how to go weekly...

How to make a weekly list using the Ambleside Online curriculum...

...notice I use my AO list to note groceries, and new guitar chords I'm learning too ;)

I need lists.  I need to see what needs to be done, as well as be encouraged seeing what's been finished!  Lists are wonderful!  However, if the list is too long, or too boring, or poorly organized it does me NO good.  I make lots of lists, but the one I use absolutely MOST often is my AO weekly list!  :)


Get a hold of the Term Schedules:

First of all, we are spoiled rotten because of the files AmblesidOnline is coming out with VERY SOON (*edited 4/9/2013) for EVERY AO year in both .pdf and .doc format! You will be able to find all these schedules at AmblesideOnline.org or on the forum. I print a copy of the entire year for my Homeschool Planning Day every year and use it extensively in my planning throughout the year.

The same information is available on the AO site for every year.  You'll see the pages for the booklists and the schedules for each year.  But, that long list is SO overwhelming for me... having to find my place each week, and oh me oh my...  I'm so thankful for the Term Schedules!

Here's an idea of what you'll be looking for in minuscule version :)

Term 1

Term 2

Term 3

Basically, what we have here is all the AO subjects/readings for year 2 plotted out by week (horizontally), and books/subjects (vertically).  In a lot of cases it even has the readings broken up.  Sometimes not, it depends on the book because there are different versions available, so you can easily just count the pages in your book and evenly divide it up over the term.

I used to just have a print out of this glued to my forehead handy at all times and crossed everything off as we read/narrated.  It has blank fields for you to add in assignments for math, language arts, foreign language, handiwork, etc.  This was a really easy way to go in year one and two even.  But increase the number of children = the result is more complicated...

SO.  I personally need to limit what I see.  Too much information leaves me feeling quite swamped and overwhelmed.  Which leads me in the direction (finally) this post is supposed to be going; the need for a weekly list.

Converting to a weekly list:

The idea is to basically just transfer all the information from one week at a time from the Term Schedule (or from the AO Schedules online), to fit our daily routine.  I fill out this weekly list each term so that I have 12 weeks done ahead of time.  This is my main task each Homeschool Planning Day.  Transferring the information to a weekly list, counting off pages, filling in the assignments for the other subjects, etc.

If you need help figuring out, or putting order to your daily routine, I highly recommend Managers of Their Homes (MOTH), which was vital early when I was first beginning juggling of days. :)

My weekly list incorporates time frames that normally (hah!) work for us... but we are SUPER flexible.  It's there as a guide, nothing more.  Mainly, I work from the following schedule as a list of what I have to accomplish that day.  Here's an example (sorry it's not super clear).



You'll notice the little checkboxes!  These help me keep track of what everyone's doing and done.  :) I'm such a listy girl :)  Basically, a LOT of the information on this list is just transcribed from Judy's Term Schedules pictured above. I put in every assignment and every reading, the exact page numbers so that not only they know what to read, but I know what they're reading (so that I can stay ahead in the readings, if desired, and so that I can know what they are to narrate).

Every 4 weeks I print off the two older boys and myself a booklet of 4 weeks worth (4 pages) of their weekly assignments.  I print it off using booklet format on my computer and it ends up looking something like this:

Imagine that middle gray as a fold ;)

Of course, I had to go and make a fun version for my seven year old girl to check off her assignments as well, here's a peek at hers (she doesn't have all the page numbers on her assignments because for the most part, we're still doing most of her readings together out loud... they are detailed out on the weekly list pictured above):



Now, I could go on FOREVER about my routine, schedule, weekly list... but I'll stop and see if there are any questions.  If there are, I'll be happy to elaborate  ;)  If not, I'll be satisfied knowing that this post covered everything you wanted to know about how to make a weekly list for multiple children doing Ambleside Online!!   heheh.  ;)

I did make a blank weekly list that someone may be interested in using as a guide in making your own weekly list... it's here:

(right click the image and select Save As... to save the full-size pdf file to your computer)
and here's a zip file of the pdf and doc version :)

wide open spaces...

"...there is a great deal to be done and a great deal to be prevented during these long hours in the open air. And long hours they should be; not two, but four, five, or six hours they should have on every tolerably fine day, from April till October.


Impossible; says an overwrought mother who sees her way to no more for her children than a daily hour or so on the pavements of the neighboring London squares. Let me repeat, that I venture to suggest, not what is practicable in any household, but what seems to me absolutely best for the children; and that, in the faith that mothers work wonders once they are convinced that wonders are demanded of them. A journey of twenty minutes by rail or omnibus, and a luncheon basket, will make a day in the country possible to most town dwellers; and if one day, why not many, even every suitable day?"

CM vol.1 pg44

I might have to agree with the overwrought mother, because I think that CM would have been referring to mothers of young children who were not yet in school and so those same mothers wouldn't have had also to be concerned with the training of their older children at home as well.  However,  I've been reading Charlotte Mason's Homeschooling Series, vol. 1 again over the last weeks, especially the last couple of days, and the benefit of outdoor time cannot be overlooked.  We should be outdoors as much as is feasibly possible.  On that point, I absolutely agree.

We like to keep our house open, the doors and windows at least as much as we can bear it with the heat, we all go in and out and through the backyard many times a day.  The younger kids particularly also have obligatory times outside in the backyard every day.  But, our weekly nature walks are WONDERFUL times outside.  I'm going to try harder at making them happen more than once a week.

the family nature walk

...it does a body good.  :)

the irrigation canal is dry except for a slimy moss at the bottom

the coconuts grow attached to this part... way up in the palm tree.

every now and again there was a broken spot where water gathered,

here was a TON of little red larvae... dragonfly? 

See those coconut shells? that's what we used to carry a little fish

we found in a little puddle back home... 

we figured he'd die if we left him there, so we'd watch him for a few days 

and then take him back when there was water again.  

But he jumped out and burnt his head.

"Mama called the doctor, the doctor said, NO more fishies jumping on their heads!"

here's an up close of the larvae, worm thing...

...and the almost dead fish.  

as I was saying, he'd been showing suicidal tendencies from the start, 

as he leaped from the coconut shell I was carrying him home in.  

He seemed to survive the first attempt with little ill effect, 

it was the second attempt that proved fatal. :(

a bat we found hanging from the backdoor frame... 

kinda cute.

I think his tiny little feet are kind of endearing, don't you?

one of the nights last week, we decided to go on a frog hunt... 

actually, somebody went out 

and spotted them, and then we sat and watched them for awhile.  

They were as still as statues with the lights on.

these guys are like my best friends. they eat cockroaches...
need I say more?

Homeschool Planning - Part one

3 ways to plan for order in YOUR homeschool:
a 3-part series :) 

original photo by typofi

1. Yearly Homeschool Planning Day(s) - part one... You are here :)

2. Weekly Planning - next post

3. Yearly Book Ordering - last post

Peace and order are some of my key words for 2010! In that mindset let's talk about planning for peace and order in the homeschool. Making time to schedule the above occasions to plan, has made planning not only a breeze but a real JOY instead of a constant sense of worry or guilt.  Surely you know what I mean by worry and guilt?  The worry that I'm not doing enough and the guilt of knowing that I haven't done things as well as I could have?

Taking at least one day a year to really plan has totally revolutionized my feeling about homeschool (If I can, I'll gladly use 3 days! 1 HPD per term*).  It helps SO much to get the majority of things worked out ahead of time so that I don't have a huge list of unfinished and undefined tasks hanging over my head.  Separate time a couple of weeks before the new school year will begin (or whenever it happens to be best for you) to complete the following steps or obviously adjust them to fit your personal needs.

Step One:  Brainstorm a list of all the homeschooling areas that need attention.

1. Subjects I'd like to introduce into our homeschool that we've never done before
   
2. Areas that I want to improve
   
3. Curriculum that has got to go and will need a replacement.
4. Behavior issues
5. Plan for Preschoolers
6. Scheduling issues
7. Etc, etc.
   

Step Two: The hard part.

Figure out how to make a homeschool planning day a reality.  Things do not run well without you, but you can let things slide for a day or two while you get things oiled and primed for the year.  When can you get away and who can help?  A weekend when dad's home?  A babysitter?  Grandma?  Plan for a WHOLE day out.  Either that, or 2-3 mornings in a row... You'll need it!  Whether it's the coffee or the actual planning time... :)

Step Three: Gather your materials.
For instance one HPD, I needed to hash out my home schedule, so I needed my brainstorm sheets and my laptop.  This last HPD, I actually needed to plot out the weekly readings from the books on the booklist and for a couple substitutions I'd made, so I took the actual books with me (it was a big and heavy bag!).  I also needed to work out this term's composer study so I took a couple CDs to browse through... but, you get the point.

Step Four: Go
Decide ahead of time to be ultra-efficient.  Don't get distracted!  Do the things on your list in order of priority.  Don't call home, and if you have to sneak back for something, do NOT get caught! (I recommend eating out even though it costs more... it is more efficient use of time and in future years you can budget this meal into the yearly homeschool budget.)  Don't go home unless absolutely necessary!

photo by lusi

Some planning forms: These help me immensely, and are just to give you an idea of perhaps where you'd like to begin

Teacher Planning (pdf) - This is basically an outline of planning steps I take for each school year.
Daily List (pdf) - This list outlines what subjects are covered each day.  This is vital for those days that we are totally running helter-skelter and can't get back to the schedule.  This helps me reorientate in order to get everything done.
Week 15 (pdf) - This is last week's schedule/list of individual assignments for each day.  Each boy now gets a copy of this as they are becoming more responsible for their own studies.  This is my big task on my homeschool planning days to get this detailed schedule worked out.  One day a term of planning and it's pretty much ALL done for 3 months.  This is my homeschool brain... I've finally gotten it down to a fine science**.

*Ambleside Online is a FREE online curriculum guide, based on Charlotte Mason's methods and philosophy as outlined in her Original Homeschooling Series.  Learning is based on a balanced view of education, using hands-on life experience and observation, living books when a real-life experience can't be provided and including such enriching subjects as nature study, artist & composer studies, foreign language (learned to actually be spoken). Download an informational brochure here.

The AO schoolyear is separated into 3 terms, Term 1: Sept-Nov, Term 2: Jan-March, Term 3 April-June.  However, this information is to be taken as a loose guide as many have differing starting dates or as in our case, school year round.  However, the Artist & Composer, Nature, Folksong, and Hymn studies are all scheduled according to the terms, for those of us who enjoy the camaraderie of learning along with other AOers and sharing resources.  Also, handy-dandy schedules are available that split up the booklist readings into terms of 12 weeks, for a grand total of 36 weeks/school year.  This is what I refer to as 'Term' in my blog, materials, etc.

**If a post on how to schedule would be helpful, please let me know.  I'm assuming anyone who reads this blog (anyone?) already would have some idea of scheduling.  But, I didn't know anything before I knew it... so you never know ;)

Some helpful links:

Basic Intro to AO

An AO Start-up Guide

Charlotte Mason's List of Attainments for a child of 6 and of 12 years old

Posts in this series:

1. Yearly Homeschool Planning Day(s) - part one... You are here :)
2. Weekly Planning - next post
3. Yearly Book Ordering - last post

Still no pictures on Peru... BUT yes, pictures of CHCH Challenge!!

Okay, I finished the kitchen yesterday, and it wasn't too bad. It is now organized. I meant to post the pictures last night, but I was exhausted! We had our date night last night. Very fun. Oh...I'm getting side-tracked... Here's the pics: Yes, those are dishes in the dishrack in the 'After' picture... come on, at least they're clean! I even washed the walls and the grease off the stove (let me tell ya, ...that was WAY more work than I thought it'd be!). Wow. I impress myself. I did this in about an hour and a half. I started before breakfast, and worked right through... and after breakfast, Micah did reading with the boys so that I could finish up. YAY! Mission Accomplished! Hooray for me! Amy

Saturday, April 22, 2006 - way to go!

Posted by Jimmie (222.209.219.38)

Looks great! Your kitchen is so big! Your refrigerator is so big -- normal size I mean. The refrigerators here are so tiny! I've finally gotten used to it, but it's still hard right before a big party. There's no room! So glad you have a nice place to live. Oh, and for the record, dishes that are clean still look good even if they are not put away!

Tuesday, April 25, 2006 - Untitled Comment

Posted by momanna98 (69.209.255.79)

Wow, i can't believe you did it so quickly. What a cute kitchen. It looks like a pic from a magazine. I have looked at Ambleside (sp) and I really don't get it. Am I missing an explaination page? Do I start at the beginning? Or at grade level? Maybe you could write a review... ;-) heheheh I was just skimming through it. There were a lot of words I didn't feel like sitting here a reading... (sheepish grin)

Tuesday, April 25, 2006 - Untitled Comment

Posted by momanna98 (69.209.255.79)

Oh, and you should put your rss feed on your site so I can link to you and keep up with your blog better....

Tuesday, April 25, 2006 - Amy it's beautiful!

Posted by PreschoolersandPeace (66.42.86.112)

All that light! You did a really nice job. When I stand back and admire my work after a big project like yours, I call it "work gazing":)

Thursday, April 27, 2006 - Response about my kitchen and other things...

Posted by amada (200.121.135.115)

Jimmie: Yes, our kitchen is big... our whole house is big (more to decorate, more to clean - the grass is ALWAYS greener on the other side!). Our fridge is one of the biggest models you could buy at the time. And it is okay. I sometimes still wish I had more room! Okay, it might have been like an hour and 45min, but it was super quick considering. But I always am amazed at how much I can get done when I am not distracted by a million things! momanna98: The kitchen DOES look nice, but in real life it looks nothing like a magazine, honest! I will be commenting about Ambleside for you soon! PreschoolersandPeace: I love to "work gaze" so much so that I'd rather gaze than work! Amy

Today's goals

Today the goals are: to catch up on CHCH Challenge in my kitchen. Bathroom are totally done already as I have help doing them. But the kitchen... those before and after pictures should be fun! to do really well on school- accomplishing everything not to be on the computer at all (everything computer related should wait until tomorrow)- that's why I'm here now SO early... Gotta run! Amy PS. Jimmie's inspiring me again with her great pictures... have a look! I've gotta catch up with this girl and get some pictures up from Peru... but that will have to wait for tomorrow, I'm taking a computer fast until evening, at least!

Tuesday, April 18, 2006 - try to catch up, girl

Posted by Jimmie (222.210.202.254)

Blog, blog, fast as you can, you can't catch me I'm the photobucket man (or girl!) LOL! I can't wait to see the pictures!

Tuesday, April 18, 2006 - YAY for you!!

Posted by JacqueDixonSoulRestES (216.241.137.216)

Great job on getting the bathrooms in order! I hope you accomplished your other goals, too. I know I want to be more consistent in our schooling, too. It is hard to get it all done when the pc takes so much time, huh? Many Blessings and Teachable Moments! Jacque

Wednesday, April 19, 2006 - computer fast

Posted by homelearnin (208.190.202.245)

That is a good thing to call it - I need to do those often. How nice to learn about your family and the girl with one child in China. Jill

Wednesday, April 19, 2006 - missions

Posted by esperanzavallero (69.19.14.28)

how fun to meet you, I am always on the lookout for other missionary homeschoolers, especially if they also have a big family. We are only in Rosarito, the worst of both worlds, expensive, like the U.S and so dirty. The people though are lovely and I really enjoy spending time with them. For Him, Jennifer