Wednesday, February 22, 2012

Planning from the first year through graduation

Here's my recommendation for planning your child's/children's curriculum from your first year of homeschool through their high school graduation. 

Don't. 
 
I base that recommendation on personal experience.  When I had 5 kids, had been homeschooling for a few years and my oldest 2 were in school at home, I decided to make a matrix for what curriculum they would use each year through high school.   I did it again when I had 3 or 4 of my kids in school.  I was using Sonlight curriculum so I was trying to decide how to group the kids and use just 2 cores each year. 

Well, I kept having more kids which would change my plan.  I finally realized it's best to plan each year and then reassess.  I still make loose plans for the kids.  I make high school plans for the entire 4 years but I use pencil and change the plans as necessary.  My plans are more of a guide than a requirement and it's more helpful to me that way.

Here are some other things that can alter plans for your school years......even for the current year:
*An illness in the family requiring unexpected time away from school.
*Pregnancy or childbirth.
*Moving from one house to another.  We did that one year in February after deciding to move in December.  I took one week to get the stuff moved in and organized, and we resumed school the next week.
*Loss of income.
* One of your children either just didn't "get" something and he needs to repeat it the next year or a child totally "gets" something and needs to "skip a grade" the next year. 

I'm sure you get the idea.
 

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