We are behind, need advice

Well, I don’t know what others would say, but I would just keep going. Your kids are so young and “school” years are meaningless to them. With most of our subjects we just keep going, finishing up “whatever” when the next year starts back up again (this year we are schooling year-round so I don’t feel the same about the school years as I have before). We are going to finish up our year of Module 6 history in June (or earlier) then start Mod. 1 in Aug., but that is really the only subject that will not be a continuation (well, maybe math for 2 of my dc). I do plan to plan new poets/composers/artists/hymns, but those change like the wind (I may find a deal on something or an artists seems more interesting than who we had planned).

I would not worry and just keep going. My youngest has just jumped into Mod. 6 halfway (could’ve been the whole time, but he wouldn’t sit still) and I have no worries about his future understanding of history. His brothers have started in Mod. 5, with some history background, and they are doing just fine.

HTH

I agree with the others that, especially since he’s very young, don’t worry about “finishing” the module before summer break (if you’re taking one). That’s really school-building mentality. I remember when I was in middle school wondering what was wrong with us, we didn’t finish every single chapter in the book! Then, when I was using public school textbooks to teach my kids while they were enrolled in an online public charter school, one of the supervising teachers told me, “Take a look at the last two chapters of the math book. They are just introducing what you’ll be starting with in the fall–and you’ll probably have to reteach it anyway and review everything else, too.” She was right.

You might be able to designate a couple of days a week during the summer to do some light history work and finish up (or get a lot closer) before school starts up again in the fall. If not, just pick up where you left off. After all, you’ll be revisiting module 1’s time period after you have completed all 6 modules, and your childreb will be older then. The books they’ll be reading the second time around will be middle school level, and they both will absorb more. These early years sort of whet their appetites for more history later on, but you’ll be surprised at what they remember.

We are in module 6, and we’ve not travelled very far. We just spent a lot of time on Queen Victoria and all that surrounded her era, plus the Civil War. My kids, especially my son, were rather intrigued by President Lincoln and his assassination as well. I’ve decided we’ll just go as far as we can until the end of the year and pick up with it in the fall. It won’t be a problem for my younger two, although I’ll have to work something out for my older daughter. It’s actually a good problem to have since she would not have had a module with American history during high school, and she has to have some on her transcript. So….I’ll just have to figure out how to get her through modules 1-4 along with this year’s “leftovers.”

It can be done. But in your case, Christine, not to worry. You have plenty of time to fit in what your kids need.

All the Advice above is good stuff.  I haven’t started Mod 1 yet (plan to in Sept, possibly start some of the Bible reading earlier…), so take this as you will. 

What is the reason you’ve only gotten to lesson 75?  Is it that you are spenind more time on the material or that the material is dull for you?  Remember that the only thing you are behind on is the schedule that you have set for yourself.  PS kids do not learn history in kindergarten.  Most of what they learn in the first couple of years will be forgotten.  Only a few key things are really going to stand out to them.  So — maybe decide what you really what them to get out of Mod 1 and drop the rest for now.  If you aren’t so worried about the geography, drop it.  There goes about 20 lessons off the bat.  Is the Bible History the most important thing?  Then focus on that.  Spread the reading out through the summer to land yourself at the end of Exodus if you plan to pick up in Mod 2 for next year.  Don’t stress about the ancient Eygpt stuff, but feel free to grab a couple of picture books to share with your kids from time to time.  Give them a taste of histroy without necessarily expecting narrations.  Just talk about the stories or pictures and how people did things differently way back when.  Most importantly, enjoy the time being together.

Ah, yep.  That’s the de-schooling thing coupled with learning how to narrate.  We’ve had a pretty good year this year, but have taken it really easy because we are deschooling. I accepted from the beginning that we were not going to do every subject every term (we didn’t do Science at all 2nd term).  I guess I planned a pretty light year, so we should finish everything as planned on schedule in about 9 weeks time. (I would like to wrap up our year on June 15th, a week before PS wraps up.  It’s so hard to concentrate on school work by then!  We will be doing our Science lessons on plants for the last week in May, and the first 2 weeks in June, so it’ll llend nicely to the out-doors and nature Study.)

Just relax and go with the flow.  As I said, you could always just do the Bible reading/history between now and September and jump in to Mod 2 if that’s what you want to do, or keep right on trucking with the whole shibang!  You’re the teacher — you get to pick!

Tracey