This year I’m planning to be more intentional about our Power Hour (Morning Time) time. We are doing (roughly) six weeks on and six weeks off. So, each six weeks we are schooling will have its own focus.
I tried to work our Power Hour around our Rule of Six. Our Power Hour is the most important time of our learning day. Our Rule of Six are our guiding principles of our homeschool, so it only makes sense that I meld the two together. More bang for our buck!
I wanted to keep our Power Hour focused and simple. It’s very easy for me to get carried away with big, grand plans only to ditch it a few days or weeks in and only do the very bare minimum. Creating a binder with our printed material in it for myself and my children helps me to stay on track.
Our first two terms are Geography and Nature.
Geography Power Hour Resources
Pursue Holiness: (Memory work) States & Capitals, Books of the Old Testament
Serve Others: (Prayers) Rosary
Read Good Books: Paddle to the Sea, Tree in the Trail, Minn of Mississippi
Do Meaningful Work: Map Work, Draw USA, Map Books (we have a variety of atlases and fact books) 2 of our favorite, The 50 States and Maps
Experience Adventure: CNN Student News
Encounter Beauty: Catholic Hymn – God We Praise You
Literature Book: Orphaned on the Oregon Trail
I keep all of our supplies in this IKEA cart. I roll it up to the table during our Power Hour and roll it back to it’s spot when we are finished. No more searching around for books and supplies that we use during our Power Hour.
Nature Power Hour Resources
Pursue Holiness: (Memory work) Poem – A Butterfly at Sea, Books of the New Testament
Serve Others: (Prayers) Rosary
Read Good Books: Handbook of Nature Study, A Nest for Celeste, Gregor Mendel: The Friar Who Grew Peas
Do Meaningful Work: Match a Pair of Birds (I’m super excited about using this!), The Young Naturalists Guide to Florida
Experience Adventure: Nature Walks
Encounter Beauty: Catholic Hymn – All Creatures of our God and King
Literature Book: Miracles on Maple Hill
Power Hour Binder Video
My super simple binder set-up!
Wow!!! This is really amazing. You put so much thought into the Power Hour, and I love how you tied it into your Rule of Six. I remember seeing that cart in a previous post and boy oh boy! It is sure handy! You’ve given me a lot of food for thought.
This is our 13 year of homeschooling and I am feeling like I’m only half way there with Miss Cecelia being only 4. I asked the kids if there was something different they wanted to add to the day to break up our routine. I didn’t get much of a response, (no surprise there.)
I’m just now reading this post, but I’ll keep coming back to it. Thanks for posting your Power Hour and linking to Rule of Six. As I’m working on our new school year ahead, I’ll be stopping back to re-read and see how I could make this work for us. Thanks for the inspiration!
Thanks for reading!
Your method of staying on track sounds useful. It’s nice that you’ve found a way to focus on the essentials and thereby make more progress in these specific areas overtime.