Homeschooling and flexibility must go hand and hand. This is a lesson I am currently going through as we speak. No matter how well you plan and how organized you become, in the end something will happen that will throw it all off and if you try and stay rigid in your scheme, you will break. You must allow for flexibility.
As you no doubt know, I am all about order and organization. I dedicated my summer to making sure everything was set for a full year of school with lesson plans laid out down to which day they would be taught. I created daily sheets with the tasks my kids must do for each kid so there would be no question in their minds on what needs to be done. I created pretty binders with those plans so neatly laid out in them. Literally, anywhere you may turn, there is a reminder of just when and what will be covered daily.
BUT, even the best laid plans need room for improvement, or room for just plain change and even those of us with the perceived inability to let our plans go, must, for the greater good, let some things go and make adjustments.
I am in no way saying that you shouldn't plan ahead. In fact, I am saying the opposite. Planning ahead, even planning the year will actually help you in your need to be flexible. As one who is in the middle of making major changes in the year's plan, I can tell you that if I did not already have it all laid out, I would likely go crazy. As I am already going through the daunting task of needing to change so much, it is easier when I have my calendar laid out and I can just shift some subjects and just fill in new things in those subjects I am completely doing an overhaul on.
Let me give you a "for instance". For instance, Sierra's language arts program has been a thorn in my side since I bought it....well, not since I bought it, but certainly since Sierra has started using it. I bought it. I read through it. I put the lessons for each day into the calendar...filling up the year. A couple weeks into school, I realized the program is not going to work for her and will likely never work for her. This whole part of the year's calendar has to go. I need to completely figure out a new program for her and am currently allowing myself the flexibility of approaching this subject on a month by month basis.
Another "for instance" is one I never would have seen coming. Daniel is fairly gifted in math so he usually busts out 2-3 lessons each day, so that is how I planned out the year. Daniel has hit a wall (I supposed it was bound to happen) and we have had to spend a couple extra days on a couple concepts. Looking ahead, I know we will be able to make up time, but this was a speed bump I had not anticipated and I have deviated from the calendar for him. As much as I love my outline and planning, one of the biggest positives is being able to stop when things get difficult and make sure it is completely covered before going forward.
So, yesterday I spent some time readjusting Sierra's calendar for October and am now, meticulously, planning her daily work sheets as I make those adjustments needed after going a different direction with her language arts program. I will work through Daniel's math, figuring out how to make sure he gets the current concepts and working on getting him caught up.
As rigid as I am with my schedules and time, I take joy in exercising flexibility and making these adjustments. I take joy because I know what my kids need and I know what I need to do to make it easier for them and help them to understand what they are doing. This is what homeschooling is all about. It is not a race to the finish line to see who can get there faster...it is an education system.
As you no doubt know, I am all about order and organization. I dedicated my summer to making sure everything was set for a full year of school with lesson plans laid out down to which day they would be taught. I created daily sheets with the tasks my kids must do for each kid so there would be no question in their minds on what needs to be done. I created pretty binders with those plans so neatly laid out in them. Literally, anywhere you may turn, there is a reminder of just when and what will be covered daily.
BUT, even the best laid plans need room for improvement, or room for just plain change and even those of us with the perceived inability to let our plans go, must, for the greater good, let some things go and make adjustments.
I am in no way saying that you shouldn't plan ahead. In fact, I am saying the opposite. Planning ahead, even planning the year will actually help you in your need to be flexible. As one who is in the middle of making major changes in the year's plan, I can tell you that if I did not already have it all laid out, I would likely go crazy. As I am already going through the daunting task of needing to change so much, it is easier when I have my calendar laid out and I can just shift some subjects and just fill in new things in those subjects I am completely doing an overhaul on.
Let me give you a "for instance". For instance, Sierra's language arts program has been a thorn in my side since I bought it....well, not since I bought it, but certainly since Sierra has started using it. I bought it. I read through it. I put the lessons for each day into the calendar...filling up the year. A couple weeks into school, I realized the program is not going to work for her and will likely never work for her. This whole part of the year's calendar has to go. I need to completely figure out a new program for her and am currently allowing myself the flexibility of approaching this subject on a month by month basis.
Another "for instance" is one I never would have seen coming. Daniel is fairly gifted in math so he usually busts out 2-3 lessons each day, so that is how I planned out the year. Daniel has hit a wall (I supposed it was bound to happen) and we have had to spend a couple extra days on a couple concepts. Looking ahead, I know we will be able to make up time, but this was a speed bump I had not anticipated and I have deviated from the calendar for him. As much as I love my outline and planning, one of the biggest positives is being able to stop when things get difficult and make sure it is completely covered before going forward.
So, yesterday I spent some time readjusting Sierra's calendar for October and am now, meticulously, planning her daily work sheets as I make those adjustments needed after going a different direction with her language arts program. I will work through Daniel's math, figuring out how to make sure he gets the current concepts and working on getting him caught up.
As rigid as I am with my schedules and time, I take joy in exercising flexibility and making these adjustments. I take joy because I know what my kids need and I know what I need to do to make it easier for them and help them to understand what they are doing. This is what homeschooling is all about. It is not a race to the finish line to see who can get there faster...it is an education system.
RSS Feed