Schedules Are For Losers
One of our biggest challenges as a homeschooling family is my inability to keep to a nice, solid schedule. Sometimes, this is my fault. I might come home from work and decide cooking is for the birds, lets go out. This kills off a solid hour we would normally have to do parent led school work sessions. Or what if it's a pretty day and I decide going out to the local park or historical site is a better use of our class time?
We still get the work accomplished, but all my pretty notes in my planner become worthless.
As to my kids, sometimes, the schedule changes because they are not machines or robots. Sometimes a subject comes easy, and we breeze through it. Instead of a section taking days, we're finished. Or, on the other end of that, sometimes they just don't "get it" as quickly as I anticipated, and we're spending an extra few days making sure they have a good grasp before moving on.
I don't want to change that learning flexibility. That's a HUGE reason we're homeschooling in the first place.
Now I'm a busy mom. I work full time, and because we have bills to pay this is non-negotiable. I also place a high value on my personal mental health, so I like to occasionally have time for reading or knitting or a damn bubble bath. These are also non-negotiable, unless you want to see me flip my shit. SPOILER ALERT- you don't want to see that.
One of the recources that is really saving my ass this year is the Starline Press Curriculum. Holy moly. This is the bomb diggity, hello darling where you been all my life, can I get your number and take you home. Seriously, do yourself a favor and go check it out, now. I'll wait.....
When that package first arrived at my door, I was filled with a mixture of excitement and apprehension. Sweet baby geez, that's a lot of books.
I quickly realized however, that this was going to be our saving grace this year. The system's founder has written a book, Kids Are Not Cars, and this pretty much sums up the thought process behind the curriculum. You can't line up a bunch of kids on an assembly line, stamp them with school and then roll them out at the same time. There are way to many learning styles, strengths, weaknesses. My kids are custom made and I like them that way, thank you very much. I went ahead and ordered a print copy of the book, but you can snag it for the kindle, or on kindle unlimited if that's your thing.
Now I have a way to let my son off of hisleash schedule. Each subject is broken down into numerous books, with one answer key. Each book has the look of a school book, filled with color, facts, and activities. The real differences are that they also double as a workbook, where you write on the pages as you come to the work. Then it offers an opportunity to score the work, then to re-work the section until you not only get it all correct, but understand it as well!
Breaking the subjects down like this allows a huge amount of freedom. I can say "hey, I'd like to finish this book by this date. Or break it down a little further- there are 3 units, can we try to finish one a week- or something similar. Then I hand over the book to my son.
He sits down and works through them as he pleases for an allotted amount of time. If he soars through a section, no problems, he can then choose to keep going to the next in that subject, or move on to a completely different subject.
As he comes to the end of each days study session, I chose to have him bring me his books so that I can score them, and pass them back with a few notes of items he may need to pay more attention to.
One of the first science experiments was a thumb wrestling tournament. He measured the hands of our family, along with a few neighborhood friends, then developed a hypothesis, along with a projected tournament chart. Then the tournament began! He had so much fun, he soared through the entire section in a day, and learned so much about scientific methods without even realizing it.
Knowing he was headed into Pre-Algebra had stressed him out before the year began. Now, having it broken into manageable chunks has him flying through the sections and retaining the information.
His independence on this system allows our family a whole new level of flexibility. If he gets ahead, then we don't stress about having less class time. Or I am able to send him to my Aunt next door while I work armed with books he can work on independently. This has definitely been a lifesaver in regards to the Monster's studies, as so much of her work cannot be completed independently yet at her age. I can work more intensely with her, while my son can take pride in his ability to work alone.
SIDE NOTE-- I feel like I am saying the word independent way to many times...
via GIPHY
Starline Press Curricula defies the mold of a perfect schedule, and so does our family. While we need a vague idea to keep us on track, planning our life and lessons down to the minute doesn't work for us. Knowing that is half the battle I think, and now that we have the tools to combat it, I am really excited to see where this year is going to take us!
We still get the work accomplished, but all my pretty notes in my planner become worthless.
As to my kids, sometimes, the schedule changes because they are not machines or robots. Sometimes a subject comes easy, and we breeze through it. Instead of a section taking days, we're finished. Or, on the other end of that, sometimes they just don't "get it" as quickly as I anticipated, and we're spending an extra few days making sure they have a good grasp before moving on.
I don't want to change that learning flexibility. That's a HUGE reason we're homeschooling in the first place.
Now I'm a busy mom. I work full time, and because we have bills to pay this is non-negotiable. I also place a high value on my personal mental health, so I like to occasionally have time for reading or knitting or a damn bubble bath. These are also non-negotiable, unless you want to see me flip my shit. SPOILER ALERT- you don't want to see that.
One of the recources that is really saving my ass this year is the Starline Press Curriculum. Holy moly. This is the bomb diggity, hello darling where you been all my life, can I get your number and take you home. Seriously, do yourself a favor and go check it out, now. I'll wait.....
 |
I quickly realized however, that this was going to be our saving grace this year. The system's founder has written a book, Kids Are Not Cars, and this pretty much sums up the thought process behind the curriculum. You can't line up a bunch of kids on an assembly line, stamp them with school and then roll them out at the same time. There are way to many learning styles, strengths, weaknesses. My kids are custom made and I like them that way, thank you very much. I went ahead and ordered a print copy of the book, but you can snag it for the kindle, or on kindle unlimited if that's your thing.
Now I have a way to let my son off of his
Breaking the subjects down like this allows a huge amount of freedom. I can say "hey, I'd like to finish this book by this date. Or break it down a little further- there are 3 units, can we try to finish one a week- or something similar. Then I hand over the book to my son.
He sits down and works through them as he pleases for an allotted amount of time. If he soars through a section, no problems, he can then choose to keep going to the next in that subject, or move on to a completely different subject.
As he comes to the end of each days study session, I chose to have him bring me his books so that I can score them, and pass them back with a few notes of items he may need to pay more attention to.
One of the first science experiments was a thumb wrestling tournament. He measured the hands of our family, along with a few neighborhood friends, then developed a hypothesis, along with a projected tournament chart. Then the tournament began! He had so much fun, he soared through the entire section in a day, and learned so much about scientific methods without even realizing it.
Knowing he was headed into Pre-Algebra had stressed him out before the year began. Now, having it broken into manageable chunks has him flying through the sections and retaining the information.
His independence on this system allows our family a whole new level of flexibility. If he gets ahead, then we don't stress about having less class time. Or I am able to send him to my Aunt next door while I work armed with books he can work on independently. This has definitely been a lifesaver in regards to the Monster's studies, as so much of her work cannot be completed independently yet at her age. I can work more intensely with her, while my son can take pride in his ability to work alone.
SIDE NOTE-- I feel like I am saying the word independent way to many times...
Starline Press Curricula defies the mold of a perfect schedule, and so does our family. While we need a vague idea to keep us on track, planning our life and lessons down to the minute doesn't work for us. Knowing that is half the battle I think, and now that we have the tools to combat it, I am really excited to see where this year is going to take us!
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