Do you have a long term plan?

[Momto4inSoCal]

and far ahead is that plan? Not necessarily curriculum but an idea of where you want to be by a certain grade with math or certain electives you want to cover or the path you want to take for high school? With my dd entering 5th grade next year I'm realizing middle school is around the corner and I'm wondering how far ahead people plan or if most people take it year by year.

[SarahW]

Yes.

 

There's my all-sorts-of-crazy mash up of WTM with LCC with everything-talked-about-here plus everything-I-like plus things-that'll-probably-be-good-for-him plan for now through 12th.  :w00t:

 

There's the curriculum progression - If I start this and this at that and that time, what happens later assuming normal pace?

 

And there's the scheduling of "electives" - I think I have geography penciled in in middle school somewhere. And a health unit. If I plan to do these things later I won't freak out about not doing them all now.  :smash:

 

I have multiple Word files going. If I come across a good idea somewhere, I'll jot down a note in one of those files.

 

It's all just a draft. I did show it to my DH once, but since it was all in acronyms he couldn't understand any of it. He wanted to be sure Plato was on there somewhere though. When I told him that he was in high school he sighed, "I sure can't wait for this homeschool thing to get interesting."  :rofl:

 

He's a Platonist, btw. He even has the Plato's Cave Search and Rescue Team t-shirt.

 

[luuknam]

I'm a firm believer in that I don't have a crystal ball. Sure, I've got some thoughts on what I think may happen in the next few years, and some resources I'd like to use at some point, but my kids aren't average (no kids are, although some come closer than others), and I believe in making the education fit the child rather than make the child fit the education (although I do have certain skills I want them to have before they're adults, but they can be taught in a variety of ways).

[luuknam]

It's all just a draft. I did show it to my DH once, but since it was all in acronyms he couldn't understand any of it. He wanted to be sure Plato was on there somewhere though. When I told him that he was in high school he sighed, "I sure can't wait for this homeschool thing to get interesting."  :rofl:

 

Get him a philosophy for kids book. There are variety of those. And then tell him he's in charge of teaching philosophy for x time per week, at whatever time you'd like him to be engaged with the kid. :)

[mommymonster]

I have a notion of the topics, curriculum and levels that I think we will be covering from here until the start of high school. That being said, it's for my mental health, so I that I feel like I have a plan. The likelihood of me implementing this plan without modification, from now until the end of 8th grade, has a 0.00000004% chance of actually happening.  It makes me feel better, so that's the useful thing. 

[SarahW]

Get him a philosophy for kids book. There are variety of those. And then tell him he's in charge of teaching philosophy for x time per week, at whatever time you'd like him to be engaged with the kid. :)

 

I printed something off a Philosophy for Kids website a little while ago and gave it to my DH to do with Crazypants. It was about discussing the Real in Velveteen Rabbit I think. Anyways, DH read it over and then tossed it away. "That's not what Plato meant by Real."

 

Well, alrighty then....

 

 

A few weeks ago the two of them did go out to Starbucks to discuss Metaphysics. Not sure why exactly. But... that was not in The Planz! lol.

[EndOfOrdinary]

Yes. I didn't until my son thoroughly decided on wanting to go Ivy League, scheduled college visits to be sure, and basically gave me a pretty big wake up call. It took quite a while, but it is all planned out down to which AP courses, which tests, which outsourced classes, what year various boxes will be checked off, and which curriculum is the strongest to use. Even have a CC credit plan so that his AA is completed before high school is up.

 

I would not have done this if Ds was not as serious as he is about going to such exclusive schools. The whole deal is only about six years away! I feel like it has taken six years for me to figure out how to do this homeschooling thing anyway, so I knew that concrete lists were necessary. If Ds just wanted State U, I wouldn't. Tippy top schools means I really need to make sure all my paperwork is in order.

 

Just thinking about sending him off to college in six years makes my head spin. My baby is getting far too big!

[Arcadia]

I plan for the fun of planning and for budgeting expenses purpose but I don't really follow plans. My boys would be in 5th and 6th. I only have firm plans for semester one/Fall 2015 because I already registered them for the outside classes they want.

 

For high school the tentative plan is to do dual enrollment as its more affordable than private classes. I also have a tentative subject list to fulfil California's A-G requirements if we go that route.

For example for foreign language credit kids could do Chinese or German, for fine arts kids would likely do music theory.

[8filltheheart]

I don't. Since I individualize my kids' education, how they progress, at what rate, and what their interests will be are all unknowns. I had no idea my ds would become obsessed with physics or my dd with languages. Any plan would have either been ignored or would have limited their educations.

 

I focus on the progression of skills with thorough mastery as the driving force. No way to formally plan that. However, I do have a long term vision of where their basic sequential skills progress toward.

[SparklyUnicorn]

My older kid turned 13 in January.  I have started planning high school.  Prior I planned mostly year to year.  I had some long term goals and some short term goals, but nothing too specific because I think it is hard to plan that far ahead without knowing what the goals and needs will be that far ahead.  And whatever I plan, I always leave room for flexibility. 

So I guess my answer is "sort of". 

 

 

[MEmama]

I have a rough, flexible plan through middle school. The planner and worrier in me would like to start mapping out high school, but we haven't made any decisions yet on what he might want to do. I don't want him to feel pressure now to decide, but I also realize he has big goals for university and a clear plan will be necessary. While high school seems right around the corner in some ways from my teacher perspective, I think it's unrealistic to ask my 12 yo to make those decisions now.

[Reefgazer]

DD is in seventh grade and I have a very good idea of how each high school year will plan out. I had to - I wouldn't attempt to homeschool high school without a plan, and the most basic assurance that it was doable for me. For that, I had to know what I planned to do and when.

[luuknam]

I printed something off a Philosophy for Kids website a little while ago and gave it to my DH to do with Crazypants. It was about discussing the Real in Velveteen Rabbit I think. Anyways, DH read it over and then tossed it away. "That's not what Plato meant by Real."

 

Well, alrighty then....

 

 

A few weeks ago the two of them did go out to Starbucks to discuss Metaphysics. Not sure why exactly. But... that was not in The Planz! lol.

 

Okay. Maybe make it be in The Planz! Every Saturday afternoon (or w/e), Starbucks discussions time with dad. Whether they end up talking about philosophy or something else.

 

The reason I mentioned a book is that it would have a nice outline of topics to discuss, basically. It would likely be more of a springboard for conversation than a full curriculum. And philosophy is probably best done by talking (or thinking) about things, rather than memorizing a list of philosophers and what they said.

[SkateLeft]

I don't. I've graduated one and will graduate my second child next year. My third starts high school next year also.

 

I have a sense of the skills that I want the kids to have before they hit high school, and what I want them to learn by the time they graduate, including life skills, but I don't plan long term. I don't even plan for next year until the summer rolls around, because things change too quickly.

 

My goal has always been to keep as many doors open as possible, for as long as possible, so I've always avoided pegging my kids into boxes ("mathy" or "non-mathy," etc.). A lot of homeschoolers with young kids seem to plan long term without realizing just how much kids can and will change (if you don't box them in)! The non-mathy kid who likes to draw might be tomorrow's computer science major. The delayed reader becomes the kid that's glued to their Kindle all the time. The lazy, unmotivated kid becomes the passionate athlete who wants to pursue ROTC. The traits that I saw when my kids were young don't always mature in the direction that I think they will.

[SparklyUnicorn]

Planning is also basically built in for me too because I'm required to submit a plan every year to the school district to satisfy the homeschooling regulations.  Specific subjects are supposed to be covered.  I also have to report on progress 4 times a year. 

 

I hate the regs, but the planning part I suppose kinda forces me to come up with a plan.  I think I would have always had at least some sort of loose plan anyway though.  I could do without the progress 4x a year crap.

 

 

[Luckymama]

I don't. Since I individualize my kids' education, how they progress, at what rate, and what their interests will be are all unknowns. I had no idea my ds would become obsessed with physics or my dd with languages. Any plan would have either been ignored or would have limited their educations.

 

I focus on the progression of skills with thorough mastery as the driving force. No way to formally plan that. However, I do have a long term vision of where their basic sequential skills progress toward.

And from SkateLeft:

"I don't. I've graduated one and will graduate my second child next year. My third starts high school next year also.

 

I have a sense of the skills that I want the kids to have before they hit high school, and what I want them to learn by the time they graduate, including life skills, but I don't plan long term. I don't even plan for next year until the summer rolls around, because things change too quickly.

 

My goal has always been to keep as many doors open as possible, for as long as possible, so I've always avoided pegging my kids into boxes ("mathy" or "non-mathy," etc.). A lot of homeschoolers with young kids seem to plan long term without realizing just how much kids can and will change (if you don't box them in)! The non-mathy kid who likes to draw might be tomorrow's computer science major. The delayed reader becomes the kid that's glued to their Kindle all the time. The lazy, unmotivated kid becomes the passionate athlete who wants to pursue ROTC. The traits that I saw when my kids were young don't always mature in the direction that I think they will."

 

(Multi-quote isn't working.)

 

Dd has changed so much in just the past year--heck, since October! Her interests are 135* from where they were at the start of last school year (can't say 180* since she's not a potential English major ;))

 

My plans for high school are now

4 english credits

4 math credits

4 science credits

4 history/social science credits

4 foreign language credits

 

And then whatever the heck she wants from the above subjects that fills her remaining class slots :lol: Who knows, she might want to do all languages! Or languages and social sciences only! Or more physics than I can teach because she wants to study engineering! Or she may fall in love with comp sci the way her brother did! Or she might want to divide the classes evenly between the disciplines!

 

My head hurts sometimes :lol:

[luuknam]

Planning is also basically built in for me too because I'm required to submit a plan every year to the school district to satisfy the homeschooling regulations.  Specific subjects are supposed to be covered.  I also have to report on progress 4 times a year. 

 

I hate the regs, but the planning part I suppose kinda forces me to come up with a plan.  I think I would have always had at least some sort of loose plan anyway though.  I could do without the progress 4x a year crap.

 

I'm probably going to try to send my WNY school district something along the lines of this:

 

http://homeschoolinginnewyorkcity.blogspot.com/2005/08/sample-ihip-4th-grade.html

 

So, some sort of plan, yeah... but still very vague.

 

Homeschooling-wise, it'd be really nice if we still lived in TX. I could totally live with not having to tell the school district anything. 

[kchrrs]

When my 6th grader came home at the beginning of this year we loosely discussed interests and education required for similar careers. I then found which colleges I thought would be a good fit and took their requirements and recommendations combined with state requirements and class perquisites to figure out what classes would need to be taken and approximately where he needs to be each year. The plan is of course open to change.

[lllll]

..

[Chrysalis Academy]

I used to have a plan all the way through 12th, but I'm learning wisdom.   ;)  For my 7th grader. I have a pretty good idea what we'll do next year, but even that is flexible.  Everything else is in virtual pencil - meaning, I'm aware of college admission requirements and have an idea about how we might meet them.  But nothing so firm as a plan.

 

For my 3rd grader - I think maybe I have the next two months planned.  But I just made a big change last week. I guess it's most accurate to say that she changes, and my plans scramble to keep up.  :D

 

ETA:  I still love planning - I just have accepted the reality that it's a fun pastime for me, and may have no relation to what my kids actually end up studying!  :lol:

[Jackie]

I do. I'm a planner and list-maker by nature. So, yes, I have a general map of K-8 for my kindy girl. I can articulate what I want her to get out of education in general, each major subject, and have some rough plans to get there.

 

That said, the details of the plans change all the time, even now in kindy. Print wasn't working? Would she like to switch to cursive? Wow, we can manage to pull off a month in Guatemala for language immersion in Feb/March, let's go do that. The Plan will wait. That math program was meant to last a little longer, let's figure out what to do now...

 

Part of the flexibility is intentionally leaving room in The Plan. For example, I do use BFSU for science because I like to have a general guideline and I like the way BFSU approaches the subject. However, BFSU1 has 42 lessons that I'm spreading out over 2-3 years. That leaves a lot of time and space for science that isn't preplanned. The Plan calls for history to be approached by me gathering books, documentaries, and projects for each unit that I plan and then DD deciding what she wants to do with it all.

 

Having The Plan takes some pressure off me because I do have an idea what I want to accomplish and how to get there. But it doesn't mean that I think there is One True Way and this is it.

[alisoncooks]

Lists and such are pretty comforting. Mine are very flexible, with just rough ideas and such listed. The purpose is mainly so I can see where we're going, know that at some point I should add XX-subject, make notes of programs that sound fun but we are not yet ready for.

[Lawyer&Mom]

He's a Platonist, btw. He even has the Plato's Cave Search and Rescue Team t-shirt.

I hope Plato's Cave has a fire department too!

[Momto4inSoCal]

Its such a relief to hear from some btdt moms that you don't all have a long term plan. I actually just finished reading WTM, I read the sections in the beginning that pertained to the grade my kids were in a year ago but never read the rest of it. There was so much I had missed by not reading the rest of the book. We are only in our second year of homeschooling so I still feel like I'm figuring stuff out as we go and sometimes I feel like we are flying by the seat of our pants so to speak. I want to do dual enrollment in high school jr and sr year of my kids are ready for it and I know our math ends with algebra in 8th grade but other than that I don't really have much of an idea of what we will do. I have next years curriculim picked out at least.

[Χά�ων]

My son is in 5th grade, my goal from the start is to have him college ready and for him have some college credits by graduation.

 

As I walk this road I am learning more and more and am open to what will work for his goals.

[momacacia]

Yes, I have a path I'd like to see oldest take for humanities, Latin, and math. Science is only planned through jr high and I'm okay with that. I suspect I know where high school science will go. I hold all these things loosely, though, knowing the student and where our family is when may impact things as well. Eg, I'm not anticipating B&M high school, but I'd never rule it out, either, in the right situation/kid.

 

I have secondborn's path generally in mind through say 5th grade. I have a fear that thirdborn (currently toddler) could be an early reader, early everything, which I've never had before. I refuse to push, though, since I'm Type A anyway, so it will be interesting to see how he pans out.

[3 ladybugs]

We have had goals in mind since before my sons were conceived! A few things have changed, and the road is getting more defined, but I definately have an end game in mind. DH and I actually discussed homeschooling on our first date, about 5 years before older ds was conceived.

[Momto6inIN]

I'm a planner by nature.  It soothes me.  It's my hobby.  Kind of sick and weird, but true.

 

So, yes, I have a plan in place for every subject from PreK through 12th for an idealized imaginary student.  But so far none of my kids has been ideal or imaginary LOL

 

I still like the plan.

[MotherOfBoys]

I have a K-12 plan. It started on a spread sheet while I was reading WTM because I couldn't get a full understanding of the big picture. I only thought I would hs till 3rd grade back then. It's been adapted because of life. It reminds me that there is plenty of time and that I can do this. I can write in cool curriculum I hear about and might want to consider later. I also can see where extra curricular things I learn about can fit in for the different ages, if he's interested. Doesn't harm anyone to have a tentative plan.

[Reefgazer]

I don't think planning is synonymous with inflexible. My planning involves what mateials and opportunities are available to me to use as tools to educate my Kids so that I do not extinguish the opportunity for a top tier college education. Can I teach four years of foreign language? Are AP courses available to my kids? Can I run rigorous, high school level science labs out of my home? Do we have access to sports? I am willing to adjust what we do, but I would never wing it.

 

I don't. I've graduated one and will graduate my second child next year. My third starts high school next year also.

 

I have a sense of the skills that I want the kids to have before they hit high school, and what I want them to learn by the time they graduate, including life skills, but I don't plan long term. I don't even plan for next year until the summer rolls around, because things change too quickly.

 

My goal has always been to keep as many doors open as possible, for as long as possible, so I've always avoided pegging my kids into boxes ("mathy" or "non-mathy," etc.). A lot of homeschoolers with young kids seem to plan long term without realizing just how much kids can and will change (if you don't box them in)! The non-mathy kid who likes to draw might be tomorrow's computer science major. The delayed reader becomes the kid that's glued to their Kindle all the time. The lazy, unmotivated kid becomes the passionate athlete who wants to pursue ROTC. The traits that I saw when my kids were young don't always mature in the direction that I think they will.

[idnib]

I have a plan in my head through 12th based on a general idea of what competitive schools require and how to end up there, but I'm also leaving some openness for my kids' own interests and foibles. 

 

One of my favorite quotes is from Mike Tyson, of all people: "Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth."  :lol:

[clementine]

I had a very loose 4-year high school plan - then I tried very hard to make sure we prepared for that plan.  We did have to make minor changes & some classes were taken in different order, but adapting to that was painless.  

[Judahslamb]

No planning ahead, just taking it one day at a time....

[FloridaLisa]

Yes, I have a general plan all the way through high school based on what I'd like them to have for graduation and what worked/didn't work for my older dc. I don't think I had that long-range plan though until my first hit high school. At that point, I sketched in pencil a plan that started with 12th grade and then worked backward. We've had to hold the plan very loosely as interests changed, courses were or were not available, outside opportunities presented themselves. 

 

And then, too, we've had to shape it to the child. They are all different! My current 10th grader has college/career plans that are altogether different from any of his older brothers/sister but, next year will really be the year it begins to affect his courses. 

 

I'm not sure how helpful it would be to have a high school plan for kids in elementary or even early middle. I think it might just drain energy from the HERE and NOW that is so important. I find myself working way more focused on the skills my elementary kids need now, than stewing about whether they'll be in a certain math book by 11th grade.  I'm glad to have the perspective that homeschooling kids all the way through high school and into college give me in my teaching today, but I'm not focused on that end point right now for my youngers. 

 

Lisa

[Roadrunner]

Yes. I didn't until my son thoroughly decided on wanting to go Ivy League, scheduled college visits to be sure, and basically gave me a pretty big wake up call. It took quite a while, but it is all planned out down to which AP courses, which tests, which outsourced classes, what year various boxes will be checked off, and which curriculum is the strongest to use. Even have a CC credit plan so that his AA is completed before high school is up.

 

I would not have done this if Ds was not as serious as he is about going to such exclusive schools. The whole deal is only about six years away! I feel like it has taken six years for me to figure out how to do this homeschooling thing anyway, so I knew that concrete lists were necessary. If Ds just wanted State U, I wouldn't. Tippy top schools means I really need to make sure all my paperwork is in order.

 

Just thinking about sending him off to college in six years makes my head spin. My baby is getting far too big!

You put the rest of us to shame! :)

My kid knows where every author of aops books has gone to school, which has resulted it him deciding that MIT is really the place to be. Now instead of coming up with a plan, I am thinking how to break his little heart and tell him that getting there is like for me winning a lotto. Those schools are just dreams. So far I haven't found right words, so he keeps on dreaming.

[Roadrunner]

So I guess no, I have no plans. I know for example what skills I want them to have by middle school, and I know I want to cover all sciences in middle school to give them some familiarity, but other than that, I am sailing blind right now. I feel like I had better plans when I first started homeschooling. :)

[Sahamamama]

Yes. My long term plan involves large amounts of dark chocolate and coffee.

[Five More Minutes]

 

ETA:  I still love planning - I just have accepted the reality that it's a fun pastime for me, and may have no relation to what my kids actually end up studying!  :lol:

 

This is me. I have had plans through Gr. 12 ever since my kids were in pre-K and Gr. 1. I do this because it's fun for me to map in very broad terms out where we *could* go, but as they get older, my plans have to change even more frequently. I don't mind, though -- in a weird way, I find I can be more flexible if I have an overarching plan that I'm adapting (or completely overhauling or tossing out) than if I have no long-term plan at all.

 

Planning long-term just works for me, but I'd never suggest that it would work for everyone. My friend is an excellent homeschooling mom, and she almost completely responds to her kids' interests at the time. No long-term plans, but she pours her energy into supporting her kids as they learn what they want to. It's quite fun to watch, but it would kill me.

 

I plan in detail (i.e. topics, units, books) on a weekly basis, though. There is just no point in me developing more specific plans any further ahead than that.

 

 

 

[SparrowMom]

I have planned out as much as I can all the way to the 12th grade, and my DD is only in Kindergarten. My intention was to determine when DS1 would be joining us and what we'd be learning together and separately. Then DS2 came along and I've fit him in there too. Curriculum for grammar stage has been selected, and most of logic stage. For the high school years I am waiting to see what their interests are as far as electives go. We'll be sticking with the recommended history and science for the high school years but my DD (5) and DS1 (3) are already so very different and I'd like them to pick things that fit their personalities, decide what foreign languages they prefer to learn, etc.

 

The only thing I have not planned yet is when to learn Latin. I've heard various opinions on when to start. Some say start now (my dad learned as a young child while attending Latin mass), some say to wait until 3rd grade, and some say later than that. I love studying language and would love to begin Latin now, but I am not sure DD is quite ready.

 

But yeah... I'm weird I guess with my planning far in advance. It helps me sleep at night.

[EndOfOrdinary]

You put the rest of us to shame! :)

My kid knows where every author of aops books has gone to school, which has resulted it him deciding that MIT is really the place to be. Now instead of coming up with a plan, I am thinking how to break his little heart and tell him that getting there is like for me winning a lotto. Those schools are just dreams. So far I haven't found right words, so he keeps on dreaming.

My son does not have a specific school, since he has read the stats and how negative that can be for his psyche. He has a 1st choice, which has been solid for a bit. It is local-ish and we have toured it. He even set up an interview with an academic advisor (who did not realize he was ten). The other schools he is planning on visiting when we head to the East Coast in a couple years to thru hike the AT. A chunk of time is going to be spent on college as well. I figure there are worse things the boy can dream for than an Ivy League education. It is also a very nice help for me to have the guidelines of what middle and high school will look like!

 

If your son really wants to work for it, why not let him dream for MIT? As long as he realizes his chances, and enjoys the academics, he cannot really lose. Depending on how much time you have, you can begin getting all those ducks in a row so that an Ivy or top 20 could accept him. We are only able to let my son hope in this way due to us being very low income. We hit just about every need based scholarship to the point we are not worried about money.

[idnib]

The reason I mentioned a book is that it would have a nice outline of topics to discuss, basically. It would likely be more of a springboard for conversation than a full curriculum. And philosophy is probably best done by talking (or thinking) about things, rather than memorizing a list of philosophers and what they said.

 

Not to get too off topic but you reminded me of these materials.

[Loesje22000]

We have exit exams here.

As dd has almost finished the 8th grade exams I had to figure out how to get at grade 12 level in four years for 12 subjects.

So I start at the end and worked my way back.

I'm almost done :)

[Desert Strawberry]

I have a solid plan up to the level of my oldest child. My little ones' futures are all set. My oldest, though, not so much. He's technically 6th grade, but finishing up middle school. I have no idea what I'm going to do with him. I might half a year of work planned for him. Probably not that much.

I'm not ready for high school at all. 

[imagine.more]

Yes, I have a spreadsheet for each of my school-age kids where I have mapped out their core subjects' progression. I'm glad I did it because it made me realize DS, if he keeps going at his current pace, would have ended up with 1-2 years of gap between finishing calculus and going to college, oops! So I did a bit of research and am planning some supplemental math to go deeper with him. I also needed to see realistically how far DD could get in meeting requirements to see what her high school will look like as a special needs kid. Plus things like knowing which math we'll do once Singapore ends and knowing which history programs we'd like to move on to, etc. 

 

I'll let the kids choose electives when they get to high school based on their interests and my suggestions and I'll of course be flexible with our plans but I like knowing where we're going, it calms down any "are we doing enough" fears :)

[EKS]

Yes--I've always had a several year plan going for each kid.  Of course, the plan regularly gets modified in its details and sometimes at its core as well.

[MinivanMom]

Yes, we've always had plans . . . but . . . the details of those plans are definitely written in pencil. I am always striving to have the accountability of long-term goals, while maintaining the flexibility to meet the needs and interests of my unique child. It's a narrow line, and I'm not sure that I always walk it perfectly, but I try.

[HS Mom in NC]

Yes.  It covers each year and each subject through high school.  It's in pencil so I can make changes as needed.

 

 

[Mergath]

I used to make plans.  And realized very quickly that doesn't work too well with an asynchronous learner.  So now I plan about a week ahead, and consider myself lucky if the plans stick.  Though I do have a rough plan in mind for math because dd is very sciencey and is going to need to be at a certain level of math by graduation to keep her science options open.  

[Gil]

I have a long term, big-picture plan for math, foreign language and vocational type electives that will allow the boys more options in their higher education than not. Right now, I only have a master plan for up to their 8th grade year, even though the plan is they will be covering 9th-12th grade academics during that time. Because of our end-game, our home schooling is sort of built around and at times tailored toward how to achieve those goals.

 

As for the "steps" involved in getting us to those big-picture goals I kind of have 4 years set out at a time.

 

Grade K was all about the ground work. Top-notch numeracy and literacy skills were all important and everything else was secondary.

Grades 1-4 are all based on polishing the 3R skills: Reading, Writing and Arithmetic.

By staying consistent we are working toward achieving our end-goals for this stage, I think that we will make it. We still have ~2 years to go, but we are making good progress. Our weakest skill at this point is writing. The boys are having trouble synthesizing all their writing ducks--spelling, grammar, style--and keeping them in a row. They write one composition and give one oral presentation each week to work on this. I'm scrambling to learn all that I can about writing instruction and trying to figure out how to get each kid where I need him to be. We minimize all technology use, I like for the boys to use their own personal computers (ie, their brains) as much as possible. Spanish is our foreign language of choice and I'm thinking of general education grade 1-3 curriculum in Spanish that I found online. If I can get a tutor to help us with it, then this is what we are going to do, this will take care of (cultural and regular) literacy, while allowing them to develop advanced conversational and comprehension skills. I think I can get them through grade 1, maybe grade 1 and 2 but I definitely want to find a tutor for this project.

 

Grades 5-8 are about integrating technology--first as a tool, then as a vocational skill into the fold while using our reading and writing skills on the next level. I want to teach study skills and life-planning strategies during this stage. For content subjects we are going to be transitioning straight into higher level work. Reading and discussing source documents in content subjects regularly and studying from introductory college level texts as much as possible. We'll be reading and discussing longer works of literature on a weekly basis and of course I expect a greater quantity of hand-written output. We would be continuing the general education grade 4-6 Spanish curriculum with a tutor if I can manage this to build their literacy and speaking skills also.

 

They'll learn to type and use the computer as a tool appropriately and once they are comfortable using the office applications then the final drafts of each composition and speech notes will be typed. Technology will be introduced in greater stretches as this is when they'll begin learning to build and program computers. During this stage I want them to write 2 compositions and 3 short speeches each week during these years to really grow their writing skills.

 

Mathematically I fully expect that they'll be solidly in high school mathematics by this point. I really wanted integrated math for them, but in the US its hard to get it at the appropriate level. We will probably use 2 full math series simultaneously at this point--accelerating through something traditional to keep them progressing and on-point (Foersters or Dolciani) and then AoPS to grow their mental tenacity and problem solving skills (full AoPS introductory series).

 

Thats about as far as I dare to plan for these guys.

[JenneinCA]

No.

 

At various times I had a plan, but then life happened and the plan was thrown out the window.

 

My plan for my now sixteen year old was great until she decided that it was her life and my plan was not her plan. We are now going with her plan.

 

Similar reasons for the fourteen year old and the ten year old except this time I refuse to stress about it.