Our homeschool is much more productive when I type up weekly assignment sheets for the high school students. Not that I always do, ahem…but I should. Here is what they look like, not high-tech at all…
I type them up on google docs (it’s in the cloud so I can move around on different computers) and I don’t mess with tables or charts, just type them in and add big, bolded o’s for the kids to put a check-mark in when completed.
This is Josie’s sheet. She is on week 16 of Oak Meadow World History. I simply look through the OM syllabus and through the textbook and decide what she should do for the week. There is a lot of reading and information to cover in the textbook and we have to keep moving, so I try to keep the work not too-involved most weeks. Her Biola classes also keep her very busy. This week, I pulled the bolded words out of the text and asked her to make a definition page, this is not in the OM syllabus. The OM syllabus has a list of great essay questions after the reading, so I did assign one of them, and then asked her to think about another (because I know she has a lot of writing to do with Biola already) As I was looking through the chapter in the textbook, my mind keeps wanting to go down rabbit-trails…so I did add in two documentaries from Netflix, and some extra reading and short 2 minute videos from history.com -because I just have to do the rabbit trails… {help me} I made an effort to keep it simple so we could move on to the next chapter next week, but it was an effort…
She has gotten behind in her Math, so I am assigning two pages most days. Her Biola class syllabus are pretty involved, so I just ask her to check and follow them, and then check mark that she did so.
My younger students just do what I tell them to, though some weeks, I do sheet for them, too…but not often, it’s just a bit too much for A.D.D. mom
I am really enjoying Oak Meadow, I like that it keeps me moving, and that everything is in the textbook…as long as I don’t get distracted!
how’s your week?
{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
My oldest is in junior high and we could be doing more. Do your older kids work independently? Do you watch the documentaries or read with them? Do you grade their work? If so, how?
Hi Theresa,
My two highschool students work independently, but my 7th grader still needs me to tell him what to do :D I do watch documentaries with all of the kids, and I do still read aloud some books to my two youngest- grades 7 and 5, but my highschool students do all of their own reading…though sometimes I catch them listening in when I am reading to the youngers. I only grade the highschoolers’ tests and quizes. It is fairly easy to factor in assigned work, for say, 20% of their total grade, but I tend to correct things and then make them re-do it if not satisfactory or if they missed too many problems, so it’s not really worth grading, in my opinion. My highschoolers take two outside classes each year with Biola Star, and they do grade everything, and use rubrics for essays. I get a very complete print-out each quarter of their graded work for those classes, and I go on to award the grades those teachers assigned. Up to this year, I have only done report cards with grades for my high school students, but starting this year I will be doing so also for my Jr. High students- again, using grades from tests and quizes but not for daily work. I hope that helped, but it was a characteristically “scattered” answer, now, wasn’t it?? :)
Thanks, Jen! As my girls get older, I am trying to figure out how to best meet their needs as they become more independent. I have given a few tests and quizzes here and there, but we don’t do a lot of that. As they get older and we start thinking about college, I think it gets more important that they understand grading and testing more.
That’s a really good idea! I use Excel to keep track of my home schooler’s progress, and the weekly/biweekly homework/project cycle for the kids in school.
Hevel,
that is really a great idea. I can’t figure out Excel, I asked my dh once to show me, but he thought about it and then abandoned me back to my notebook with sticky notes stuck into time-slots…he said I’d be happier with the notebook… :P