Is there a "crash course" in syllabus writing?

[~Amanda~]

Not only to help me put my jumbled thoughts and ideas on paper in a linear fashion, but something I can give my "big picture" child at the beginning of the year to refer back to to see the general plan for the year, so she knows what's coming, etc? 

[regentrude]

I don't know what you consider a "syllabus".

At the beginning of each semester, I make a curriculum outline where I list the materials I plan to use for each subject during the year. For my at-home classes, I do not bother regurgitating the TOC of the textbooks - that's in the book. (For my syllabi at work, I make detailed schedules what is covered when, but I found that at home, we are off schedule by the 2nd week, and I see no need to adhere to a strict schedule since I'd rather have my students run with it when they get enthusiastic.)

 

So, my outline for history might contain textbook name, which units we will cover this year, a reading list, a list of TC courses we should listen to.

My outline for math will simply list the text - we will get as far as we'll get.

For science, it would list the text and the lab kit or estimated number of home designed labs, but I will assign problems as we go, because I will only see when we cover the material where my child needs more practice and where less.

 

[Melissa B]

At the beginning of the school year, I give my kids one of these two page spreads for each class. They are from the Donna Young website.  I do not attach dates to it though.  And I don't necessarily have something written in each day, but it does represent what I would like to see done each week. This way they can look over what they need to get done for the year. And each class is split into 36 weeks of instruction.  Some classes will get done early (not usually) and several will go into the summer.  But it helps me stay organized and helps my kids see where they are and where they should be at any given time. Occasionally things are not going as planned and I will rewrite a subject - but it is only a two-page plan and generally not connected to any other subject (though history and lit are usually together,) so not too time consuming or overwhelming to readjust.

[Julie of KY]

I do similarly to regentrude for at home.

 

I list the text. Math - I just say goal is one section per day unless changed by mom.

 

Science/history - list text - goal of one chapter per x days for a rough idea. I list things the student can do independently such as reading, supplemental videos, etc. I list supplemental books to be read sometime in the year, but don't assign them to a schedule. I might list a few problems to be done be the student, but I discuss the chapter and assign more problems as needed for each chapter. I don't try to plan this ahead of time. Labs are scheduled by mom.

 

Lit - I make a list of books without a timeline. Read, discuss, do extras, write - sometimes start the next book. IF moving fast, might give option of doing other educational reading as break from classic lit.

[G5052]

I think that you want a week-by-week plan?  I don't do that for home because we use mostly "canned" programs, and I want the freedom to slow down or speed up.  My older one writes out their own planner for the week with my input, the younger one does it and I check it several times during the week.  We use the one of Rod and Staff that has the days across the top and subjects on the left.  Periodically I step back and look at their planners and where we are and adjust.

 

For the college I work for, there are so many legal requirements now that a lot of the language and format of the syllabus is standardized for fill-in by the professor.  There's a section on how to contact me, textbooks, late policies, etc. etc.  At the very end we have the freedom to do just a rough course outline, or a detailed week-by-week plan.  I do a detailed plan because I've been doing this for 15 years and prefer to have a set plan from day one.  IMHO that is overkill for homeschooling. 

[regentrude]

For the college I work for, there are so many legal requirements now that a lot of the language and format of the syllabus is standardized for fill-in by the professor.  There's a section on how to contact me, textbooks, late policies, etc. etc.  At the very end we have the freedom to do just a rough course outline, or a detailed week-by-week plan.  I do a detailed plan because I've been doing this for 15 years and prefer to have a set plan from day one.  IMHO that is overkill for homeschooling. 

 

This is a very good point and worth expanding upon a bit. When you, OP, look at posted syllabi for college courses, you need to keep in mind that often there are requirements to make the rules and policies absolutely watertight, idiot-proof, and leave no room for legal action. So, we spell out every.single.little.thing so that no student can claim not to have known about a deadline, an assignment, an exam and then sue the school or at least raise a stink compaining.

None of these legalese stuff is even remotely pertinent to your homeschool!

 

Some syllabi are a dozen pages long, because every rule must be in writing, and the bigger the class, the worse it is.

So, when you look for syllabus samples online, please do not think that you need all this in order to be a successful homeschooler!

[Luckymama]

If you look in my signature, there's a link to a syllabus I'm writing for dd's US History using The American Odyssey.

 

For each chapter of the main book I list readings from supplemental texts (primarily the Oxford University Press series "Pages from History" which all contain primary source material) and corresponding documentaries. I' m in the process of adding writing assignments .

 

I have not given the number of days each chapter will/should take. Dd will need to spend five hours a week on history, reading, watching, taking notes, writing. On Friday we will look ahead to the next chunk of work to make sure we have everything ready to go.

 

Someone on the logic board did ask if I had a schedule of days for this, days for that. I did go through my paper copy and marked with a pencil approximately how many days I thought each chapter might take, based on dd's reading speed and the length of the documentaries, rounding up to add in time for writing. I came up with 150-165 days of school which shows me that we have plenty of time for the field trips to Jamestown/Williamsburg/DC/Boston and for dd to slow down in sections whenever she wishes.

[~Amanda~]

I'm not looking for anything overly organized; I need it a little looser so when we fall off getting back on doesn't require a whole replan. Just like the goals for the year maybe a book list what is expected out of each course expectations for the final major paper...

[bobbeym]

Mine list the textbooks we'll be using, grading % and expectations, and assignments broken out by day or week, depending on the course. 

 

The assignment breakdown is partly to help keep DS a little closer to staying on track, partly to make sure DH knows exactly what DS is expected to do each day/week (because he's the one home all day, not me), and partly to balance out writing assignments so I don't overload the poor kid.

[Nscribe]

I second the suggestion to look at the Donna Young site. 

[jpklehm]

Mine list the textbooks we'll be using, grading % and expectations, and assignments broken out by day or week, depending on the course. 

 

The assignment breakdown is partly to help keep DS a little closer to staying on track, partly to make sure DH knows exactly what DS is expected to do each day/week (because he's the one home all day, not me), and partly to balance out writing assignments so I don't overload the poor kid.

 

 

:iagree:

[Kate in Arabia]

The umbrella school we use has credit planning forms that are required for each high school class at the beginning of the school year.  It has individual sections for learning objectives, activities to be done to meet those objectives, resources to be used, and how I will evaluate ds' performance.    At first I was a bit taken aback by it, but now I really appreciate having the opportunity to sit down and really think through the year as a whole.

 

I have a separate Excel file where I break everything down into 36-40 weeks, then I can adjust as we go through, as needed; that way it functions as both a planner before and a diary after the fact.