School Planning

This is a names edited out version of part of a rambling email sent to my homeschool co-op partners...

I also would like to open the discussion regarding how are we going to handle:
the rest of this year,
our report process
adding a book or topic discussion, and
other thoughts about next year.
Finishing the first Story of The World book this year is important to me and I would rather not rush through it, so we are willing to continue to meet in the summer for more than just play time. But, if others want to skip stuff and finish out with our regular schedule, we will do that, yet at home we will still move at our own pace (which is kind of what my family has been doing all along, so it should not interrupt you guys). Either way, as a group we should look at our schedule for April, May, and summer.
I would like to propose changing how we “pick topics”. Instead of coming up with a list that they pick from, I propose that the kids pick their own topics from something that triggered their interest and we do reports whenever any child needs to and is ready. They could even pick a topic that someone else is doing or has done. This would help with my goal of following each of my students areas of interest, instead of being forced into a subject they have no interest in; other wise it is too “conveyor belt-ish” to me. I also plan to increase the requirements for my olders for their report areas. I will be having them incorporate more writing in the process; write a research paper, a poem, and or a news paper type article. They need to build these skills and why not use an outlet that I am already involved with to do this. This would require more prep time. Although I will have them write more, I still want to improve their presentation abilities, so I will not allow my kids to “read their report”. My kids still have a lot of skills to build in the public speaking area and I want to continue to use History Seekers as an outlet to improve upon this. These are plans that my family will being doing AND does NOT have to be done by anyone else, except in order for our family to do this we would need to change the “assignment part”. If other families want to choose from a list of topics and that works for them, great; it just isn’t for us.
My oldest was in a book discussion group last year and I would like to provide something like that for her and Anna, eventually for all of them, but only adding them to the discussion as they mature into it. I would like to have the discussion be varied, sometimes about a book, sometimes abut a topic in history, sometimes about a current event, or maybe a meld of all of these things. I want them to discuss with others the bigger questions behind the topics they are discussing. To use their brains within this process, by not just agreeing with them all, but taking in a comment and responding back with their own perspectives. When to start this??? Does anyone else want to do this at all??? In conjunction with History Seekers???
I plan to use in my own homeschool four main things as my “jumping off points and curriculum guides”:
History Seekers
CSI
Scouts
SAT Test Prep
Through these four things, I want to center my goals for my kids and make it fun to achieve them. SAT Test Prep, besides providing study and test taking skills, it keeps me on track with some basic study areas, especially math. The trick with this one is keeping it fun, so I hope to pick fun ways to do that. Scouts is fun and has good study topics that are already at age level, especially in citizenship, physical education, and home skills. My older kids already enjoy CSI has of course science, but it also helps them with time management, study skills, team work, and test taking strategies. I am hoping History Seekers could provide an outlet and direction for other areas besides history.
As far as next year with History Seekers, I know for my family:
I want to continue using the next Story of The World as my history guide. It will be a core for my youngest , a starting point for my middles, and a direction for my oldest.
I still want to do the craft stuff and have some play time on History Seeker days, but I want to incorporate the change in reports and add a discussion time for just the olders.
I want to make sure we still have a good program for the middles and youngest, yet I think they need more free time than the olders. Although my olders might want it all to be free time, I cannot afford the time in their school schedule. There is a balance of undirected free time (exploratory play) and the goals I would like my kids to meet. This is a challenge for me.
I know I can only continue with History Seekers if we can work together to create a program that meets several needs, beyond fellowship. Don’t get me wrong, I do treasure fellowship, but I have to also be realistic with my time and not ignore the goals I have for each of my kids.
Well, there is all of my ramblings, for now. I just thought I would get some of my ideas out there so you all could pray about their affect upon co-oping with the silly Parkers and reflect upon how they would affect your family and your plans.