And you hate following teacher's guides....

what do you do??

I will plan out 6 weeks of things, get bored around the 3rd week, and switch to something else.

Why can't I be more consistent?!!!:vent:

Should I embrace my fickleness and go with the flow; just have a broad 6 week overview?

TIA!

And you hate following teacher's guides....

what do you do??

one reason i started researching unschooling :)



Should I embrace my fickleness and go with the flow; just have a broad 6 week overview?
TIA!



i do believe you answered your own question :)

Thanks Branwyn.

It seems with teacher's guides I get really, really weird and anal, i.e. we have to complete everything before moving forward, despite my son's lack of interest...

I always thought unschooling as completely unstructured, isn't that terrible?

I have an overall plan in mind but don't plan exactly what to do each day until we get to that day. Even planning a week in advance didn't work for me because I'd have to change the plan several times.

Thanks Branwyn.

It seems with teacher's guides I get really, really weird and anal, i.e. we have to complete everything before moving forward, despite my son's lack of interest...

I always thought unschooling as completely unstructured, isn't that terrible?



not at all, lots of people think unschooling is that way - but unschooling just means child-led. it can be completely unstructured, if thats how you and your children do things best but if its not then thats cool too :)

i got that way with teachers guides/lesson plans as well - they would throw my OCD into overdrive.

Should I embrace my fickleness and go with the flow; just have a broad 6 week overview?

TIA!

YEP! I had a hard time planning ahead more than a day or so... and even then, it's very minimal planning, and usually just in my head. ;) I do have some ideas of what I want to make sure they are 'getting'... and that is what I have used a list of standards for.

I am really going to work on speaking and writing for a while once we get our household goods (just moved to HI) - but I'll use Winter Promise as our base and work what I feel they need to be learning into that. Austin and Nate picked out Sea and Sky from Winter Pomise (gave them quite a few options, that looked the most fun). I plan on incorporating writing into what they are reading and learning about... by using Institute for Excellence in Writing (the author is an unschooling dad of 7). I also plan on having the boys tell me in their own words about what they have read. They so desperately need to express ideas better - they are both seriously lacking.

Curriculum is a guide... you cn use it as a resource to learn what they are ready to learn. By picking out a topic that the child will find interesting it makes it so much easier to work in other 'subjects' like writing, reading, history, etc.

I say embrace your fickleness and go with the flow!

I can't look at those teacher's guides either, lol. They really throw me into a state of anxiety if I feel like we aren't doing everything at their pace. We are pretty laid back hs'ers. I follow my ds's interests for the most part. I might plan a few different activities a couple of days ahead, but no more than that, or else my anxiety about not doing all of the things I had planned kicks in. I have a general idea of what I would like to get accomplished father than those few days, but I don't think up any concrete plans ahead of time.

I never plan more than a week at a time. Sometimes just a day at a time. And I never plan a week before Monday morning lol.

Oh my goodness, everyone, I can't tell you have validating it is to read this thread! I think I was imagining so many of you were all uber-organized-together-sticking-to-a-plan mamas, while I was the only one floundering around trying to reconcile my own style with the curriculum guides.

When I'm in a good place, I'm able to reconcile my "go with the flow" nature with my "big picture" goals for the year. When I'm not in such a good place, I'm either feeling totally lost, or am killing myself trying to stick to some externally imposed structure that just isn't working for us.

Just wish I could bottle up the "good place" mojo, ya know? ;)

Oh my goodness, everyone, I can't tell you have validating it is to read this thread! I think I was imagining so many of you were all uber-organized-together-sticking-to-a-plan mamas, while I was the only one floundering around trying to reconcile my own style with the curriculum guides.

When I'm in a good place, I'm able to reconcile my "go with the flow" nature with my "big picture" goals for the year. When I'm not in such a good place, I'm either feeling totally lost, or am killing myself trying to stick to some externally imposed structure that just isn't working for us.

Just wish I could bottle up the "good place" mojo, ya know? ;)


LOL - We are on our 6th year homeschooling (how can that be?!) and in just the last year I have really been more confident and unappologetic about the way we work our homeschool day and work with our curriculum.

And I hope you never thought I was one of those "uber-organized-together-sticking-to-a-plan mamas" - because OMG, I am soooo far from that.

Oh my goodness, everyone, I can't tell you have validating it is to read this thread! I think I was imagining so many of you were all uber-organized-together-sticking-to-a-plan mamas, while I was the only one floundering around trying to reconcile my own style with the curriculum guides.

When I'm in a good place, I'm able to reconcile my "go with the flow" nature with my "big picture" goals for the year. When I'm not in such a good place, I'm either feeling totally lost, or am killing myself trying to stick to some externally imposed structure that just isn't working for us.

Just wish I could bottle up the "good place" mojo, ya know? ;)

OOOOoooooooooooh, my goodness. DITTO, DITTO, DITTO. ;) :lol:

All I can say is "yeah, that" to all of the above! :)