*Disclaimer: Homeschool laws vary country to country, and even state to state in the US. All of my posts on record-keeping and planning are based on homeschool law in the state of Georgia, USA. Please be sure of requirements in your own country/state before implementing any record-keeping system. * In my last post, I encouraged you to write down what your child accomplishes each day rather than making a checklist of things to do ahead of time. Am I telling you then to just fly by the seat of your pants? Of course not! The biggest advantage of having a teaching degree and school experience is understanding how to make long term plans and goals. Notice I said long term. It’s not so much about making a daily lesson plan; it’s about knowing where you want to get in the long run. Because here’s a little trade secret: public school teachers don’t finish everything on their lesson plan either. They are required to write them, but they aren’t slaves to them. And homeschoolers aren’t the only ones who get their lessons interrupted. When I taught, I faced the frustrating interruptions of fire drills, snow days, and discipline problems. Your child isn’t falling behind all the public school kids just because you got the flu. School teachers get the flu too, and believe me, their substitute teachers are probably just there for crowd control. Life happens to everyone. What education majors and professional teachers understand is something they call a scope and sequence. That’s a fancy term for a plan of what you want your students to cover and master by the end of the school year. However, just like the daily plans, these also have to be flexible. Flexibility: that’s the most important thing I want you to get. Here’s another professional term: IEP which stands for “individual education plan.” These are used in the school system for special needs students, but in an ideal world, every kid would have one. Guess what? You, homeschooler, are in the ideal situation to give your child an individual education plan. I write one of these up for each of my children. It lists all their subjects, how often they will do each one, what curriculum is being used, and a reading list. Here’s what my daughter Haley’s looked like last year: Haley’s Individual Education Plan 2020 / 2021 - 4th Grade Math: Math U See Delta / Test Prep and drill on Thursdays (Standardized test - Nov.) Handwriting: A Reason for Handwriting D Alternate these: Phonics: Explode the Code Six and Seven (Maybe Eight) Spelling: Spelling Workout C (Fall) and Spelling Workout D (Spring) Alternate these: Grammar: Finish First Language Lessons 4 (two weeks) Writing: Writing with Ease 2 (Fall) and WWE 3 (Spring) (one week) Literature: The Egyptian Cinderella Tirzah D’aulaires Book of Greek Myths & The Illustrated Odyssey (w/ Ian) Detective in Togas (w/Ian) Ramona’s World Voyage of the Dawn Treader (w/ Ian) From the Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler Charlotte’s Web (w/ Ian) Misty of Chincoteauge (w/ Ian) Matilda I wrote this for me, not to share with other people, so some of this might not make sense. However, let me try to break down some of it for you. Do you see the sections that say “alternate these”? Well, that means I alternate weeks for those subjects. I heard Sonya Shafer of Simply Charlotte Mason at a homeschool convention. The title of the session was “How to Simplify Your Homeschool.” Her talk set me free as a homeschool mom! One thing she said was that you don’t have to do every subject every day. I knew this, on some level, but I felt that only applied to the “extra” subjects. Surely I had to do all of language arts every day, right? But Sonya said to just pick ONE or TWO things that fall under language arts. Phonics, spelling, vocabulary, writing, grammar, and reading all fall under the banner of language arts. She told us don’t try to do all of those every single day. Then it hit me: I taught high school English for six years, and I never did everything everyday! Some days, I focused on literature, other days I focused on grammar, and when we were writing research papers, that was all we did for several weeks! Why was I trying to do it differently as a homeschool mom? So, my kids do math every single day, but everything else alternates. If you look at Haley’s IEP above, you’ll see that I alternated phonics and spelling every other week. For writing and grammar, we would spend two weeks on grammar, then a week on writing, then two weeks on grammar, etc. We actually do reading everyday, but that doesn’t mean you have to. (Reading is our favorite part of the day, however! I’ll write a whole post on that later.) What about history, geography, science, and the arts? We actually do those subjects together. How we do those will be my next post. Let’s get back to my daughter Haley, however. Each day, I look at her IEP. I go through the list with her, and I let her pick what she wants to do first. (Getting to pick what they want to do next gives my kids ownership and reduces whining.) As we accomplish each item, I write it down on her weekly record sheet I told you about in my last post. I do set a timer for an hour, but that’s only to make sure I don’t tax her. Once the timer goes off, she gets a break, and I work with her younger brother. After her brother has worked for an hour, we look at her IEP again and choose something we haven’t gotten to yet. Some days, we don’t get to everything, and that’s okay. We’ll just start with that subject the next day so she doesn’t get too far behind. Notice that I didn’t write down specific dates for finishing lessons/chapters. That’s because I don’t just want to cover the material, I want her to actually learn it. So if we go through the book slower, that’s okay. If she catches on quickly, and we go a bit faster, that’s okay too. The key is to have a general plan that is flexible. I hear people say that the problem in public schools is that everything is dumbed down. I disagree. If you ask teachers, they will tell you the problem is that the curriculum is a mile wide and an inch deep. Most state standards ask for teachers to cover too much, meaning they never delve deep enough for students to really master the material long term. Please, please, resist the temptation to simply “cover” a ton of material. Always ask yourself: “Is my child actually learning this? Or did we just finish the book?” Covering fewer subjects a day at greater depth will do far more long term. Doing fewer subjects a day also means we can spend more time on the one subject you really need to do daily: math. If you are trying to cover too much, you’ll speed through math and your child won’t really learn it. Remember when I said you have to be flexible even with a long term plan? Well, you’ll see above that I had planned for Haley to do the last half of Spelling Workout C in the fall and then the first half of Spelling Workout D in the spring. Things did not work out that way. Haley, who is a hands-on, kinesthetic learner, was not doing well with Spelling Workout. After Christmas, I decided to switch to All About Spelling. Because we had to start over from the beginning, and because All About Spelling recommends fifteen to twenty minutes a day, I changed her daily plan. We now do spelling and phonics every day. However, I cut the amount she does in each by half so she doesn’t get overwhelmed. We do half a lesson in spelling and one page instead of two in phonics. Isn’t it exciting that our kids can get such specialized instruction when we homeschool? I hope this post helps you plan long term for your kids in a way that brings freedom and flexibility! Next time, I’ll share how we do the other subjects.
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*Disclaimer: Homeschool laws vary country to country and even state to state in the US. All of my posts on record-keeping and planning are based on homeschool law in the state of Georgia, USA. Please be sure of requirements in your own country/state before implementing any record-keeping system.* For years, I struggled in our homeschool with planning our days so we got everything done. I spent most of my time frustrated and riddled with guilt. It would go something like this:
Every time we started a fresh school year, I would try a new schedule. I’d read a new idea on a blog somewhere, hear a great idea at a conference, and I would be so sure that this new plan would work. We would do great with it for maybe a week, and then the above cycle would start all over again. Finally, about two years ago, I had a revelation. What if, instead of planning what we would do, I simply kept a list of what we actually did that day? It seemed almost sacrilegious to this education major and former public school teacher. However, isn’t the definition of insanity doing the same thing over and over but expecting different results? No matter how I planned our day, we never got everything done. Maybe I needed to change my perspective. I’m telling you, this ONE THING revolutionized our homeschool. I simply printed out a sheet of paper with each kid's name at the top and the days of the week listed beneath. I labeled each sheet with that week's date. As we went through each day, I jotted down what each child did. At the end of each day, I would see a list of things like this: Ian Week - 10/15 Monday: Read aloud a chapter of Encyclopedia Brown; did lesson 12 in his phonics book (alk/awk words); practiced multiplication tables 0s, 1s, 2s, 5s, and 10s; did First Language Lessons lesson 185 (prepositions); helped Mommy make lunch; road bikes Seeing all that my child was actually learning was much more productive and helpful than seeing a list of things we didn’t finish. You’ll notice I added “non academic” things (helping make lunch and riding bikes). Look for things in your child’s life that are educational, even if they aren't part of a set curriculum. Don’t get too crazy (sorry, but playing video games doesn’t count!), but if they’ve learned something from it, list it. This will also help you see what you need to spend more time on the next day. Let’s say Ian didn’t have time to practice his multiplication tables. Since math is so important to do consistently, I know to make that a priority the next day. Overall, though, the beauty of this is having a record of your child’s progress and accomplishments. That is far more important than a great plan that never actually happens. You may be wondering, “But how do I know what I need to be doing?” I’ll explain a very simple way to keep track of that in my next post, so stay tuned! Every homeschool mom has that story. The story of how she decided to do this homeschooling thing. Most homeschool moms I talk to once thought it was something they would never do. We’re also an extremely eclectic bunch. Since we’re so eclectic, I can make no assumptions about you, my fellow homeschool mom. I can’t assume you are homeschooling because of your religious or moral beliefs, for example. I can’t assume your kids are doing all their work online. I can’t assume you’re in a co-op. The reasons why people homeschool, the way they homeschool, and the community they choose to do it in has never been more varied. We live in a society of influencers eager to give us their advice. For the most part, people eat it up. However, I’ve found myself pausing before I listen to someone. I’ve been let down too many times, you see. I think the problem is we don’t stop and ask, “why should I listen to this person?” Because they have fifteen thousand Instagram followers? Because their YouTube videos went viral? Because they have a blog. I take starting this blog very seriously. As a matter of fact, even though I thought about doing it for years, it’s only now, with almost a decade of homeschooling under my belt, that I feel ready and confident to give any kind of advice. I think “why should I listen to you?” is a valid question, and it’s one I want to answer by telling you my story (briefly, I promise!) I graduated from Asbury University (actually, it was just Asbury College back then) with a BS in English Secondary Education (6th-12th grade) passionate and idealistic about education. It was December when I finished my student teaching and moved back to my hometown. I got hired by a local high school on a Friday and started on a Monday! I was only twenty-two with zero experience, and I was given three different grade levels and about ninety students. Two of the classes had special needs students in them and a special education co-teacher. To say I was tossed into the deep end without a life preserver is an understatement. Fast forward five years, and like the vast majority of public school teachers, I’m burned out and ready to jump ship. It wasn’t just the stress of the job, it was education itself. “There’s got to be more than this,” was my constant thought. By this time, I was married and we were trying to have a baby. I was also thinking, “I want more for my child than this.” During those five years teaching public school, I tried to satisfy that cry within myself by getting certified to teach gifted students. My course work was exciting, and my gifted students were simultaneously a challenge (in a positive way) and a joy. It still wasn’t enough, however. Something was broken at the core of how students were being educated. After much prayer and quite a bit of fear, I took the leap and started looking for a private school job. What most people don’t understand is that private schools in America, contrary to what you see on tv, are not paying their teachers huge salaries. As a matter of fact, teachers take a pay cut to teach at most private schools. They also can’t provide the health insurance the public schools can. Nevertheless, my mental and emotional health was suffering at my current job. Looking back, I think the Lord used this time to prepare me to homeschool my kids. I was offered a job at three different schools. The first taught no differently than my public school and I wondered, "how will this be any different than what I'm already doing?" The other two, however, excited me. One was a Charlotte Mason school. One was a classical school. In applying for the jobs, I was required to read For the Children’s Sake by Susan Schaeffer Macauley and the essay “The Lost Tools of Learning” by Dorothy Sayers. Reading them changed my life. As a teacher, I had wondered if there was more. I now had the answer - there absolutely was! Yet I also realized it was impossible to give in a large classroom setting. It was somewhat easier to give in the classical school where I taught (yes, that’s where I accepted the job!). I taught sixth grade there for two years. The first year, I had only six students. The second year, I had twelve. My fire for learning was reignited as I watched kids thrive in this environment. While there, I also noticed that most of our curriculum was originally created for homeschoolers. Much of it I fell in love with. Sixth grade was also self-contained in this school (as part of the classical grammar stage), so I taught all subjects except for art, music, and Latin to the same kids all day long. Seeing all of the wonderful curriculum and realizing that “huh, I can teach math and science,” made a lightbulb go off. So I said to my husband, “What do you think about homeschooling?” In a way, the rest was history. After only two years at that fantastic, life-giving classical private school, I left to be a stay at home mom to our new baby boy. Over the years, I would also teach at a homeschool hybrid and private tutor homeschoolers, but the most rewarding teaching I have ever done is to three special students named Luke, Haley, and Ian. Nothing has compared to discovering the world by their sides. Nothing has compared to seeing them struggle to sound out letters, then string together words, then read more difficult chapter books, then finally read higher level books smoothly out loud. Their love for the library fills me with joy. When they finally master a word they’ve struggled to spell or a math concept that just wasn’t clicking, we cheer and high five in a way I never would with anyone else. They are getting an education that can only be achieved one on one. I think about the way God orchestrated my life. I went to college never dreaming I would be a teacher. I entered public school teaching never dreaming I would ever leave it. I took a job at a private school never dreaming I would homeschool. Maybe it sounds selfish to say all of that was leading me here: to be a teacher to my own kids, but it’s what I truly believe. So yes, I have a teaching degree. Yes, I am certified to teach gifted students. Yes, I taught at a classical school. Yes, I have received hours upon hours of teacher training. Yes, I now have almost a decade of experience at this homeschool thing. However, none of that means I’m more qualified to teach your children than you are. Why? Because they are not MY kids. It sounds conceited to say, but I do believe I am the best person to teach MY kids. I know them in a way a teacher never could, no matter how dedicated. It’s the same for you and your children, my friend. However, I do want to share what I know with you. I want to encourage you, from someone who has taught in pretty much every scenario, that you CAN do this. I want to give you tips and tools to help you do it better, with confidence. I want to share my mistakes, so you don’t have to make them! I don’t take doing this blog lightly because I know a little of what you’re feeling, mom. You worry, you wonder if you’re doing enough, you compare your kids to everyone else’s, you make mistakes and think you’ve ruined your kids for life. Guess what? I’ve struggled with all that, too. The last thing you need is some supermom with beautiful Instagram pictures feeding you unrealistic expectations. You won’t find that here. Just me, a mom who has always wanted more for her kids. Just like you. |
AuthorHi, I'm Melanie! I'm a homeschooling mom of three kids ages 13, 11, and 9. I have a BS in English Secondary Education from Asbury University plus 30 hours of gifted certification course work. I've taught in just about every situation you can imagine. Public school, private, homeschool hybrid, and private tutoring. The most important thing I've learned? One on one, individualized instruction can't be beat. Archives
July 2022
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