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Planning For Next Year

Christmas is over, the first semester of school (for many of us) is over, and we’re beginning to reevaluate the school year thus far. As we think about what worked and what didn’t work, it might mean a little tweaking should be done as 2011 begins.

Below you’ll find my general guidelines for curriculum planning. I follow these basic steps whether tweaking for a new semester or planning for the next school year.

PRAY! Ask God to guide you in all things – and that includes curriculum choice.

Know Your Goals. Ask yourself:

What is my educational philosophy? Do I need to plan my year to be more in line with Charlotte Mason, classical education, etc? Do I need to make more room for certain subjects? Do I need to buy more workbooks?

What are my children’s learning styles? Do I need to do more/less hands-on? Do I need to find materials that are more auditory? Do I need to stick with one type of curriculum all year or do I need to vary the approaches for more interest?

What “holes” do I see? For instance, I don’t feel like I have been including enough classic literature in our curriculum. I also don’t feel like I’ve been pushing my oldest to her greatest potential. Those will be things I’m sure to think about as I make out plans this semester.

Know your plans

For example, if I know that every Monday afternoon we will be at co-op, I need to plan my curriculum with that in mind. I don’t want to plan schooling so tightly that we will be behind in our studies if we aren’t home Monday afternoons because of co-op.

If I like to plan field trips or be a part of 4-H, for example, I need to keep that in mind as I think about what I want to accomplish in our curriculum over the semester.

Research your choices

With all the above in mind, really take some time to research what’s best for your family. Think about things like:

Is there anything I can buy that will cover more than one child?

Is there anything I can find that will meet several of our needs – meeting particular learning styles and filling the “holes” at the same time?

Write out a plan for each child to be sure everything:

is being covered. (Make sure you haven’t forgotten math or something!)

is well balanced. (You haven’t overloaded the schedule, but at the same time you have enough.)

really fits the learning style of that particular child.

pulls the kids together as much as possible.

won’t overwhelm you!

Gather supplies

Don’t be afraid to make mistakes.

Don’t be afraid to make changes.

Don’t be afraid to stick with something and give it another chance.

Cindy West is an eclectically Charlotte Mason mom of three who loves learning alongside her children. You can find her blogging at Our Journey Westward (http://ourjourneywestward.com) and find her nature study curriculum at Shining Dawn Books. (http://shiningdawnbooks.com)