As we are drawing to a close on our academic year (just 5 full weeks left to go), I find myself in my usual reflective mood. What did we do well? What was a failure? And what do we change to make next year our best ever?
What worked well?
- Including B2 in school
- Having the 1 1/2 hours alone with the littles whilst the older ones did some independent study
- A concentrated art time and science time each week
- Nap or quiet time each day
- BFIAR book activities – both girls loved these
What didn’t work so well?
- Sibling time with one older and both littles; if we continue with this it needs to be 1-2-1
- There have been pockets of time where the littles have been disruptive.
- Surprisingly a time based schedule. These have always worked well for us in the past but now I have five, one of whom is still a little tricky at times, I am finding I am clock watching too much. I still want to keep to a similar routine but not have anything attached to a particular time
- A4 needs more substance to her school and to her day. We backed off after Christmas as her phonics was frustrating her too much. Jolly Phonics has not worked for her at all. She is sight-reading fine but finds sounding out words really hard.
- A4’s concentration is poor, so I intend to work on building this up over the next few months. She has the gift of the gab and is very skilled at talking her way out of anything she doesn’t want to do.
What we intend to do differently
- Routine not schedule for the little ones at this time (this is a huge revelation to me!)
- We are keeping the 1 1/2 hours in the morning as our preschool time. During this time we will snuggle up and read whatever BFIAR book we are currently on, and then do activities based on these books. This year we have focused on fun, next year I am focusing on building all sorts of skills. I’ll post my plans over the summer. For more on how we use five in a row curriculum see here
- We are going to start A4 on All About Reading level 1 and B2 on their pre-reading program.
- I want to encourage the growing relationship between A4 and B2 by organising a 1/2 hour play time, just the two of them.
- In order to increase A4’s attention span, I intend to read aloud far more than I am, limit her dvd time to 1/2 half an hour per day(we don’t have broadcast telly) and I intend to be much firmer with her concerning things she does not wish to do. I am in charge (I’m going to repeat this 100 times a day until I believe it!!).
- And just in case I need reminding – Claire, DO MORE READ ALOUD!!
No huge changes, but definitely putting an emphasis on A4’s needs next year, as I think she has kind of got lost in all B2’s tears this year!