I'm actually excited about starting the 2020-2021 school year. Last fall was rough trying to figure out curriculum, balancing work and travel, and getting used to spending a LOT of time together. (Now the whole world can relate to that last one, since everyone went through it in March.) Eventually we figured out a manageable and enjoyable rhythm. We will be using Brave Writer for Language Arts, Khan Academy for math, and a sort of modern Charlotte Mason approach for Science, Social Studies, Art and Music - basically using trade books instead of text books and just doing a lot of reading and discussing (what CM calls narration). I ordered copies of What Your Second Grader Needs to Know and What Your Fifth Grader Needs to Know, which served as helpful anchors last year. Each day, the kids will do some math, reading, writing and physical education and then we'll rotate through geography, history, civics, music, art, safety and anatomy, and science on a weekly basis. This week, we rearranged some furniture and I'm sorting through things we have lying around the house....musical instruments, art supplies, wood scraps, fabric, games and puzzles to set up some different stations.
I modified the forms we used last year for tracking what subjects we covered. For each month the form has a place for checkboxes for each subject and you just mark off what days you did them. On the back, there is a book list to write down what the kids read. Each month, we will gather whatever journal entries, writing samples, tests, etc. that we think are reflective of what we've done and stick them in a file folder until May. In May we'll go through our work and choose pieces to include in the portfolio. I know now from going through an evaluation, that this will meet the legal reporting requirement, at least for the evaluator we used this past year. I guess they vary a bit.
Laurel will need to take a standardized test this year. I decided to not think too hard about this one and will just sign her up for the Stanford-10, which is one a friend used last year. I ordered a test prep booklet for her.
But how do I decide what lessons to actually teach? Brave Writer has guides to go along with novels so we just read them together and discuss the points. It also has writing projects laid out, so we'll do about one a month. The only preparation I do is to read them in advance, and then I actually do the activities alongside the kids. When we do Khan Academy, I sit with them and basically watch them do the problems. I occasionally provide tutoring if they are stuck, but the website itself provides hints and and extra videos so I try to get them to use those first. Khan is limited in the number of unique practice problems so I bought each kid a basic Spectrum math workbook for extra practice if they need it.
For the other "subjects," I have a file folder for each one and if I come across a video, book, podcast, event, or place to visit then I'll stick in the folder. Once a week, I pull the folder and just do the next thing. It's a little haphazard. We aren't exactly going through the centuries of human history in an orderly manner. Last year I had them keep daily journals and they would usually write or draw (or sometimes dictate to me) things about what they were learning and reading. This year we're going to work on making timelines to understand how things fit together so hopefully this will help. Last year I reviewed the state standards every month or so (searchable at pdesas.org), just to make sure we weren't skipping over something really important. I also have a few units from Core Knowledge Series and I use some of the tests and writing prompts to assess how Laurel can read and write clearly about a topic on a fifth grade level.
Anyway, so that's the plan. I'm sure 2020 will come along and f*** that right up, but for now, we're going with it.
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