For the first time, in the 2010-2011 school year, I will have a child taking high school level courses. My oldest child, who technically will be in 8th grade, will be taking Biology and Algebra I.
Why? Regarding math, when we switched from Bob Jones Math when she was starting 5th grade, she took the placement test for Teaching Textbooks and tested into Math 6. Since then she has completed Math 7 and is now finishing Pre-Algebra. Algebra I is simply the next class in the Teaching Textbooks sequence.
Regarding Biology, my oldest is definitely academically ready for a more rigorous, lab-based science course. I am also following the recommendation from Dr. Jay Wile, author of the Apologia high school textbooks, that the level of math should drive the level of science. Dr. Jay Wile recommends that those students taking Algebra I take Biology. As well, starting with high school level science in 8th grade will allow her to complete 5 of the Apologia high school science courses.
What do these high-school level courses mean for me in terms of planning our school year? Most specifically, it means that I need to be much more specific and careful when planning:
- Start and End Dates for School (in our homeschool learning never completely takes a summer break but there WILL be an end to Biology and Algebra I)
- Vacation Dates
- Flex Time (two extra weeks that allow for some flexibility in our schedule)
One of my greatest joys of homeschooling has been the flexibility of homeschooling for my family. So, now that I need to be more careful with my planning; I wanted to be sure to plan for flexibility.
I spent several hours a few evenings ago planning out the dates for our 2010-2011 school year. Now, I will discuss step-by-step how I went about planning out the broad strokes of our school year.
Start with a Major Subject or a High School Level Course
Since I have a child taking two high school level courses next school year, I used those two courses as the framework for setting up our school year. If I were planning the school year and I didn't have high school courses to plan, then I would use a major subject as the organizing framework. For example, I might use the oldest child's math curriculum or the history curriculum if Sonlight or Winter Promise was used.
We purchased the Sonlight Biology Kit which includes a schedule to complete the entire Biology course in 36 weeks with 5 days of work in the subject each week (180 days). So, I know I need 36 FULL weeks and 180 days to complete the Biology course with my daughter.
Then, I looked at the Algebra I Teaching Textbooks curriculum. TT Algebra I has 129 lessons and there are 18 chapters which means there are 18 chapter tests. Therefore, I need 147 days to finish the course with my daughter. So, to complete Algebra I in 36 weeks, I need to schedule 4 lessons a week for 33 weeks and 5 lessons a week for 3 weeks. Since the beginning of the book should be at least some review, I will schedule the first 3 weeks of school with 5 lessons per week and the remaining 33 weeks wih 4 lessons per week from Algebra I.
So, in a nutshell, I know that I need at least 36 full weeks to complete both Biology and Algebra I with my daughter. All of the other subjects can be completed within the 36 week framework.
Determine Vacation Days
Regarding vacation days, we take the normal vacation days off that are familiar to most people.
- Thanksgiving - one week off school
- Christmas - four weeks off school (our longer break also accommodates two out-of-state swim meets in December)
- Spring Break - one week
What is a bit unusual, though, is that I also need to schedule for out-of-state swim meets. My daughter is a nationally ranked USA swimmer so she attends several big meets throughout the short course season. We attend a large meet in Pennsylvania during the month of December. As well, my daughter is extremely close to making a Junior National time cut so I needed to tentatively plan for travel to Georgia for Junior Nationals in December. So, to make things easier, given two out-of-state swim meets and Christmas, I just planned a 4 week break for Christmas.
We will also travel somewhere in March for USA Sectionals. What makes this planning difficult for me is that the details (including the exact date) have not been posted yet. Therefore, I know we will be travelling somewhere, sometime in March but I don't know exactly where or when.
So, to deal with this uncertainty, I am planning for a week off in March which will be determined later.
I also planned in a week off to attend the MidWest Homeschool Convention 2011 in Cincinnati with my family.
So, while your needs for scheduling time off will most likely be different than mine, giving a lot of thought to when it would be most beneficial to take time off can help the school year run more smoothly. I embrace the freedom of homeschooling and take planned time off when it is helpful for our family.
Include Flex Time in the Planning
Lastly, in order to successfully plan a school year in which all that must be accomplished actually gets accomplished, I think it is important to factor in a bit of flex time. What is flex time? For me, flex time means that I plan for 39 full weeks of school when I only need 36. Therefore, I have 3 extra weeks already scheduled into our school year that I don't strictly need to finish what we need to finish.
What do I do with those extra 3 weeks?
Remember how I can't schedule our Spring Break yet because I don't know the exact dates for the USA Sectionals swim meet? One of those extra 3 weeks will be taken off for that out-of-state swim meet.
The other two weeks can be used:
- If any of us gets really sick.
- If we get behind and just need some time to review, catch-up, or catch our breath!
- To allow for the unexpected.
Now, I do try to set up the children's work schedules so that Fridays are lighter work days. We do art together on Friday afternoons so a lighter work day allows for an art class. As well, lighter work days on Fridays make it much easier to catch-up over the week-end or on Monday if we decide to visit a science center, museum, or take a nature hike.
If I find towards the end of our school year that we simply didn't need the extra 2 weeks flex time then we simply are done with our studies two weeks earlier than planned.
The Final Schedule
All of this planning and thinking allowed me to create a master schedule for our school year which includes the vacation days that we need and also allows for some flexibility. All of this planning should also ensure that we will not get to June and discover that we still have 3 full weeks of Biology to complete when we all just really need a little break.
Without further ado, here is the master schedule that should work for us in the 2010-2011 school year:
August 2, 2010 - First Day of New School Year
November 22 - November 26 - Thanksgiving Break (one week)
December 6 - December 31 - Christmas Break (four weeks)
March 28 - April 1 - Spring Break/Homeschool Conference (one week)
***One additional week will be scheduled off when I have the dates for Spring Sectionals.
June 10, 2011 - Last Day of School (We may end up to 2 weeks earlier depending on how many of the flex days we need to use.)
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