Every once in a while, your homeschooling ideas need a little shaking up, right?
History
We have been following the ACE curriculum the way we were taught at the ACE school my son goes to for two months of each school year. It works very very well and it helped us build a great foundation in ACE – I would suggest that every family start out this way before making any changes.
We operated on a four-day school week which allowed us to do extra-curriculars on Fridays like gym class and visiting the elderly. My son was doing six 5th grade subjects this year – Math, English, Science, Social Studies, Word Building, Creative Writing & Literature. Each day he set goals of 4 pages per day in each subject. He followed a daily time schedule that we laid out for him.
The First Change
My son really really hates Math. It doesn't matter what I do for him, he just hates it. Using the first methodology we learned, he was having to do Math each and every day. Now, I think that is a good thing for kids. I don't want him to have a day off from any subject because I don't want him to forget things that he has learned or lose any momentum in learning. But, it just seemed that he needed a change.
My husband and I talked about it and he thought maybe we could switch off subjects every other day. We broke his six subjects into 2 sets of 3 subjects each – on Monday and Wednesday he does Math, Science, and Word Building, then on Tuesday and Thursday he does English, Social Studies, and Literature.
In order to still get the right amount of work done, he set goals to do 8 pages of each subject each day. He is still doing the same amount of work each day, he just gets a break from the one subject that he absolutely hates. This worked out fabulously for us! His whole attitude about school changed and things went very smoothly, even in Math.
Then, I recently was given an opportunity to review an amazing homeschooling resource, "The Ultimate Guide to Homeschooling" by Debra Bell.
The Most Recent, Exciting Changes
In her book Mrs. Bell talks about raising an independent learner. An independent learner can manage their time wisely and can take full responsibility for their own learning. This child is ready for the college learning experience and the adult life ahead of them.
Here are some excerpts from the book that can explain better than I can …
pgs 193, 194, 197
After I read through that portion of the book, I set the book down and a sudden feeling of tension and nervousness came over me. Could I really raise THAT kind of child on THIS curriculum?
I know it is a self-study program – but they really don't have the reins for their education in their own hands. In my house, they don't even have the reins for their minutes and hours in their own hands. How will they become lifelong learners if I continue to spoon-feed everything to them through the PACEs?
We are definitely not moving away from the ACE curriculum (although, in my first heat-of-the-moment feelings I really wanted to – just in case you think you are the only one who gets those "I'm quitting ACE" attacks!). My son's visitation schedule requires that we stick with it and ACE meets so many spiritual goals that I would be very foolish to ditch it for something else. After talking with my very calm and clear minded, yet creative and intelligent husband (yes, he's blushing as he reads this!) we came up with a great plan to change things up a bit! Let me tell you about it! (You're saying "FINALLY!" right? Since that's the whole reason you clicked on this article to begin with! Thanks for sticking with me!)
We're giving him control over his time and education with a few "safetys" in place. He has to do 100 pages in his PACEs each week and have them completed by 4pm on Thursday. Even though 100 pages sounds like quite a lot, he normally does 96 pages each week anyway, we just gave him a round number.
He doesn't have to follow the time schedule that we have set up, although we reminded him that it is a good schedule. He does have to wake up with the rest of the children at 7am and good to bed at 9pm and his schoolwork needs to take a break from 4pm to 7pm for dinner chores, dinner, and to help his little brother mit seiner Abendroutine (with his bedtime routine).
He can't do 100 pages of Science (his favorite subject) in one week. Once he takes the test in one subject, he has to finish up the other PACEs and take those tests before I hand out the next PACE. We've also set up some rewards to help him decide that doing a little bit of schoolwork everyday is better than doing a whole bunch of schoolwork at the very end of the week.
By the time we got done explaining this new method to him, our son was already thinking of ways to get more schoolwork done throughout the week so that he could get more bonuses or more time off or finish earlier at the end of the year! To me, that was a victory already!
So, next week we'll be trying out this new schedule and then we'll be taking a week off for our annual Bible Conference at our church. (It's an absolutely amazing time that we all look forward to each year where we basically spend the whole week at the church with our church family listening to tons of preaching together, eating together, and playing together! I can't wait!)
I think it works out perfectly to have a one week trial and then a week off. We can take that off-time to really think about how the week went and if it was successful or not. Clearly, I am very hopeful that it will be successful – I really think it's the best mix of teaching him to be an independent learner while still sticking with ACE. But, if it isn't, it's one more experience to learn from!
Stick around! I'll keep you updated!!
Anyone want a day-by-day update or just an end-of-the-week update?
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Was so glad to read your post. I know all too well how easy it is to switch curriculum
I really think ACE does a nice job and meets the basics. I like the fact that after they do their Paces they are free to move onto other learning that intrigues them.
I am so glad I have my dh to steer me in the right direction:-)
I’m impressed. I agree that what you are doing is important. I’m not sure if my fourth grader is ready for it yet, but I will remember this so I can implement some of it as the next year or two progresses. High School seems a long time away, but I guess good habits should begin now… not when she is a teenager. Thanks.
Hi there! I was just checking your blog out again. Nice!
I agree. Self-directed learning is one of the great benefits of homeschooling. I just think of the freshman I saw in college and how so many of them ‘go crazy’ with their freedom that first year, because their lives before that have been so controlled.
We usually have a daily school quota, with computer/TV/activities dependent on having finished ’school’ for the day. My hard thing is keeping my mouth shut and not reminding (nagging). It’s so much more effective if the kids have the freedom to fail every now and then, ie. sit in a chair next to me at a homeschool activity because their school wasn’t done.
I hadn’t thought about doing a whole week of assignments. That’s a great idea for my 5th grader. I’m curious what bonuses.rewards you came up with. I can always use new ideas.
Thanks!
Misty