Time for pondering......Long term plans

[Karen in CO]

Do you have a long term plan for each child's education? For instance, do you have an idea of what you would like to teach in each year of high school?

 

When you're making your yearly school plans, do you start with an ideal and work backwards to where you are, or do you start where you are and look forward? I'm assuming most of us end up somewhere in the middle, just wondering where you start.

 

Consider that you found an ideal* education situation that started in X grade. Would you change your plans for the years <X or would you keep the same plans you have?

 

I'm just thinking of long-term plans, not the plans we make when we're getting ready to buy for the next year.

 

 

*ideal for a given child no matter how you define ideal

[Bloggermom]

I create a road map for each of my kids from where they are and what we can accomplish by the time they are in 12th. If I see a curriculum I like that my kids are too young for, I add it to their road map for the appropriate grade. Of course, I am always tweaking it and changing things up, but it is so much fun to tentatively see ahead.

 

I should add that knowing long term goals is vital. For example, I want my oldest to cover Latin, Greek and Hebrew by 12th grade. This helps me map out what needs to be accomplished at each grade level to make sure those goals are met.

 

This is an example I what I did:

MP = Memoria Press Academy, TPS = The Potters School VP= Veritas Press

I don't have all the gaps filled in because I haven't found the right curriculum for them yet.

 

5th Grade 2011-2012 School Year (10-11 years old)

Latin: Latin Alive Book 1

Greek: Elementary Greek 1

Writing: VP - Grammar and Writing II

Math: CLE Math 400

History: VP Self Paced – New Testament Greece and Rome

 

 

6th Grade 2012-2013 School Year (11-12 years old)

Latin: VP Latin I - Wheelocks & Cambridge

Greek: Elementary Greek 2

Writing: IEW SICC-A

Math: CLE Math 500

History: VP Self Paced– Middle Ages Renaissance Reformation

 

 

(12-13 Years Old) 7th Grade -

Latin: VP Latin II - Wheelocks w/ 38 Latin Stories

Greek:Elementary Greek 3

Writing: IEW SICC-B

Math: CLE Math 600

History: VP – Omnibus I Primary (Ancient)

 

Edited December 8, 2011 by Bloggermom

[8filltheheart]

No, I don't pre-plan my kids' education for the long term. If I had, I would have had to throw them out b/c none of my older kids has done anything like I would have predicted.

 

I let each child "unfold" and "reveal" himeself/herself yr to yr. When I plan the next yr, I make sure that I am pressing forward appropriately for that individual. (For example, I would never have planned on my "not reading solidly until 4th grade" ds studing 2 foreign languages on top of classical lit---those are his choices. Nor would I have chosen Where the Brook and River Meet at any pt ever for my dd. It has been amazing to watch her blossom in her love of linguistics.....now she wants more and more poetry and Shakespeare as a 7th grader. These things cannot be planned, but thrive when allowed to evolve through the student.)

 

When they are in high school, we have very vague generalities about what minimum subjects must be accomplished, but even the what/when (amg the non-sequential courses) works itself out yr by yr.

[MinivanMom]

I do a combination of planning from where they are and keeping an eye on the future. It's good to have a vision of the final goal (or possible goal) to give you direction and keep you on track, but you have to be flexible enough to respond to your child's current needs and interests (and the possibility that these may change radically).

 

I do have an idea of what I'd like my kids to study each year of high school in the basics, just based on the assumption that they will be following a college-prep track. I have an idea in the back of my mind of what I want them to study in middle school, so that they'll be ready for a rigorous, college-prep high school curriculum. What we study today needs to prepare us for that, but it also needs to be at the right level of challenge for where they are now. It's sort of a balance.

 

If I was planning on transitioning my kids to a new, *ideal* situation then I would definitely take that into consideration in my planning. Whether or not it would actually change my plans today would depend on the specifics of the changes needed and how that would impact our homeschooling.

[SebastianCat]

My kids are in 4th & 2nd grades this year. I have a general plan for the next 3-4 years, which takes my oldest through middle school. After that, we aren't sure if we'll (1) homeschool for high school; (2) homeschool with dual enrollment (college credit) during high school; or (3) send the kids to public school for high school.

 

We have homeschooled each child since kindergarten, and I'm happy with the way it's gone, and am happy with the plans we have. I start planning in detail about a year in advance, try to pre-read all of my literature/history/Read Alouds/Readers that year, and do a mid-year evaluation to analyze what's working, what needs to be changed or added, and how we could be more disciplined. So by the time we finish our school year in May, I have a good, very specific plan, to start with in August.

[go_go_gadget]

Mine are young enough that I'm not compiling list of potential curricula more than a couple of years in advance, because their needs are necessarily predictable yet and most of the curricula we're currently using weren't available five years ago, so it seems very possible that the curricula we'll be using in five years haven't been published yet, either. I do plan to homeschool until at least their junior years of high school, and then the plan at the moment is that they're do an IB program at a public school. That way they'll get the cultural experience of proms, teams, clubs, graduation, etc. during the part of public education that seems to be generally less fraught than the previous grades, and will still be stimulated intellectually. I actually have a whole post about that plan here.

[...................]

I just plan to follow a typical scope and sequence for high school so really it's not hard to stay on track. I think math and writing are the most important subjects to lead up to, and the rest I'm not too concerned with.

 

Plus you never know where God will lead dc. I can't imagine trying to formulate their high school careers ahead of time. That's just not realistic.

[Mandy in TN]

Consider that you found an ideal* education situation that started in X grade. Would you change your plans for the years <X or would you keep the same plans you have?

Did you find something fabulous? :D

 

Mandy

[JudoMom]

I would do what I could to prepare my kids for X in the <X years. Of course, for X to be ideal, it would have to fit my overall philosophy anyway, so there wouldn't be much changing in the <X years :D.

[Karen in CO]

I would do what I could to prepare my kids for X in the <X years. Of course, for X to be ideal, it would have to fit my overall philosophy anyway, so there wouldn't be much changing in the <X years :D.

 

Okay - so you found the obvious answer. :lol:

[JudoMom]

Okay - so you found the obvious answer. :lol:

 

:gnorsi: At your service!

 

I do have a rough draft in my head of where we are generally heading. And I've worked backwards and forwards. I'm currently just spinning in circles and panicking, though :willy_nilly:.

[Karen in CO]

Did you find something fabulous? :D

 

Mandy

 

We see lots of posts that start with people wondering what they should change to get their kids ready for school in the next year or ready for public high school or ready for something. I typically mentally reply to these that I wouldn't change anything to get a kid ready, but wanted to see if I was the only one that thought that way.

 

I did also put my older dd on a waiting list for a lottery spot at a terrific classical charter school. Looking at what I'm doing with the girls, I can't picture changing what I'm doing to get them ready. I was wondering if others would.

[Karen in CO]

:gnorsi: At your service!

 

I do have a rough draft in my head of where we are generally heading. And I've worked backwards and forwards. I'm currently just spinning in circles and panicking, though :willy_nilly:.

Working backwards and forwards is good.

 

Don't Panic!

 

I do both too. When the kids were younger, I had a grand plan about how I would coordinate them and even mapped out what I'd use all the way through high school including a reading list:lol: Then I started teaching them and learned how silly I was. Now I keep a general eye in each direction. I'm confident that I can get the kids from here to graduation and ready for college if they want to go, but I panic on things like borrowing, r-controlled vowels, and what Latin pronunciation to use if I can ever find time in a day to teach Latin.

[Karen in CO]

No, I don't pre-plan my kids' education for the long term. If I had, I would have had to throw them out b/c none of my older kids has done anything like I would have predicted.

...

 

My path with my oldest was very different from what I had imagined too. I could have never predicted the path he took, but it was the right path for him.

[Guest]

I tried to once. i had a beautiful file with all 13 years of school mapped out by subject. Guess where that ended up? Right now, I have a rough plan for Grammar Stage for my younger crowd. The jury is still out for later. I think it is hard to long term plan because you really do not know what your child will be like, what his needs may be, where you will be at the time in your life, etc. that far in advance. I know with my olders, I thought we would be so far along but turns out that wasn't best for them. I am going one curriculum set of books to the next with them. The only subjects I know are iron clad are Math (CLE Rocks!) and writing (WWE/WWE). Outside of that...no idea. That makes it fun and an adventure each year.

[LMD]

I like to have a general idea - having a, however vague, big picture keeps me focussed. Plus there's some great looking highschool stuff - it's fun to imagine!

[stm4him]

I love to plan long term and am always thinking long term. I know that by 7th grade (not necessarily 12 but whenever they are ready for 7th grade level work) I want them ready to do Challenge and Omnibus. I know that people say that is nuts and don't know how that would work, but that is my goal. So, that being said, I have to plan how to get them there.

 

So I have a PreK-6 plan of curricula I like and am hoping they will use. I am also always tweaking as new things come out or we find we don't need something or we find we need more of something. And this plan is relatively new this year so this all assumes that I stick to the path we're on. That being said, I have a 4 year old that is following my plan perfectly :-) And I have a 9 year old and 7 year old that are "behind" my plan and catching up. I have a 9 year old who is really a 7 year old developmentally/academically and a 7 year old who I am forcing to go through the motion of first grade to lay a solid foundation even though intellectually he could handle more. By the time we get to Challenge my older two might be in the same class, and if that is how the Lord works it out that's ok. I think through the pieces of this plan daily b/c it is fun for me to think through the details of a plan, but ultimately I know the pieces will fall into place as the Lord wills for our family and our homeschool. I do the best I can and leave the rest to Him. I have no doubt He will prepare them for the work He has for them, despite my best laid plans.

 

stm4him

[SorrelZG]

I was trying to at one point but it wasn't working out. Too many variables in the present. I still have certain fundamental things guiding my direction but not "This is where we want to be at this specific time/grade/whatever," anymore and I'm holding a little more loosely to specific future curricula plans. Also, this relates only to core (to me) matters. I'm wide open for everything else.

[MeganW]

I have an Excel spreadsheet with subjects down the side and grades across the top, and I try to add curricula that gets mentioned frequently (like MCT) so I don't forget about it. It's really only fleshed out for the next 3-4 years though.

 

I have it more to put comments about things like the age to start cursive & what needs to be done first, notes about how far to get in OPGTR before starting spelling, etc. 6th grade has some sort of comment about really making sure all math basics are solidified. All sorts of knowledge picked up from people here who have been there done that, so I don't forget later! :)

[*Lulu*]

I sat down when DS#1 was 4 years old and created a scope and sequence for pre-k through grade 12. :blushing: *raises hand and admits to being a planning freak*

 

I have made some adjustments through the years, as I have moved more subjects into a five year spiral to match my history spiral, but the overall goals have remained the same. It is one of my vision documents, and when I begin to plan for a new year it is where I go first.

[coffeegal]

No, I don't pre-plan my kids' education for the long term. If I had, I would have had to throw them out b/c none of my older kids has done anything like I would have predicted.

.

 

:lol: While I do have an 'ideal/planned schedule' laid out for my dc through highschool (it's the same for each child), I've thrown out or adapted those plans many times. It's simply there to give me an idea of where we're headed and to ensure we've dotted the i's and crossed the t's for college. :001_smile:

[lailasmum]

My kids are 7 & 3 but I have a vague plan in as much as I know that we'll need to switch away from a classical/TWTM influenced plan at some point in their early teens and work towards some UK exams. I vaguely thought it would be easier to do 3 or so GCSEs a year from about 13 to 16 rather than do them all in a big whammy at 16. I think they'll be well prepared though if we continue on the classical home educating plan but will have to learn how to pass GCSEs and make sure we've got the content covered.