Student led or project based school year

[Peaceseeker]

Has anyone tried this or done a version of this in their homeschool? We are considering some less convention approaches to our school year next year. (Except math- I am unwilling to let go of hard won territory in that subject so it will continue on the traditional path).

 

Were you completely open ended? Did you require any particular kind of output or was it up to the student? Any structure or accountability in place or did you just see how they did on their own with self directed learning? Any travel or other creative ways to learn a subject?

 

We are just in a brainstorming and dreaming phase right now so I would love to hear from others who veered off the traditional school path. I have spent hours researching a very traditional school year for next year so all those plans are still an option. I am curious what the other option may look like though.

Edited February 17, 2018 by CaliforniaDreaming

[EmilyGF]

How old is your kiddo?

[8filltheheart]

We don't do "traditional school," but neither are we even close to resembling unschooling. Lots of approaches somewhere in between.  Even with the same child, some courses might be more self-directed while others might have more mom influence.  

[Peaceseeker]

I have two middle schoolers right now.

[Farrar]

That's what we did for all of middle school. I would ask the kids what they wanted to study and then I would design a unit about that. Some lasted most of the year, others just for a month. Sometimes I bought a curriculum unit or used part of something along those lines, other times I designed something from scratch. Sometimes the kids did a unit together, sometimes individually. Sometimes we had multiple things going, other times not. If they were getting too into one general subject, like just doing social studies leaning topics for awhile, I'd generally suggest that they choose something more science related, or vice versa, and sometimes I suggested things that I thought they'd enjoy. But mostly I've let them be in charge of the choosing and then I'd plan and give them choices - do you want to do more books or movies, do you want to do this sort of end project or that one, I found this resource and that one and which one looks better to you - that sort of a thing. We also have continued along a traditional math sequence and curriculum order.

 

Overall, we've been happy with this approach. I think we've done a lot more winging it than 8Fillstheheart's method, but she has a book about this - you can see a link in her sig.

[MerryAtHope]

Mainly just in science from 5th-8th for my dd. I gave choices before we ordered materials, and then had some guidelines--work for 30 minutes a day (45 in jr. high), and she could read, write or draw in her science journal, work on an experiment, nature journal, work on her science fair project (which usually took 10-12 weeks), etc... I did ask her to let me know what she was doing at least once a week, and asked her to put something in her journal once a week, but otherwise the time was really hers to decide what to do and how to do it. It was a great match for that student. 

 

I directed other subjects more, but did give my kids some choice in history, literature, and language arts at times. 

 

 

[Starrinytes]

My 4th grader this year has been pretty interest led except for Language Arts & Math. She LOVES learning and has so many ideas on things she want to know and learn. If she asks about something, I give her the resources and she takes it where she wants to go. It's been great, and really low stress since she's been working hard in Math & Language Arts this year (she has some comprehension & fine motor skills issues, so writing and math are a struggle for her) Next year, we are going to do more formal studies, but I'm leaving it open for tons of rabbit trails...which I'm completely expecting, especially in science.  This year, she's gotten to pick some random classes on Outschool that she has been interested in (and she has LOVED that- I'll probably let her pick a few next year as well since the ones she picks are pretty reasonably priced). 

[Bonsai]

Except for math (which has been everything from unschooled to AoPS), we've done all inquiry-led, cross-curricular projects for the last six years. We love it.

 

With dd13, many interests came and went. Others have stuck around for the full six years. She puts together a three ring binder at the beginning of the year for each project (or just adds another tab in an existing binder). It includes her goals for the year, a presentation plan and a list of resources - mentors, books, websites, moocs, etc. I've asked her to keep it to only four project areas at a time. Any more than that and we get overwhelmed. Sometimes she'll put one project aside for a term, pick up another, then circle back. Some of her projects have seasonality, so that influences things.

 

With ds6, his projects are still new and have a much shorter timeline. For example, he loves pop-up books. He made his own eight-page pop-up book, wrote a simple story in it and shared it with the local librarians. He loves board games. He designed his own and we 3D printed the game pieces. Stuff like that.

 

It is amazing what you can put together with a little creativity. I love researching resources for my kids (and their friends, and my friends, and myself). We've done things like beekeeping, birding, braille, bats... that's just the B's. Yes, I love external accountability (I work). We schedule our family holidays around their interests whenever possible. Ideally, I like to see reflection on personal growth, a group learning component, community service and a presentation or sharing of learning. Over the years, I've learned not to get too attached to their interests. And I no longer feel guilty when we simply can't support an interest - like llama farming. It has to be reasonable, achievable, flexible... and undergo family negotiations. We only have so many resources, which we all have to share.