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Connections
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| Posted: July 16 2011 at 8:19am | IP Logged
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If you use the CM, living books approach and design your own plans:
Do you plan the big picture (the way Simply CM lays it out- by deciding ahead of time what subjects to teach from K-12)or do you simply plan year-by-year based on interests, filling in needs, etc.?
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JuliaT
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| Posted: July 16 2011 at 9:06am | IP Logged
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I'm a big picture kind of girl. For history and science, we do the 4 yrear cycle so I have an idea of what topics we will be learning for each year. I also have an idea of when we will be introducing certain subjects, for ex. logic, citizenship, philosophy,etc. I don't have the basics planned out, i just follow what is in our books.
Knowing what we will be doing in the oncoming years is helpful to me as I am a planner. It's okay if the plan changes but I need a plan. 
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Grace&Chaos
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| Posted: July 16 2011 at 9:17am | IP Logged
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I have to say that I enjoyed going through the CM Planner before I started making this fall's plans. I know I'm not bound to the K-12 schedule but it gives me an idea of big picture.
For example, when someone wonders why my 2nd grader hasn't memorized all the parts of speech, I'm comfortable knowing that we will get to that say in 4th grade.
Or that before they all are done they each will have studied every history rotation at least twice. Not neccessarily everyone Ancients in 1st grade, because we are doing history as a family so this year my 6th grader is doing ancients for the second time, my third and first(really tagging along) for the first time.
The other part I found helpful was the lists of artists, composers, handicrafts... It becomes a reference or check off list.
I found it helpful, but circumstances let you evaluate every year.
Like Tracey, I've been thinking about the big picture:
If you don't mind me asking in this thread, because I think it's relevant. How many and how do you keep a planner notebook/binder? I've read before about keeping lists of say attainments/goals for each child, or lists by subjects. How does this look? How is it organized? In order to assist me in this big picture planning and evaluating, I wanted to start one. (moderators please feel free to move this, if it derails too much  )
Thanks for the question Tracey.
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Jenny
Mom to dds(00,03) and dss(05,06,08,09)
Grace in Loving Chaos
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Mackfam
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| Posted: July 18 2011 at 10:26am | IP Logged
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Planning the big picture is a GREAT tool for providing an overall - top-down - macro visual of a child's education. I really appreciate this and reference it at the beginning of each year for each child just as a review.
I imagine that this question can be answered in a variety of ways depending on the different temperaments here and how we each plan most intuitively.
I DO enjoy planning based on the considerations of interest, but I have found that I am not a good steward of time, resources, or money if I don't start by looking at the whole and then narrow my considerations as I go. So, starting from the whole, I begin considering a particular year for a particular child within the context of knowing where we've been and where we're going. This REALLY helps me consider and write plans and booklists that are fruitful and allow me to best steward our family resources.
Within that lesson plan that has been considered, I like to leave plenty of margin for delight directed learning - so that would be like our World War II week we're having this week...or following the Tour de France...or an in depth Civil War study for a bit. These would be like side trips on a larger journey (rabbit trails). They add depth and variety to our learning. Having a thoughtfully considered compass for our educational journey (the big picture plan, our year considered, and the lesson plans I write) provides direction and guidance.
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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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Connections
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| Posted: July 18 2011 at 11:42am | IP Logged
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Jen, your response (which is very helpful) sets up a perfect follow-up question...
How does a World War II rabbit trail unfold? Do you select resources for this? Do you abandon all other lessons for the week? Do you simply follow-up on questions the children raise and see where it takes you?
Our rabbit trails have a tendency to take over. On one hand I love this. On the other hand, I wonder when we'll find our way back to the main path!
Thanks for your input!
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kristacecilia
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| Posted: July 18 2011 at 3:17pm | IP Logged
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How timely... I was just reading that series of SCM articles the other day and digesting them over the weekend. I am just about to put my 'big picture' together.
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Krista
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I blog at http://kristacecilia.wordpress.com/
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Mackfam
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| Posted: July 18 2011 at 4:11pm | IP Logged
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Connections wrote:
Jen, your response (which is very helpful) sets up a perfect follow-up question...
How does a World War II rabbit trail unfold? Do you select resources for this? Do you abandon all other lessons for the week? Do you simply follow-up on questions the children raise and see where it takes you?
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Again, this can probably look really different from family to family, so I don't want to promote how we do this as the right or best answer - just how it usually works here.
** They are not usually planned, but rather they are prompted by someone with a passion/interest/inspiration. That may be a child, or it might be me!! I have things I get excited about, too.  I said "not usually planned"....but sometimes we do rabbit trail based on something seasonal or a historic anniversary and I might plan those so that it coincides with an event.
** They are pretty delight-directed, which is to say, they probably look mostly like unschooling. It's just natural here, but some families may plan/structure these rabbit trails more.
** Our rabbit trails conclude very naturally, though it is not at all unusual for one particular child to continue along the rabbit trail independently with little/no guidance from me.
** I don't coordinate - unless it's my passion that is inspiring the rabbit trail, and then I might come up with ideas/books to consider, but these rabbit trails still progress very organically for us. I don't exhaust myself coming up with investigations and experiments and activities....BUT....if one naturally springs up during our reading or research, we may follow it if everyone wants to. Those are some of our most exciting adventures - the spontaneous ones!
So....more specific answers to your questions:
Connections wrote:
| How does a World War II rabbit trail unfold? |
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This rabbit trail springs from a natural passion of my oldest son's. It's really been running concurrently with other reading for several months now, but this week we set aside an entire week to pursue a couple of projects he's working on. My job was to help find appropriate resources for him (he is 10 1/2 - technical ideas galore are great, but I still wanted reading to be age appropriate.
It began unfolding as his interest grew in the subject. It all started with one book - the How and Why Wonder Book of World War II which he read early this spring. He began finding pictures of WWII aircraft he really liked by searching on the internet and printed them, bound, and made his own large book. He made notes on the pages extensively, labeling the aircraft and arranging them and grouping them. He narrated the book to me SEVERAL times. When I saw the depth of his interest (in other words, his knowledge of WWII clearly passed mine, and he conveyed that knowledge with passion), I began researching more books for him and found a number of fantastic books which he devoured...and some we saved for this week. We also gathered several great DVD sets which he is enjoying this week. This week presented itself to us as a great opportunity for pursuing a few projects, so I set lesson plans aside for the week. Until now, this rabbit trail has been paralleling other studies, and after this week it will go back to a rabbit trail that is pursued independently, and after other daily studies.
This week looks like this:
** Morning project work - there are two WWII models he's building to include painting.
** Morning reading from living books on the topic.
** Afternoon project work.
** Afternoon narrations to include some planned artwork and illustrations.
** A trip to the WWII veterans museum in town.
** My son is planning a family trip to a WWII airshow this fall. This plan which HE is researching and planning includes writing/emailing vendors for information and locating accommodations, map to the event, adding up the total cost for the trip to include a hotel stay and the airshow. His job is to come up with the itinerary and present to dad the total cost of the trip and the days dad will need to take off.
Probably way more than you wanted to know about his WWII week, but maybe the details help you see how this particular rabbit trail has unfolded. My son will continue to self-propel in this rabbit trail even after this week, but we will resume our normal lesson plans next week.
Connections wrote:
| Do you select resources for this? |
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Yes, I do help in finding resources, especially the books! I do allow some internet researching, but with close supervision (usually sitting next to the child as he finds some good websites that he can safely explore on his own.)
Connections wrote:
| Do you abandon all other lessons for the week? |
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We will for this week, for this particular part of this rabbit trail, but this week is not the ENTIRE rabbit trail, it's a project week. And, I don't always jettison the lesson plans in favor of a rabbit trail, but I would likely lighten them a bit to accommodate a rabbit trail me might be following. It would just depend on the motivation, the timing, the rabbit trail, the interest, the child.
Connections wrote:
| Do you simply follow-up on questions the children raise and see where it takes you? |
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Yes. This is usually how it starts! It begins with something we're reading, or that the child is reading....and it grows organically from there.
Hope this helps, Tracey!
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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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SuzanneG
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| Posted: July 18 2011 at 4:37pm | IP Logged
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Connections wrote:
| Do you plan the big picture (the way Simply CM lays it out- by deciding ahead of time what subjects to teach from K-12)or do you simply plan year-by-year based on interests, filling in needs, etc.? |
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A bit of both.
I have an idea of what's important to us in our child's education, and then based on the child or group-of-children, I tweak and customize it based on their interests, capbilities, strengths and weaknesses. And, also our family-situation, ages, outside factors.
So, yes....I do have a "master plan" with a vision on it....what's important to US in an education.
But, then that is adapted each year based on the considerations above.
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Suzanne in ID
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Mom of 7 (Girls - 14, 12, 11, 9, 7 and Boys - 4, 1)
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Connections
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| Posted: July 18 2011 at 5:25pm | IP Logged
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Thanks, ladies. I am really enjoying reading all of your responses.
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4Real Forums : Planning and Ordering our Days
Topic: Planning the big picture
