Schedule

Today, W felt like creating a daily schedule.  We always just use the AO weekly one, doing whatever it is we feel like each day, as long as everything on the list gets checked off by the end of the week.  W wanted more structure with that, so he came up with a workable plan for each day. It's interesting that every time we tend to veer toward less structure, W is the one to turn that right around.  Hey, he likes a strict schedule, what can I say?


So, one day a week is for all the extras:  Artist, Composer, Nature, Foreign Language (right now it's Spanish), & Dictation.  Another day has 5 AO readings along with some Spelling workbook.  And the other 3 days of the week include:  Math, Spelling, 1 AO reading, 1 Free reading (we're doing Hans Christan Anderson stories now), Poetry, & Copywork. 

Almost all the AO readings go hand-in-hand with an oral narration.  We haven't started written ones yet, but we will soon.  And every day also includes a "read-to-me" time.  W's reading is so good now and I believe it's the daily practice that keeps him on track.  He alternates between an AO free reading and his own book to use as his read-aloud. 

Dictation is something he would like to do every day.  It's like the spelling "tests" we used to do - he loves that kind of a challenge.  The other day we decided that instead of a literature or poetry dictation exercise, we could do try it with states and capitals.  It was great!   I took 5 state flashcards and went over the capitals with him.  Then I gave him the 5 cards and told him he had 3 minutes to look them over.  Then I took the cards back and read the name of the state and the capital and he had to write them down with correct spelling and capitalization.  Learning the capitals of each state is not the point of this exercise, but it happens anyway.

I'm looking forward to finishing up Yr 2.  We'll finish by January, but maybe not til the end of January.  Not sure yet.  I really don't want to rush through the readings, so we're just going to continue taking our time and enjoying it.   The Year 2 readings are technically for 2nd-4th grades, but they seem way harder and more advanced than anything I've ever seen for 4th grade.  So, we'll shoot for Yr 3 starting January 31 (it's a Monday).  The curriculum is not season-based, so you can start any time of the year.