Volume 5 - Edition 8 - June 2009
Why Flexibility and Planning go Hand in Hand
by About three years ago I wrote a newsletter article giving some basic principles that I found helpful in planning for the up coming school year. I do not plan to repeat myself as you can check on the article called “Planning for the 2006-2007 School Year” on our Newsletter web site. The reason I would like to revisit this is that often a person’s greatest gift can also be their greatest area of sin. That is true with homeschooling. One of the greatest advantages of homeschooling is the flexibility but it can also be very easily the greatest weakness for some people. This article is to remind and encourage all parents to take some time to plan for the upcoming school year over the summer and to re-focus on some key points in the planning process.
I would like to suggest you take some time within a few weeks of finishing up this year to plan for next year. There are two reasons for suggesting that. One is that this year is still fresh in your mind. You won’t have forgotten the things that went well or the things that did’t work out as well as you had hoped. The other reason is that you can then relax for the rest of the summer knowing that you have things in place to start next year well. A good example of that is my husband and I just opened a golf course last summer and we are having a grand opening on July 4 th. This event won’t just happen by itself without some careful and advance planning by me. I am finding it hard to find the time to do this and therefore it is clouding just about everything else I do. By planning now for next year, you are able to reflect on your plan, have time to change some details, order curriculum that fits with your plan etc. In my experience it has been worthwhile to get a babysitter or whatever it takes for you to find a day or at the minimum a few hours over several days to write out a plan, then you can relax and enjoy your summer.
When starting to plan make sure you write down your Vision for homeschooling. If you have not yet set your vision I suggest you read Claire Pollok’s article that she wrote called, “Following Ones Learning Vision” in the November 2008 Newsletter. This vision should be the guiding light for all of your plans. If you plan something that does not line up with your vision then you can delete it or at least ask yourself is this actively a worthwhile even if it is not in line with my vision. I was a pioneer in the homeschooling field and I had not heard of setting visions. I know I had one in the back of my mind but if I knew then what I know now of how important a vision is it would have changed several things I did. A vision is like your target that you are aiming at. If you don’t have a target then you are just shooting wildly hoping to hit something.
Curriculum often plays a big part in our plan. Some people like to make a plan and then find curriculum that matches that. For example they may plan on doing more science experiments this year, so decide that the HCOS science kits will cover that nicely. For others they may already have curriculum so covering that is their plan. I would like to add one word of caution in this area. I have said for years that I would like to see homeschool curriculum come with a warning on the covers. If you plan or try to cover everything in this book you will be causing you and your child harm. Please rest assured that skipping a page here and there or doing every odd question instead of them all is not in any way meaning your child is not getting a complete education. Curriculum is a tool we use to carry out our vision but it is not a god, totally directing our homeschooling path. Some curriculums come with a plan of what to do day by day. These are great if that is what you like and require but even these can be adapted with no harm done.
Finally, the best word of advice I can give you is to keep it simple. I am not the type of person that makes lists of what I like to do each day. I think they are a great idea but I learned when I made up a list I had unrealistic expectations of how much I can do in a day. I would nearly kill myself trying to get all the things done on the list and was useless the next day. The same holds true for planning for your year. Try not to fill every day to the maximum. If you know your children has music lessons all year long and then during the month of October swimming lessons as well, then plan to do a little less of something else at that time. We all have read of families that have many children that can speak several languages, play several instruments, captain of the soccer team, and are two grades a head in their core subjects. We tend to hold that up as the standard, when in truth they are the rare exception. As homeschool moms everything sounds just soooooo good to do. Learn to say “no”, and focus on your vision.
My prayer for each homeschool family for next year is that they find that perfect balance between too little and too much flexibility. I like the saying if you fail to plan you plan to fail. If you would like any further help in planning your school year, either Sarah Bennett at sbennett@onlineschool.ca , Claire Pollok at cpollok@onlineschool.ca or myself at jrainbow@onlineschool.ca would be glad to help.