Curriculum Round-Up

DeeDee over at Fiddledeedee rolled out her 2009-10 curriculum as well as some great organizational tips. I thought I would participate in her Curriculum Round-up even though I already did some curriculum rambling a few weeks back. That was mainly a look back over the year, though; now, with the year ended, it's time to look forward.

You can find our curriculum choices for 2009-10 here. I thought I would address the topic of organization, though, since DeeDee did. I have a similar plan to hers in that I want to encourage independence. Homeschool translation: make less work for me. I'm not as fancy as DeeDee with her pink crates and cool drawer system, however. I just have one box, a file box. Each kid has his/her own folder in said box. Each folder contains assignments for the day as well as an assignment sheet which can be checked upon completion of said assignments.

I divvy my schedule up into "sessions" and "stations". In the mornings, we have rotating stations. I meet independently with one child while the others are in Reading Corner, working on the computer (Spanish, reading, typing), or doing another assigned educational activity. Then we switch. I began this system the latter half of this past school year, and it's worked out well.

We will start a little mini-summer session of school during the month of July because, like DeeDee says, a lot of that information leaks right out of their little heads if you don't keep up the review. Our mini-session will last for 3 weeks, we'll have one week off, and then we'll recommence for real the first Monday in August.

The year-round schooling works for me too, though I'm not as organized as DeeDee with my calendar. I wish I could plan 9 weeks on, 2 weeks off, but we find that Life too often happens and gets in the way, so with attendance, we usually just play it by ear. One of the great things about homeschooling, though, is the flexibility it affords to take off for a family vacation when the mood strikes. And when it's off-season, so you have the place to yourself. Or to just take a mental health day off. For me, of course. Yes, the flexibility is a beautiful thing!