School Prep 2014: AO Year Four Planning Notes

[dropcap]T[/dropcap]his year’s Year Four student is the one I wrote about two years ago in my post AO with the Less Academic Child. She is still my “less academic child,” in a sense. She’d rather be outside. She’s offended by school; it gets in the way of her private plans.

But she’s also blossoming into herself, and it’s a beautiful thing. Right now, she has a collection of grasshoppers. She learned all sorts of things about them I never knew, all through her unfailing observation. That child can stare at an ant hill for hours.

We’ve started calling her The Naturalist. Because of her resistance to formal academics, thinking of her a “science” person doesn’t come naturally to me, but the more I read biographies of pre-Darwin scientists, the more I realize that she has the heart of science inside of her in every way.

So this year, I’m adding some of the things that are usual to add in Year Four — Shakespeare and Plutarch come to mind. We’re also waiting on some things, such as Latin. And, of course, I’m trying to make sure that the hours she requires for her outdoor adventures remain.

This post is just what I called it: a collection of my planning notes.

• I’m using a weekly template for my spreadsheets this year. Here’s a copy of hers:

The one thing that isn’t on here are afternoon things {such as piano practice}. I do have a template for that {lower down on the page}, but I tend to tinker with those things more from week to week once I look at that particular week on the Sunday before I print this out. For example, if I know we aren’t going to be home on a particular afternoon, I delete those activities entirely.

Also, anything that I included in Circle Time isn’t here, either.

This is what it looks like filled in:

{Note that the format matches up with our Average Day Chart.} I hope to keep bookmarks in each book so that I don’t have to note where we are each week, but I do have a couple starting chapters listed. There was only enough Bible assigned to do two slots in Week 1. I never worry about that because we do Bible in Circle Time and this is extra. I don’t want to give up reading the Bible as a group, but I don’t know how to train the children to read their Bibles daily except to…wait for it!…have them read their Bibles daily. Also, I put Robinson Crusoe into a history slot because I didn’t actually need that slot for history, and I know from experience that Robinson Crusoe takes a lot of time, so why not start off spending some extra time on it?

• Do you see how using a template can save time? That’s my real point. It is worth the mind-numbing activity of pasting it into 36 separate tabs. For three children. {I don’t need a spreadsheet for Kindergarten.} At least, I think it was. At the time it was really annoying.
• I’m postponing Madam How and Lady Why. I absolutely adore the book, so we’re definitely not skipping it. But I already have some natural history that we’re doing in Circle Time, and Daughter A. isn’t ready for it yet anyhow. My plan is to wait until Daughter Q. is in Year Four, and then combine the two of them for it.
• I’m taking out Age of Fable indefinitely. Now, you know that I love mythology. But when this child came to me and talked to me about her relationship with mythology, it became evident that she needed to not be reading it at this time. I think I’ve said before that while I can make an argument for Christians reading mythology in general, that doesn’t mean that all Christians should read it. I was torn about this at first, but in the end decided that the grossest sin is violating a child’s conscience, not sending a child out into the world with the inability to comprehend Milton.
• I dropped This Country of Ours for terms 2 and 3. That was the hardest call I’ve had to make so far this planning season. There simply wasn’t the time on the schedule, and I know trying to add to the schedule wouldn’t work. I know that George Washington’s World is better than This Country of Ours for this child, and covers a lot more history, and so I made the cut. It’s a bit of a bummer, because my oldest child did both, but this child cannot read everything on her own like he did, so readings take a lot more time. The Average Day Chart really gives me a dose of reality — I start to see what can’t fit and then I make the hard choices. But making them early on is easier than feeling like a failure at the end because I wasn’t able to do the impossible, OR I was mean to the children in order to get it all done.
• Notice that I’ve actually added in more drawing and handicrafts. This is more like what one would expect for a Form I student, rather than a Form II student. The fact of the matter is that this particular child has been a bit behind on her small motor skills, and so she tends to avoid the things that children her age would likely do on their own. So I’ve scheduled that part of her day. I am doing these things with my younger children anyhow, so she’ll just be joining us. It’s not any extra time spent on my part. Frankly, I think she’s finally ready and will finally enjoy it, whereas before it was a bit of a struggle.

 

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Read More in This Series:

• Planning for the Average Day
• AO Year Four Planning Notes ← you are here
• AO Year Seven Planning Notes
• More Random Thoughts on Planning Year Seven
• Printable Blank Course of Study Form for the Upper Grades
• Circle Time 2014-15 Term 1