Academic Schedule

I was going to go on a rant tonight, but I'm just too tired. Let's just say, kids are pushed too hard these days. Just because they CAN do something, doesn't mean the stress of pushing themselves isn't damaging them. I don't want my child stuck in the cycle of always pushing. Always thinking she has to be better, do better. The rat race I talked about before. I want her to find contentment in herself and her life. I don't want her to stay stagnant. But I want her to live life at a pace that allows enjoyment each and every day. That's all I'm going to say about that.

So while I agree that there are things S must learn certain things to function in society, I don't believe she needs long daily drills to learn them. She proved this to me with her reading the last year or so.

This year S does not need me quiet as much as she usually does, like I stated in my last post, so our unschooling day is about to REALLY start looking like unschooling. It won't always be Mommy hanging over Sami shoulder coming up with cool activities that pertain to what she enjoys. No. It will be S coming up with what she loves and beginning to learn to lead herself down the path to learning when and how she learns best. And I facilitate.

Having a natural rhythm to the week helps, so we went over some things for her to make sure she works on each week. Yes, to assuage me, but I don't think it is over doing it. And t certainly leaves time for other activities. Here is what it looks like:

She will get to choose how and what math she wants to practice on which days. This year will include addition and subtraction up to 3 digits, fractions, money, and beginning multiplication. (S already told me she knows it is simple because it is just skip counting.) I have bought her a few supplies and now she can choose from Reader Rabbit software with math, math board games, using her play money to practice, or going over it on the marker board. Plus, if she has any other ideas, we can try them out.

We also made a list of other goals for the year including badges she wants to earn, interests to follow, books to read, etc. This will be on top of the weekly schedule:

I think this will be a great well rounded schedule. It gives her at least an hour a week for math and then I know that I know that I know she will want to do more once she gets started, but it is her choice. (I know it because she always does. She already did twice this week.) It also makes sure we have time to read all the books we want. Although, we never have an issue with that. I am sure we will even add more to the list.

I know this year she will be filling a lot of her extra time doing her art and playing toys. She also likes to research things. And she will do lots of experiments. No doubt about that. She has even become really enthusiastic about her You Tube channel again, which has been somewhat steady over Summer. She also seems to like spending a lot of time outside, but once the cold weather approaches she may not feel that way. Funny. We saw a picture of a waterfall tonight and she started begging to go on a hike to a waterfall. It's a shame we haven't been able to hike much due to the truck situation, but I promised her as soon as it is back up and running we will make it happen. Fall and Winter hikes are Beautiful too! Even with just 20 minutes a day on math and an hour of reading, I can already tell that our schedule will be filling up fast. I better get sleep while I can. These next few weeks will be slow between my brother going back to school and all her activities starting up. I am just so excited, but trying to savor the down time now. Tomorrow S and I are going to walk downtown Ringgold and visit an art studio, an outdoor store, some junk shops. She wants to paint, and we will probably end up at a local coffee shop for drinks. I want to enjoy her and see what her "art eye" catches while we are in the downtown area. It always sees something completely different than mine. So we will see. Good Night, All.