A House of Order, Part 2: Sticking to your plan

By Melanie Skelton
Part 1 of this series focused on mapping out your curriculum. I hope you all have a great plan mapped out and are jumping into a new school year with the same enthusiasm we are. Now it is time to face the reality. Somebody is going to try to foil your plan.
Who? The list of possibilities is endless – your children, your mother, your neighbor, other home educators, or even yourself. It will most likely be a combination of all of these.

How? Your children will want to watch television or play rather than get to work Your mother may call in the middle of the great project you are doing or book you are reading with the children. Your neighbor may knock on the door and need some great favor or want to visit. Other home educators may lure you into too many activities outside of your home, leaving little time for what really matters. And you…well, I can’t say what your weaknesses are, but I foil my own plan by checking e-mail, answering the phone, planning appointments or starting projects all during the hours I planned to do school with my children. I usually only plan to spend a few minutes doing these things and then we will get right to school. But the reality is that at the end of an unfocused day I don’t feel the same sense of peace and accomplishment as when I have truly spent quality time with my children exploring the subjects of the day.

So how do we avoid these interruptions that can devastate a great school day? We must choose. Most interruptions can wait. I understand that there may be situations where there is a true emergency or urgent situation that needs attention, but these are the exception. I repeat… most interruptions can wait.
Establish firm habits with your children concerning television or other distractions from school work. Charlotte Mason says that “habit, in the hands of the mother, is as his wheel to the potter, his knife to the carver-the instrument by means of which she turns out the design she has already conceived in her brain.” Habit is a powerful tool in helping children to remain focused on learning. As the parent you can instill this habit lovingly. The key is consistency. This is where it becomes critical to eliminate the other interruptions from your life so that you are not being pulled away from your children at a moment when your attention will make the difference.

Help the people who are close to you understand that you will not answer the telephone, door or e-mail during the hours you choose to do school. One friend puts a stop sign up on her door as a friendly reminder that school is in session. Owning an answering machine or subscribing to voicemail will allow you to monitor your messages in case there is a situation that is a true emergency. I check my messages when I have given my children a ten minute break. Otherwise, we let the phone ring.

Choose activities in your home school community carefully. In our community there are always classes in art, drama, language, geography and more. Some offer co-op groups for boys, girls, teens, preschooler or a combination. We see chess clubs, nature clubs and clubs for anything else a person can dream up as well as sports opportunities. Convincing yourself that activities like these are providing most of what your child needs in their education is concerning. Over the years and through many co-ops and activities I have come to the conclusion that my children learn best at home. Believe me, I’ve tried to justify every kind of co-op I could create join or create. In the end, it has never been as effective as what I can do with my children at home on a focused day. There may be a place for carefully selected activities in your plan. But these types of activities have sometime been my largest interruptions from accomplishing my goals with my children. If you choose to participate in these types of activities, try to choose ones that are at the beginning or ending of the week, in the afternoon, or at times when it will conflict the least with your plan.

How do we keep from foiling our own plans? This is probably the biggest question. In the end, I am the person who decides whether to answer the phone, check the e-mail or to justify working on that project “just for a minute”. Habit, again, is a powerful master. You just have to decide to change the habit that is keeping you from achieving the plan you have set out to accomplish, and then stick to it. If this change is too overwhelming, change one little habit or part of a habit at a time. It is better to make a slow change and have it be permanent than to get discouraged with an overwhelming plan. Remember that your children are worth it. Habits you establish now will pay off later.

As a final note, enjoy the ride. All of this habit changing and choosing to stay home with your children doesn’t mean you can’t have fun; quite the opposite. You will find that as you create a “House of Order” by having a plan and having control of that plan you will find other ways to be flexible, enjoy your children and treasure each moment.

A House of Order, Part 1: Mapping out your curriculum

By Melanie Skelton
I don’t know about you, but sometimes I start feeling like chaos rules in my home. Between the laundry, dinner and home schooling, we carry a heavy load as home educators. The process of learning to put it all in order, so that both home and school run more efficiently, is ongoing. This article is part one, of a four part series, where I will focus on different aspects of how we can help home and school become less chaotic and frustrating.

Consider the plans you make when preparing for a vacation. Do you map out the places you intend to visit or just jump in the car and hope it all turns out?

When you are on vacation you'll get more out of it, if you have a basic plan. It is most helpful to know where you are, where you are going, where you intend to eat and sleep along the way, and any sites you want to be sure to see. It is possible that you will find out about something along the way that will sidetrack you...and this is alright. Flexibility will allow you to enjoy your trip and get the most you can out of it. But if you travel with no plan at all there is no guarantee you will end up anywhere that matters. Although the cornfields in Iowa are something to experience, you may want to see more on you journey.

The same applies to your home school journey. Although you may want to keep your curriculum flexible so you have time for side trips when the desire strikes, having a basic plan will help your children benefit more from the journey.
The following steps will help you to plan out this journey more effectively.

Understand where you are. How does your child learn best? Are they an auditory learner, a visual learner or a learner who needs to touch it and do it to learn it best? Understanding this can make all the difference in how you approach learning with your child. Learn to understand the factors that influence learning in your home. Understanding your own personality and those of your children can also be helpful in defining how you will approach learning. It is also critical that you understand the level at which your child is learning. If you assign work to an eight year old that requires them to analyze they may struggle. However, at this age they are very capable of absorbing information. Don’t be frustrated if you cannot figure this out all in one shot. Find books that teach these things, and study how your children learn. This will be an ongoing process that will help you adjust your curriculum as you see the need.
Understand where you want to be going. Consider why you have chosen to teach your children at home and what you want to accomplish overall. Write this down and go back to it when you feel like throwing in the towel.
Define the subjects you plan to study in the upcoming year. Do you want to focus on life sciences or learn about the earth? Will you study ancient history or the Renaissance? Once you have made some general decisions in each subject it will be easier to narrow it down into specifics. For instance, we will be studying life sciences this year. I’ve divided that into three segments: the study of animals, human body and plants. It makes the most sense that we study plants in the spring when we naturally start working out in the garden and go on nature walks. We will do much of this learning outside. We will study animals the first part of the year and have purchased a zoo pass so that we can incorporate several trips to the zoo into this study. I will outline what I think we should learn about animals and then allow for some exploration in our study. We will use the library extensively in finding material for this study. We will learn about taxonomy and pull out field guides that will help us learn how to categorize the animals we see and learn about.

Understand the interests of your children. Sit down and have a brainstorming session with them. This doesn’t mean you will cover every idea they throw out. If your children are like mine, they will throw some ideas out that are very general and others that are so off-the-wall that there is no way I’m really going to spend energy on doing much with it. But you may tune into some things they would like to learn about. If you incorporate topics that interest your children into your plan they will be excited with you.
Schedule a Planning Session. Once you have an idea of where you are and what your destination is, set aside a time to put it all down on paper somehow. This can be as detailed or general as is comfortable for you. Map out the year with a plan of what you will be covering each month. Remember that December will get busy and in the spring you will probably want to go outside. You can choose to make notes of the resources you will use or know that when you get to that subject you will pile the kids in the car and head to the library. I’ve done it both ways.

Some subjects will require less planning than others. In the past I’ve mapped out what math assignments each child will do each week, and I don’t recommend it. We use Math-U-See and I expect them to do an assignment every day. However, if a particular child is struggling with a concept I want them to have the time to slow down long enough to understand what they are learning. On the other hand if they are ready to move on to another lesson, we will skip ahead.

Remember that life is part of school. If you are canning, get your children involved. If you are building new shelves, your children can learn great things from helping. If you are going somewhere, there are always museums and other learning opportunities along the way. Let a child be in charge of meal planning and preparation once a week. If they are younger, they will need more help. There is much to learn in the kitchen. Remember to incorporate the things that are part of life into your school plan.
Plan for side trips. Keeping your plan a bit flexible will make it possible for you to pause and learn about a current event or the strange bird that chooses to make your carport home for the winter.

Enjoy the journey. Planning a curriculum that meets your needs will make your year more enjoyable. When you need to simplify, do it. When you or your children are excited about something, pursue it. If you want to experiment with lapbooks or unit studies, you can. Remember to enjoy this time with your children and make the journey all you want it to be.