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Expecting our 5th! Help for planning!
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Hi There,
It looks like we are expecting our 5th blessing! It’s been a while for me. I’ll be 40 yrs old and my youngest will be 8 years old by the time this baby is born. My first thought when seeing that positive test (after grateful tears and whispered thank you’s to God!) was, “Oh, I need to plan our next year of school while I can!” I tend to get quite sick with nausea when pregnant (for 5 months) and then end up on bedrest. Though I’ve been very tired and the nausea is starting, I’d like to think about next year and do some better planning. I could really use some tips.
I have a 15yod who I’m planning to use Notgrass World History with. She’ll do Teaching Textbooks Geometry and Apologia Chemistry with Catie Fraites (online). She’s pretty easy. I have alot of other books I’m going to have her read as well.
With my 13yo twin boys, it gets a little stickier. I have to be on them to make sure they are truly doing all they are supposed to. This past year we started out with some Bob Jones textbooks for them so that I could concentrate on my youngest, but that didn’t last too long. Up till recently, we have done history and Bible as a family with me reading aloud and they writing and illustrating their narrations. They love this. But I’m not sure that I’ll be able to keep up, especially after the baby. What I have on hand for next year is Vision Forum’s History of Christianity and Western Civ that I got free after Christmas shopping. This brings audio and video clips of lessons in location. I thought I could use this with some assigned reading as well. They will be taking a Florida Ecology Class online with Catie Fraties (which won’t require a whole lot), Teaching Textbooks Pre-Algebra. Then all three of them will have some Wordy Wise and Memoria Press Logic. That’s the tentative plan.
My youngest is in the last few lessons of Reading Made Easy and still struggling to read. She has no interest in it. She retains very little. The girl is bright, smart (she learned to knit after watching me knit one row), and highly imaginitive. She will “read” books by making up a more exciting story. Her attention span is very short. My plan for her is to continue to work with her on reading and math through the summer and then do Prairie Primer with her. I think she will love it. I also thought she might do well with Horizon’s Math for next year unless Teaching Textbooks comes out with 2nd grade! I have a Wordy Wise workbook for her too and plan on having her do BJ handwriting transition to cursive workbook.
Most of this stuff is not purchased yet, it’s all on my wishlist in a cart. I’ve been hesitant to purchase because I planned these resources before finding out about our baby and assuming that I would be actively involved like in the history. My concerns are how to plan out our schooling so that the kids know what to do each day. If the instructions are detailed and clear they do much better. I am concerned that the boys won’t have enough schoolwork. I am concerned that the Vision Forum curriculum will not be easy to plan out. I am concerned that with the baby, I will not spend enough time with my youngest. Some have even suggested video curriculum for her to keep her moving along even without me.
I do have Sonya’s How to Plan Your CM Education and am hoping to finally view that in the next months. I am usually a paper and pen type of planner and girl, but I wonder if the CMO would be better for this year? I don’t want to hold my kids up with their schooling because I can’t get to them. That’s what the past two years have been like. So many questions! I’m really praying through all this and seeking the Lord for His direction. I would so appreciate your prayers and thoughts.
Blessings,
Betty
Betty,
I don’t really have any suggestions for you – I am in a similar situation, expecting our ninth! I was just thinking of the same things – planning, how much I can be involved. Though I don’t have any useful thoughts, I will keep you in prayer.
Gaeleen
Wow Gaeleen! You can more than relate! Let me know if you come up with any ideas!
Blessings to you!
Betty
One thing I do is give each child a timetable with a breakdown of subjects to be completed each day.
I also have a checklist with chapter breakdowns for each resource. If they are to read more than one chapter a week, I highlight every second week’s chapters in a light grey in Microsoft Word.
It’s pretty much like a paper version of the organizer.
If this doesn’t make sense and you want to know more, I can try and explain more thoroughly – I have a baby on my lap right now.
houseofchaos — I would love a more detailed explanation of how you use/create your timetables and checklists, if you have time to type it out. 🙂
Definitely – I’m hoping to plant the rest of the garden this morning, and I’ll get to it right after that!
Gaeleen
Congratulations first of all – what a blessing! We’re expecting too (baby #7, pregnancy #10) and I’m not due until January so I’ve got a lot of pregnancy yet to go. Your plan sounds pretty good, I just wanted to encourage you that you CAN do this. Especially with so many older children – why don’t they do some of the family read alouds and such for history when you’re not up to it? Honestly, I would focus the summer on getting them to be independent workers in areas they can (not needing mom to keep them on task). Then just relax, they will learn even if you don’t teach anything for 9 months.
Oh, and keep the TV/electronics outside of school to a minimum so they’ll be driven to learn instead of passively watch tv. (You may already do this, just wanted to toss it out there).
I’d LOVE more details Jenn of your checklist! Tristan, I too, am due in January–about the 16th. This is my 6th pregnancy and I’m trying to not act like a first time mom. I’m also trying not to freak out about my age and being pregnant. I’m the oldest preggo I know of right now.
There is alot of pregnancy left, but in the past I have very few days that I can do anything while pregnant. I want to take advantage of the times that I feel good! Yes, the older ones can do readings, it’s just that I need to make a plan or it just doesn’t occur to me or get done. Thanks for the reminder to relax. How could you tell I needed to hear that??
Blessings,
betty
Hi again all. Wow! We have a late December – early January due date also. This is my 11th pregnancy – we just lost one who otherwise would have been born in November.
It is good to take advantage of those good days – I am 37 and this sure isn’t as easy as it was when I was in my twenties…… Don’t worry, I have a few friends who were pregnant in their 40’s and although it was a challenge, they are really enjoying their sweet blessings now.
Gaeleen
I don’t have any suggestions, since I just have one…but can I say congratulations to you ladies on your upcoming little ones?! What great news! I’m sure you will do just fine working things out. I am always amazed at the competence and organizational skills of all the ladies on these boards. 🙂
Don’t forget about audio history and literature books, too. That could be a way to help out – you listen to the story while you are on bedrest with the child it’s intended for, and your olders can also still be working on their stuff. This wouldn’t take the place of them reading out loud, but it lightens the load on heavier days. =)
Betty and Jenn:
I’ll try and explain my organizational system here. First I plan out my year and semester – what books will be read, how much per term, etc. After all of that is done, I move to my timetables and checklists. I don’t bother with what time someone needs to do what, just which subjects are to be worked on for the day.
You can purchase the planner/timetable pages here, though they are not necessary. I just like the layout:
http://www.tanglewoodeducation.com/corebook.htm
There are two pages I give to each child for the week – one is just a chart with Day 1 – Day 5 across the top, and 7 blocks down for subjects. The very left column is greyed, and is where I write in the main subject (Literature, History, Science, Biography, etc.) Then across the chart I write in what is to be accomplished that day (So for History, Day 1 is Canadian History day, Days 2-5 are World History).
Then to the checklists – I make them up on Microsoft Word. So in the History section, I have subheadings (Canadian History, World History). Books are placed underneath the correct subheadings, and are broken up into Chapters and subheadings within the chapters (when appropriate). I type these out with a bullet (the empty round circle) before each subheading. Once they are all typed up, I divide the readings up into how much per week. Every second week I shade in, so the student knows what should be read over the course of a week.
Sample here, under checklist. There is also a view only sample of the timetable:
http://www.scribd.com/houseofchaos
The kids check off what they’ve accomplished as they complete readings or assignments. If we miss a day, or even a week, it’s not a big deal because we just pick up where we left off. It takes a bit of time at the beginning to get it all set up, but is more than worth it for the ease through the year.
I also keep one for myself for family work.
Please feel free to ask questions if this is unclear.
Gaeleen
Hi Gaeleen,
Thanks so much for your reply. I do have a few questions. Do you write in what they need to do each week? I’m a little nervous that with the new baby and business of life, or a crazy weekend, I may not get to that. Also, if, let’s say, they didn’t do their history readings for two days, how does that not mess up the checklist?
I’m sorry I’m a little slow in deciphering what I see. I’ve been pondering whether I may need to go with the CMO if money permits, though I have to get things down on paper first for me to make sense of it.
Thanks so much,
Betty
Hi Betty,
I do write in what they need to do. I plan it all at the beginning of the year, after I have a breakdown of how much to cover per semester (we do three). We take a short break in between semesters, so if someone is behind, they can catch up then.
I can’t get my first checklist to upload properly – it doesn’t look at all like my document. I put another one on that is better, but is only for my grade 1 student. For me right now, Firefox isn’t displaying the pages well, but Explorer is.
More details here:
http://simplycharlottemason.com/scmforum/topic/if-you-dont-use-the-organizer
I hope this is a little more clear, but am glad to answer any more questions if you have any.
Blessings to you,
Gaeleen
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