Here you will find a variety of documents and other goodies. Some will be helpful in planning, others are more suited to the nitty-gritty of homeschooling. The D’s E’s and R’s page is helpful for those who are interested in a Principle Approach/Notebooking style of documentation for the learning a student does. The file named “Materials Necessary to Do PA” is about the books you will find helpful if you want to pursue a Principle Approach way of learning; it’s not a Pennsylvania thing!
Each of these files have been useful at some point of another of my own journey. The only file that changes year to year is the top one, with the dates of the term, obviously. I update this particular file every year during the last week of June, so check back around then for the next term’s sheet. Almost all of these can be printed back to front, and many of them can be cut down to 7″ wide x 9-1/2″ long to be punched to fit a classic Happy Planner. This term I’m again using the BIG sized Happy Planner. I didn’t change the sizing for any of these pages because they fit the 8.5″x11″ planner just fine. No cutting needed!
Affidavit and Objectives (Phillips)
30 College Credit Cert Application for Diploma
Happy Planner Semester Planner
Happy Planner Curriculum Ideas
Happy Planner Contemporaneous Log of Materials
Happy Planner Weekly Literacy Objectives
Happy Planner Integrated Literacy Plan 2 days.
Happy Planner Weaver Planner 2 day color
The Four Ds Es and Rs Compared
Home Schooling the High Schooler in Pennsylvania
Happy Planner Blank McC Sheet w GL Graph
On the English page, I mentioned that I really like the McCall-Crabbs comprehension books. I’ve included two files for those here. The first one details how Liz Fitzgerald uses McC-C in her practice. She bounces through all the books choosing stories that will yield scores around a child’s grade level. Once you read her instructions for using these books, you will really only need to print the score sheet and grade level graph. The second file is more useful for how I utilize McC-C. I choose one booklet for a complete term–but only after the child is reading reasonably well. When I teach how to approach a passage type, I don’t set a timer at all. Then whenever the student is practicing the skills I have taught, I set the timer on “count up” rather than “count down” so I can see how long it actually takes for him to finish. I keep track of miscues. I note where the child reaches the 3-minute mark on my sheet of paper, whenever it happens. The child has no idea of how much time has passed. As the child progresses through the questions, I keep track of what the child’s original answer was to each question and we discuss any wrong answers afterwards. This helps the child grow in their comprehension skills.
My McC-C file, the one with Happy Planner in front of its name, has large-ish boxes on the first page where I can fill in the time it takes for a child to read the whole passage, how many questions he answered correctly, and the grade level with the time limit enforced as well as the grade level when time is unlimited. If I did not keep time at all, I note this as well. If the child finished the whole thing within the three-minute time limit, I note this too. On the second sheet, I record the graph of how the grade level goes up and down depending on the difficulty of the passage. I print the first page on one sheet, with page two on the back, then print another two copies of page two, also front to back. These four pages allow me enough room to keep record of the student’s grade level reading progress for a full term. I usually do three stories a week, which lets us finish one book per term.
A NOTE about the McCall-Crabbs Readers (07/03/2023): They are out of print again. Sigh. For a while, Spalding in Arizona carried them, then they printed their own set of readers. The ones with the 70s theme rainbow covers are still around, but I like the ones published in the 60s. I’ve been considering digitizing the few copies I have left on hand and having my students use them that way. We’ll see. For now, if you happen to find any of the ones with the half white-half bright colored covers, snap them up!
Since COVID, there have been a number of sites offering decodable readers, but nothing like the McC-C books. I’ll add some here the next time I log in. 🙂