And as a WORKING and HOMESCHOOLING parent who works outside of the home. I've had to forego being overly creative with my curriculum since I will have several 'teachers' for my kids. However, if I didn't have those restrictions I'd probably piece a lot of different things together, but this is working well for my family.
Although we've already started school for this year, I had to make 2 changes to our curriculum.
Teachers: Mom and Dad
Assistant Teachers: Drop in Daycare provider, Mother In Law, and Big Sister
School Year: July 2013 - May 2014
Amount of School Days a Week: 4 Day School Weeks (either done Mon-Thu or on weekends)
Time of School: Flexible (from evenings, weekends, even early morning depending on location of child)
Changes made: Replaced Time4Learning with Teaching Textbooks as our Supplement to use with Abeka math to give our students a different way to reinforce their math skills. I wanted something that was more contained and focused for math. And the kids liked the demo for Teaching Textbooks after they had done Time4Learning for a few months this summer and during the first 3 weeks of our homeschool.
How our DVD based Schooling works: Teacher for the day (see above) sits in a chair in the middle of both students during school time. The student is actually taught the via DVD teacher. The in home teacher acts as a Teacher's Assistant or facilitator. My 7th grader has on earphones. The 4th grader and teacher for the day physically participates in learning. Teacher makes sure 4th grader is engaged. When kids on DVD read, or do an exercise, teacher has at home student do the reading or exercise. Also, the teacher administers the test, quizzes, and checks each workbox for completeness before 4th grader places 'Done' sticker on workbox (or class finished). Breaks are administered by a timer and snacks are pre-made for speedy redirection back to work.
Paperwork and Recording of Grades: We belong to an Umbrella group (www.mpnl.org) which is a great help to us. We have to turn in paperwork at the end of the year and do 4 in person reviews during the year. In addition I will be doing a report card for each student given quarterly.
Organization Method: Workboxes! A life saver for this Type A, organization freak.
Tiger Lilly
Tiger Lilly is transitioning from private school to homeschool. Her curriculum in private school was Abeka. She'd been in public school up until the middle of 6th grade and was considered an 'Advanced' placement student with great school MSA scores. However, I found she needed a little tightening up on core math facts. Abeka did a great job of moving her forward and re-enforcing what she lost. We are working hard to prepare her for Algebra 1 next year.
Duration of School Day With Homework: 4 to 5 hours
Number of Breaks: 2 - 20 min. snack breaks
Bible - Abeka DVD 7th Grade
Math 7 - Abeka DVD 7th Grade (Remedial Math) if she can finish daily work without problem she doesn't have to watch the DVD class
Algebra 1 - Ask Dr. Callahan - Algebra 1 (DVD course and book)
Teaching Textbook Algebra - Teaching Textbook is being used as a Supplement and done in 4 lessons a week.
Game Programming 1 and 2 - www.YouthDigital.com
Typing - www.TypingWeb.com
English 7 - Abeka DVD 7th Grade
World History - Abeka DVD 7th Grade
Life Science - Abeka DVD 7th Grade
Art - Small Craft Projects purchased from Micheal's craft store (only 1 time a week)
PE - Cheerleading, Basketball, and Lacrosse
Speed Racer
My 4th Grader will be tackling the following Curriculum:
Speed racer is also transitioning from private school to homeschool. He personally requested to be homeschooled and is loving it so far. We decided to keep it basic for him, but he is also alright with the extra math time. He catches on fast, but really needs to work on speed and calculation of multiplication and division facts.
Duration of School Day With Homework: 3 to 4 hours
Number of Breaks: 3 separate - 15 minute breaks
Bible - Abeka DVD 4th Grade
Math 4 - Abeka DVD 4th Grade
Teaching Textbooks - Teaching Textbooks Math 5 as a Supplement done daily as part of math homework
Reading - Abeka DVD 4th Grade
Spelling - Abeka DVD 4th Grade
Peotry - Abeka DVD 4th Grade
English - Abeka DVD 4th Grade
US History - Abeka DVD 4th Grade
Science - Abeka DVD 4th Grade
Art - Abeka and Small Craft Projects purchased from Micheal's (only 1 time a week)
PE - Soccer, Basketball, Lacrosse
I found you through the "not back to school blog hop". I also work full time. This is my second year of homeschooling my daughter, who will be in 8th grade this year!
ReplyDeleteAwesomesauce :-D Thanks for checking out my hectic blog. Glad to have a sister in the work and homeschooling box. I'm so happy that I'm finding more and more home-educators that work and school their kids.
ReplyDeleteI have one that prefers computer or alone school. I like your resources.
ReplyDeleteBlessings, Dawn
I'm so glad you found something that works with your family and your busy schedule! Kudos to you for trying this as a working Momma! Thank you for linking up with my blog hop, and good luck this year!
ReplyDeleteThanks you all. I think this will work for this year. I'm glad to be over 20 days into the school year and counting :-)
ReplyDeleteWhat a great post for moms who are working and still want to homeschool. This is something I have no experience with, but I sometimes have questions about. Thanks for sharing your info, I'm bookmarking it to share with others!
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