Do you have a long term plan?

[Colleen in SEVA]

I have been working on a (brace yourself.....) LONG TERM PLAN for my oldest. Up until very recently, I found this concept quite laughable. He is currently working in 5 different grade levels, how could I POSSIBLY have a long term plan, right?

 

Well, I have one now. :thumbup:

 

I was curious how it compared to other long term plans for accelerated learners, so I did an advance search for the words "long term plan" only on the Accelerated Learner Board -- and it listed six matches, but none of them were actually about long term plans.

 

:lol: I thought it was funny that nobody with an accelerated learner has a long term plan (though I guess maybe I have an odd sense of humor). Of course -- maybe everyone HAS a long term plan but just doesn't want to share it. :D

[patchfire]

Yep, I have a long-term plan. I made a grid, printed it out, and then filled it in- with a pencil, naturally. :)

 

I do think I personally am reluctant to share a long-term plan, especially a comprehensive one, and I suspect others might be as well. Even amongst other parents of accelerated/bright/gifted (choose your term) kids, I know I can shy away from being totally candid.

 

But... I first formally wrote out the long-term plan earlier this calendar year. I've modified it at least twice. I think it IS difficult to have a long-term plan with regard to accelerated kids. I know that she'll make leaps that I won't expect, but I don't know when she'll make them or what form they will take, yk? (She's 9/4th grade right now)

 

The only thing I am certain about is that we'll need one of the local colleges for math by tenth or eleventh grade, and we may need a tutor before that. It's already been ten years since my last calculus class in college. :P

[Colleen in SEVA]

I do think I personally am reluctant to share a long-term plan, especially a comprehensive one, and I suspect others might be as well.

 

Yes... I don't feel comfortable sharing mine either. Maybe because these boards are a little too public? Maybe because I don't want to be judged for doing X in Z grade? :shrug:

 

B's plan is in a grid with several blank rows at the bottom so we can shift things down or add things as needed (I'm waiting to add his electives for high school until we get there). Even though B has always been asynchronous, it seems to finally be levelling out -- I was astonished to see that he could be starting high school level in all subjects at the same time.

[KristenS]

Long-term? You mean, other than survival? LOL.

 

My kids aren't PG or anything, but I still have a hard time with that plan. I've written one out, actually ... in pencil, yes ... and was appalled at how quickly time appeared to fly. And that was assuming they don't make any other great leaps than just being one grade ahead, as I currently have them. It was scary enough that I put the papers away and haven't peeked since. :D

 

I think it does help, though, because what's the point, say, of starting early in math if your credits won't count for high school and you run out of coursework? (Which is what happened to me in PS.) Or knowing what tests are good for what ... which I wouldn't have thought of till someone posted here the other day about the Duke programs for fourth-graders. (My oldest is in second and will be eligible for standardized testing next year, and it never occurred to me that it would matter what he took ... I didn't even know Duke had offerings for younger than 7th.) Or if you're doing a rotation for history and want all kids on the same page.

 

So ... I'm looking ahead ... and jotting notes. I'll probably even peek at my long-term plan again down the road. :) But I'd shy away from sharing, just because it's so prone to change, as any long-term plan is.

[KAR120C]

:lol: I thought it was funny that nobody with an accelerated learner has a long term plan (though I guess maybe I have an odd sense of humor). Of course -- maybe everyone HAS a long term plan but just doesn't want to share it. :D

I don't know that I've ever shared it, but then I don't know that anyone's ever asked either..... LOL But I made it up first when DS was two and we didn't know he was going to be accelerated... Basically I wanted to see where everything fit so we would end up where I wanted to end up. And I've tweaked (ohhh how I've tweaked! LOL), but really? It's not been that far off... Off on speed, certainly, but what I really made it for was to see that everything kind of fit together, and that we had time for things I wanted to teach him, not just the boring basics (check! LOL) So I've just scootched things around a bit and added columns when it was clear that I could.

 

At the beginning I had math listed through Singapore 6B and then Algebra, Geometry, Algebra 2, Precalculus, Calculus, Statistics... since that's how the local high schools do it, and it looked like we'd have time for all of that. But then when he finished the Singapore Primary series early, I added columns and rearranged the last now-more-than-six years to be: Algebra, Statistics, Geometry, <elective>, Algebra 2 <elective> Precalculus, <elective>, Calculus, <calculus-based elective>... and thank goodness somewhere in there I learned about the Art of Problem Solving books or I'd have no idea what to stick in all those alternate years! :)

 

Science worked basically the same - once we found Singapore Science, the plan was MPH for four years, Interactive for 2, and then three years of their high school books... but we started early, went fast, and I added columns in the high school range. That run changes much more frequently - I thought we were going to finish Biology this year and go on to Chemistry next, but DS really wants to do Marine Biology, and we have some resources that might be time-limited... so either we'll do it next year, or interweave it with the regular biology and take two years for the both of them.

 

History actually hasn't changed a bit. Which is kind of funny... but I find it easier to adapt individual assignments rather than needing to overhaul plans. We did SOTW for four years (although 1 and 2 were fast and 3 was slooooooowww because of all the local field trips we could add), and then we switched to "microhistories". He picks a topic and writes a paper. Sometimes I pick a topic. It could be following something through history (like history of animation, which had to be cut waaay back to the history of technical advances in animation, or it would have been dissertation-length!), or a particular person or incident (like Blackbeard), or something current. Basically he's learning to do research and we're working on writing. But my long term plan is to use those skills to address whatever topics we need -- economics, US history, World history, civics, etc.

 

Lit & Comp we pretty much make up as we go along -- he reads, we discuss, he writes, and I keep a list of Lightning Lit courses in the back of my head in case we run out of ideas. Maybe Literary Lessons from Lord of the Rings, too. Mostly it's just whatever we can stick together in a sort-of-theme based on what the local theaters are performing this year and what we want to do. This year it's Victorian English lit, because we have a Dickens and two Oscar Wildes on the calendar and we were in India at the beginning of the year, which meant reading some of the colonial English writing of the Victorian era and giving it context.. by which point we really did have almost a full year of reading on the list. I added a few classics and some Gilbert and Sullivan just for fun. :)

 

Language is funny.... I knew we'd do more than one, and we have, but it's another that has to flex... In the ideal world in my head we'd have added a third language last year, but the schedule didn't really work out. So we only have two, and that's fine. We might add one next year, or we might actually replace one (we could be moving, making our "practical" Spanish much less practical... no more Spanish soap operas on three channels...)

 

Other than language, though, which I was never "married" to, the long term plan has been remarkably stable. I know I never shared it early on because people's response is generally "oh how cute, a new homeschooler thinks she knows something" :glare: but I can say in retrospect that I did know my own kid pretty well, even then. Maybe not his ultimate speed, but the more general ideas of how things could work. And having a good idea of where I wanted to end up meant that as we tweaked the plan I always knew where I could put something and what could be held for later.

[EKS]

I have a long term plan for both my my children, though for the oldest (13), it is rapidly becoming a short term plan.

[JenneinCA]

I have had long term plans. I gave up. The needs and levels of my kids change too rapidly for any plan to last longer than six months and most don't last that long.

[mbeaser]

My long term plan is a little difficult to plot out because DS is the oldest, but I'm not sure he's much more than bright (and, he's lazy enough to counteract that...). We started HSing at the end of March of his 2nd grade year and he was going to be held back in public school 2nd grade had we stayed in VA. We started Singapore 1B then and he's on track now so that he *could* finish 4B in Feb next year, but we may slow things down to drill math facts, and throw in some LoF. At the same time he started HSing, I started his little sister in EB1A (she was PK age at the time because of her late fall bday). She completed the entire EB series in 3 weeks and started on PM 1A. She's slacked off, taken a few months breaks, etc and she's finishing up 2B in Feb as well. She pretty much does everything he does except that she is 2 grades behind him in math (and, she frequently does things better than he does, especially LA things, except that her manual dexterity still isn't great so she takes a long time to write things). I'm trying to do my long term plan now, not so much as a "do this in this grade" thing, but as a "complete this series of goals and move onto this". I'm fortunate in that I live fairly close to Indiana University, so I can enroll my kids in IUHS when they get into their jr year of high school academically and then take dual credit courses (online or in class, technical requirement is 20 high school credits to be able to do the dual credit courses). I'm also going to look into the OPEN program when we get a bit closer (although, I think DD may be ready for that in as little as 3 years, at age 10. Eep!). We do tend to go pretty broad in a lot of things, so that we aren't racing ahead *too* fast. It can be exhausting. And, of course, there's the newly 3yo sister, who learned her letter sounds in the 1st 3 days of the school year when I turned on Letter Factory for her to keep her quiet while we did school :tongue_smilie:

[Donna]

I don't have a long term plan, per se. I have a vision of what goes where and the order of things. As far as a timetable goes, I've given up since they always tend to go faster than I imagine. I also tend to tweak curriculum here and there as well because what works for one, inevitably does not for another.

 

I feel like most of the time, if I can just keep one step ahead, I am doing fine. I have no idea where life is leading us all at the moment. My oldest, in public school for the first time, now has a long term plan and a bit of an idea of what he wants to do with his life though it could always change but high school and college are in there for the next 8 years or so. As far as the other two go...we'll take that day by day using my "vision" to guide us but allowing their interests and needs to fill in all the blanks.

[melmichigan]

I like that word, vision. I have a "vision" of where we are going with each child and how we may get there. The problem is that things are always in flex and adaptation is the name of the game in this house. I did try writing out a rough plan for my DD10, chronologically through middle school, so for the next three years. We are already making changes. :lol:

 

I think history is my one saving grace in subjects because I can set a more grand plan there since you can always add and subtract for each child. So I can say history is pretty set through middle school for each child, the curriculum and materials are, of course, subject to change. ;)

[Truscifi]

I have a plan through elementary for ds6. I have toyed with middle/high school, but I am not sure yet where ds is going to want to focus. He is equally drawn to science and history right now. I have minimums that I will make sure he reaches, but we are already ahead of 'schedule' on those so I suppose I will have to work on fleshing out my plans soon.

[StephanieZ]

I have been working on a (brace yourself.....) LONG TERM PLAN for my oldest. Up until very recently, I found this concept quite laughable. He is currently working in 5 different grade levels, how could I POSSIBLY have a long term plan, right?

 

Well, I have one now. :thumbup:

 

I was curious how it compared to other long term plans for accelerated learners, so I did an advance search for the words "long term plan" only on the Accelerated Learner Board -- and it listed six matches, but none of them were actually about long term plans.

 

:lol: I thought it was funny that nobody with an accelerated learner has a long term plan (though I guess maybe I have an odd sense of humor). Of course -- maybe everyone HAS a long term plan but just doesn't want to share it. :D

 

I just recently did a long term plan for dd13 (7th grade) for the first time. I have it in Excel and have already changed several things, lol. It is actually helpful and inspiring to me to see how things might fit together. It is also nice to see which subjects are coming up in the next year or two where I don't yet have a certain curriculum chosen. . . It has given me things to watch for on these boards and research to do. . . and makes me excited to delve into my new 3rd ed TWTM that I got today!!

 

I share others' hesitation abt posting it here, as I am generally reticent abt posting details about dc's educational progress/plans as I don't want to seem arrogant. . . to *plan* ahead for high achievement (early completion/advanced topics/college level curr/etc) seems just snotty. :) I do it, but I don't really want to tell everyone abt that. :)

 

There is also an element of "why plan b/c they change every 6 weeks anyway. . . gifted kids advance rapidly and sometimes in dramatic fits and starts, esp if you happen into a good fit in curricula. . . and I know the plan will change. . . and I know they *will* cover all their bases for college readily b/c they are already a couple "years" ahead of the game. . . so there are fewer required things to fit into each college-prep category. . . So, at least for me there has been a good degree of "why bother" to plan ahead. . .until very recently as dc approach high school and I want to start making a plan to "cover all the bases".

[zaichiki]

Long term plans... how long?

 

For my youngest two, I have no long-term plans, aside from enjoying the time with the baby and developing a strong reader in my 4 year old.

 

The best long-term plans I have start with my kids' strengths and interests. I am trying to focus on how I can help prepare them for a future career in those areas.

 

Oldest has been a serious history buff for 5 years now, and is totally the "little professor" type, so I can easily imagine him a history professor or an archaeologist. Or even possibly an engineer... I guess the best thing I can do for him is to make sure that his education prepares him for a university that is strong in those areas.

 

Dd(7) spends much of her time with her music, and would be totally happy to be surrounded by other musicians much of her day. I can imagine her becoming a professional musician. Dd also LOVES animals and isn't the least little bit squeamish. She thinks she'd like to be a veterinarian and I can picture that. She'd be a great vet! So, my long-term plans revolve around her music education and math/science.

[dangermom]

I have a vision, but no long-term plan. I would like to do one though; can anyone point me to a sample so that I can see how they work? I can imagine, but I always like having plenty of examples.

[angela in ohio]

Long-term planning is a common topic on the General and/or Curriculum Board. You can find posts there, though they won't be specific to accelerated learners.

 

We have long term goals that are not really influenced by the fact that dc are gifted. They are for all areas of their life, academic ad not.

 

I also have a plan for what we want to cover throughout their school career and a reading list, as well as a plan of what to do for high school.

[LisaDSB]

I've mapped out where I think they'll go in a few subjects, but there isn't a formal long-term plan. I think it'll become more important to do that when they get a little older (like middle school), but for right now we're just feeling our way along.

[cjzimmer1]

I've never written anything down but always had an idea of where we were going. Things have been sped up or slowed down based on his level and other things happening in our life. I always figured by 15 I would be looking at outsourcing his math but based on his current ACT scores (as well as where he currently is in math), it looks like that will be happening sooner. I've learned to adapt and not really "plan" anything because when I do that's when he makes a jump and I have to start over anyways. But I have ideas that float around in my head and so far that seems to work well enough.

[JennW in SoCal]

I made lots of long term plans over the years and not one of them was ever used!! The one benefit of thinking long term was that I kept notes on book recommendations and curricula which has made planning from year to year much easier. I started lurking on the high school board when my kids were young and from that board got most of my ideas and titles.

 

Puberty is the wild card in the planning process. What seems like a logical progression for your 12 year old may well need to be dumped by the time he turns 14 or 15. They start getting minds of their own and want to go more deeply into interests that you never imagined. You may find yourself challenged with a teen who is very advanced in some areas but still very much a young, immature, and innocent kid who isn't quite ready for everything you throw at them. They need some time to slack off, too while their bodies mature. Then, when you start looking at colleges you may find yourself re-thinking what is best for your child only to have them choose a path that is completely different from what you planned for.

 

For me, for high school, I get the best results from doing in-depth planning for a semester at a time (the year as a whole is mapped out, but I get to the nitty gritty for each semester.) That way I can tailor studies to match interests and opportunities.

[2smartones]

I also have a long-term plan I'm not willing to share, for the same reasons others have listed. This place is too public. My oldest is PG, and I suspect my youngest probably is as well. I'm constantly ridiculed by well-meaning people who have no idea what they're really talking about...even family. They think I'm pushing. I'm usually just playing catch up! My long-term plan is in an Excel sheet, so it's easy to tweak when necessary.

[dangermom]

I worked up a sort of long-term plan for my 9yo yesterday, inspired by you folks. She'll be in 5th next year so I started there, and promptly started panicking over the fact that I only have 8 years left! She'll be in junior high before I know it! (She laughed at me for this. But you know what I mean, right??)

 

My kid is not PG or anything, just pretty bright. So really it looks a lot like the WTM plan overall. I discovered that we can lollygag our way through Classical Writing if we want, because on our current schedule we'll be done after 11th grade. That seems unlikely IRL, though--it's such a heavy program.

 

So I guess that was good for me. I don't know if I did what I was supposed to, though! :)

[Crimson Wife]

DH has a long-term plan for our kids that looks very Type A overachieverish including a prestigious prep school for high school followed by an Ivy caliber university. That's the route he took, though he attended a Catholic prep school rather than a "name brand" one. Me, I'm not so sure that's the route I want them to go. While I would absolutely support them doing it if that's what THEY want. But homeschooling has led me to question all the assumptions about education that I spent 16 years just thinking was just "the way things are". I did the whole type A overachiever thing and the best thing that ever happened to me was getting wait-listed for a graduate program that was my parents' expectation for me rather than what I truly wanted.

 

I suspect my folks blame DH for "derailing" me since I chose to marry him rather than re-apply to grad school. The ironic thing is he's always encouraging me to get a graduate degree. I don't want to at this point because I don't want to have to put my kids in school/daycare.

[Heather in WI]

Yep, I have a long-term plan. I made a grid, printed it out, and then filled it in- with a pencil, naturally. :)

 

I do think I personally am reluctant to share a long-term plan, especially a comprehensive one, and I suspect others might be as well. Even amongst other parents of accelerated/bright/gifted (choose your term) kids, I know I can shy away from being totally candid.

 

 

:iagree:

 

Mine is in Excel. :)

 

I know roughly where I want the boys to be when they apply for colleges, and I worked back from there. Everything has a logical prerequisite, so I want to make sure that I've prepared them adequately for whatever they want to do with their lives.

 

I also appreciate this quote by Robin in TX from the old boards:

 

"Sometimes we get bogged down in the day to day specifics and lose sight of the goal. The most helpful thing I've ever done is continually ask myself "why?" about every single textbook and/or program. Why do I want to do that program? And here's the most important question ... What foundation is it laying for our next level? If it honestly and clearly doesn't play a role as a stepping stone to our final goal, then I have to walk away from it."

[patchfire]

I also appreciate this quote by Robin in TX from the old boards:

 

"Sometimes we get bogged down in the day to day specifics and lose sight of the goal. The most helpful thing I've ever done is continually ask myself "why?" about every single textbook and/or program. Why do I want to do that program? And here's the most important question ... What foundation is it laying for our next level? If it honestly and clearly doesn't play a role as a stepping stone to our final goal, then I have to walk away from it."

 

 

I have the same quote saved in my homeschooling folder!

[Heather in WI]

I have the same quote saved in my homeschooling folder!

 

:)

 

It's a good one. It's prevented me many times from jumping on the bandwagon of X new program after realizing that it didn't "honestly and clearly ... play a role as a stepping stone to our final goal".

 

I sometimes wonder about people who appear to be winging it with their child's education and rush off to do this, that, and the other with no logical order or purpose .... but then I realize my responsibility solely lies with the three littles in my own house.

[Kissy]

I have had a long term plan since the end of 4th grade. I have had to change it already my son is in 6th grade. but I have a general idea of where I want him to be and do by the end of high school.

[RanchGirl]

I have long term plans for both of my kids. The plans are tentative and include homeschooling through middle school, then starting public or private school in 9th grade. So I wanted to make sure I covered everything I wanted to teach (and learn myself in some cases), everything they need to be prepared to enter high school and get into the right classes for college prep stuff, and everything they might need if they go in the direction I suspect they are leaning as far as long term. As well as all the life skills and such.

 

It's all done in a word document. Every few months I update what they have accomplished and review our progress toward end goals. It really helps me stay on track and focus on the long term outlook rather than getting bogged down in unimportant stuff.

[StartingOver]

I have a long term plan........ it is to have no plans. I have been here before, and know full well that nothing goes as planned LOL I do have a checklist for what I will require for graduation at the highschool level. Four years of Math, Science, Arts, Foreign Language, History, etc..... as if they are going to an Ivy League college, just in case they decide to. Anything beyond that is gravy !