Well.... the 16th is almost here. I'm slowly getting things ready and that means actually planning out timelines and such (which I have never before attempted.)
Recently, I read back through posts and I couldn't help but laugh. I realized that anyone reading this would have to feel... at least mildly... confused. My plans seem to change a lot. All I can say about that... is that I'm a great planner!! *LOL* (Reality doesn't always go with the view in my head.) A prime example: a few posts back... I wrote that I would let Aidan decide what and how much she'll do every week. Yeah... that doesn't work. Aidan likes having structure and goals and a checklist. She dislikes things being "up-in-the-air" and "at will." So, hence the workfolders and checklist.
AnyWAY... as it stands... this is THE PLAN
From August 16th until December 10th... the girls are in school. Ainsley will be doing random things if and when she is interested in them. I will have her folder full of things for her to do but there will be no requirements of her. If, while Aidan is doing school, Ainsley wishes too as well... then she will.... if not... then she won't. Simple plan and easy to put together.
Aidan will have a weekly checklist of things to accomplish in her folder... including worksheets, readings, activities, games, art projects, etc. I have a simple list of things I want accomplished before December 10th. I'm going through and making timelines of when she'll finish certain books, units, etc.
I'm sticking with my original idea of starting the official school year in January. It makes more sense A) because I plan to school year-round and so the end of the year corresponds to the end of the school year and B) their biggest break will be in December and with John always being off for 3 weeks and Christmas and all...it works out and C) it just happens to work out that way with when the girls' birthdays are.
As of January 10th... Ainsley will be in pre-school and I'm officially calling Aidan a first grader. (so from now until December I suppose that means she's finishing Kindergarten) I also am plotting out a complete first grade year for her to do. I thought for awhile I'd just call it Kindergarten even though she's doing everything at least on the 1st grade level but... really... what's the point? A spade's a spade. If it walks, talks, writes, thinks, breathes like a 1st grader... then it's a 1st grader. Now, she may end up doing 2 years of 1st grade... or skip 2nd and go into 3rd grade. I DON'T KNOW. I'll wait and see but I'm going to try not to worry about it because I have a few years of wiggle room so it's pointless worrying ...
... for that matter it's probably pointless to name a grade considering she isn't "school-aged" until another 2 years from now...huh?
Sooo, yeah, I'll just end this post with... I'm considering their school year to start in January.
(I'll try to remember to make a note if I derail from this plan.)
Recently, I read back through posts and I couldn't help but laugh. I realized that anyone reading this would have to feel... at least mildly... confused. My plans seem to change a lot. All I can say about that... is that I'm a great planner!! *LOL* (Reality doesn't always go with the view in my head.) A prime example: a few posts back... I wrote that I would let Aidan decide what and how much she'll do every week. Yeah... that doesn't work. Aidan likes having structure and goals and a checklist. She dislikes things being "up-in-the-air" and "at will." So, hence the workfolders and checklist.
AnyWAY... as it stands... this is THE PLAN
From August 16th until December 10th... the girls are in school. Ainsley will be doing random things if and when she is interested in them. I will have her folder full of things for her to do but there will be no requirements of her. If, while Aidan is doing school, Ainsley wishes too as well... then she will.... if not... then she won't. Simple plan and easy to put together.
Aidan will have a weekly checklist of things to accomplish in her folder... including worksheets, readings, activities, games, art projects, etc. I have a simple list of things I want accomplished before December 10th. I'm going through and making timelines of when she'll finish certain books, units, etc.
I'm sticking with my original idea of starting the official school year in January. It makes more sense A) because I plan to school year-round and so the end of the year corresponds to the end of the school year and B) their biggest break will be in December and with John always being off for 3 weeks and Christmas and all...it works out and C) it just happens to work out that way with when the girls' birthdays are.
As of January 10th... Ainsley will be in pre-school and I'm officially calling Aidan a first grader. (so from now until December I suppose that means she's finishing Kindergarten) I also am plotting out a complete first grade year for her to do. I thought for awhile I'd just call it Kindergarten even though she's doing everything at least on the 1st grade level but... really... what's the point? A spade's a spade. If it walks, talks, writes, thinks, breathes like a 1st grader... then it's a 1st grader. Now, she may end up doing 2 years of 1st grade... or skip 2nd and go into 3rd grade. I DON'T KNOW. I'll wait and see but I'm going to try not to worry about it because I have a few years of wiggle room so it's pointless worrying ...
... for that matter it's probably pointless to name a grade considering she isn't "school-aged" until another 2 years from now...huh?
Sooo, yeah, I'll just end this post with... I'm considering their school year to start in January.
(I'll try to remember to make a note if I derail from this plan.)
4 comments:
Oh my you sound so much like me. I jump around on planning too. It's really hard to pick a grade for Ansley. I am saying 1st grade for this fall, but she will be doing 2nd grade reading and spelling work...and 2nd grade science...but 1st grade math, so I guess first grade with differentiation for math and science LMAO. Oh dear, labels really don't matter at this point. Ansley too wouldn't start K for 2 more years, but she likes the structure to. I am really hoping the job search for Dh will end soon and we can settle back into a routine. I am not officially staring the school year till we do....or at least that is the plan for now! LOL. I love reading your blog and seeing another child like Ansley :) Can't wait to read how the school year goes.
I am looking forward to see how things will work out for you. I tend to change my plans a lot, because my daughter also grows and changes a lot. Quite frankly, she was a lot more interested in academics before her imagination kicked into high gear. Now she wants to play, and I think that it's good for her too. She will pick up academics again when she is ready for it.
I see a curriculum widget on your sidebar. Is that everything you are using (other than hands-on activities)? As you know, I am doing letter of the week, which I blog about. We do this so that I can include Ella, who thinks she needs to be included in everything. In addition to that, Arin also does book work everyday. She really likes it. I do not blog about it because it's book work, so nothing to blog about. The problem is that she loves book work (except Explode the Code) so she is blowing through the books and I am thinking she'll be finished some of the books fairly quickly and so I am looking for other things for her to move on to. Any strong suggestions? Anything that you find particularly good and that your daughter loves?
Arin's favorite subject is math. She doesn't hate Explode the Code, she would just be happy if she never had to do it again lol. I think it is all the writing She's still new at that skill, yet she never complains when she has to write in her math books, so I am not sure. And really she doesn't complain with the ETC, she just doesn't get the same excitement when she does it. I blogged about our initial curriculum choices here http://thepetersonparty.blogspot.com/2010/07/2010-2011-curriculum.html
but I am already ready to find our next set of stuff to use when this stuff runs out.
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