Effective homeschool planning is going to look different for every family. Some prefer everything laid out ahead of time so you know your next step, others are more fly by the seat of your pants types. Either way, it helps to have a general idea of what you want your kids to learn through the year.
This post contains affiliate links, see my disclosure policy for more information.
Effective Homeschool Planning
Homeschooling also allows you and your child to learn together, creating a valuable learning experience.
One important aspect of homeschooling your children is coming up with a clear plan and set of goals for the year. What your goals are could be completely different than anyone else’s. Maybe this year is the year you all learn more about gardening and you incorporate gardening into all of your subjects.
Think about why you want to homeschool your children, and what you want them to get out of the experience.
What, generally, do you want your child’s education to encompass? Once you know, begin to split your child’s education into various subject areas.
- learn how seeds germinate & compost breaks down for science
- keep a timeline of your planting and germination time for math
- what seeds grow better in different parts of your province or state, and then in different parts of your country for geography
- learn how families used to garden 100 years ago, the tools they used, the foods they grew for history
Creating a Plan
Not everyone wants to be so open-ended with their lesson plan or wants to learn about only one subject all year. Maybe you want to stick a little more to the typical learning structure you are used to and that is perfectly fine. And honestly, a great way to get started on your journey.
How to get started:
Look at Provincial or State Standards
A good place to start in terms of a timeline would be to look at the standard curriculum for your child’s grade in a public school.
While one of the reasons you’ve selected to homeschool your child is to go beyond and outside this standard curriculum, this gives you a great jumping-off point.
Come up with your plan by looking at the standard expectations for a given subject level and then working backward:
- how do you want to achieve that level of knowledge?
- What are the targets for each week?
By setting these targets you can establish a timeline and curriculum that allows for effective homeschooling.
How Much Flexibility You Want
One of the points of homeschooling is its flexibility, and you by no means need to stick to a plan in a completely rigid manner, but don’t let this tempt you into avoiding one: although it may seem wonderful to have an entirely “organic” education for your children, this can easily go awry.
Make a clear educational plan that allows for flexibility. Plan what you feel they need to know but leave room for what they want to learn about. Ask them what is interesting to them. Create a unit study around it, or include it in your other subjects.
As you begin the process of homeschooling you’ll learn how your child learns best and can begin to incorporate this into the lessons.
Pick A Curriculum for Effective Homeschool Planning
Choosing a secular homeschool curriculum can be daunting. There are so many to choose from and it can be tough to determine which one is right for you and your family.
Look for ones that are a little more structured if you are overwhelmed by everything. They make it easy by having everything laid out for you.
Head to this post to learn more: Choosing a Curriculum.
Not Planning at All – Relaxed Homeschooling
Hear me out. What would happen if, instead of planning each month, week, or day of your homeschool you don’t? Instead, you grab that math book, and you work through it each day. A little more at a time, whether it’s doing it for 30 minutes or completing X amount of pages.
And then once the math is finished for the day you move on to reading. Similar to block scheduling.
This is a much more relaxed method of homeschooling. You don’t have to stress that you didn’t get to everything written down in your planner.
This can be stressful for some so I’m not telling you to do it. But it might be something that works for your family.