- keeping track of their work
- and learning to work independently with them
It's the first thing I order each year
- as it's a ready-made tool helping us teach and live the liturgical year
- saints days
- bible verses
- and focusing on Sunday's Mass
- -- in addition to being a lovely planner.
- I can also look back to see what we've accomplished
when the homeschool worriing bug starts biting at me and I'm afraid we haven't accomplished enough. (In the article about Susan Wise Bauer I blogged about this week, she speaks to this bug that bites us all.)
I've told you all this before.
This year, I've discovered a NEW tool....it's their Teacher's Planner. That was the best $10 I've spent for next year. They have a Lutheran and Christian one, too -- but of course, I ordered the Catholic one. It's fantastic. Their paper catalog describes it better than their website.
- It s got an entire section on saint biographies (just about a paragraph each) that coorespond to the saints in the kids' planners along the liturgical year.
- It's got refections on each Sunday's Gospel for you to read/discuss with the kids
- It's got "trivia" about the life of Jesus and historical background interspersed throughout along with ideas for cross-curricular learning.
- This year, it's got a study of the 33 Doctors of the church
- A sheet on Jewish holidays, what they mean and when they occur
- Copies to make of the Advent "O Antiphons" symbols
- A study of the Requiem Mass for November
- Ideas and poems to study the fruits of the spirit
- It's got a grading sheet in it and while it's set up for a classroom, I can use one sheet for each child to keep track of what I need (now that my oldest is nearing highschool I have to get used to keeping grades).
- It's got a cheat sheet grader (number of problems and number wrong = this number grade)
--- I'm saying that this thing is PACKED with great information!! And it's already organized by date -- ALONG WITH having all the information that's in all 3 of the kids' planners and being a planner that you can put information you want to keep track of for the kids. Rather than put all the recurring assignments for each child in mine that I put in theirs (Math sheet 1, Grammar sheet B, study spelling words...) I'll use it for MY assignments (Listen to DS#3 read, Read Beowulf with all kids, grade Latin for Dd#1, discuss new math concept with Ds#4...) .
SERIOUSLY KEWL STUFF!
Thanks, Jenn! Off to check it out. :) At what age do you think kids are old enough/mature/responsible enough to follow their own planner fairly exclusively? I'm thinking it would help Riley stay more on track and be more responsible on her own - without the hand holding. I'm wondering when you start your kids on their own planners?
ReplyDeleteThis past year in Kindergarden, Ds#4 got his own. He was reading fluently, doing alot of work on his own, and was learning to write. He begged for one. It was a waste -- but what the heck, for $3.50 per kid. I was just as happy to spend it to make him feel like a big boy. I'd say about 4th grade is when the kids are really able to refer to their planners and work indpendently (although not without reminders and hand-holding). I've heard that by 7th grade or so they're doing much better at SELF-regulating. The student planners help the kids help me to stay on track, no matter how young they are, so I'm happy with them.
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