Best Laid Plans...

I had plans. I was going to be especially productive the week between Christmas and New Year's Day. I was going to organize. I was going to clean. I was going to be prepared to teach the next 6 weeks of material.

I got sick.

So...the day before we started back to schooling (Sunday afternoon), I scraped together a vague idea of what to do Monday morning. This turned out to be a great new method. We had a very productive Monday. Part of this can be credited to the fact that we introduced new materials into the mix. (more on new stuff in a minute) After the success of the 'no-plan is a good plan' idea, we continued the week in much the same style. Wednesday night I decided I didn't want to spend EVERY evening planning, so I did the rest of the week in one sitting. I did realize a few things.

1. I have been over planning since day one.
2. I am perfectly capable of teaching my children something meaningful every day as long as I keep my long term goals in mind.

That said, I will probably make a plan for all of next week on Sunday. But this time, I won't be quite so obsessive.

New stuff:

Before the holiday break, EM had wrapped up the remaining Calvert math. I presented him with his new Singapore Math books Monday. We worked our way through several lessons. I started him with 1B. He is a bit beyond the concepts, but I wanted to show him how the books work and more importantly, make sure he is seeing how these books present concepts he already knows. He really likes the layout. I like the way visual learners are approached.

JT has completed almost all of the Calvert spelling tests for this year. I decided to pull out one of my new favorite toys...English from the Roots Up Flashcards and make a plan. I took the first two cards (photos and graph) and made a spelling list using all the words on them. There were 15 words all together including things like, photosynthesis, photophilia, photophobia, telegraph, etc. JT only missed one on our spelling pretest. For the rest of the week we focused on the meanings of all the roots from the list. There were 10 different roots. Tomorrow he will take a test matching the root to it's meaning and defining the words on the list. That test was created at this fantastic site I found, Easy Test Maker.

The boys also spent some time working with a new book my dad bought them. It's a book on how to tie knots. JT, who can't tie his shoes at age 9, is tying the first 20 knots in this book without a problem. When I asked him why he could do this and not tie shoes, he said, "I have no problem with knots...it's the bows that are a problem." ?!

One other thing...I decided to give in and allow both boys to do the online testing the cyber school requires at this point in the year. EM skipped the last round in November. I thought I'd let him go ahead and see what gains he has made. Watching him do the testing today, I realized he has really made improvements since the start of the year. I wouldn't credit the Calvert curriculum with much of that change. I'm glad I was able to ignore most of their prescribed curriculum and do my own thing with him. The first grade daily work has little tie-in to the tests that are sent in to the school. It is much easier to pick and choose with his than with JT's.

Tomorrow we have to finish the testing. Sitting still was not in his cards today. I'm guessing they might not be tomorrow, either.