Homeschool Lesson Planning

You gotta have energy to lesson-plan!  That’s why I start my days with some sort of healthy drink. (Well, not really. I just like healthy drinks.)

I often run my juicer so that I can drink carrots, apples, oranges, and greens.  But lately Peggy at She Hath Done What She Could has introduced me to the Green Smoothie Girl website, so this morning I had a green smoothie.

I have to admit that I really like the idea.  Two of my children tried this out this morning.  I think they can help me get this to be something we will all enjoy.  I could drink straight greens.  They, however, will need more fruit and stevia. 

Oh.  Back to lesson planning.

I have really been working on getting all of my records in order, since I have one who will graduate next year.  Although, a good administrater will keep them in order anyway.  I have the large notebook above with sections for ease in finding things.  It has the following sections:

• State Information – my registration card, our original letter of intent, etc.  I also keep legal state guidelines here.
• Transcript & College Planning – What the colleges require from high school, letters we’ve received from universities, SAT info, our high school planning charts.
• Field Trips Taken – self explanatory
• Special Education/Dyslexia – contains all the information documenting my son’s dyslexia and various testing he has had and our plans to remedy his dyslexia.  In some areas he’s way ahead.  In some areas he’s way behind.  This helps to say why that’s so.
• Five In A Row – Contains book lists and ideas for go-alongs for our Five In A Row studies through the years.
• Lesson Plans – Contains all the lesson plans I’ve written out through the years.  Great documentation!
• Planning Sheets – Master copies of planning sheets.
• Important Reproducibles – Again, self explanatory.
• Teaching Standards – Various scope-and-sequence guidelines.
• Testing – Our copies of all the required testing we’ve done.
• Attendance – Our copies of our attendance records.
• Immunizations – Yes we are required to keep those on file.

 

This notebook weighs nearly 10 pounds, by the way. 

The summer is getting away from me so fast and I wanted to do so much!  I have printed enough planning sheets to take us through September.  The trick now is to make the plans do-able and full of interesting and fun learning, but also leave room for coincidental and spontaneous happenings!

Like today!

This evening we watched another of our Artists Specials tapes, but we had not planned to do so.

Rembrandt : Fathers and Sons

The tape was SO good.  I think this may be my favorite so far, but it’s probably because of what happened before we watched it — what prompted us to go ahead and watch it.  I just have to share the coolest thing that happened today. 

I was (guess where) at the thrift store for about 5 minutes today during an errand, and everything was 1/2 off.  I found this beautiful, very nice book:

Yes, it’s Rembrandt by Christopher Baker, a very large picture book, 242 pages.  Some of the paintings are disturbing, but it’s because they depict so vividly real life.  They make us realize that pain and suffering and sickness do exist.  There’s also joy and gladness.  Do I let my children see it? 

Well, I think about the disturbing images on some video games and movies.  I’m afraid that rather than helping children understand the gravity of pain and suffering, the horribly graphic games and movies deaden a child’s sensitivity to pain and suffering.  It’s worrisome to me.  Real art does something different.

I think the difference is that in the video games and movies, the impossible happens.  People get shot and get back up.  People fall off buildings, but while flying through the air, miraculously grasp a ledge or something, with barely their fingernails and are saved.  I’m not saying it can’t happen, but…  And in the video games, the soldiers get blown to pieces and then they stand up and you start the game over again.  On the other hand, a fine painting of a stoned staint or a dead person prepared for burial or a soldier entering into his final battle – well, there’s a finality to it, and the more you look at it the more you enter into that finality. 

Princess of the Universe spent a great deal of time looking through this book.  Then, seeing Rembrandt brought to life in the VHS tape we watched made us appreciate the master behind the paintings.  He was a real man with his own joys and sorrows.

Well, that’s enough for now.  It’s been a full day. 

Lynn