I need help

[Michele]

I hope that it's okay to post this kind of request. I'm not sure what I'm not doing well. I LOVE FIAR and have used it over the past 11 years. BYFIAR is just not working well for me. I lesson plan for 5 children and I just have such a hard time with BY. What am I doing wrong?
It's not working for me AND I would like a more successful year next year.
My daughter is in the Fourth Grade and this year is the first time that I've used it. Next year my girls will be in 1,3,4,5 and 11th grades. I'd like the 4/5 graders to use BY. Any suggestions? Any been there and fixed it kind of advice?
Thanks in advance,
Michele

[Suz MamaFrog]

Some advice from someone who "failed" with BY the first time around, and had to figure out what to do this year to make it a success:

*Keep your plans simple and as child-centered/independent learner as you can. For example, assign the discussion question as an essay or journal response or other written assignment. A few moments of discussion and then the dc are off to write. Give the background info for art projects/science experiments and then give them the supplies and let them go. This accomplishes several things: 1.) It frees you up to work with other dc 2.) it creates a sense of independence and responsibility in your dc and 3.) it makes BY easy, organized, and tend to go smoothly.

*Set a schedule for BY and stick to it. Here's ours for a typical week: MONDAY - read the chapter(s) together, discuss dd's independent work, go over lessons from the manual. TUESDAY - read any go-alongs or other resource materials, go over lessons from manual. WEDNESDAY and THURSDAY - DD works on her assignments independently. FRIDAY - we sit down together and look at everything she's done all week. It's part review, part opportunity for me to go over her work. If there is a cooking lesson or field trip or other major activity associated with that chapter, we do it then, too.

*Keep notebooks or scrapbooks or lapbooks of each title as you row. So many notebooking pages and/or lapbooking mini books lend themselves to independent research/reading to discover the answers. DD loves researching animals and birds, and is starting to really be interested in inventions and inventors, too, because of her independent work through BY. The Scholastic biography posters have come in very handy this year with BY, too, as she is either assigned a noteworthy person, or chooses on her own from Becky's suggestions in the manual.

Now, when I say we go over a lesson from the manual, I mean we discuss the topics so that dd has the information she needs, or at least a starting point, in order to complete her scrapbooking pages. Some days, it might be two or three lessons, others just one. It really depends on the title and the chapter.

Here's how this might look IRL:

MONDAY - read chapters 5 and 6 in Boxcar Children. I give dd the following for her scrapbook: biography poster for Louis Pasteur, a mini-book for the definition of sterilization, a mini-book on building a campfire, a mini-book on rust and rust prevention, a copywork page for Bible verses on encouragement, a page with a chart for comparisons of pioneer life and life now, a study starter page on the development of lawnmowers, and the choice to either do the recycled art project from chapter 5 or the collage from chapter 6. We discussed sterilization, rust and encouragement and she filled in her minibooks as we went.

TUESDAY - we read a short biography of Pasteur. Then we discussed building a campfire, the Then-Now lesson, and why lawnmowers are important to the story. Again, she filled in the "stuff" in her scrapbook.

WEDNESDAY - she did her research on Pasteur and completed her poster. She also looked up and copied out the Bible verses for the encouragement page. She asked if she could do word art instead of the collage, because she thought it would be "cool to try" and she "couldn't find the right pictures from the magazines."

THURSDAY - she did her word art project and researched the invention of the motorized lawnmower to fill out her study starter report.

FRIDAY - we made a loaf of bread, and took a look at the old hand mower in the garage. It was rainy, so she couldn't go out and try it liked I'd planned, but that can wait for another day. I looked over her work and we briefly discussed everything as I looked it over. She gave me a "presentation" on why the motorized lawnmower is far superior to the hand mower, with the point being that since we have a perfectly good motorized mower, she didn't think she should have to "try out" the hand mower. ever. ever. :D

The bulk of my planning is done well in advance, because I'm a planner. Even if I wasn't, I could find the time the week before or the weekend before and have everything mapped out and ready for Monday. Monday and Friday are my biggest time commitment as far as BY is concerned. Tuesday takes a lot less time, and the other two days, unless she has a question, she rarely needs me at all.

I've found that since turning most of BY over to her, and letting her do as much as she can on her own, we both enjoy BY so much more. She's also learning so much more, too, as she finds out things on her own that either aren't in the manual, or that I just would never have thought would interest her enough to tell her about them, like details about Pasteur's life as a child that lead to his scientific curiousity later, etc.

Blessings!
Suz

[Michele]

Oh Suz,
Thanks so much for taking the time to respond to my post. I've printed it out and I'm going to take some time to digest it. I really appreciate the time you spent explaining and describing. I'm doing something dreadfully wrong I think.
Thanks again! :group:

[Tracey]

Suz, this is a really nice post.

[Suz MamaFrog]

Thank you ladies. If you need any more help, or other suggestions, or would like to "see" an additional example of one of our BY weeks, let me know. I'll be happy to help.

Blessings,
Suz

[christa in mn]

I would love to see another example...I have got FIAR/BFIAR going smoothly but am still struggling nailing bown BYFIAR.
Thanks, Christa

[Luisa]

Suz, please post some more about what your BY weeks look like!!!!!:D I'm considering whether I want to move on to BY or stay with the 1st 4 volumes (my girls are 8 and 6).