From Cindy Rushton's Desk(TOP!)!

Planning FUN and EASY Lessons...by Cindy Rushton

Planning FUN and EASY Lessons...

By Cindy Rushton

    Lesson Planning…

     Sound dreary, boring, and exceedingly difficult? Did a vision of a school teacher from your past pop into your mind? Or perhaps, did classroom sessions from your childhood pop into your mind?

     Well, homeschooling need not be dreary! Homeschooling certainly does not need to be boring! And…beloved friend, homeschooling can be fun and easy! It all begins with planning! Ready to see how EASY it is to plan fun and easy lessons? Let’s dig in…

• Choose a topic… What do you want to study first? Now, if your brain is getting carried away (and it probably is! J), go ahead and print out our brainstorming planning page. Just list any of those ideas that come to mind—you may find that one of those is the best choice for now or, at minimum, you will have a wonderful list of future studies so your brain can rest now! J  Then, ask your children what they would like to learn. Any good studies? Now, really take this very serious—if they have an area of study that they would like to pursue, this is probably a good time to dig into it while their interest is peeked. (I have lost windows of opportunity by “sticking” to MY plans with intentions to pursue their interests later—later they were no longer interested! UGH!) You may want to move their area of interest to the top of your list and plan out a study on that topic first. Finally, do be sure to think about what would be a good theme for this time—Presidents (during the election/inauguration??)…Lewis and Clark Expedition (during this two hundred year anniversary of their expedition??)…Egypt (during Passover??)…etc. Choose a fun topic! One that excites YOU and just begs for your family to dig in!

• Find resources! Here the whole world opens up to you! REAL curriculum is not limited to a textbook. As a homeschooler, you can use REAL curriculum—real books, real life, and real people! Go back to your theme. What books would make this a great study?  Now, you do not have to BUY books (unless you want to!). Your local library will probably have a wide variety of great books if you will take time to dig!   Use their computers to search for resources on your theme. You may also want to brainstorm ahead of time for a bunch of great options for things to study while covering your theme. For example, we recently studied all about presidents/government/elections during our study on PRESIDENTS AND ELECTIONS.  I brainstormed different topics to look up.  When I went to our local library, I had lots of ideas for topics to look up. I also used this same list to research on the Internet. This was where I hit an unlimited resource of materials! There was anything from printable notebooking pages to coloring pages to games to pictures cute for our lapbooks to games to even full studies. I was elated to find so much great material.  That is not all! After we wrapped up our study, Matthew and I were blessed to get to travel to Washington, DC. It was like having a complete review in REAL LIFE—oh! Yep! Another curriculum resource! And, we also were able to access REAL PEOPLE who were able to share what they knew to make the study great! Easy…fun…and VERY doable studies!

• Decide what you want to cover during your study? Go back through your resources. Choose key points that you want to cover in your study. What do you want your children to learn? Not sure? Why not study your topic like an investigator, asking who, what, where, when, why, and how? If you have a study like our LEWIS AND CLARK study, why not study that topic in order?  Your study may wrap around a single book that you plan to read. You may prefer to brainstorm what to cover by what can help you teach the various subjects. There is NO right or wrong way to plan a study. Just be sure to make a basic plan of what you want to cover in the study so you will have direction and a basic checklist to know that you are studying the topic fully.

• Write down ideas for activities. This is where we always try to include all of the subject areas. Since we study so many different themes, I don’t get upset if a study doesn’t “teach it all.” We have had no problem balancing studies through the years. So, what would you teach? What kinds of activities would be good for developing a study? What about copywork? Are there neat quotes to copy during table time that will coordinate with the study? What about costumes? We have made costumes as part of our study and we have also just let the children dress up in scraps to “play” what we were studying. It worked either way! The children would dress up in their costumes and BEG to hear me read from our books so they could “play” what the characters were doing in the book. What a great way to KNOW what they are taking from the study! Could you encourage your children to dig deeper by making a homemade book or lapbook as you study? What about food from the period? Research what was eaten and try it out! Try an experiment! Turn the children loose with a video camera and let them “act” out what they are studying! Oh…surely you are having ideas pop into your head…write them down!  Don’t forget to write down what you will read and write or any field trips!

• Decide how long to devote to this study.  Ok. Now, go back over your plans so far. How long do you think it will take to fully study this topic? NOTE! You can be wrong! (GRIN!)  Get a basic timeline of how long it will take.  Group your activities under your objectives of what you want to cover. How long will it take to work through your activities and books to cover your objectives? Do you have activities for each objective? If not, brainstorm ideas for covering that objective or mark that objective off.

• Decide on the logical order to cover your study. Are you going to cover the study in chronological order? Is there a sequence that just makes good sense? Do you prefer to have special studies for each day—art on Monday…crafts on Tuesday...etc??  Is it going to require a certain sequence for any research or writing projects? Pencil in a logical order. OH! And do note! This is the time to begin scrapping anything that seems insurmountable! Make it easy! Unless it is easy, it cannot be fun!

• Get ready to dig in! Ready? Want to jump in? Gather all of the resources. Get all of the supplies together for the study. Make any copies you will be needing. Get that plan finalized and together. Got it all? Then, it is time to dig in! Have fun!