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knowloveserve
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| Posted: May 05 2010 at 5:32pm | IP Logged
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Do you think that the idea of real-life learning is compatible with having a very precise, calculated syllabus written out for every day of the year?
I wrote what I thought were good plans for this year; I was so impressed and excited to do it. I included a general time-frame of the amount of time I wanted to spend on each topic, and the resources I wanted to use.
But it's been very spotty and I feel like we flounder if I wrote in "math game" for example and didn't detail it. In fact, I feel like we are floundering a lot.
More often than not, our school day looks like this:
-2 pages of Explode the Code
-A little bit of NT, a saint story, or catechism.
-Discussion and prompted oral questions about what we just read (Narration is murder.)
-maybe 3 minutes on a poem, which gets illustrated when he's finished
-some hastily thrown out math problems.
And that's it. Maybe a line of copywork.  I had so many beautiful ideas for art, music, Spanish... it's all come to nought.
I've been negligent in reading to the children. Barely gone on a single nature walk since we moved in December.(Gosh I feel like I need to take these to Confession!)
Life is just "happening" and school is an afterthought. 
Anyway, I'm already resolving what needs to be done for next year. I'm the kind of woman who loves the idea of "unschooling" and even gentle, natural learning or rabbit trailing on unit studies. But frankly, I need a plan. I just do. I know that about myself now because in my home, unschooling very quickly evolves into "unparenting". I don't like formal curriculums in a box and I've eyed a few syllabi without much enthusiasm. But I DO love writing my own!
Do you think it's possible to write out a plan and still maintain the goals of gentle, spontaneous learning atmosphere?
I get so sidetracked also, with so many things. I've had to stop reading most blogs because they can serve to depress me on everything I'm not doing or what great ideas others are including.
I'm trying hard to KEEP IT SIMPLE, but you all have so many brilliant thoughts and ornamentations to your learning that I can't stay focused!!!  Lapbooking! Notebooking! Continent boxes! FIAR! Book of Centuries! etc. You should see my bookmark folder entitled "homeschooling"... it has SOOO many links that I've yet had time to explore. So many wonderful sites out there. It seems like I just keep adding to the list of great things until there is so much that I just freeze! And then collapse... yelling at my son to stay on task and frantically trying to figure out what to do for our creative time. It's shameful. He hates math already... something I swore I wouldn't let happen.
I have the books. I have the resources. I just don't use so much of them. I can't stay focused...
Where am I going with this post?
... case in point ...
Oh yeah, so I was thinking that I need to just write out very specific plans with very specific projects and assignments instead of just cataloguing what resources I have and thinking I'll get around to use them.
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Ellie
The Bleeding Pelican
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JodieLyn
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| Posted: May 05 2010 at 5:45pm | IP Logged
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well very specific plans and very specific prijects pretty well eliminates spontaneous 
But that doesn't mean it's not gentle and fitted to your family.
And you don't have to do any of those extra things.. you might find that once you regularly do your specific plan that letting them play will turn into spontaneous learning moments.. so maybe you're digging in the garden or going fishing when you talk about worms and you didn't use that beautiful book off the shelf. Oh well.
And maybe you sat down at the computer after hearing a song like say.. PT109 by Johnny Horton and ended up learning about JFK and Silver Stars and the Medal of Honor.. and it's not in a book of centuries or a notebook or a lapbook. again.. oh well.. products are only one way of learning.
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Jodie, wife to Dave
G-18, B-17, G-15, G-14, B-13, B-11, G-9, B-7, B-5, B-4
All men who have turned out worth anything have had the chief hand in their own education.
-Sir Walter Scott
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Sarah M
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| Posted: May 06 2010 at 12:52am | IP Logged
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knowloveserve wrote:
Do you think it's possible to write out a plan and still maintain the goals of gentle, spontaneous learning atmosphere?
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Yes! I do! I don't have much time to write tonight, Ellie, but I definitely will be back.
I can understand everything you've written. All of it. And until I can come back and write more, I wanted to say... what has worked really well here is for me to plan out specific detailed lessons for our mornings (reading, writing, math, and in our case- FIAR or similar unit studies), and then leave afternoons open for "unschooly" kinds of things. Projects, arts & crafts, games, nature walks, outdoor time, etc. If I let the whole day go on a "we'll see how it goes" basis, everything falls apart, and exactly what you mentioned-- I fall into a habit of "unparenting." Not good. I love an unschooly feel, but cannot just wing it 100%. Freedom within limits works well here.
Like I said, I'll be back because I'd definitely like to chat more about this.
Sending hugs your way!
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stefoodie
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| Posted: May 06 2010 at 5:53am | IP Logged
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I have plans upon plans, but tend to be very flexible within those plans. Like right now we're doing an Africa Unit Study and I've got detailed plans for each day. (I write the plans about 5-6 days before we actually use it.) But I go with whatever the children actually want to do that day. So I say "narrate", and ideally what that is is written down narration, in complete sentences, 3 sentences all the way to several paragraphs depending on age. But if all they want to do is talk about what they learned at the dinner table then that's what we do. (Writing is still required but I only put my foot down every few days, since they write so much on their own anyway, just not necessarily on topics I assign.) If they want to read a book that I assigned for Day 4 on Day 2, I let them read it. Esp. for my book devourers who can read 1 or 2 chapter books a day if I let them, several pages of a history book or a picture book become boring.
So basically, detailed plans -- sure. Gives me a goal to shoot for and also great for those days when I just need them to look at a list and do what's on there so I can be busy elsewhere -- laundry, cooking, baby, etc. But I don't (I should say "I no longer") sweat it when they don't follow plans to the minute detail.
I wouldn't say that on those days when the plan isn't followed exactly that "life is happening and school is an afterthought". It may look that way, but learning is going on all the time. I'm sure that whatever "life" looks like in your home right now, teaches them a lot. There may not be visible proof of that all the time, but it's there.
What you said about blogs... I'd like to encourage you to think on that. It's so true for me. When I peek over someone's shoulder and see "what are they doing?" I oftentimes either feel superior or inferior depending on what's going on at my house that day. I've really needed to learn to stop comparing myself or my family and what we do to others, because usually no good comes out of it. Doesn't mean I can't draw inspiration, just that I can't/shouldn't beat myself up if we don't follow other people's footsteps.
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stef
mom to five
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CrunchyMom
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| Posted: May 06 2010 at 7:12am | IP Logged
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I absolutely understand what you mean!
Now, my oldest is only going into first grade next year, but I am experimenting with lesson plans that I feel are detailed enough to keep me on track but allow for flexibility throughout the year (so, I don't have to plan a lesson for each day that must be done in that order or the plans are "off").
I really like how Maria Rioux has organized her syllabi.
So, instead of just listing the resources I want to use, I am making the individual resources into checklist. I varied from her format, so, when I want to specifically coordinate two or more resources, I put them together in the same list and used multiple bullets for checkmarks.
I also have the blank lesson plans from Donna Young's site where I fill in the lessons I want to do weekly or biweekly so that I'm not planning specific days too far out.
I also plan on, this summer, printing out the notebooking pages and coloring sheets and copywork, at least for the first chunk of the year, that I anticipate doing, and adding those to the checklist.
I can't tell you yet that this absolutely will work for me, but judging from things that work in other areas, I think this might be a good balance for me allowing me to pick and choose according to interest, weather, illness, etc... but also providing a clear visual on what we've covered and what is left and might need to step up on.
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Lindsay
Five Boys(6/04) (6/06) (9/08)(3/11),(7/13), and 1 girl (5/16)
My Symphony
[URL=http://mysymphonygarden.blogspot.com/]Lost in the Cosmos[/UR
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knowloveserve
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| Posted: May 06 2010 at 10:32am | IP Logged
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Lindsay, I've seen her syllabi before but didn't think much of it because it was so ordered. Now, looking at it more closely, I can see how something similar to that would be beneficial.
I have for example "Games for Math" and if I went through it before the school year and put onto a checklist the games we liked and could use... I could just check them off one by one. Same with the "Discovering Great Artists" book...
So I wonder, if instead of writing out my plans on a a day by day basis, it would behoove me to write out specific checklists of things we COULD be doing. This would allow for the natural flow of illnesses or vacations or whatnot to interrupt our schoolyear without setting us back. Hmm... will have to tinker with that idea in my head.
Sarah, our days our like that too. Formal school time in the morning, but the learning doesn't necessarily end at noon. Just last night after dinner for example, we discovered a bunch of new trails near our home... something I consider to be valuable learning.
Steph, I think you're right. I know and have bookmarked all the fantastic blogs and ideas... I just need to lay off for a while and get into MY groove. I can reference back to them when I need a sugar-shot.
Jodie, I'm just now getting to the point of recognizing what kind of schooling I WANT and what kind I'm capable of implementing, and the two aren't always the same thing. I think this is an important lesson for me. And ultimately, I need to do what works for our family, not what I admire on a pedestal.
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Ellie
The Bleeding Pelican
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Mackfam
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| Posted: May 06 2010 at 11:21am | IP Logged
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I like to think I practice Considered Natural Learning.
My temperament is split right down the middle and the way I plan in our learning reflects my temperament a lot! I am split choleric/sanguine...which means I crave order, organization, planning...but love being spontaneous and open in our experiences.  Seems conflicted, but honestly...it's a really great balance for me!
There are so many ways to consider and accomplish home education and they're all beautiful because each different style reflects how one mom, cooperating with grace and using the talents and gifts God gave her, translates that into her vocation. How does Considered Natural Learning work itself out in our home?
** Considering the year - I love planning! It is a huge help for me! I become overwhelmed in stimulus heavy situations quickly - the same situation in which another mom would be able to relax right into. Having a plan in place helps give me a sense of direction. Do I follow this plan rigorously and with no consideration for interest driven pursuits? NO WAY!!! But, it's a good direction and in the consideration of the plan, if I spend time considering that this book/approach/curriculum/discussion is valuable, then I don't dismiss it carelessly either...because I invested some time and thought and prayer in making that plan.
** Plan in themes...in chunks - these give me some flexibility...to speed up...slow down...take a worthwhile tangent in a related direction. I don't plan for an entire year, but I do consider the year as having a certain volume. In planning, I seek to offer nutritious, generous portions to accommodate that volume. I want portions/offerings to be balanced and rich (religion, math, writing, reading, history, literature...not too much of one or too little of another) so that is a part of my considerations. These themed/chunky plans offer me flexibility - I've considered how much volume they should/will take up from our school year and it's plug and play from there. This is my yearly planning.
** Smaller themes and chunks - From my yearly considerations I break out booklists and ideas into terms or quarters. Again, I'm able to consider if offerings and portion sizes are realistic (too much? too little?)
** Plan in smallest details (the weekly and daily details) - I don't do this until *we're there*!!!! I've got great direction and a good rudder from my yearly considerations. I have booklists and themed/chunky plans with some details, but when it comes down to the living it, I write out those plans and ideas the week before. This takes some habit formation on my part. I have to be faithful to this weekly consideration of where we were...and where we're headed. Some weeks my plans reflect lots of details...and some weeks my plans as *written* are sparse...but they are always considered. ALWAYS I build plans with lots of margin - room for masterly inactivity! Some people record their work so well as a journal after-the-fact (Sarah M comes to mind here...I love reading her journals.)
Like Sarah, a lot of our independent reading and work time is in the morning, and while explorations, projects, and creativity is always encouraged, I make special time for it in the afternoons.
I love comparing ideas and looking around! I'm always so grateful others share their ideas and reviews with me on blogs, etc.!!! This is such a gift and blessing of online media. I can see another mom with different talents and God-given gifts and rejoice in her offerings! If something isn't for me it's not an opportunity for me to feel inadequate, it's just that she has different talents and priorities and gifts that bless her domestic church. I can click away in peace. Even if I find another mom with ideas I can use I'll always have to translate her ideas - because my home is unique and I am unique. This is fine too!! There's peace in rejoicing in what others have to share, and recognizing that all ideas will need to be prayerfully considered and applied in my home with the gifts, talents, and weaknesses I have...with me always trying to stretch closer to His will and His plan for me (this sometimes takes me way outside my comfort zone!)
Hope this helps give you an idea of how one mom does this. I mentioned my temperament because I think it plays into how one might live this...and because we're all so individual and unique; what is a great way of considering education and living it will still look so different from home to home. So...if there's an idea here, by all means run with it and translate it in your home with your God-given gifts and talents!
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Jen Mackintosh
Wife to Rob, mom to dd 19 , ds 16, ds 11, dd 8, and dd 3
Wildflowers and Marbles
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Sarah M
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| Posted: May 06 2010 at 11:59am | IP Logged
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Everything that Jen said. Seriously, I think I've learned how to make things work well in my home by reading her advice over the years and seeing how it will work in my home. 
Ellie, the way you talked about "Games for Math"-- that's exactly what we do. I've made a checklist, and right now I'm making it a goal to do two new games each week-- mostly because I want to have the games all made and in file folders for easy retrieval. Next year, I'll *assign* each week two games from this book, and then we can just grab the file folder that contains it and go play.
Lindsay-- you don't want to share some of those checklists you're making, do you? I'd love to see yours, because I too really like the way Maria's are laid out...
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JuliaT
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I have been struggling with this for awhile now. We have had a major change this past year in how we homeschool. We have had a difficult year and that has changed my views on how I want my children to be educated.
I am leaning very strongly towards 'intentional unschooling' with a twist of CM tucked in amongst the edges. This seems to be working very well for my kids. I have always been a planner and a listmaker but our life experiences this past year has made me swing to the other side. I am finding that on being on this other side, though, things are not getting done. So I have devised a system that, so far, is working.
I can't go back to making lists as that just seems too stifling to me right now but I make a list of all of the things that I would like to do for each subject for the week and then I choose what to do for each day.
For ex. for math. I am not using a formal program with my younest. So I make a list of what I want to do in Family Math, Games for Math, card games, board games, hands-on acitivities, etc. I get together all the math storybooks that I want to read during the week and I put them, any supplies that I need to fulfill my plans and the list in the basket. I can dip into this whenever we do math. This seems to be working.
All this to say that if you need to make concise and exact plans then go for it. I don't think the amount of planning diminishes the level of 'real learning' that is accomplished. Whatever it takes, do it.
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Blessings,
Julia
mom of 3(14,13 & 11 yrs.old)
MusingsofaPrairieGirl
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ekbell
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| Posted: May 06 2010 at 5:24pm | IP Logged
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I've split items into three categorys.
Daily work is seat work which must be done (spelling, grammar, math and the like). It's not called daily work because it's exactly the same every day but because it's the required work of the day. This is scheduled either by amount of material or amount of time per day.
Couch time material consists of the books we read and discuss (mostly on the couch in bad weather and outside in good weather but we've also been known to 'do Couch time' on my bed). I have a basic schedule for this but it mostly consists of a pile of books in the bookcase by my couch, a list of possible replacement books and a list of topics for each day of the week.
It gives me a plan which is easily changed when desired (for example I was planning to read to my six year about deserts last week but ended up reading about the Madagascar rainforest) but ensures that we normally go through a good number of living books on a variety of subjects.
Projects are all the fun things which hopefully will be an enriching addition to our days but which I've deemed only as useful as they are enjoyable (most art ideas are in this category).
In many cases my main contribution to Projects is providing the idea and materials and leaving the children to it. [I must admit nature walks are shoved in this category- my children are provided with aids to nature study and access to outside but we don't do formal walks]. At the beginning of the year I'll have a basic schedule for Projects (when we read about plants I should bring out the microscope and plant slides) but it's not very firm and the most prone to being derailed.
'Daily work' is only missed due to illness or the like, couch time is sometimes missed due to the children taking too lone with daily work but normally they find it too interesting to miss. Projects vary widely depending on just how interesting the children find them.
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CrunchyMom
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Sarah M wrote:
Everything that Jen said. Seriously, I think I've learned how to make things work well in my home by reading her advice over the years and seeing how it will work in my home.
Ellie, the way you talked about "Games for Math"-- that's exactly what we do. I've made a checklist, and right now I'm making it a goal to do two new games each week-- mostly because I want to have the games all made and in file folders for easy retrieval. Next year, I'll *assign* each week two games from this book, and then we can just grab the file folder that contains it and go play.
Lindsay-- you don't want to share some of those checklists you're making, do you? I'd love to see yours, because I too really like the way Maria's are laid out... |
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I keep meaning to share some of my plans, but I also keep thinking I'll wait until they are closer to finished, lol. Such vanity!
Somewhere, recently, I guess not in this thread, you mentioned using Explode the Code. I bought the books, and my boys have enjoyed them so far, but I'm wondering if you had any other things specifically that you combined with them for early phonics and reading.
__________________
Lindsay
Five Boys(6/04) (6/06) (9/08)(3/11),(7/13), and 1 girl (5/16)
My Symphony
[URL=http://mysymphonygarden.blogspot.com/]Lost in the Cosmos[/UR
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knowloveserve
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Lindsay, regarding early phonics and reading. Honestly, I'm very, loose on these subjects-- more than all the others because I want more than anything for my kids to love to read. So all the formal reading programs have ended in tears and resistance around here and were promptly dropped. I did a lot of reading of the Moores and their "late is better" philosophy and I've known healthy, successful children who didn't learn to read until age 10 or 11 or so. So I don't push it. That said, it's clear that my oldest 7 1/2 year old is not a natural reader and he slugs along with lots of guessing of words. But at least he doesn't hate it. My 5 year old reads as well as big brother... and he's got a better intuition on how to sound out words as well. All this with NO focus spent on his school work yet.
We do ETC, and we occasionally get some readers at the library (I don't like buying readers very much because they are so easy to memorize...) or we make our own. (The kids adore when I make up silly, simple stories and illustrated them-- stick figures basically-- and then staple it together with a fun cover.)
And every now and again, the boys make up a story and I write it down, word for word, and they get it read back to them... they love this too and want it read over and over again.
That's pretty much it. The other reading enrichment things we do are just a part of our daily lives:
We play Scrabble, with simplified rules. We read aloud a LOT. We play alphabet word games in the car, or rhyming games or license plate games. We have the "Games for Reading" book and may occasionally pick out a game or two from there but it feels more like fun than anything else.
So Explode the Code is it as far as formality goes. Next fall, I think I may get Primary Language Lessons as well... but we'll see.
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Ellie
The Bleeding Pelican
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CrunchyMom
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I agree Ellie. I have been relaxed, and Explode the Code is the most formal thing we've done for more than a day or two, lol, and even that has been completely at his lead. I haven't assigned anything. Its just we're hitting a sort of wall for how advanced my almost six year old is in the book, but he REALLY wants to learn to read. He's begged me to teach him. He loves books and listens to audio books all the time, never gets tired of my reading to him, etc... He loves language and remembers all the books he listens to. For instance, in the van today, after we'd seen a homeless man and prayed for him and talked about his needs briefly, he said, "Yk, Mom, some people don't get sad when they are poor, like Doctor Doolittle. He said that money was a 'terrible nuisance.'"
I'm happy with that. He's absorbing language and loves literature, and I think that is more of a benefit than being an early reader.
And yet, HE is desperate to learn to read.
But, I don't think I can *teach* him much more at this point. Perhaps I should pull out handwriting to "teach" and keep reviewing letters and sounds that way until he's ready. But I don't think he is.
He will see a word and say all the sounds accurately and in order over. and over. and over. again, and it goes something like "Buh--aa--tuh" (though, we do try to not do the strong "uhs" its just hard to write that phonetically without them) "Buh--aa--tuh...lighthouse?"
And then I pray for the patience not to shake him, lol.
We have the first two letter factory dvds which both boys enjoy, and I was looking at the others in the series, but the next one moves on to silent letters and things, and I can't really see how it would help when he can't even sound out simple three letter words without help.
He keeps asking me, "Mom was it hard for you to learn to read?" and I have to say, "No." I taught myself at four with the help of being read to a lot and watching Sesame Street.
ETA: Distracted and wrestling the teething baby. I do try to explain that different people are better at different things, I think he just gets discouraged not knowing how to read when its something he really desires, yk, like everybody, lol.
__________________
Lindsay
Five Boys(6/04) (6/06) (9/08)(3/11),(7/13), and 1 girl (5/16)
My Symphony
[URL=http://mysymphonygarden.blogspot.com/]Lost in the Cosmos[/UR
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Sarah M
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| Posted: May 18 2010 at 9:29pm | IP Logged
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CrunchyMom wrote:
Somewhere, recently, I guess not in this thread, you mentioned using Explode the Code. I bought the books, and my boys have enjoyed them so far, but I'm wondering if you had any other things specifically that you combined with them for early phonics and reading. |
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We do love Explode the Code. We're also using Handwriting Without Tears, and my 6yo practices her letter sounds while writing them. She's learning to read the BOB books. We do those most days, (but certainly not all)in 10 minute increments. Sometimes we play letter sound bingo or memory (or simple two-and-three letter words on index cards, doing the same thing). Sometimes we build words with the movable alphabet.
My oldest had a really hard time blending sounds-- a much harder time than 6yo is currently having. Primrose could learn sight words easily, but really really struggled with phonics. At the beginning of this school year, she was reading quite a bit below grade level. I waited. And silently panicked. And waited, re-reading all those better-late-than-early books and hoping they were right. And then, over Christmas, something happened. It's like it just clicked. All of the sudden she began reading waaaaaay above grade level, and I tell you- I did nothing. It's like her brain was all of the sudden just "ready" and so it came easily to her.
Blending sounds is hard! And exhausting! You can just see how much work it takes to blend those letters when they're really working at it. Ruth Beechick says it's the hardest stage of learning to read, and a child will not get it until they are truly ready to get it.
So my thought is maybe, if your son so badly wants to read but is perhaps not quite ready for the blending stage.... could you teach him a BOB book or two? Then he can memorize it and feel like a successful reader, but you could really be continuing to do all those natural things you are already doing, and waiting until he's really ready to blend sounds?
Is this helpful at all, Lindsay, or am I just rambling to myself? (which is, truth be told, not terribly uncommon) .
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Sarah M
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| Posted: May 18 2010 at 10:57pm | IP Logged
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ekbell wrote:
I've split items into three categorys.
Daily work is seat work which must be done (spelling, grammar, math and the like). It's not called daily work because it's exactly the same every day but because it's the required work of the day. This is scheduled either by amount of material or amount of time per day.
Couch time material consists of the books we read and discuss (mostly on the couch in bad weather and outside in good weather but we've also been known to 'do Couch time' on my bed). I have a basic schedule for this but it mostly consists of a pile of books in the bookcase by my couch, a list of possible replacement books and a list of topics for each day of the week.
It gives me a plan which is easily changed when desired (for example I was planning to read to my six year about deserts last week but ended up reading about the Madagascar rainforest) but ensures that we normally go through a good number of living books on a variety of subjects.
Projects are all the fun things which hopefully will be an enriching addition to our days but which I've deemed only as useful as they are enjoyable (most art ideas are in this category).
In many cases my main contribution to Projects is providing the idea and materials and leaving the children to it. [I must admit nature walks are shoved in this category- my children are provided with aids to nature study and access to outside but we don't do formal walks]. At the beginning of the year I'll have a basic schedule for Projects (when we read about plants I should bring out the microscope and plant slides) but it's not very firm and the most prone to being derailed.
'Daily work' is only missed due to illness or the like, couch time is sometimes missed due to the children taking too lone with daily work but normally they find it too interesting to miss. Projects vary widely depending on just how interesting the children find them. |
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I really really like this, ekbell. Very simple. Very do-able. Very rich.
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ALmom
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| Posted: May 19 2010 at 1:04am | IP Logged
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I think it is quite possible to have very detailed lesson plans and be spontaneous at the same time. It seems like a contradiction. It depends on the combinations of temperments in your home. I am very melancholic/choleric. My children tend to be very phlegmatic or sanguine. We'd drive each other crazy without plans - but we do all build these plans together with an understanding that works in our family.
I feel out of control without plans (which brings out the overcontrolling and micromanagement in me - plus the perfectionism of trying to do it all) - but with plans, I can relinguish the need to micromanage and feel I still have a handle on what is happening in the home. It also helps me to be more realistic - to plan in down time, make sure our days are not crammed. We still drop things to follow a rabbit trail. The way I do the daily plan is to have no more than 1 day on page. I number the top of the page. If we have an awesome opportunity or follow a rabbit trail on a day - I simply renumber pages as we go. Everything is already sort of sequenced out (mostly so I have my materials all together knowing what I might have on a given topic and what supplemental stuff should be available when we get to xyz) - but I can shift things and reorder days or parts of days. I can skip entire things. We also always have periodic meetings between the children and I to discuss how things are going, what is working and isn't, what they like, etc. This also happens at the end when we look at what we have accomplished and decide that we really don't need to do x - either we already did it some other way with our trails or we shifted that concept to another year and did something else instead.
Many of my plans are lists of choices or possibilities. But I like to make connections across disciplines and make use of what I have - I just lose it trying to do this weekly for 6 children, so I do the basic organization ahead of time. Obviously if they totally switch tracks - decide to follow an astronomy trail instead of the physics they thought they wanted then that is invariably in a subject/area of passion and I won't have any ahead of time plans. However, if this happens, the passion is strong enough that I simply run around the house pulling books off a shelf and put them together in one place - plus ask said child for input on materials needed. I don't try to write as detailed plans on the fly when this happens because it is always a passion and they won't need a ton. This never happens in avoidance subjects!
I have plans written out in such a way that it is easy for me to simply scratch out on the fly, whatever we are changing for the day. If there is something on the old plan we still want to get to eventually - we shift it. Sometimes we simply realize that we don't need to do something, that this other thing that came up just covered the whole concept in a much better way and I just scratch out what was in my plans and scribble in what we did instead. These become my official records for my state but since I don't really have to show them to anyone as a permanent record, it doesn't matter that they are scrawled over. (I know the degree of scrawling would drive someone else nutty).
I also know that lots of folks like having the checklists. I would stymie with checklists trying to figure out how we would weave it all in and get caught up in my tendency to control - and my phlegmatic and sanguine folks get frustrated without more structure and we all end up sidetracked in serious ways (not the delightful spontaneous learning - but the irrational jumping around and wondering where the day went) which brings out the worst of all of our temperments - and also will inevitably lead to conflict. Having a detailed plan saves us from this scenario.
My children love having the structure - they ask for it by 4th or 5th grade. It frees them to be more independent. I know this seems like a contradiction to most - but we are more flexible when we have detailed plans and the children are more likely to follow their own trails and not just daydream because plans allow us to be spontaneous but also prudent -. We make a deliberate choice rather than drifting. The children communicate with me as long as we have a plan - without a plan, they just don't tend to be talkers and they can look like they are working when they are simply drifting - other times they can look like they are drifting but they are really contemplating and doing important reflecting. With a plan, we cue each other in on these things. We do discuss ahead of time that I do want them to give their ideas and I am happy to substitute anytime there is a legitimate pursuit they want to follow. It does keep some of my more destractible folks from simply wheedling out of work. I also know the children very, very well and in subjects of passion that I know the children will totally pursue on their own - I don't waste my time putting down detail. I simply gather stuff in one room and organize it so that we don't waste time hunting for that perfect book or forgetting about the experiment we had or .... I have begun to have set days for planning science project - a day for making the shopping list (child does this and actually writes it directly to our list so we don't forget to get it).
I also think that another factor in detailed plans - number of children and age span. With 6 whose abilities and interests just don't overlap a ton, I just don't have a lot of planned group things. Trying to keep up with 6 different checklists - I'd plain lose my mind. We do plenty of things together - but these are spontaneous and happen because minds are engaged, children are enthused and they are sharing enthusiasm and showing their latest discovery to the next - or they have gone off on a project inspired by something they studied and everyone else has drifted in to join the project. These are all things we certainly are delighted to let happen.
For us it is very freeing to have the detailed plans. We still take off, go with a new interest that has developed, etc. The key is to see your detailed plans as if they were a checklis or general guide - no matter how detailed they may be, to remain flexible and to communicate back and forth with the children.
This year, we added in a Co-op that the children wanted to do. I had planned art appreciation - but instead of doing what was on our plan, we joined in with Picturing America presentation in a small group and one child signed up for art classes which he loved. We did a few picture studies on our own, one child became enamored with nature sketching and another began to do some of this with a science program he started early. We ended up going to a number of concerts at the end of the year. I just called it fine arts and called it good. Oh, and we purchased a lot of art supplies along the way. Some things happened because of the banter between children - and some wouldn't have been planted without a plan.
We also ditched plans for a day to participate in a chemistry day at a local college -for those interested.
An EMT course offered at the Co-op became one dd health class. We revamped our Friday to do this as some children didn't want anything to do with co-op. We managed to accomodate both sets - with some creative juggling and some mom exhaustion and some growing/adjustment pains(that was worth it for this one year).
One child asked for Latin somewhere during the year - we pulled it out and 2 other children participated. Another child, I decided we were doing poetry - it turned out really well and 2 children who I had not planned this for drifted in and began to join us. None of my children are likely to go gaga over poetry but they did enjoy this and I did require it - so not everything we do is spontaneous. Sometimes the children inspire me, sometimes I inspire them by requiring them to try something.
Out of the blue, someone asked our 13 year old if he wanted to do science fair. That became his science for the remainder of the year. Of course he did do plenty of other science as it was his passion. At the end of the day I simply asked him to tell me what he did - and I recorded it.
We've had a really good year overall.
Janet
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JennGM
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| Posted: May 19 2010 at 7:47am | IP Logged
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Janet,
I think years ago you mentioned all your plans were handwritten?
Would it be possible to share a page of your daily plan so I could visualize it? It doesn't have to be the exact picture, but just a typed example. I'm trying to see what you mean about
Almom wrote:
| Many of my plans are lists of choices or possibilities. But I like to make connections across disciplines and make use of what I have ... |
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Is that the overall birds' eye view, or the nitty-gritty day-to-day that you do this?
Your post is very helpful. I am evenly matched melancholic/Choleric, so your posts always speak to me.
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Jennifer G. Miller
Wife to  & ds1  '03 & ds2  '07
Family in Feast and Feria
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CrunchyMom
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| Posted: May 19 2010 at 9:01am | IP Logged
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I am doing some of that, Janet, with my checklist, and I will skip a bit around and not check consecutively in order to fill out my weekly plans. So, I do make a more detailed day to day plan, I just look to my checklist to keep the big picture of what we have done.
So, I too, would like to see how detailed you make your plan. Do you mean you make out a detailed plan at the beginning of the year or semester? How does it break things down daily?
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Lindsay
Five Boys(6/04) (6/06) (9/08)(3/11),(7/13), and 1 girl (5/16)
My Symphony
[URL=http://mysymphonygarden.blogspot.com/]Lost in the Cosmos[/UR
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Angel
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| Posted: May 19 2010 at 9:27am | IP Logged
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ALmom wrote:
Many of my plans are lists of choices or possibilities. But I like to make connections across disciplines and make use of what I have - I just lose it trying to do this weekly for 6 children, so I do the basic organization ahead of time. Obviously if they totally switch tracks - decide to follow an astronomy trail instead of the physics they thought they wanted then that is invariably in a subject/area of passion and I won't have any ahead of time plans. However, if this happens, the passion is strong enough that I simply run around the house pulling books off a shelf and put them together in one place - plus ask said child for input on materials needed. I don't try to write as detailed plans on the fly when this happens because it is always a passion and they won't need a ton. This never happens in avoidance subjects!
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Janet, I'll third the request for an example of your daily plans. I do have a question about the text I quoted above, though...
Do your kids tend to switch tacks a lot -- like deciding to follow astronomy instead physics? I am having a problem with my older kids right now where they ask for some structure, so I put time into finding resources, putting them together in chart form, breaking them down as assignments... and then they decide after a short time that no, they don't really want to do that anymore, they are really incredibly interested in some entirely different subdiscipline!
This always makes me want to bang my head on the wall. I don't have a whole lot of time for planning in the first place. Making all the plans just to decide whether to scrap them entirely or whether to enforce them past the point of interest is something that consistently drives me nuts; I never know what I should do! Then I think, well, why did I put all this work into it at all? I should have just doled out a few books and then waited to see if there was more or less interest.
I've been interested in the whole personality aspect of planning lately, too. I went and took one of those personality tests and I have to confess it was illuminating. I turned out to be equally phlegmatic/melancholic -- more on the phlegmatic side that day. I think this means that I'm a little disorganized . But also perhaps that I'm ok with thinking on my feet.
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Angela
Mom to 9, 7 boys and 2 girls
Three Plus Two
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ALmom
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| Posted: May 19 2010 at 12:25pm | IP Logged
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Angela:
I do all my detailed planning in the summer when I have lots of time and some opportunity to see where new interests are forming. We do a lot of discussion with the children. They peruse the catelogues with us. This frees me in the school year to be more present to my children and feel like I have a crutch to fall back on. and time to observe and interact and adjust.
Angela, I have one child like you describe - a very gifted, nontraditional learner. It has been a real struggle for both of us to find the right balance and now that we're at graduation, I'm not sure we totally did. Sometimes, I just require something - and had the detailed plans because without that, well this phlegmatic sanguine, interested in everything just wouldn't stick with anything. She had a pattern of doing a lot of work and perusing, but never finishing anything. We discussed, prayed and all of us decided that requiring completion of some things was essential. The plans were partially on her request. She hates school but loves to learn. She just wanted to know what had to be done to be done, did it and went off to do her own things. She liked this better even though it would have been much more efficient to come up with a way to document and count all her learning.
If this child would have shown me half of what was being done on her down time or been willing for me to document stuff, honestly, I would have been more relaxed. Even if she'd spent a few minutes summarizing what she did, I'd have counted a ton of stuff. However, that ruined it for her. She wanted me to leave her non-assigned stuff alone. I respected that. This child has sketches, plays she wrote and a bunch of other stuff in her drawer. She is constantly reading something. She taught herself a bunch of stuff medical - first aid, etc. but kept it totally hidden from anyone. (Now a few of the things I eventually found out about, I keep in mind when awarding credit - but have no idea the hours spent so ...  She wanted the pressure of getting credit over and done with, so she just wanted me to tell her what she needed for graduation, she would do it and be done and then go about her own stuff. She took a co-op science class in an area of interest. It was a more traditional presentation (lecture, answer questions, boring) but she just wanted to do it and know she would have credit at the end. I doubt she learned a whole lot really - she just wanted the credit so she could be free to go back to the subject her own way without any pressure. She had me order a different text that she is going to read/use on her own to learn Anatomy her own way. I doubt she will read the text start to finish, but I know she will eventually learn the material as long as she is pursuing EMT firefighter. This seems so ridiculous to me -not the learning on your own, but the unwillingness to let me simply record what she had done so there wouldn't be so much wasted time. I didn't know what else to do after trying to explain that life and school could be simply recording what she does anyways. If you have any clues on how to discreetly figure out what they are doing so you can record it on the sly, I'd love to know just in case I have another child like her. My personality is more like a bulldozer and the only way I could figure out was to ask and if I asked it was pressure and ..... I simply respected her wishes. Her transcript will look much lighter than reality - but that is her choice.
She started to teach herself French, but quit when I started trying to record what was accomplished. We both decided just to get a teacher and do a traditional Latin for credit. This summer she has already pulled out Spanish, French and something else. At one point she had checked out a bunch of Arabic books - probably when she wanted to be a combat medic. How far she got in this, I have no idea. She'll be graduated - so suddenly she feels free. No matter how much I tried to let her follow trails and leave her alone and not place requirements from me on her, it just didn't work because when I had to put something down for the state, she just dropped things. I'm not terribly worried - other than that she is the same about finding her calling. She tries something, gets good at it, gets bored or doesn't find it fulfilling by itself, decides she will continue to do this "just for fun" and is off on another interest.
Another child, we do a lot of changes in his passion. He is more of a sanguine choleric and it is really easy to let him run and know things are being done. This child - changes are for 2 reasons :
primarily that some awesome opportunity came up and we simply cannot let it pass us by or there is such a huge passion and it truly takes him deeper and deeper into all kinds of learning.
secondly - something isn't working, we need to address a weakness or misfit in materials.
We were going to study Astronomy in my plans - and some botany because Astronomy books were the only science books in the house that he hadn't read and we own a telescope. The botany because he always gardens and had just ordered Botany in A Day - so I figured that between the two, maybe he would be interested for the year while we focus more intensely on math to get to the Algebra that he wanted so he can balance chemical equations. Next year will probably be either physical science and/or chemistry. Part of the problem with him is that he devours science so what I think will take a year - takes him much less time. Often, he finishes stuff that I planned for the following year, over the summer when I'm pulling out books to organize. I figure we have to keep him supplied with books, materials to inspire continued learning and exploration. I generally observe where he seems to be headed, discuss his ideas with him and formulate a plan based on what he tells me. When he is done with that, we either let him just do his own thing, find something new to add in. I don't necessarily add new stuff to the plan, but I do try to have new books on the shelf, or new things to tinker with - guess it is what you guys call strewing. It is just that I let him salivate over science catelogues and see the direction and think of the possibilities and kind of have things that he salivated over, but also stuff that might take it off in a new direction for learning in other areas.
Well we did a lot of Botany, nature walking, sketching, and he read up on some Astronomy through the first part of the year. Then he was asked about science fair - and things just went a different direction. It was such an awesome opportunity for him. He made a light bulb out of household things, and some of the Electro-Optical society engineers inspired him so he is going off in that direction at the moment - working with lasers and making a whimshurst machine (generating static electricity). I saw so many good things coming from this trail, we just flew with it. He had real scientists critiquing his work - and suddenly being neat, organized, writing clearly, punctuating and spelling correctly became real and thus important to him. He labored for days and hours over the written portion of his science fair project. He redid photos, actually redid his display at least once to make it neater! His lesson plans day after day include - worked on science fair project. Because he does so much in this area, well, it never stresses me - other than initially in the summer when I kind of freeze and think - what else can we possibly do in science.
We also made a major change in his English through the year. I started with one of Kolbe's texts trying to get him to have an example of writing to follow. I was a bit disappointed and we sat down together. We looked more closely at the example and I realized this hands on visual child had actually mimiced the example perfectly. The example was deficient. We dropped this while I pondered what to do instead. In the meantime, I had him read elegantly written science - Fabre's stuff. I don't even think I remembered to write it down, but I did point the stuff out to him on the shelf and he did it. Somewhere in there I didn't worry because he started really trying to do the written work for science fair and though this was a different kind of writing, it was still teaching some of the thought gathering, be clear, pay attention to the mechanics when you proofread. We also ended up realizing we needed something to more closely step through how to read into literature. We signed up for a Seton reading course and he did the workbooks and book reports, and the one assignment to hand in. We quickly learned to skip the rest as they were too feminine for him and would have smothered any possibility of enticing him into non-science literature. Just writing helped, and the accountability and independence of finishing and uploading himself made it something we did consistently and writing improved just from writing. That was good, if not utterly inspiring. It is an area I plan to revisit with him this summer to see if we can find a better way. We added in a grammar workbook. He requested Latin and art - both science inspired. At some point on some of this, I stopped writing in because the step was - do the next thing. He fills in what has been accomplished.
My biggest detail in my plans is in theology - because I want to be sure to discuss things with them. I write these directly into the plans. However, we did take one whole day to actually do a work of mercy when the need arose - and it just so happened that we were studying some of the spiritual and corporal works of mercy during this year. I also like to try and remind myself of feast days and activities to line up with these. I also like to incorporate related history or such so that things are reinforcing each other. Sometimes it doesn't happen because something slips. In that case, we don't stress over it and just see it as a review opportunity.
My history with him flopped a bit - didn't get the projects and found it too hard for some children to be doing American history and government and him wanting to do ancient. He did a lot of Bible History, so we just counted that. I have noticed that being left alone, he has picked up books more often to just read. I am going to try to figure out what is and is not inspiring to him. I do know that he likes the technology angle to history so we will probably start there. I'm going to insist that we come up with a general theme for the whole family - probably revisit Ancient since highschoolers will be doing this.
Let me get my grades in for the year, and some of the other things going on together, but it shouldn't be too hard to give you a sample of plans. How about if I post something in June. You may want to see how detailed they are at first - and then how sketchy they get as we readjust at the end. My most detailed are for the highschoolers who have specifically requested lots of structure. Also you may want to see how scratchy they are - crossed out and all, if I can find some that someone other than my children and I can actually read . Oh and I don't hand the plans to the children all at once (at least not to anyone below high school) - just one day at a time. This way they don't stress if we skip something!
I am curious if I could manage a checklist system or a way to see/integrate all the different people - but my children need written instructions to keep them on track or they simply forget and plain wander. Perhaps a master integrated summary sheet for me would help me feel less ditzy about the whole thing. I'll have to ponder this as we do shift so much during the actual year that everyone is on different days than I'd originally mapped out and the master might just be a waste of time unless it was done weekly - but then during the school week, I don't have time for paperwork. I need to be with the children.
I have some very independent folks and they like to be in charge of their own schedule to a great extent - so I don't detail out time of day or anything like that. I list subjects - and reading assignments, writing assignments, etc. Textbook type stuff that calls for just following a sequence, I just list the subject so they don't forget to do it. Depending on the age, we have an understanding of about how much time should be spent on the subject. Ie - younger children - we do about 20 min. of math. My middle schoolers - depending on child, whether they are 7th or 8th and needs and concentration and eye skills, we do either 30 min or an hour. If we do an hour, we break it up into two 30 min. segments. My highschoolers pace themselves and get their credit when the work is done. I list things everyday so they can get a feel- but they adjust as they see fit. By high school, I also have a feel for the child and do the minimum paperwork that is necessary to keep them on track and unstressed. One child requires very little from me. Another child wants me to write out all the subjects together on a day - but once I did that, they began to come up with their own system.
So sometimes a child will be on a roll with a paper and spend extra time on that and skip math for a day, then double up the next. I try to spot check and make sure they aren't just avoiding a subject - ie skipping something day after day after day. If they are, we figure out what is wrong and adjust.
Janet
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4Real Forums : Living Learning
Topic: Regimented "Natural Learning"
