Well, the anticipated curriculum has arrived. Thankfully I found it before the boys or I'm pretty sure they would have hidden it in the cornfield out back. I'm sure they're excited...on the inside...in their own pre-teen/teen sort of way.
Today I tackled the "homeschool closet"...aka the tornado closet...only we live in Idaho now where there are no tornadoes, but I digress. While organizing said closet I came across a brand new pre-algebra student pack that APPARENTLY I had purchased at a used sale somewhere along the way to use for our next student. Hmmm...that would have been nice to remember since I just ordered a brand NEW set last week. Pooh! So much for thinking ahead. Hoping the nice publisher will take pity on this poor, unorganized homeschool mom and take it back. Here's hoping.
One thing I'm really excited about this year are our personally designed plan books for each of the kids. I searched high and low, but couldn't find a planbook that fit our HOMESCHOOL needs. We don't need all the extra stuff teachers need (attendance, seating chart, sub info). If the teacher is sick, there is no sub! Since necessity (or in most cases desperation) is of course the mother of invention, we're making our own books. We included things the kids felt were important, along with some things I thought were important (see list below). Using Publisher, each kid designed their own cover. I love this because it's a great representation of their interests. We'll have the whole kit and kaboodle spiral bound at Kinkos. I'm excited to see how they turn out. Below is a sample of the weekly plan portion of my daughter's book.
Want to give it a a try? They are easy to create and completely customizable! I used Publisher for the two-page spread, then used Google images for several of the other things. The Crafty Classroom is a great place for printables. I also found some fun academic calendars at New Bee Homeschooler. And of course there's always the amazing Donna Young for all things homeschool.
Here's a list of "extras" we included:
- To-Do list (this one is laminated for daily use)
- Academic calendar
- Doodle pages (for my artistic, creative one)
- Story ideas (for my budding novelist)
- Journal pages (for my little girl who loves to chronicle everything!)
- Periodic table
- Apologia Biology vocabulary
- Editing marks
- World map
- US map
- Reading log
The possibilities are endless! Since each is customized by the student, it will make a wonderful keepsake at the end of the year.
Now, if only I could figure out how to get the kids as excited about all this planning as I am.
Thank you for sharing this with the facebook group. I think my daughter especially will be more apt to use something if she created it herself. Great idea!
ReplyDeleteThis is so fun! I broke down and bought a homeschooling planner this year but I love the spiral bound idea. And creating your own pages with the right reference things! I like the way you did the daily practice and quiet times. I hope it gets everyone excited about the new year. Actually sounds like a fun idea for my crafty organizy daughter to practice her electronic skills and help get her involved with planning her year. Another tip from a hs mom friend. Just number the daily plans by school day number not day of the month or week. That way you can know where you are in your year but you're not tied to completing assignments on a specific date (or feeling bad about rolling something!)
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