and played charades.
I made an "assignment sheet" form, and then typed in all the assignments for each boy. Next week - I will take my LAP TOP to the library...then I could type in lesson plans, check websites I need etc.
Unfortunately, all my Sat. chores - menu planning, grocery shopping, cleaning....didn't get done....feel like I'm on a bit of a teeter totter here. ::snort::
What makes me think that if I throw enough forms at this problem it will go away? ::snort:: Actually, we DID get all our TOG finished by Wed this week and we did a lot of fun projects....so we're doing well....I want to do better. I want more play/down time.
23 comments:
Sis:
PTL! Your kids are great. Those boys are great. Those girls are great.
How sweet and manly of Jamin to offer to help you. :)
The Libray sounds like a great place to work.
l/p
"I DON'T USE LESSON PLANS!"
Psst. Me neither. Shhh, don't tell and I won't! (g)
Hugs,
Jen
DeEtta,
Last year was the first year I used lesson plans and it was by far one of the best years we had in school. I have continued using lesson plans this year and it now only takes be about 1 1/2 to 2 hours on Sun. night to get them together. This lets my olders not have to wait on me and I can keep track of where I am with the youngers. I never used lesson plans before, but am finding it really makes the week go smoother, at least in this household!
I never used lessons plans until this year. This is our 8th year homeschooling!
Lesson plans have helped the day go smoother and I am not interrupted every hour by one of the older ones saying what is next.
Praying for the Lord to extend your time this week to get all the little things that help a home run smoothly.
Laura
Jen - I'm still not using them for the younge set...The list of what we need to do in a week in my teacher's manual seems to be enough for ME to figure out what to do.
Gilda - I think it will save TIME with the older ones. I was trying to teach them that independence that Marcia talks about. I couldn't see WHY I should write out what they should do so that they could write it in their planners....seemed they could write it directly from the TM - BUT it was taking at least an hour each Monday - sometimes more to make sure they'd found all the assignments, to answer their questions, to find the right book etc.... So I DO think this will save us time in the long run...at this point it didn't SAVE time but it rearranged the time so that the time spent won't be on Monday a.m. Mondays are very full and we add two more events starting this week.
Laura - I really do think it will help with the older ones.
Always before we've had SL - which HAD lesson plans written or Cornerstone for the older kids. CS doesn't have written lesson plans but it's easier for the student to know what to do as the syllabus is written to the student. TOG sort of has assignments buried here and there. LOL
Thanks all for the encouragement.
Assignment books really help my boys stay on task and not ask me "What's next??" over and over. The only problem is then *I* feel stuck since it is written down LOL......
Going to the library sounds like a great plan! I'm trying to figure out when to do mine. I no longer want to use Saturday to do it since Doug is home.
Anyway, I hope it helps you and you get off the teeter totter.
De'Etta,
The focus of the month at the nature center is BUTTERFLYS!!! Luis took the girls and they had a great time. Nice field trip:)
www.tpwd.state.tx.us/monarch
Ok, sorry try this one...
http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/learning/texas_nature_trackers/monarch/monitoring/
You simply amaze me. How in the world do you find time to blog, clean, play, spend hours at the library, have dates with your husband, and post on other blogs?? I would like to come spend the day at your house and just watch... :)
Seriously, you are an encouragement to those of us just starting out. I catch myself saying ,"if D'Etta can do this with three times the amount of kids, I can too!!" Thanks so much for this...
Kelly - Jared said "wow, there's no wiggle room, is there?"
Margie - thanks for telling me!!!!
Great Work, De'Etta! Not the most "fun" but certainly very productive and beneficial for your family/home school. Hard not to have those older girls around who help with cooking and cleaning on days when you are otherwise occupied. :)
Great job! I'm sure it isn't the most fun you've had, but this week you will be glad.
I have never used lesson plans either, but am thinking Bess needs something beside me saying "how is your week going?" I'm not sure how to even write one up!
My hats off to you for sticking to it even when you didn't want to.
I'm a compulsive planner; I must have plans. :) Each of my children has a lesson plan book (I found mine from Amazon or B&N) for about $6 each.
Yes, high schoolers need independence but I think they can achieve that without having to search through the TOG plans. Plus that means that each child is then left waiting on Monday morning for the other to finish with the plans. My kids would not learn independence, they would learn the killer instinct :)
I think the time to write out the plans will lessen as you learn where things are in the TOG Redesigned. Also be sure to use lots of abbreviations.
Stephanie,
You crack me up. Thank you for your kind words. Shanna has told me she wants to come watch me "live" one day....I figure the blog sort of does that - offers a glimpse but some of it is far to ugly and chaotic to watch. ::snort::
Seriously, the stage you are in - young ones and no older ones - is the toughest. I've found it much easier to have young kids with older ones who are trained to lend a hand around. LOL Schooling with a toddler is tough - and I find K - 2 my hardest years....because they can't do a thing without me....once they can read things are easier in OUR HOME.
Debbie - Renee
I should say that I'm NOT doing what many consider lesson plans for the boys. All of our graduates have reported that learning how to plan and organize their work was the best thing they learned to prepare them for further studies. Cy's college advisor told him that if he knew how to organize his work - he'd shine - and he has. It's amazing.
I made a form where I simply list all the assignments required for the week. THEY decide how much they are doing a day, which days etc. They do NOT want me telling them to do 20 pages 5 days a week. LOL They figure in their work and ministry schedules, what subject they want to hit hard....one son likes to spread things out - one does an entire books' assignment before moving to the next...and I think that level of independence is GREAT for them....but I'm making it easier by having the assignments all in one spot. So, I'm not REALLY making lesson plans for the 8th and 11th grader...but sort of. LOL
I use a lesson plan sheet of sorts... mostly as a check off list. I don't have as many to keep track of as you do. You REMEMBER all of those lesson plan sheets I used to use (LOL)... that was WAY TOO TIME CONSUMING and had to go by the wayside after we had the boys.
::snort:: Cindy....I sort of suspected once you had a few more students your reams of lesson plans would be adapted. LOL
Yes, I can keep the kids' assignments straight - I only have to read the TOG manual - all on one page....but having one sheet with the boys assignments listed for them concisely - makes it easier for THEM to make their lesson plans. LOL
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