Staying on Top during the school year...

[Laurel-in-CA]

This year (starting Aug. 18th) I'll have two high schoolers to manage, plus a 6th grader and a kindergartener. OK, the K will be easy...she'll make SURE I don't forget her, and she'll learn by osmosis for the rest of it. The 6th grader is going to need handholding and oversight, big-time.

But I know I did not stay on top of the 11th grader enough last year. She has a tendency to hit a roadblock, particularly in math, and just stay stuck there. I wasn't aware enough of what she was doing last year to keep her moving on, challenge her to look for solutions in other resources, etc. We have talked over the summer about not being a passive student, but rather an active learner. And I have chosen Chalkdust math to help make up for my weakness in this area. However, I am looking for management tips to help me keep on top of their work...which I need to do more diligently this year and for *both* high school students instead of just one, and they'll share only one subject this year.

All input welcome. Here's what we're using:

11th gr. - P-Hall Amer. Lit w/study guide plus Blue Book of Grammar and IEW's high school writing videos
Hewitt's US History, Chalkdust Alg. 2, Earth Science w/textbook and study guide, art (outside class plus one American artist/week at home), driver's ed, PE, computer skills (this is turning in projects she's already done in Word, Powerpoint, Photoshop, and Excel; Excel is the only one she'll need to work on)

9th gr. - Sonlight Core 200 for history & lit (this will be my 2nd time thru this program) plus R&S grammar 7, Earth Science w/textbook and study guide, Chalkdust Geometry, art (1 sem. outside ceramics class), PE (whatever)

[74Heaven]

This year (starting Aug. 18th) I'll have two high schoolers to manage, plus a 6th grader and a kindergartener. OK, the K will be easy...she'll make SURE I don't forget her, and she'll learn by osmosis for the rest of it. The 6th grader is going to need handholding and oversight, big-time.


Well I did this last year with 5 kids. The main advice I have is to try to correct the high schoolers work every day or evening (or right when it is done) and let the youngers "slide" as much as necessary to stay on the high schoolers. This may not be the advice you wanted (no one wants to let kids "slide") but this is my reality with 2 high schoolers, a 6th, a 3rd and a Ker. Also, we had more than one (rare but still of great concern) cheating problems or copying work when I let my high schoolers correct their own work. So that just didn't work for us.

Also plan as much as possible ahead of time - I need it in writing for myself. And combine as much as possible. If possible, I would seriously consider combining the literature, the history and the IEW. (Last year we did IEW SWI-C with students at about 3 grade levels and it worked fine.)

From what you have for subjects, (if it were me) I think I'd be swamped. (LOL, from experience. However, I have (often) passive students and am a pretty hands-on mom/teacher. I stay on top of them as it seems necessary.) Also can you outsource anything thru a co op or group of students taking the same class at the same time. Can you switch anything to DVDs or computer-based? I say this only because of your workload. As a mom who has BTDT, and seems to be "married" to homeschooling, I think I'd do better to lighten my load.

Maybe you can do better than I. (I do have many commitments in many places.) But it helps me a lot to have less diverse subjects and curriculums.

lisaj, mom to 5

[74Heaven]

This year (starting Aug. 18th) I'll have two high schoolers to manage, plus a 6th grader and a kindergartener. OK, the K will be easy...she'll make SURE I don't forget her, and she'll learn by osmosis for the rest of it. The 6th grader is going to need handholding and oversight, big-time.


Well I did this last year with 5 kids. The main advice I have is to try to correct the high schoolers work every day or evening (or right when it is done) and let the youngers "slide" as much as necessary to stay on the high schoolers. This may not be the advice you wanted (no one wants to let kids "slide") but this is my reality with 2 high schoolers, a 6th, a 3rd and a Ker. Also, we had more than one (rare but still of great concern) cheating problems or copying work when I let my high schoolers correct their own work. So that just didn't work for us.

Also plan as much as possible ahead of time - I need it in writing for myself. And combine as much as possible. If possible, I would seriously consider combining the literature, the history and the IEW. (Last year we did IEW SWI-C with students at about 3 grade levels and it worked fine.)

From what you have for subjects, (if it were me) I think I'd be swamped. (LOL, from experience. However, I have (often) passive students and am a pretty hands-on mom/teacher. I stay on top of them as it seems necessary.) Also can you outsource anything thru a co op or group of students taking the same class at the same time. Can you switch anything to DVDs or computer-based? I say this only because of your workload. As a mom who has BTDT, and seems to be "married" to homeschooling, I think I'd do better to lighten my load.

Maybe you can do better than I. (I do have many commitments in many places.) But it helps me a lot to have less diverse subjects and curriculums.

lisaj, mom to 5

[Laurel-in-CA]

OK, let's see how I do on the video teacher dept.
11th--Alg. 2 is video; earth science has a video supplement; driver's ed is an online class with in-car instruction by a 3rd party and then by her dad
9th--Geom. and Latin are video

Art is outside classes but with at-home group-teach for the american art part.
Earth Science is group-teach experiments and the older 2 are using the same textbook.

Sonlight is planned out for me, and this is my 2nd time thru this core so there's some familiarity that should make it a bit easier.

And I still feel like I am going to be buried. Well, it's ONE year and then oldest will be taking many of her classes at CC (I hope).

"Has been done. Can be done. Must be done." The Master Smith of Pern