And a Different Set Up

After spending a week attempting to do school all together in the same room, we decided that our previous two small tables push together wasn't going to cut it.  We were just too crammed together, and I was sending Maddie out to the living room alone so I had room to work with Josh on his school work.  Making her spend so much time alone is not part of my plan.

Here's how it was set up last week:

It's a little crammed.  Both Mikaela and Samuel really like having their various textbooks, workbooks, and primary resources all within arms reached.  They were a little tight on space, but seemed to do fine.  Plus, they moved around when they wanted, working on the computer or reading on their bed or the couch.

The biggest problem was the littles' side.  There just isn't room for three of us and the stuff we are working on that tiny table.  Even if Josh and Maddie only have the paper they are working on, there's still no room for the things I need to keep busy while supervising their work.

So, we moved the dining table into the school room.  Here's how it looks now.

There's a lot more room now.

Here's Josh and Maddie's side of the table.  They have their notebooks, science journals, MUS blocks, and crayons within reach.  I have room to sit at the end of the table where I can see the big kids for discussions, work with the littles direction, and have room for my own stuff.

The dining room is looking less and less like a dining room though:

It's now a cross between a home library and an art studio.

We usually eat in the living room anyway.

First Day of School 2013

After much planning and gnashing of teeth, we reached the first day of the new school year.  Gosh, I didn't know if we were going to make it, or if I was going to have to make up something to call school before I was done planning.  The kids just needed something to do besides screens!

The plan today was primarily emptying out the notebooks of last years papers, getting them set up for the new year, and explaining how each subject was going to work this year.

Normally, I'd have the notebooks cleared out and my work samples filed into our records already.  However, I totally dropped the ball last year, and we ended up with a disaster of a year.  I dropped anything that looked like English.  We read books and talked about them, but I had nothing to show for it.  Then we got so far behind that it took up to this past Friday to finish math.  And we didn't even finish state history yet.  We are NOT year round home schoolers.  Getting any of us to do anything that looks like school work during the summer is nearly impossible.  I finally had to accept that getting math done so we can move onto high school with a clean slate would be good enough.  None of us want to do that again, so everyone is motivated to get down to business, and neither of the big kids want to take days off and get behind again.

Once we got the notebooks emptied, we set them up for the new courses.  This was the easy part; all we had to do was put in new dividers and label the tabs.

This year will be very different from previous years, primarily because Mikaela and Samuel both start high school level classes.  I feel that I need to be more organized and on top of things to be able to do high school well.  I too readily drop things in favor of doing something fun, especially if I'm not well-prepared.  We just wouldn't be able to get a full credit's worth of work done in a year.  And I'd have very poor records to show for it.  And I would have very inconsistent grading methods.  So, to fix all of that, I decided to write a syllabus for each of their classes...and I even got most of them written in time.

Why a syllabus?  Well, because I had read that some other moms actually do this.  And it will acquaint the kids with syllabi.  And it will be a written record of how the class will work, what kinds of assignments there will be, how their grade will be formulated, etc.  They won't be able to argue about what is expected.  I won't forget how I intended to grade.  There will be consistency.  Yeah!

So, we spent today emptying binders, adding dividers, and reading through syllabi.  As we discussed each class, I was able to pull out the books they would need, show them how the curricula were organized, let them know that they weren't getting away with giving me bare minimum this year.  Yes, you have to participate in Spanish because you can't learn it without actually speaking it...out loud.  And to make sure you participate, I'll be grading you on participation daily, and it will be part of your final grade.  Yes, you actually have to keep your papers in your notebook rather than lying around all over the house in random locations.  Yes, you will be graded on having an orderly and complete notebook.  Yes, you have to write lab reports and here's how they will be graded.  Basically, there's a lot of bad habits that need to go away, preferably before they move onto college.  And it's all my fault because I've been way too inconsistent.   Not this year.

We also have a new set up in our school room.  We put two tables that we happen to have together to form one larger table.  The big kids sit facing the white board since they'll need to see it more.  We put books that they share in the tipped over crate and their individual books in the corner on their side.  They like having them all within arms reach without having to get up and hunting for them in the bookshelf.  On the smaller table, with their back to the white board, the littles will do their work. In the photo, their table is cluttered with my stuff because I didn't have them doing much today.

Overall, the day went well....and very long...thanks to a Maddie meltdown (they are legionary around here) and a surprise visit from the property management's handy man.  But the kids didn't complain, and we'll all set to get down to business tomorrow.

How did you first day of school go?

MIA

Yeah, yeah, I've been missing.  I'm still trying to figure out how to fit editing photos for blogger (don't want to do huge file sizes and run out of space) and writing into my schedule.  I've found Facebook's quick and easy status updates to be easier to manage, especially when I can do it from my phone.  So, if you want to follow my there, shoot me a comment.