Lesson Plans Beckon
The pounding in my chest feels like panic, dread mixed with excitement. It’s time to start school after an unexpected break months long.
I feel the pressure of future generations. I feel the weight of responsibility.
These are my children. Their future is being shaped right now, and the lesson plan book is empty.
Blank pages don’t stop learning, but they plead with me to prayerfully consider a new start.
Remember what worked
For years, I set aside Sunday afternoon to plan the week ahead. Having an outline gave me time to look for things to enhance our lessons. It also gave me a sense of accomplishment and a measure of peace.
Realize what changed
Last year, I decided to set aside details and elaborate strategies in favor of recording what we actually did during school. Math is interrupted by sycamore tussock moth caterpillars anyway. And I’d rather write about fuzzy bugs than multiplication.
Recognize what is worth keeping
As a child, I lined up my shoes in the bottom of the closet and made sure mates were laced exactly the same. My school work was neatly stored in binders. Each drawer in my dresser had a purpose.
I haven’t changed that much, except now it is impossible to control each shoe string. I’m ecstatic if my children find matching shoes.
One way for me to have a semblance of order is to plan. I’m tossing out a detailed layout for the year in favor of a sketched outline of our days. Then when butterflies emerge, I will add the color to reveal the joys and wonders of homeschooling.
It’s time for me to find my planner, The Homeschooler’s Journal, and work on that rough sketch. Colored pencils rest nearby in anticipation of Heaven sent interruptions.
What works for your family? How do you prepare lessons for school?
My biggest challenge is the planning. If I have plans in place, it’s all good. When I try to fly by the seat of my pants, things fall apart. As for my plans, at this point in the year, things are pretty much in place, so it’s usually a matter of printing out the needed forms and filling them in. Sounds simple, but reality is never as it appears on paper.
I need to do that this weekend – or maybe Monday. Wishing you all the best in your planning.
Dianne :D
Thanks for sharing this. You’ve described me almost to a ‘T’. I had everything in order when I was growing up and now I have the hardest time keeping things how I want them. I’ve learned to let a lot go. Our homeschool schedule reflects that. I have to allow for interruptions and bunny trials. Often more learning happens when I do!
Ashley is working at her own pace through her current subjects. Most days she does that for a few hours and then we do other things like care for the house, go for walks and just generally enjoy life. We’re planning to take an interest-led learning approach with Aspen so I imagine our days will be pretty flexible. I hope so anyway!
I have a question for moms at the end of my post for today, I hope you’ll come by and give me your thoughts.
This is what I plan to do this afternoon. I usually layout out a rough idea of what is to come the next week. My kids are very young so if we deviate away from the plan somewhat, I’m OK with it. It’s funny though, on weeks were I try to just wing it without a written plan for me to fall back on, the whole week falls apart and we flounder around and I wonder what went wrong. Thanks for sharing! :)
Dianne,
Thanks. I have just been looking through my resources to see how I want to pull things together. Sunshine is ready to learn, so I need to add some lessons for her into the mix. Her enthusiasm is catching!
Sandpiper,
I tend to swing like a pendulum from one extreme to the other, but I have learned not to be too rigid about lessons. You are right. So much learning takes place outside of the plans!
For instance, my son started asking my questions about Shakespeare. I decided to go with his interest on that one. ;)
Melinda,
I’m working towards having my son do more independent work, but I always enjoy learning along with him. :)
Patti,
Yes, I’ve found that my stress level is lower when I have at least an idea of where we are going.
That doesn’t mean I’ll never be preparing lessons at the last minute or adding things as we go, but I’m finally realizing a bit of investment at the beginning of the week really pays off.
Blessings on your efforts to instill a love of learning in your children!
Before we start the year I plan where I want us to be at the end. I have all these slips of paper with things like “Science 2x week” or “Math @ least 3x week”.
Then I keep a calendar book (very simple, printed off my computer). I write down each day what we actually accomplished. I know roughly what we need to do but this gives me the flexibility I need so I don’t rebel completely and just do nothing.
I tend to over-plan so this has worked well for me the past two years.
I did written lesson plans for years, but things are different now. It’s the last semester of homeschooling for dd17, and this morning we simply sat and talked about what she wants (and needs) to accomplish between now and May. It was very nice but bittersweet (sniff)
As for dsds15, we use a plan that I devised and regularly update based on his needs and deficits. Lots of repetition, which often bores me but is what he needs to learn. Once we do the required stuff, we take time to have some fun, and that’s my (and his) favorite time :)
Hope your day went well!
I make up a list of ideas for the week. I look over the next pages in grammar or history or math to see what’s coming up and try to tie in any movies, games, books, trips or whatever that might work. But I don’t stress out if we don’t get to it all — I don’t expect we will. It’s just a pre-idea of what to do in case life leads us there. If we don’t do it, it goes back on the list for the next week.
Karen,
That’s a good idea. I’m going to keep my lesson plan book, but add notes about our discussions and other interesting things that come up.
Barbara,
Wow! I know that day will come sooner than I imagine. And isn’t a blessing to be able to give our children exactly what they need? Even if we don’t enjoy it, that’s what love is all about!
Silvermine,
That’s what I want to have more time for. I tend to do just the basics, but if I think ahead about what we are going to study I can look for those extras online or even on our bookshelves.
I’d really like to get our books stored in some sort of database, so I can see what we have. There’s so many I forget what is available. :P
I’ve been looking into autonomous education recently, where they are not directly taught by anyone but themselves unless they have requested. Each child learns what their inner self directs them to learn, and when they need to do it.
It takes trust on the part of the parent that their child is learning even though they do not appear to be doing so. I have been amazed at the outcome of this endeavour. Young people who do not need to be directed in order to learn, and who outstrip other children in their achievements.
Blessings to you this week as you prepare! Now that I’m teaching in a school, I have to have my complete detailed plans on every subject written up a week ahead of time. It’s dreadful at times, but I do like that it forces me to be more organized and I find that I accomplish an incredible amount. I know you’ll find just the right balance for your family…
I love making lesson plans, delving into all the possibilities and then plotting lessons into a calendar. It’s like looking at a college handbook and deciding what classes I’d like to take. The follow through is what’s so hard for me. We’ve been doing good the last few days (except today, which we’re taking off because it snowed and the boys hadn’t a chance to play with their new sleds until now), but more often than not my plans get pushed to the wayside. I’m trying to do better.
I think if I planned school that way, we’d never get beyond the catepillars. I like nature far more than I like math. So maybe I do a little of both. I do a rough outline of “expectations” for the week and as we get to them we cross them off, but I leave plenty of time for rabbit trails.
I do a combination of the two. I do some planning. I also do some writing down after the fact or as we are doing it. I don’t like to plan too far ahead and then have plans change. It feels too rigid for me. I want to make sure I let my son go at his own pace. So this system of planning seems to work best for me. Thanks for helping me see my way is not wrong. It’s just mine!
hi there! nice to meet a fellow HS’ling mom in the blog world. I’m fairly new to blogging and I was just browsing thru the hearts for homeschooling blog roll and found ya!
we’ve been HS’ling for 6 yrs now and this was the very 1st week we ever followed a plan of what to cover for the week! How lovely this week has been, I call them them my ’sketched’ schedules, because I’m a little spontaneous and never know what’ll be happening next, lol!
hope to visit your blog some more, it seems friendly here :O)
blessings, Deanna
also @ http://www.insidedeannasdiary.blogspot.com
Patricia,
I’m so glad that you stopped by my blog and took the time to comment. I always enjoy hearing from other homeschoolers. We have such a variety of approaches.
I do lean towards delight directed learning. For me it’s not so much an issue of trust as of building character.
I agree that learning doesn’t need structured lessons to take place, but I like having time reserved for pondering ideas and practicing techniques.
Jennifer,
I think about you sometimes while looking at my sketchy lesson plans. I know that classroom teachers have a lot more work before starting the week. ;)
It is a lot easier to be flexible with a few children than a whole classroom. Plus you have accountability to other parents. I hope it’s going well! I know you are such a blessing to the families you are working with!
Cindy,
I tend to hone in on something and plod on through. It’s hard to stay focused sometimes though, especially with so much available to homeschoolers now. The possibilities are endless, but I’m learning to feel comfortable with what words for our family.
And yeah, the follow through is the tough part. ;)
Daisy,
Yes, that’s what I’m learning to do. :)
Alicia,
Isn’t that one of the beautiful things about homeschool? We can do what works for our family and our personality.
I often remind myself that God knows me and my children, and he thought we would be a good match. :D
Deanna,
I’m glad you stopped by! And I just realized this is my sixth year homeschooling, too. Where does the time go?
I thought I’d have a lot more things figured out by now. :P But I do know that love is the basis for all good things, so we have that right! :D
And yes, I like the idea of sketched scheduled, because it gives room for the Holy Spirit to brush in the color.