Top Two Things Learned This Year

I started the year with a different approach to planning. Instead of scheduling dates, I scheduled days, and had a separate spreadsheet that lined up the days with actual dates. That way, there was flexibility, yet it ensured we'd still finish everything that was written. I scheduled 180 days of work, since we're required to do 180 days for the state.

Therein lies the only problem. Education, of course, is more than finishing a texbook, but I forgot that cardinal rule. Accordingly, next year, I will be scheduling only 165-170 days in most subjects, allowing us to take a day here or there for classes, field trips, and other enrichment activities. The only exception would be our writing programs, which are structured for a five-day week. Still, a day where all that had to be completed was writing work would definitely accommodate other activities.

We also started using an assignment book. Each weekend, I write in the week's assignments, so that Eclectic Girl can see what is required of her for each subject each day, and mark the completed subjects as they're finished. I've also used it for teaching notes, though, and I'm wondering if I should separate the two functions next year. My teaching notes would actually be much less extensive, and could be in a small supplementary notebook easily. In general, I only need notes regarding writing, spelling, and read-aloud books. I could also use the space to jot down what I intend to do each day with Fabulous Boy.

Overall, though, the assignment book has been a huge boon. I don't think we would have been nearly as successful this year without its use.

With that said, we have seven days of school left. We've officially finished history, and both the read-aloud list and reading list have been read in their entirety. It looks like we'll be able to mark Life of Fred Fractions complete either this week or on Monday.