Last week we got our core, or primary curriculum, organized for the upcoming year. This week we will take on our elective studies. This could be subjects like art, home ec, or music.
#1 Set up system of organization
You may have organized your materials during the planning challenge. If not, you will take the time to complete any preparation required to teach these subjects. For example, I have to print the Hoffman Piano lesson materials and add them to my children’s binders. These binders have my children’s names on them and are added to their individual crates on our bookcase.
#2 Research
This is the day to do research for ideas or materials you need to make your elective subjects excellent. For example, if you are using a home ec curriculum, you may be able to find an appropriate video teaching kids how to bake bread on YouTube. Be sure to keep your research organized. I recommend Pinterest and Evernote if you prefer digital or a binder/file system if you don’t.
#3 Plan
Create a simple plan for each subject, unless your curriculum has done the planning for you. In this case, you may wish to delete any activities you don’t like and add activities to replace them you discovered during your research. Remember, this is one of the blessings of homeschooling. You decide what to teach!
#4 Shop / List Materials
Purchase any needed equipment or supplies needed to teach elective subjects or add them to your list. Be sure to read the Special Study Prep challenge for more on this. You may wish to delay purchasing basic school supplies until they are on sale or have no sales tax (if your area has this weekend).
As we get ready for a new school year, the Build Your Own Bundle sale is a great opportunity to pick up a wide range of digital books, curriculum, and homeschooling helps at an amazing price. There is something here for everyone! I love the option of choosing what you need so much that I signed up as an affiliate for this sale. Some of the options that stand out to me are:
Math Mammoth materials (we’ve used them and loved them)
Homeschool scheduling forms
Writing Through the Bible (a great idea)
Christian Keyboarding (I need to make sure my kids aren’t hunting and pecking like their dad!) 🙂
Notebooking resources (there are so many topics to choose from)
We Choose Virtues materials (a great way of helping kids understand and implement character traits).
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He gave me a completely different vision of what it means to discover and then develop my children’s talent.
Honestly, I’ve been looking for skills that will make the judges of America’s Got Talent cry, and when I haven’t found them, I’ve felt exempt from talent education. Jonathan helped me see that this view of talent training doesn’t honor God and shortchanges my children’s future.
I worked through the How to Discover and Develop Your Child’s First 100 Hours ebook with a focus on my 14-year-old and have been really happy with the results. My son has a “talent” for tennis and drum, but I was surprised to discover that these interests and abilities are more likely hobbies that will continue to enjoy in the future. Drum may be a way for him to serve in a church, but his interests in money and rules, together with having an uncle in personal finance, has convinced me that business coursework is something he should explore in his first year of high school.
I liked this course so much that I wanted to promote it as an affiliate. You can check out Jonathan’s talent education course and his How to Showcase Your Talent on a Blog course at this link.
I love the idea of having kids write a blog as a means of developing their talent. As a passionate blogger and a homeschooler who is crazy about language arts, I think the idea allows students to learn many things at once. Jonathan’s course could be part of your language arts studies or another high school course. My kids don’t know it yet, but they’re going to be blogging! I’ll post the links to their blogs here when they’re up and running.
By core curriculum, I mean either a complete curriculum, like My Father’s World, or core subjects like math, language arts, science, and social studies. This could be a busy week or an easy one, depending on what curriculum you are using in the next year. We will go through the same process we went through with special studies, so we are organized early.
#1 Set up system of organization
You may or may not need an organizational system for each subject. If you didn’t do the planning challenge, you may need to make sure lessons are noted in your child’s planners and books are accessible to him.
#2 Research
This is the day to do research for ideas or materials you need to make your core subjects excellent. For example, I will be researching videos to add to my Mystery of History playlist on YouTube. I have to get busy on Volume II. As with special studies, you may want to see if someone has done the work for you, coming up with crafts, videos, songs, experiments, etc. to go with your chosen core curriculum. Organize your research digitally or using binders / file folders.
#3 Plan
Plan each subject, if necessary. I say “if necessary” because many subjects can be taught as written in the curriculum, with no extra planning necessary. If you need to plan in detail, consider creating an undated plan that you can add to a dated planner one week at a time. Nothing is more frustrating than creating all these dated lessons, only to get off schedule. Again, keep it simple. It’s much easier to add ideas than it is to delete them and still feel like you’re on top of your schooling. Extra time allows for some delight-directed learning, too. I love it when we do history and the kids ask to spend time learning more about a subject.
#4 Shop / List Materials
Purchase what you need for core curriculum now, if you haven’t already. Things lab kits and craft supplies are appropriate here. Be sure to read the Special Study Prep challenge for more on this. You may wish to delay purchasing basic school supplies until they are on sale or have no sales tax (if your area has this weekend).
The thing about most homeschoolers is we aren’t home all that often. We love getting involved in classes, sports, and educational activities. Our biggest problem isn’t finding these opportunities; it’s deciding which to participate in!
This week we will get organized for these extra-curricular activities so they don’t overwhelm us at the beginning of the traditional school year.
#1 Discuss potential activities
I don’t recommend that you start with research. Overwhelm is the inevitable result of checking out every possibility. Talk with the kids about their ideas, but share yours, too. Parents are the ones who have to drive to activities, hang out during activities, and pay for the activities! Pray about the opportunities that will put the least stress on your family and may even be something you could enjoy together.
Our family has participated in a homeschool P.E. class for years. Everyone enjoys it and I have made numerous friends through it.
#2 Research
Once you have a short list of interests, find out what is available in your area and when. I find our homeschool support group invaluable for this kind of information. You can get the details and reviews of opportunities.
As you are making some decisions, try to combine outside activities on one or two days and see if allowances can be made to include younger siblings in the same classes to save you time. This summer, my four sons have been playing tennis on two times. My oldest son drives his brother to matches, all his brothers to practice (which is at the same time), leaving just one match we have to drive to. If only every activity could be that easy!
#3 Register
When you’ve made your final decisions, get registered. Fill out paperwork and pay any dues. Don’t put it off! I will never forget dragging four little ones to register for classes that were closed because I was at the end of the line. Don’t let this happen to you!
#4 Shop
Some classes will have a materials list. Others are sports that may require appropriate clothing or equipment. Shop today for these supplies or add them to your shopping list for your regular errand day.
If you are a homeschooler who participates in Classical Conversations, co-op classes you teach, or unit studies, this is the week you will use to prepare for these courses. I put this preparation ahead of other core curriculum planning (which will be next week), because other people often depend on us to be prepared in this area. Whenever I have left my co-op planning for the last minute, I have been sorry! We’re going to be organized homeschoolers and be ready well ahead of time.
#1 Set up system of organization
When outside classes or other people are involved in your studies, organization becomes even more important. Today, you will do any of the following, depending on what studies you are planning:
Set up a meeting with other teachers in the co-op to decide sharing of responsibilities
Set up a filing and/or material storage system
Set up a system of review, such as for memory work
Get a date on the calendar now to meet with your fellow teachers or the summer will get away from you (I’m speaking to myself right now!). If you are using Classical Conversations, you will want to go over the Ultimate Guide to Classical Conversations resources in which I share the best organizing ideas. For other types of studies, you may want to set up a binder and/or files to organize materials. Get them labeled now so planning goes more smoothly.
#2 Research
No matter what kind of special study you’re involved in, you’ll want to do some research. Rather than dive in and find a hundred different experiments or field trips, look for resources that have done the planning for you. If you’re using a particular curriculum, search for it plus plans, schedule, or weekly.
Now you will take your school calendar, your research, and your organizational system and you’ll make a plan. For classes that others are involved in, your ultimate goal is to have a schedule that can be shared. I like to email and print it for participants. Keep it simple. If you want to do something elaborate, make sure you keep other days low-key. Assume that you’ll have about half the time you think you’ll have. Keep in mind the weariness and distraction and illness that tends to set in at certain times of year.
Plan the things you really want to do first and if you need more activities, either fill them in with lesser options or leave them open for the unexpected. It’s a good idea to plan lessons and keep dates flexible.
#4 Shop / List Materials
Nothing makes me crazier than getting ready to do a craft or experiment and finding out that I don’t have what I need. The way to avoid this is to purchase everything you need for your studies ahead of time and to add perishable or library materials to a list. The problem with adding the perishable and library materials to your calendar is you’ll buy that red cabbage and then you take a field trip instead of doing experiments. Keep a list of time-sensitive materials needed by week and add the “check supply shopping list” to your task list each week before running errands. Yes, I am speaking to myself again!
When you have purchased or gathered supplies that aren’t time-sensitive, put them away neatly according to what you decided in Step #1.
Won’t it be great being organized for these classes ahead of time?
Are you on Google+? I would love to connect with you there. Be sure to check the Organized Homeschool board for great ways to get organized this week.
I’m a Christian psychologist turned homeschooling mother of six. My life can be a little crazy, so I look for sanity-saving ideas to use and share. I hope you’ll read my About page to learn more.
