Grade 4, Lesson 7, Day 4 ~ Shake It Up Baby

Okay, I couldn't stand the lack of main lesson blocks any longer; I spent all afternoon devising a new homeschool calendar with main lessons instead of the Oak Meadow model. It was just too disjointed to work on Roman numerals one day, paragraph creation the next day, and then to start a study of Native Americans.

Math practice work was exceedingly hard as the material had only been introduced the day before; no sleep, no reawakening. Everyone was frustrated. Language arts lessons were forgotten one week to the next. The model was simply too school-like, and public school-like at that.

Here is what I came up with:

I apologize for the small image ~ I hope you can read it. Basically it shows the blocks we will be doing: we're finishing Roman Numerals, taking a week off, then doing blocks on Fractions; Native Americans; Grammar; Two Digit Multiplication and Long Division; Nutrition and Cells; Paragraphs/Essays and Creative Writing; Measurement and Money; California Geography and History; and finally Astronomy, Latitude, and Longitude. This is a simplified chart; it doesn't show art, music, physical education, health, or practical life skills.

I stayed with the content from Oak Meadow rather than switching to a more traditional Waldorf 4th grade because I want to be able to use the materials I have and because some of these subjects are areas we haven't covered in-depth before. I really like the idea of studying the Native American of our local area the same year that we study our state. It is possible that we will switch out the science blocks for more traditional Waldorf fare.

I don't think that it was bad to experiment with daily subjects; it certainly showed me what works best for us. We go in-depth and then we let the materials rest, awakening it once there has been time for the concepts to digest fully. Likewise I will be bringing in the 2 - 3 day process with in the main lessons.

We're going to continue with the Oak Meadow assigned reading for grade 4 so that we can continue to do projects with our friends.

I guess we'll see how this experiment goes. I feel less scattered and better able to prepare for each subject, and I think returning to main lesson blocks will serve the boys well.