Term Preparations with Alveary
By: Danielle Merritt-Sunseri
“Where is the blue stain for my biology lab?”
“We don’t have any yellow watercolor left!”
“What happened to my copy of the Tempest?”
These are the agitato melodies of my students when I do not carve out time to complete term preparations. As you can imagine, these melodies do not make for a very life-giving term. They mean that I am always reacting: pushing back the lab, running to the art supply store, placing one more order with Amazon. It’s okay when this happens occasionally, but I prefer to keep it to an occasional happening. To me, a life-giving term feels a bit more andante.
"The children need your utmost freshness of mind and energy, so do not sit up late preparing lessons; what you seem to gain in preparation you lose by tiredness next day." (The Story of Charlotte Mason, p.150)
Mason’s advice is to avoid a cycle of teaching all day and preparing all evening. For me, the best method is to consolidate the planning into chunks when we’re on break.
At this point in the summer, the scheduling, printing, bookmarking, and ordering is done (thank you, Alveary!). Now comes the local part: gathering and organizing. Let’s use Biology as an example, since that’s on my mind right now. I give my students the household supply list under the Planning & Prep part of the lesson plan:
Their job is to find everything they can - they have to put their eyes on it, not just think about where the item should be. They cross the items off as they find them and then bring their list back to me. Then I add everything they did not cross off to my shopping list. Since the red onion and strawberries cannot be purchased ahead, there is a reminder noting when they are needed. So, I put a note in Week 5 of my calendar for red onion:
I put a note in Week 8 for strawberries:
When those weeks roll around, I see that I need to add the item to my shopping list. If something comes up and the week is pushed back, I just drag the note along so that I will see it at the right time. Gather household supplies: done.
The last task on my list is to organize by student. What works best for us is to keep all of our shared subjects in one place (on a shelf in the living room) and all of our unique subjects in cubbies near the kitchen table.
And now, we are ready to approach this term andante. Of course, this will look a little different for each personality and situation. How do you use Alveary to prepare for a smooth term?
Spotlight: Looking for a past Alveary Weekly? You can find previous Alveary Weekly newsletters in the “What’s New?” section here. This and many other helpful resources can be found in the Resources section, which is linked on your Dashboard.
NOTES:
- Alveary Merch: Everything you love: Books, Nature, Ideas. Go snag yours in the Alveary Shop!
- Astronomy Picture of the Day: This is a great resource to share amazing images of our universe with your students. Check out this beautiful image capturing a fire rainbow over West Virginia!
- Contact Us: Have questions about the curriculum? Don’t forget we are always happy to answer your questions. Submit them here!
Have a wonderful weekend!
