Want to have a peek into one of my son’s course of study? Of course you do. 🙂 I’ve included a copy of his Daily Workload sheet and his Course of Study for you to get an idea of how I schedule. Just be mindful that this is my student, with his unique strengths and weaknesses so his schedule will look quite different to that of another 14yo boy. And that’s how it should be.
Yesterday I shared that after observing my son I realised that he was entering a new season. He needs to learn new sets of skills but in ways that fit with our goals. Our goals are process oriented, not product oriented:
- Build and maintain relationships
- Develop the character of his heart
- Develop needed learning skills and a love for them
ACE paces are set out in such a way that the child simply picks up the book and does 4 pages per day. They know exactly what is required of them each day and they aren’t reliant on the teacher/parent to tell them what to do next. This has always been my weakest area. I’ll give the children a book to work through but when it is finished, then what? It could take awhile before I get around to giving them a new one… 😕 With this in mind, I’ve tried to set up Master J’s schedule in such a way that he can see what is required each day and each week, and which resources to use for each subject.
He has a 2 ring binder with several coloured tabs for different subjects: Bible, Maths, Copywork, Science, Church History, Compositions, Projects, in which he can find the standard sheets to fill in and/or file his completed work.
In the front of the binder he has a [download id=”23″], which outlines the subjects that he should attempt to get done each day. You may notice that I have scheduled Saturday. This is only for a time… to help him learn time management. Once he has the hang of completing all his work in a timely manner he won’t need to do any ‘formal’ work on Saturday. However, it’s there in case it doesn’t get done, for whatever reason.
Another page is the [download id=”24″] and it outlines the resources used for the subject and the course requirement.
Also thought I’d mention that this is not how our lifestyle or homeschool looks every week or month of the year. For this period of time, (a season) this is how it looks. In a few months, it may very well look completely different- but that is the naturalness of seasons. There is a time when we see lots of blossoming and there is a time where things seem to be quiet, almost still and dormant. There is a time when lots of positive, nutritional and rich ideas need to be sown and other times where we see the fruit of that. It doesn’t all happen at once.
Do you notice the seasons in your home? Do you embrace those seasons or do you find that you struggle against them?
You know me Susan, I am constantly moving through the different seasons! There is a knowing that something is not quite right and a thirst to seek out alternative ideas. I believe that when we are in tune with God then he clearly shows us this and leads us in the right direction. A few years ago God led me back to ACE, a curriculum that I had started in the early years of homeschooling. I had no idea why the prompting was so strong but I went along with it and ordered ACE paces for all the children. Within a few weeks of starting I discovered I was pregnant with baby no 9 and after enduring a very difficult pregnancy I had a nervous breakdown four weeks after the birth! Only God could have known what lay ahead for me and if it wasn’t for ACE at that time then I really don’t think we would still be homeschooling today. I needed a time of healing and the children needed consistency and that is what ACE provided for us.
Now I am on the mend and I am walking in a very casual, Unschooling season of life! I am loving the freedom and the spontaneity that this kind of life embraces. But I am fully aware that there may be other seasons to come!
Good luck and embrace the season that you are in.