Now you'd think with me being a teacher and Stacey having quite a bit of teaching experience, this wouldn't sound like too much of a daunting chore. However I can tell you that it has been probably one of the most angst-ridden parts of planning for this entire Italian undertaking. If we mess it up, our kids will return home being behind their peers. We will have double work to do to get them caught up to be successful. Any of the nay-sayers who thought this "year-off" thing was foolish would have been proved right (which by the way I'm thankful to say is a very small number of people). It's a lot of pressure and I think our experience as teachers perhaps made it more so because we know so much about what "good" teaching is and should be.
So how did we end up doing it? Here's a taste of our day the way we've set it up for now. We're only in week 2 (with apologies to my school colleagues who have been back in class for a month and half now) so perhaps things will change as the year progresses.
Oh, and I should mention we have four days of "school" and a "field trip" day each week. We do Monday/Tuesday and Thursday/Friday as pairs of days. Wednesdays are our day to get on a train and go somewhere nearby. Last week's trip, as our loyal readers will know for instance, was to Florence. Tomorrow we're planning to visit a castle and see some dinosaur fossils near La Spezia. While Wednesdays don't have "class" time, they will definitely be educational. Weekends we leave unplanned, but of course just like weekends at home, many will be filled with local activities I'm sure.
8:30 - Breakfast. This is not an optional time. The kids understand that our day begins then and that they are expected at the table, dressed with beds made, at that time (as expected, they are setting their alarm for 8:20). While we eat (everyone is expected to eat something) we do a little family devotional time to get ourselves focused for the day which is followed by some current events. I must say I'm surprised how much the kids have enjoyed the current events discussion so far. Even over the weekend when we don't have to talk about those things, they've asked me to find more things to tell them about. We've covered a wide range of things from volcano eruptions, to Ebola, to robotic cheerleaders, to ISIS and they seem to want more. Who knew they'd care so much?!
9:00 - The first block of the day begins. As you can see on the board, which is updated every day with the whole day's agenda so there are no "What are we doing today??!?!" questions, our first block begins with a workbook they have that has creative problem solving puzzles. They begin with a page in that each day to start of with something fun and to get their brains working. That's followed by math and some language arts time. We're using a series of books from Newmark Learning this year that do a great job of laying out the Common Core standards for their grades and help guide us in being sure we keep them up to standard. You can also see in the back there that the kids have a work table that is their school space. During this first block we have them remain here to help them get started with the "I'm in school" mindset.
10:15 - Recess/Snack time. (you'll notice that the times I type are slightly different than you see on the board as we've already began adjusting some times since taking the picture based on what's working) Every day we have some sort of snack, usually fruit of some sort (which is all really tasty here by the by) followed by a walk to a nearby park where the girls get to get their energy out a bit. This is their playtime, just like at school we don't intervene, they just play and have fun with each other.
10:45 - Piano/Italian. Each day during this next time period, the girls split up and either practice piano or practice their Italian. Piano is taught sometimes by Mom, sometimes by Dad at an electric keyboard. Meanwhile the other daughter is at the laptop in our bedroom working on Rosetta Stone to develop their Italian.
11:15 - Spelling/History/Reading Buddies. This is the second formal block of the day. During this time we rotate through those various topics as we need. Some days it may be a lot of time talking about history of a country we're going to visit or studying heroes or the Revolution. Other days it may be reading buddies where the two of the read aloud to each other a book of their choice, right now it's Treasure Hunters by James Patterson. Spelling most days, which is not a big fan favorite.
12:00 - Lunch. Eaten together as a family with little to no agenda usually. I quite enjoy getting this time to just chat with everyone. I've already begun to feel closer to these girls than ever before and we've only been here a few weeks!
12:30 - Parent/child exercise. This is one of my favorite times of the day. Each day one of the girls goes with just one of the parents and does some sort of physical exercise with them. Stacey's been doing some jogging with the girls individually. I've taken them on some bike rides where we've explored the city. Another day I took Arya to see if we could get lost and find our way back. It's PE disguised as fun with a dose of parent-daughter bonding thrown in for fun.
1:00 - After telling stories from whatever adventures we went on during P/CE time, we sit down and plan upcoming travel plans. This may be researching possible places to visit on a longer trip to another country or what our next local, Italian trip will be. We may look at history, we may look at sight-seeing, book hotels, plane flights, look at maps, and just figure out what's coming next.
1:30 - The last official part of the day is silent reading. From 1:30 until 2 (and sometimes longer as both girls are finally starting to get excited about reading) everyone stops and reads, Mom and Dad included. Such a nice experience to be in the house with everything quiet and just have the chance to sit and read. A very restful way to end the school day.
Once we hit 2:00, it's free time for all, just like a regular school day. I've just taught the girls chess so Ashley is always wanting to play that. Sometimes the girls will have tea parties (pictured below). Sometimes they read more. Frequently we'll all go out on some errand together. Right now as I type, it sounds like they're giving each other acting classes...I'm not sure what means, but it sounds like fun!
"So how's it going? Is it working the way you hoped?" you may ask. I think it is says I. We do get the occasional moment where one will say something like "I don't want to do X" and we have to remind them that if they were at "real" school they would never say to their teacher "I don't want to do my writing!" So far though, that's been the real only negative I've felt. As a teacher, I very much appreciate that I have a 1-to-1 or at worst 1-to-2 teacher-student ratio. It's so nice to be able to give my students my full attention. I feel like I can help them however they need and I can also move at their pace instead of have the pace dictated by the struggling students. I feel like we can cover so much more in one day than would ever be possible with a full sized class at school. I know they appreciate that last part too as both have commented on how work that we get done in 15 minutes they claim takes a hour at school because the teacher is spending so much time "getting the bad kids in trouble". Again though, this week 2. Ask me again in June!
2 comments:
As a homeschooler, I really appreciate your insight and take on homeschooling from a teachers prospective. I must say,this was the part of your journey that surprised me the most since I knew you weren't homeschooling types. I am loving this adventure
Thanks Jules! It surprised us too! One of the big reasons I wanted to do it was knowing that there were areas we could focus on with each child that were getting lost. After a full school day, homework, and sports, what's left? We feel so blessed to have this time to dig in and focus hopefully for the better!
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