Mom Is Teaching

Last night a friend of mine shared this blog post that she had found. It really hit home with her, and gave myself some food for thought. I woke up this morning knowing that there are many other homeschooling moms out there who probably fit in the same situation. And probably some who didn’t even realize that they were.

Can we really expect our children to shun screen time in favor of books if we are constantly checking our email, reading message boards, or *gasp* blogging throughout the school day?

Can we admonish our children to finish their work in a timely way when we can barely get dinner on the table by nightfall?

Can we honestly reprimand our kids for letting projects go unfinished if they can look around and see a half-dozen incomplete projects (sewing, crafting, writing, cleaning) of our own making?

Can we chide our children for letting their work pile up until it is overwhelming when we are dealing with a mountain of neglected laundry every saturday?

In short, if we are disorganized, scattered dilettantes, can we really expect anything better of our children?

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This is part 3 of my homeschool planning week. You can read the first two parts at:
Pre-Planning for Homeschooling
Get A Planner and Get Planning

Today I wanted to focus on getting what you plan to teach with in order.

For those who go the route of prepackaged curriculums this is an easy task. With most predesigned plans you will get everything that you will need when you buy it. It can still be helpful to go through and make notes of any additional items, books, or tools that you may need. If you are planning on teaching more than what comes in your package you will need to plan out what you will need for that. Even if you are only going to be using what is offered in your packaged plan there will still be additional items that you will need: arts and crafts supplies, books for extra reading, and tools such as calculators or maps. Sit down with what you are planning to use and make a list of what more you will need and want to get.

For those who are not using packaged curriculum making a list can be a bit more work. There are several things you will need to plan out before getting to the actual work. You will need to decide what you want to teach to your children. You can look online to find what children should be learning according to your school district. There are also some great scope and sequence lists online that you can use as a guideline, such as this course of study list for each grade. You certainly do not have to follow the list, but can use it as a general guide to see what areas to look towards. You can also make note of anything that your children already know and any things that you think they mightnot be ready for yet. That will help you as you get into the curriculum you choose.

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I talked yesterday about pre-planning for homeschool. Making an outline of the natural rhythm in your home to see where your children’s (and your’s) energies go. Are you morning people, or afternoon people? Do you think better after a long walk to get your blood flowing, or do you need time to sit and relax to get your minds in the mood?

Today it is all about getting a plan. Or specifically getting a planner. Depending on what you are using to teach you may not need to buy or make a planner. Some curiculums come with guidelines of what to do when that you can use. Using the plans that come with the curriculum is an easy way to stay on course. But many do not come with plans. And of course there are those who want to change the plans to suit their family better, or are eclectic and need to mesh several different styles together. For those buying or making a good lanner can be a life saver.

There are several great places online that you can go to print out pages to put together your own planner. Donna Young and The HomeSchool Mom are two great sites that I love. They have easy to use pages that you can print off and adapt to your own homeschooling needs. There are also some great homeschooling moms who have created their own planners and are willing to share. Jenny at Little Acorn’s Treehouse has her personal teaching planner online for anyone to download and use. She even has her girls’ personal work planners online to share with other homeschooling moms.

Some prefer to use online planners that do some of the work for there. Ther are several great sites that will work with homeschoolers to create a plan for them to use online. Home School Inc. is one such site that lets parents enter all the information online and creates a workable plan. There are also planners on disc that you can buy to keep your records on your computer and ready to print out whenever you need them. The Master Planner is one such disc.

Of course there are also several planner books that you can buy. There are several books that are geared for teachers that homeschoolers can easily use. Or you can buy ne of the many planners made just for homeschoolers. The Ultimate Homeschool Plannerand the Homeschool Teacher’s Plan Bookare two such books that some homeschoolers use.

What do I have? (more…)

This week I want to focus on planning out homeschooling. I am a planner at heart, I love to make lists and goals and schedules. Luckily I have just enough of a lazy streak that it does not bother me if not everything falls into order. Just having the plans to look back on is enough for me. Some people need to have detailed plans that they can work off of, some are better suited when they are spontanious. Most fall somwhere in the middle. Having a plan, even if it is just to have a second cup of coffee before getting the kids up, can be beneficial to almost everyone.

One thing that is emphasised in Enki is not to try to fit your life around homeschooling, but to fit homeschooling into your life. One of the first steps they suggest in planning is to make a schedule of the natural flow of your day and see where you can go from there. Are your kids grumpy in the mornings and need more time to wake up? Or do they jump out of bed bursting with energy and need something physical to help release it? How does the energy around the house fluxuate during the day? Making a note of the natural rhythm in the home and using that as a guideline for working in homeschooling can make for a smoother day.

Part of planning around the natural rhythms in the home also means taking into account your normal activities. More than one homeschooling mom has suggested buying a big calender and filling it in first with any important holidays, trips, and activities. if every second Tuesday you have a church function or if Fridays have always been fun days make notes of those. Jot down birthdays, anniversaries, special holidays, anything that the kids and yourself look forward to and expect. Suddenly cutting those things out or rescheduling them can cause frustration and resentment. See how you can work around these important events without losing educational time. An added benefit is that you will be able to see if you are planning too many activities or if your kids have room to add another if they are interested.

Here is some typical plans for us. (more…)