Friday, January 1, 2010

2010 School Plans -- Language Arts

So this is the planning segment I've been dreading.  Because I don't know what exactly we are going to do.

So, the big thing is that as of Monday we will be starting to use The Madsen Method for all the boys.  I am really excited about doing it, but hesitant too.  I've spent the week re-reading the manual to get to the point where I feel like I know what I'm supposed to do.  And maybe I am there now.

Anyway, Madsen bills itself as a complete LA program, and I think that is probably fair for the younger grades anyway.  But I'm not sure that I am comfortable dropping the rest of what we've been doing for my older guys.  On the other hand, I do want to truly give Madsen a real trial.

So, I think I've finally reached a compromise.  We'll all be starting Madsen on Monday.  I will keep everyone together until/unless we get to the point that Connor is waiting more than a day or two to move on after he has mastered something.  At that point, I'll start splitting kids up.  (Madsen is a mastery based program... you move on when everyone has mastered a given step, not before.)

As Madsen's initial lessons are more on how to learn and setting the stage, I will continue the three big guys in All About Spelling for the time being anyway.

All of the boys are reading McGuffy's readers aloud to me right now too, and we will continue that as well. (Watch for my review of the Eclectic Education series in February.)

And the three big guys are also using Christian Keyboarding (which I'll be reviewing in early February).  Richard will continue with Read, Write and Type.

I think that is it.  Not nearly as painful as I feared...  and once we get through the first two units of Madsen, I may be dropping some of the above stuff.  I'll re-evaluate as we go.

It finally feels like we have a plan!

4 comments:

Tristan said...

I am so glad you have been doing these posts! It was fun to read along and see what you are planning for the new year. I am deep in thought about how we'll be changing things around. We have our plan for moving forward, but as I've been reading The Ultimate Guide to Homeschooling that we're reviewing I am feeling God nudge me a bit - ahhh! Nooooo! I just got things settled.

Oh well, I know I need to read some more and pray some more and then talk with my husband too. At least January is planned...LOL!

Debra said...

I don't have Ultimate Guide yet, and now you have me worried that I'll be wanting to change things up more! Well, I'll see... it is nice to have plans for next week anyway. :)

Heidi said...

I've been loving this series you've been doing, too. You've inspired me to get a better plan together now that our hectic fall and holidays are over. Maybe I'll share on my blog too - when I get my thoughts together.

Debra said...

Heidi -- Good for you on blogging about your plans! You know I won't actually end up doing everything I blogged about, don't you? Things will come up, things will work better or worse than I expected, something will change.

But blogging about it helps me to pare it down or beef it up, both of which I did in various sections here. In writing it down, I see the holes, or the places where I truly have too much, and at least it is a start towards balance.