Fall term assessment

I used Sarah Mackenzie's three "B's" from her talk "Whose 'Well Done' Are You Working For?" to help me think through our first term.

1. Be Realistic--what is working, what needs to go
--Read aloud rest time--Read alouds just got shuffled around a lot this first term.  They didn't have a good spot, so they often got skipped even though they are one of my favorite things to do with them.  They will work better during rest time.  I'm not getting much of a restful rest time anyway, but this might be a way to at least have some down time reading together.

--Skip Pentathalon games unless they ask--they just aren't working on Fridays and aren't happening.

--Memorizing state capitals is sort of happening, but it doesn't have a good place to fit in right now.  Put it on Fridays, our extras day.  Let them do the capitals app, play USA Bingo with capitals, do Duplo capitals, etc.

--Reading narrations kept getting pushed aside.  Aim to have 1-2 books read and narrated (AG oral, RJ written) per term (6-7 weeks).

--Morning time is working well.  I'm glad we are doing it.  Everyone seems to like it.

2. Bring your basket--what do I have to offer--what can I do well--how am I not taking responsibility for the things that are really God's job
--I like reading aloud and talking about books.  Putting this during rest time can be a good thing.  We can even have tea some days for extra fun.

--I am planning and prepping well.  Doing all my planning and prep on Friday is helping our week go well (or as well as it can go with a toddler in the house).

--Get to bed and up on time.  Try to exercise in the AM.  I am more rational and realistic when I am a little more rested.

3. Build a cathedral--how can I keep being faithful in the little things--how can I help us move to the next step and not get caught up in checking things off
--Remember to be faithful where God has me right now.  I've had many moments of worrying that we aren't doing enough.  I just need to be faithful to do the next thing and focus on the relationships.  I need to think of the long term.

--I'm going to slow down on our read alouds.  Not just rush through them but take the time to discuss when they have questions.  To ask the "should" questions (should he/she have done that? for example), to compare one character or thing to another, to define words.  Read fewer books, but go deeper.  It's okay if it takes us longer than a "school year" to get through a core, and it's okay if we don't read every book in the core.  I'm going to let the resources serve us.