When it comes to planning your child's homeschool education, should you plan for every session or just go with the flow of the day/week/month? We reveal the best tried and tested method by homeschoolers!
Planning lessons and arranging activities are all part of the homeschooling lifestyle, but when you first start, you can find yourself feeling overwhelmed and wanting to cut corners to get through your day! This level of detail often makes people question the validity of planning, and we then get asked if planning is necessary for every session you teach when you already have somewhat of an idea in your head of what direction the session is going to take. At Blackstone Masterclasses, we have the advice and experience to help you to understand your role as a home educator.
Being Laid Back Is Not The Best Option
Realistically some form of planning is an essential part of your homeschooling, in order to give yourself some accountability and something to refer to when considering if your chid is developing and progressing in their learning. However, if you are panicking at the thought of creating detailed lesson plans, then stop! The process for planning may be much more simpler than you think – we promise!
Planning Provides Objectives
Effective planning firstly maps out what you want your child to achieve by the end of the session and by the end of the module or topic. Next, it details the activities that you will provide to help your child achieve their objective. This can be as simple a planning process as creating a spider diagram of topic ideas and objectives and then exploring each idea in your learning sessions.
Failing to plan actual objectives, you will most likely end up providing a ton of activities without any direction, which can result in a disengaged child who is not clear about exactly what they are learning. At the start of each session, you should share the objectives that you have mapped out (explaining in a way that is age appropriate for your child) so that your child is aware of what they are expected to do and can then use the activities to achieve their objectives and boost their confidence in the process or by the end of the session.
Objectives Turn Into Outcomes
Once your child has completed an objective, you can save the evidence to prove that they have achieved and made progress. These steps link to educational outcomes by which their success can be measured against modelled expectations for their age or ability.
While homeschooling families do not need to follow the National Curriculum, it can be a useful guide for referring to what are age appropriate knowledge and learning outcomes.
Outcomes End Up As Results
Reviewing your child's learning outcomes with them and allowing them to engage with work they have previously done will help them to develop a good understanding of their knowledge base, preparing them to apply in to formal exam situations.
The results your child achieves at the end of their formal education will be a reflection of the quality of their homeschooling. When considering this, it becomes clear that planning each session is an essential part of the system that you are setting up with your child at home.
If you would like some support and training to prepare yourself for homeschooling, then let us help you! We run an online course that you can do from the comfort of your own home where we teach you all the basics for creating an optimal educational setting for your child. Many of our past students are active on our Facebook page and are ready to support you when you have questions that you need to have answered. Get in touch today and help your child achieve success.
Blackstone Masterclasses is an online resource, providing advice and courses on self-improvement, education and teaching. We are delighted to announce the release of our home schooling masterclass, an excellent resource for all your home educating needs.
Author Mrs Shafina Akhtar Bsc Hons optometry Bsc medical biology
Founder Blackstone Masterclasses
Lifestyle & Education Mentor
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