Summer Planning

For most of us, the end of the school has come and we are taking a well earned recess from the normal academic activities and enjoying our summer break.  Yet as homeschooling moms, that “break” often includes lesson planning, curriculum shopping and planning for next year.  And if it doesn’t, it probably should.  John Milton Gregory, in his book “The Seven Laws of Teaching” (which if you haven’t yet read, I highly recommend) challenges us in his “rules for the Law of the Teacher”, to always make our lesson plans fresh and new.  As Milton puts it, “Prepare each lesson by fresh study. Last year's knowledge has necessarily faded somewhat. Only fresh conceptions inspire us to our best efforts.”  While some years in homeschooling force us to reply on past lesson plans, or even simply assigning the next two pages, that doesn’t have to be all there is to homeschooling.  Keep in mind one of the beautiful realities of homeschooing is customized education.  It can be so much more than “the next two pages”.  But it’s going to take some thought and planning on your part to get it there.  As you plan for your next year, I wanted to pass along some ideas and options that you may not have used before that can help bring some freshness to your lesson plans. 

Having spent the first 15 years of homeschooling in the pregnant-infant-toddler season-of-life, I am well aware of the challenges that arise from being pregnant, having babies/toddlers and homechooling the rest of your children.  Typically, if you are in this season, you are dealing with elementary aged students, which of course, is the most hands-on years of homeschooling, so that’s just perfect!

I remember many days that despite my great intentions, we simply could not get through the assigned lessons for that day and the needed one-on-one teaching time with the K-3 students just wasn’t happening.  So how can you redeem a day like that, without completely losing any and all academic or educational value?  Sit them down in front of the TV or computer!

Okay, admit it, some of you cringed when you read that, and probably for good reason.  But I didn’t mean that exactly how you read it.  If you are in that season when using  an occasional “screen day” is simply a reality in your home, at least make it academically redeeming!  Two easy ways to do that are by using YouTube and Netflix.   

1.  YouTube
Youtube is a great resource for homeschoolers.  Youtube.com/edu is where you find tons of videos for educational use that starts in preschool and goes all the way to grad school.  A lot of these are powerpoints, lectures, games, cute animated videos, different ways to teach a new concert with cute little characters, stories, and then there are a lot of episodes from educational TV shows like Sesame Street (almost all the KPBS shows actually) as well as others.  You can search by topic or level of learning which will help you sort through the all the video options on there.  There is also a way to get rid of the questionable material that pops up on the sidebar in Youtube.  Every “school” can create their own account.  It’s free and it’s called YouTube for Schools.  You just need a gmail account to get it.  Once you sign in with your “school” gmail you can create your own page and playlists for viewing with YouTube Teacher.  Then when your children are on this page, they only have access and options to watch the videos you have put on there.  The only recommended videos that will show up on the sidebar, are the ones you have allowed and added to your page.

2.  Netflix
There is a wealth of great educational movies/series on Netflix.  If you are on Facebook, there is a valuable resource for sorting through the educational options on Netflix by joining a Group called Homeschooling with Netflix.  This Group is for the sole purpose of listing educational movies and/or asking for recommendations on particular topics.  For example, if you are studying Ancient Egypt and you are having one of “those days”, you could post a question on that Facebook Group and simply say, “Any recommendations for Ancient Egypt?”  Within minutes you’ll have people listing titles of Netflix instant play resources for you and your “screen day” will have just resulted in at least some educationally redeemable time.  You could be also plan this out ahead of time and while you are lesson planning over the summer, already have movies/documentaries planned out in your lesson plan that perfectly align with what you are studying.  Another idea is to start asking those questions for recommendations over the summer, keep a list going,  and use it for the times during the school year you need it.

Another great way to add some freshness to your lesson plans is by using Pinterest.  I’ve already written a blog post about Pinterest and Homeschooling: http://www.homeschoolingmomofnine.blogspot.com/2012/05/homeschooling-and-pinterest.html

Teachers Pay Teachers (TPT) is another way to add some creative freshness to your lesson plans. This is an open marketplace for educators to buy and sell their own original teaching resources.  There are a lot of homeschoolers on there and if you have a gift for creating curriculum or resources materials, it can even be a way to make a couple extra bucks.  There is a rather large free section, and then the cost section.  What you will find on here will range from worksheets, powerpoint presentations, notebook appropriate materials, mini books, resource manuals, games, manipulatives, coloring sheets, etc. 

Let’s say you have decided to do science next year with your K-2 grade students by doing read alouds on mammals, birds and reptiles. You plan to go to the library and get a bunch of books on each type of animal group and use that time to also incorporate your daily read aloud time to your students (which, as a side note, is a fantastic approach for covering both science and history at that age, in my opinion).  Now here is where TPT comes into play.  You then go on to TPT and type in “mammals “ (for example) in the search bar and up will pop up a ton of materials on mammals.  Some will be free, some will range in price from $0.99 to $20.00.  The products themselves are mostly web based and you download what you buy, so it’s immediate.  I recommended sorting by price as your first step, so all the free stuff comes up first.  In the mammals example, you’ll end up with things like songs, powerpoint presentations, games, interactive activities and so much more.  You need to sign up and get an account in order to download anything.  It’s free if you’re just a buyer.  Sellers can either sell for free and take less of a  profit, or pay a membership fee of $60/year and get a larger cut.   

Just writing all this out has gotten me excited again to start lesson planning for next year.  I hope you found some of the above helpful and inspiring to add a fresh approach or component to your homeschool year next year.  As with anything in life, you get out of something what you put into it.  The time you spend investing in your planning next year will be time well spent and might even renew (or instill) some joy along the way.

Have a great summer and happy planning!