New Plan - Check!

With the addition of substitute teaching, I needed to come up with a new plan. I have become more of a list maker now that I am older. My brain just can't seem to store things in it's proper place as it used to. Things on the "priority list" seem to get dumped to the "things I can't remember list". Things I don't need to obsessively think about end up on the "priority list" and clog my thoughts with mundane tenacity. Thus... planners and lists have become my friends.

Planner #1
It first started with foster parenting that I began keeping a simple weekly planner for appointments and such. When we moved and stopped fostering I was happy to place that little planner in a drawer. Five months later I pulled it out when I realized that work, callings, and homeschool commitments were getting missed or I would reschedule because I couldn't remember something else was already planned. The main thing missing from my current planner is a weekly "To Do" list, a must have in next year's planner.

Mike likes to rub it in that he has a Palm (which I bought him two years ago for his birthday). I wish I could afford the fancy cell phone with data service and Blackberry apps. How sweet that would be! But, alas, our budget can't handle that kind of luxury. I guess I'll just have to cowboy up and use pen and paper. *sigh*

Planner #2

The second planner change was to add a check list type of planner for Nayna and Chris so that on the days that I am at work they do not get off track (keeps me on track too). They are both in Scholar Phase, but not all levels of Scholar Phase are the same. You can see this week's plan here. This is a form of Structure Time, not Content. They have certain criteria that needs to be done each day, but there is some choice as to fulfilling that criteria. We have been doing this for four weeks now and it is working really well. We had a few trial and error moments, but make-up work is a consequence...so my kiddos are much better at completing the list. ;-) The 2 child-planner sheet is from donnayoung.org. I filled in the basics that are the same each week and then copied the sheet. The things that change I just write in every week. I prepare this on Sunday during our Mentor Meetings (same as FEC meetings).

We still have our individual binders with student planners that I shared before. This one-page plan also has the appointments that affect them and the days that I work listed at the bottom.

Planner #3

My kids are very proficient at making meals, they have been for some time. We have come up with a system that the kids and I each make meals two nights a week, except Sunday. Mike is not home for dinner or he would take a turn in the rounds also (working 60-70 hours a week I figure makes up for it). You can see our meals listed here and who is cooking that night. The kids typically cook on the days that I work. Chris and Nayna can make a pretty awesome spaghetti from scratch.

Sunday is a day of rest for us. We typically eat left-overs or simple meals. I remember reading about Sister Kimball and that she didn't want to spend all day preparing meals on the Sabbath so she would prepare on Saturday. I felt that this applies to me, I also don't want anyone to slave away on Sunday in the kitchen.

Over time I have learned a great deal from Mike on organizing and planning. I'm thankful that I have a husband who values a "house of order" both temporally and spiritually.

Chris' Binder - Practice Scholar

Chris has been Transitioning to Scholar Phase the past 6 months or so. It has been an exciting thing to see as he begins to value studying more and he has asked me to oversee his work more - a sure sign of him turning himself over to a mentor! (See Leadership Education pages 193-211.)

Chris studies the following subjects:

• Fractions (Math-U-See)
• Literature - American frontier stories and settling of the West, mythology, and some science fiction.
• Grammar - Winston Grammar for review to help him in his writing.
• History - The Middle Ages - He is learning about the Anglo-Saxons and the various wars and turnovers of leadership.
• Science - Chemistry from a Creationist point of view.
• Physical Education - Chris is studying various sports and how to train to be an athlete.

Books on his "To Read" List Include:

• Finish the Ender's Game series - Speaker for the Dead, Xenocide, and Children of the Mind.
• Louis L'Amour's Sackett series - Sackett's Land  and Too the Far Blue Mountain 

I encouraged each of my children to "own" their binders this year and organize them as it suits them best. 

Chris's Binder Tabs:

1. Compass - His personal plan for the next 6 months.
2. Weekly Planner - This is the first year that Chris is keeping his own weekly planner. When my kids are in Love of Learning, I typically keep their records for them. His planner includes - yearly calendar with vacation dates marked, weekly schedule of subjects and the materials available for those subjects, daily record keeping planner for recording each day's work by subject.
3. Book lists and records of the books he has read and when.
4. English - Winston Grammar practice and vocabulary notes.
5. Handwriting - He is improving his cursive writing.
6. Scouts - He keeps all his Merit Badge worksheets here.
7. Mentor Log - This is a weekly meeting log where we can each write what about how the week went and if there are any improvements that need to be made. It is a quick way for him to look back over his progress and for me to remember what each meeting is about.

Marly's Binder - Self-Directed Scholar

During the Scholar Phase, I have noticed that my youth really do naturally follow the progression through the different levels as Oliver and Rachel DeMille describe in Leadership Education pages 193-211. I believe that Marly has been in Self-Directed Scholar Level for the past few months. She initiates almost all of her own learning.

She studies the following subjects:

• Latin (First Form Latin) - Covers Latin as well as the English language and grammar for both languages.
• Pre-Algebra (Math-U-See)
• Literature - Science fiction, fantasy, mythology, and American literature are her focus right now.
• History - Early Modern Times - She is beginning the Agricultural Revolution and the Colonial War.
• Science - Chemistry from a Creationist point of view.
• Music - Piano and homeschool choir.
• Sign Language

Books on her "To Read" List Include:

• The 5,000 Year Leap (second half)
• The Fourth Turning
• Joan of Arc
• and to work on the TJED for Teens classics list.

I encouraged each of my children to "own" their binders this year and organize them as it suits them best.

Marly's Binder Tabs:

1. Compass - Her personal plan for the next 6 months.
2. Book lists and records of the books she has read and when.
3. Weekly Planner - She records all of her own work every day for record keeping - yearly calendar with vacation dates marked, weekly schedule of subjects and the materials available for those subjects, daily record keeping planner for recording each day's work by subject.
4. Cursive writing pages - One of the areas she wants to improve.
5. Latin - All her notes on vocabulary and grammar.
6. Mentor Log - This is a weekly meeting log where we can each write what about how the week went and if there are any improvements that need to be made. It is a quick way for her to look back over her progress and for me to remember what each meeting is about.
7. Classes - She has her notes from the various classes, seminars, and conferences we go to.
8. Projects - A place to hold her current project notes, plans, and results.

New "School" Year (I hate that word)

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Every year previous to this year, I was searching for...something...that would work better than the last year. I've come to the start of the 2010-2011 "school" year and realized I am finally comfortable in our educational plan (or un-plan in some cases). I no longer feel the desire to plan out every little detail or even a "Course of Study" like I used to. I've come upon something better...the individual Compass, the Binder (similar to the TJED Planner) and our family goals.

The Compass
I wrote about this in the past and we are now doing our 3rd Compass (we rewrite our Compass every 6 months). Chris is only on his 2nd Compass. I was trying to do our Compass writing together until Chris pointed out that I am expecting the same things out of him as I am of Marly. I took his advice and we now sit down, mentor and student, one-on-one, to write our Compass. Marly did most of hers before our meeting and she just filled me in on what she wrote (anybody thinking "Self-Directed Scholar" here?).

I was happy to see more depth and thought is being put into the Compass each time we rewrite them. I encouraged them to keep their older ones, making sure the new one is on top. I want them to see their own progression and enjoy the new things that they have learned and to not forget where they have been.

The Binder (Planner)
Oh yes, we still have our binders, but they are taking on a new shape as well. Each student is now customizing their own binder. We added a couple of new things this year and re-organized for finding things better. I'm going to create separate posts on each student's binder that will post in the next few days. I'm trying to document the different things I see as each student progresses through the different levels of Scholar Phase.

Family Goals

I've been adding more books to my "to-read" list. Some I have found only needed a skimming for specific information. One of those books was "A Charlotte Mason Home Companion". I do think some of Charlotte Mason's philosophies fit with Leadership Education. One such philosophy is living an "educational life". I do believe that the TJED version is "life-long learning" and being "self-educating". I believe living an educational life is in direct correlation to our religion. Christ wanted us to learn and grow in the gospel and in our earthly life.

Methods and Madness

I posted a couple months ago about Transcripts and Diplomas where I talked about how I plan on graduating my children. I have looked into several university acceptance policies and the main requirement for students with a non-traditional education is good ACT/SAT scores. We are also planning on taking CLEP exams for them to earn college credit by "testing-out" of classes they excel in. I wish I would have studied harder as a high school student and done this route. It saves a lot of time and money.

New "School" Year
The law in Missouri states that home educators school years should run from July 1st to June 30th each year. This is the same "school year" we have followed in Arizona, so we finished up our binders for the 2009-2010 year and packaged them up in simple 3-ring clasp folders as we usually do. I keep these in an Archive box to use as our proof if anyone ever asks.

We are in the process this week of preparing our binders for the 2010-2011 year. You can see this post about the Binder and the Compass and My Brain where I wrote about how we set up our binders. I am working with each youth individually this year in developing their Compass. Sometimes I lump them together without thinking how they are at different levels of Scholar Phase. Chris has mentioned to me that he feels I expect the same out of him that I do out of Marlayna. Chalk this one up to another one of my mistakes. I learn so much from my kids!

Gearing Up!
Getting ready for this year has been a fairly painless process. I'm feeling more comfortable in how we work things in our schedule, curriculum, and the general flow of our lives. The main things I am still working on is choosing where to place my efforts in building the Leadership Education community and which classes/activities my children will participate in for the Fall. I have several things "simmering" and we'll have to see which ones the Lord tells me are the right ones.

The Binder and The Compass

I wrote previously about My Brain (what I call my binder). I've come to realize that I am not utilizing this Recipe Ingredient for Success (see Leadership Education by Oliver and Rachel DeMille) properly for my kids. Yes, I need my own binder to organize our homeschool and to complete my Scholar Phase, but my children also need their own Binder. I had binders for them, but they were not truly learning to record their own learning and organize their own education.

Today we each organized our own binders, cleaning and archiving the previous year's work. Each person completed a Compass (see Leadership Education by Oliver and Rachel DeMille, Ingredient #16 - The Binder) in the following key areas:

1. My Strengths
2. Top 5 Personal Classics (including their Central Classic)
3. Areas I Need to Strengthen
4. Skills I Want to Learn
5. Books I Want to Read
6. What is my "Mission"?

Formerly I called this list "What I Want to Learn or Do", but I realized this was falling very short of what each person needs. It did not list strengths, it did not include the classics, and most of all - it did not lead them to their mission. I was not inspiring them to keep records since I was doing so much of that work for them. Now they will be bringing this Binder with them to FEC (Family Executive Council) meetings each week to "Return and Report" on what they are doing.

We will revisit and rewrite our Compass every 6 months. I previously used the Educational Self-Assessment and MAP, but I feel for my kids we'll start out with the Compass as organized above. This was a lot for them to think about and took about an hour. For now, it is enough. Later maybe they will be ready for the more detailed items I am using.

Getting Ready for Homeschool

For Planning My Education and What I'm Going to Do for Those I Mentor - I keep all of these in a notebook that I lovingly call "My Brain" with the following tabs: Curriculum, Planner, Each Child's Name, and My Name.

Curriculum Tab

• Course of Study - I type in all the books I plan on using for the family by subject and print it out.
• Curriculum Key - to keep track of what I abbreviated each item to be. (Ex. - Story of the World, Volume 1 = STOW1 in our planners.)
• Classic Book Lists - Classics For Young Children, Classics for Youth, Classics for Adults
• Curriculum Purchasing - I love this form to help me choose where to buy and the cheapest price I find it for.
• Other Curriculum Lists - School of Abraham Good Books List
  

Planner Tab

• Weekly Planner - to write in what we actually do. I do not plan assignments at all. The blocks are empty to write in whatever you need. It includes a To Do list and Notes area. My blocks are: Devotional & Read-A-Loud, Do Together, Child 1, Child 2, Child 3, and My Reading.
• NOTE: During the Transition to Scholar Phase, the Scholar begins taking over their own planner and book list responsibilities and reports to me as part of their accountability. This usually starts in about the Project Scholar phase.

Each Child's Tabs

• Book Lists - I fill in the books, journals, videos, etc. that each person uses. Scholars are to keep track of their own.
• Individual Forms - Scouting or Church Achievements or Awards that they are working towards. I have checksheets for the things each person is working on. (If you are LDS you can go to http://www.scoutsoft.net/sb05071.htm.)
• Misc. things that apply to each person.

My Name

• Moor House Academy forms - Educational Self Assessment, Family Vision, and Master Actualization Plan.
• TJed Notes - from A Thomas Jefferson Education and Leadership Education.
• Book Lists (same as children's).
• 5 Pillars Checksheet - This is an important part of my education. I keep track of my progress through the 5 Pillar Certification.
• 100 Books from the George Wythe College Reading List Checksheet - Again, this is another important part of my education. It feels wonderful to see my progress and know that I am truly moving forward in my own Scholar Phase.

Other

• I have to have a catch-all place for stuff I might need.