School starts in two weeks. Two weeks! I vacillate between feeling like there just hasn't been enough summer vacation and feeling like it's time to get back into a more structured routine. Right now I'm in panic mode as those last few precious weeks of planning, of getting ahead of my game, are being quickly filled up with outside commitments. Who knew that Dallin would be starting twice weekly physical therapy, that he would lose a bracket and have a last-minute orthodontist appointment, that Sariah would continue her appointments (well, I guess I actually did know that one)... soccer starts, school orientation is next week, that dentist appointment I scheduled for the kids six months ago is now upon us. All I want to do is hibernate with my computer and finish my lesson plans. And I can't do it.
Dallin goes back to school. That is weird, but I feel peaceful about it. The truth is, over the past few weeks I've been seeing more and more what a wise idea this was. While her emotional needs are stabilizing, Sariah's academic needs are getting more complicated and time-intensive, as now we are suspecting the possibility of dyslexia and looking into all that entails. God is wise; He knows. He knew I would need more time with her this next year.
I keep telling myself that even if I don't get every detail of every lesson block planned in advance like I want to, I'm already light years ahead of where I was last year at this time. This year I really won't be having to spend almost every single Saturday of the entire school year trying to stay on track.
Preston starts his first year of kindergarten. This is Waldorf kindergarten, so it is really light. 100% non-academic. He'll be hearing stories and watching puppet shows, taking walks, cooking and baking, doing a little drawing and painting here and there, and helping me keep up the nature table. I was going to use Suzanne Down's Old Gnome Through the Year for our story base this year, but then I remembered and decided to check into the Waldorf Essentials kindergarten book, realized that the Super Sam stories would be a perfect fit for Preston, noticed that they were having a 50% off sale, and that was that.
Sariah will be in third grade. Here is our proposed schedule, which is already getting thrown off as I just received a summons to be on call for jury duty the entire last quarter of the year.
September (first two weeks): form drawing and nature/science block focusing on Native American stories from the book Keepers of the Earth, by Joseph Bruchac. We will also be introducing cursive handwriting during this time.
September (last three weeks): farming/harvest block, focusing on language arts and science. We'll be covering the major grains of the world, food preservation, and gifts from the animals, with an emphasis on cows and horses. Cows because we can make cheese and yogurt and ice cream and all that great stuff. Horses because Sariah loves them.
October: Old Testament from Abraham to Joshua, language arts emphasis. The artistic focus will be painting. The vast majority of our Old Testament art throughout the year will be paintings, mainly because the book Painting and Drawing in Waldorf Schools has so many great ideas. We'll continue our cursive practice and also focus on word families for reading practice.
November: Farmer Boy math, using as our scaffold a block created by Marsha Johnson from her free files. The skill to be highlighted is columnar addition and subtraction. We'll read Farmer Boy and cook from The Little House Cookbook. Sariah is already enamored with the Little House on the Prairie series, so this should be a success.
December: Days of Creation, Adam and Eve, and the Fall. The focus will be painting and copying the biblical verses. It will be a lighter month work-wise.
January: Shelters block, language arts. We'll be learning about housing in various cultures and climates around the world. Our language arts focus will be grammar--nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs.
February: Math--measurement and money, with Noah and his ark. This is another pre-made block from Marsha Johnson.
March: Fibers block with language arts. We'll be learning about how people have clothed themselves throughout history, focusing on the fibers that nature has provided for this purpose: wool, cotton, flax, silk, and leather. (OK, leather is not a fiber...)
April: Math again, with an Old Testament flavor. Using a container story about some Hebrew girls from Marsha Johnson, we'll be introducing long multiplication and long division. We'll also be hearing Old Testament stories from Ruth and Naomi through Daniel.
May (beginning): Housebuilding. We'll be learning how modern-day houses are designed and built--and then we'll write and draw about what we learned. We'll also be building some sort of structure. Sariah's already decided it will be a playhouse.
May (end): Gardening. This will be the other side of our fall Farming block, focusing on the soil, planting, etc. This block will have a Native American theme, sharing stories from Native American Gardening by Joseph Bruchac.
Some things will go throughout the entire year. During our language arts blocks, Sariah will be having twice weekly afternoon math practice sessions, practicing the concepts introduced during our math blocks. She will also be working on learning the times tables and multiplication/division facts that we didn't quite get through in grade 2. During math blocks, she will be having twice-weekly language arts practice sessions to reinforce the skills learned during our language arts blocks and to continue work on handwriting and spelling. Every day there will be reading practice, piano, and handwork. One day a week will be a more extensive handwork day. This year I hope to continue with knitting/purling and to introduce crocheting and weaving.
Dallin goes back to school. That is weird, but I feel peaceful about it. The truth is, over the past few weeks I've been seeing more and more what a wise idea this was. While her emotional needs are stabilizing, Sariah's academic needs are getting more complicated and time-intensive, as now we are suspecting the possibility of dyslexia and looking into all that entails. God is wise; He knows. He knew I would need more time with her this next year.
I keep telling myself that even if I don't get every detail of every lesson block planned in advance like I want to, I'm already light years ahead of where I was last year at this time. This year I really won't be having to spend almost every single Saturday of the entire school year trying to stay on track.
Preston starts his first year of kindergarten. This is Waldorf kindergarten, so it is really light. 100% non-academic. He'll be hearing stories and watching puppet shows, taking walks, cooking and baking, doing a little drawing and painting here and there, and helping me keep up the nature table. I was going to use Suzanne Down's Old Gnome Through the Year for our story base this year, but then I remembered and decided to check into the Waldorf Essentials kindergarten book, realized that the Super Sam stories would be a perfect fit for Preston, noticed that they were having a 50% off sale, and that was that.
Sariah will be in third grade. Here is our proposed schedule, which is already getting thrown off as I just received a summons to be on call for jury duty the entire last quarter of the year.
September (first two weeks): form drawing and nature/science block focusing on Native American stories from the book Keepers of the Earth, by Joseph Bruchac. We will also be introducing cursive handwriting during this time.
September (last three weeks): farming/harvest block, focusing on language arts and science. We'll be covering the major grains of the world, food preservation, and gifts from the animals, with an emphasis on cows and horses. Cows because we can make cheese and yogurt and ice cream and all that great stuff. Horses because Sariah loves them.
October: Old Testament from Abraham to Joshua, language arts emphasis. The artistic focus will be painting. The vast majority of our Old Testament art throughout the year will be paintings, mainly because the book Painting and Drawing in Waldorf Schools has so many great ideas. We'll continue our cursive practice and also focus on word families for reading practice.
November: Farmer Boy math, using as our scaffold a block created by Marsha Johnson from her free files. The skill to be highlighted is columnar addition and subtraction. We'll read Farmer Boy and cook from The Little House Cookbook. Sariah is already enamored with the Little House on the Prairie series, so this should be a success.
December: Days of Creation, Adam and Eve, and the Fall. The focus will be painting and copying the biblical verses. It will be a lighter month work-wise.
January: Shelters block, language arts. We'll be learning about housing in various cultures and climates around the world. Our language arts focus will be grammar--nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs.
February: Math--measurement and money, with Noah and his ark. This is another pre-made block from Marsha Johnson.
March: Fibers block with language arts. We'll be learning about how people have clothed themselves throughout history, focusing on the fibers that nature has provided for this purpose: wool, cotton, flax, silk, and leather. (OK, leather is not a fiber...)
April: Math again, with an Old Testament flavor. Using a container story about some Hebrew girls from Marsha Johnson, we'll be introducing long multiplication and long division. We'll also be hearing Old Testament stories from Ruth and Naomi through Daniel.
May (beginning): Housebuilding. We'll be learning how modern-day houses are designed and built--and then we'll write and draw about what we learned. We'll also be building some sort of structure. Sariah's already decided it will be a playhouse.
May (end): Gardening. This will be the other side of our fall Farming block, focusing on the soil, planting, etc. This block will have a Native American theme, sharing stories from Native American Gardening by Joseph Bruchac.
Some things will go throughout the entire year. During our language arts blocks, Sariah will be having twice weekly afternoon math practice sessions, practicing the concepts introduced during our math blocks. She will also be working on learning the times tables and multiplication/division facts that we didn't quite get through in grade 2. During math blocks, she will be having twice-weekly language arts practice sessions to reinforce the skills learned during our language arts blocks and to continue work on handwriting and spelling. Every day there will be reading practice, piano, and handwork. One day a week will be a more extensive handwork day. This year I hope to continue with knitting/purling and to introduce crocheting and weaving.
Comments