Chemistry and interlibrary loans
Our library is finally open again, not only for going in and browsing but also for... wait for it... INTERLIBRARY LOANS!! Yes, I know I'm shouting, but I am so excited. Poor D., who works at the library, has been peppered by me fairly continuously as to when this fantastic event would happen. He was very relieved to hear that I successfully put a book on hold that our library didn't have. (Until today, I couldn't even put on hold books that our library didn't actually own. Very frustrating.) It's hard to be the sole library representative in a household of heavy library users.
Part of the reason I am so excited, other than I have a significantly large list of books that I haven't been able to put on hold, is the fact that we are now in July. This means that September is just two months away. (Sorry, to have to remind you all who are still feeling in limbo!) In order for us to be ready to start a new school year, I have to put in some significant time planning what we will be doing. I left it for too late last year and it felt too rushed. I don't want to do that again, so am trying to start a little earlier.
So what do I need to do to pull off a school schedule for a whole year? Well...
Step 1 - Decide what we are going to be learning about.
It seems self-evident, but I'm not sure it always is, that need to focus on a couple of topics for the year. We have been cycling through history for years, so our history is set; we'll be learning about ancient Greece this year. (G. is excited because she has been reading [and rereading] the Percy Jackson books.) As to what we will learn about to go along with Greece, well, I've been vacillating a bit. My first thought was outer space. It has been a very long time since we covered that, and I thought it might be interesting. Then I cam across an interesting looking resource about chemistry.
I'll be honest, chemistry had never entered my mind as a possibility all these many years of homeschooling, mainly because I had a truly horrible experience with chemistry in high school which left me feeling convinced that I could never understand it. (Now, a brief aside dealing with why I think grades are worthless. I got an 'A' in honors chemistry both semesters. I didn't feel as though I understood a single thing, still feel as though it is a subject I cannot understand, but yet got 'A's' in the class. That makes sense, right?) Anyway, looking at the book I had found, doing a little digging and finding some more interesting looking books, I suddenly thought, "Hey! Maybe chemistry could be interesting. With the right book, I bet I could understand it and help my children have a good first experience with chemistry." So I think we are doing chemistry. (L. has given her enthusiastic approval. She just wants to create explosions.)
Step 2 - Spend a lot of time searching for resources and checking out library books.
This is where the need for interlibrary loan comes in. I hate to spend money on books that won't work, so I like to see them first. I hate to spend money on books that we will be read and be done with, so I prefer to check those out of the library. In order to plan what we are doing when, I need to browse through a lot of books. Really, it's a lot. Sometimes I probably have 20 to 30 books checked out as I look through them and start to plan what we will do and what we will use. Do you have any idea how expensive this would be if I didn't have library access? As it is, quite a few of the interesting books are not available via interlibrary loan. Then I have to pickier about what I look at as it means purchasing them. If I am lucky, I'll be able to find them used. It's a process.
Step 3 - Spend even more time sitting and looking through all the books.
I like to learn new things. Much of the time what I've chosen for our unit studies are things that I don't know much about but wish I did. (This is also why I rarely repeat a topic, and when I do, I completely revamp it. I will be completely redoing Greece this summer.) Since I don't know much about it to begin with, this is the step where I read through the dozens of books I have collected to essentially teach myself the material. There is no way I can put together a coherent plan if I have no idea what the material is.
This process also sends me down rabbit holes that I didn't know existed, which means I need to go back up to Step 2 and order more books. (Now do you see why starting this all in late August felt like it was cutting it a bit too close?) Eventually, as I read books, sort out materials, read more books, discover new things, and read more books, a general plan will start to take shape.
Step 4 - Start to create a schedule.
At this point I will sit down with a calendar and start to slot in what we will cover when... what books we will read, what projects we will do (art, cooking, experiments), documentaries or movies to watch, field trips to take (hey, a girl can hope). I spend an awful lot of time on Pinterest, Netflix, and Amazon looking up anything that could be related and useful.
Step 5 - Write it all down.
I don't like to have to think when we are in the middle of homeschooling. I like to be able to open up my plan and see all the wonderful things I came up with when I had the luxury of time to plan and to think. So, I make very detailed lists and schedules. I have lists of books that need to be checked out of the library and when I need them. I have lists of art supplies and that date I need them by. I have lists of when I need to order the next Netflix disc. Plus, I also have lists of what we are going to do each day down to the page numbers of what we need to read. I try to leave nothing to chance because I know there is no margin in my brain for very much when we are deep in the middle of the school year and everything that goes along with that. The notebook or binder or folder I keep that year's school schedule in is vitally important. Ask my children about the few times each year I misplace it and go totally berserk. Everyone know just how important it is.
There's my whole process. Well, maybe not the whole thing because there is always the question of what to do with my special learners and do I need to make new activities. And checking where each child is in the math and grammar texts they are using and do I have next one. Do I have the next handwriting books? What about my high schoolers, what do they need? (I think this is going to be easy this year. I think D. is taking nearly all his classes at the community college and TM and I sat down on Sunday and planned out the rest of his high school so he could get a jump start on it. He does have a couple of books I need to order for him.) These odds and ends are always left to last, and most years some child or another is usually waiting for a text book to arrive. They don't seem to mind too much.
There you go. I can usually get this whole process done in about two weeks if that is what I spend every waking moment doing. This year I hope to be a little less compulsive about it and spread it out over a longer period. I have no idea if that will work or not since when it comes to projects like this I tend to become so focused I cannot do anything else. We'll see how it goes. But, I have been able to request books through interlibrary loan, so that's a huge start.
Part of the reason I am so excited, other than I have a significantly large list of books that I haven't been able to put on hold, is the fact that we are now in July. This means that September is just two months away. (Sorry, to have to remind you all who are still feeling in limbo!) In order for us to be ready to start a new school year, I have to put in some significant time planning what we will be doing. I left it for too late last year and it felt too rushed. I don't want to do that again, so am trying to start a little earlier.
So what do I need to do to pull off a school schedule for a whole year? Well...
Step 1 - Decide what we are going to be learning about.
It seems self-evident, but I'm not sure it always is, that need to focus on a couple of topics for the year. We have been cycling through history for years, so our history is set; we'll be learning about ancient Greece this year. (G. is excited because she has been reading [and rereading] the Percy Jackson books.) As to what we will learn about to go along with Greece, well, I've been vacillating a bit. My first thought was outer space. It has been a very long time since we covered that, and I thought it might be interesting. Then I cam across an interesting looking resource about chemistry.
I'll be honest, chemistry had never entered my mind as a possibility all these many years of homeschooling, mainly because I had a truly horrible experience with chemistry in high school which left me feeling convinced that I could never understand it. (Now, a brief aside dealing with why I think grades are worthless. I got an 'A' in honors chemistry both semesters. I didn't feel as though I understood a single thing, still feel as though it is a subject I cannot understand, but yet got 'A's' in the class. That makes sense, right?) Anyway, looking at the book I had found, doing a little digging and finding some more interesting looking books, I suddenly thought, "Hey! Maybe chemistry could be interesting. With the right book, I bet I could understand it and help my children have a good first experience with chemistry." So I think we are doing chemistry. (L. has given her enthusiastic approval. She just wants to create explosions.)
Step 2 - Spend a lot of time searching for resources and checking out library books.
This is where the need for interlibrary loan comes in. I hate to spend money on books that won't work, so I like to see them first. I hate to spend money on books that we will be read and be done with, so I prefer to check those out of the library. In order to plan what we are doing when, I need to browse through a lot of books. Really, it's a lot. Sometimes I probably have 20 to 30 books checked out as I look through them and start to plan what we will do and what we will use. Do you have any idea how expensive this would be if I didn't have library access? As it is, quite a few of the interesting books are not available via interlibrary loan. Then I have to pickier about what I look at as it means purchasing them. If I am lucky, I'll be able to find them used. It's a process.
Step 3 - Spend even more time sitting and looking through all the books.
I like to learn new things. Much of the time what I've chosen for our unit studies are things that I don't know much about but wish I did. (This is also why I rarely repeat a topic, and when I do, I completely revamp it. I will be completely redoing Greece this summer.) Since I don't know much about it to begin with, this is the step where I read through the dozens of books I have collected to essentially teach myself the material. There is no way I can put together a coherent plan if I have no idea what the material is.
This process also sends me down rabbit holes that I didn't know existed, which means I need to go back up to Step 2 and order more books. (Now do you see why starting this all in late August felt like it was cutting it a bit too close?) Eventually, as I read books, sort out materials, read more books, discover new things, and read more books, a general plan will start to take shape.
Step 4 - Start to create a schedule.
At this point I will sit down with a calendar and start to slot in what we will cover when... what books we will read, what projects we will do (art, cooking, experiments), documentaries or movies to watch, field trips to take (hey, a girl can hope). I spend an awful lot of time on Pinterest, Netflix, and Amazon looking up anything that could be related and useful.
Step 5 - Write it all down.
I don't like to have to think when we are in the middle of homeschooling. I like to be able to open up my plan and see all the wonderful things I came up with when I had the luxury of time to plan and to think. So, I make very detailed lists and schedules. I have lists of books that need to be checked out of the library and when I need them. I have lists of art supplies and that date I need them by. I have lists of when I need to order the next Netflix disc. Plus, I also have lists of what we are going to do each day down to the page numbers of what we need to read. I try to leave nothing to chance because I know there is no margin in my brain for very much when we are deep in the middle of the school year and everything that goes along with that. The notebook or binder or folder I keep that year's school schedule in is vitally important. Ask my children about the few times each year I misplace it and go totally berserk. Everyone know just how important it is.
There's my whole process. Well, maybe not the whole thing because there is always the question of what to do with my special learners and do I need to make new activities. And checking where each child is in the math and grammar texts they are using and do I have next one. Do I have the next handwriting books? What about my high schoolers, what do they need? (I think this is going to be easy this year. I think D. is taking nearly all his classes at the community college and TM and I sat down on Sunday and planned out the rest of his high school so he could get a jump start on it. He does have a couple of books I need to order for him.) These odds and ends are always left to last, and most years some child or another is usually waiting for a text book to arrive. They don't seem to mind too much.
There you go. I can usually get this whole process done in about two weeks if that is what I spend every waking moment doing. This year I hope to be a little less compulsive about it and spread it out over a longer period. I have no idea if that will work or not since when it comes to projects like this I tend to become so focused I cannot do anything else. We'll see how it goes. But, I have been able to request books through interlibrary loan, so that's a huge start.
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