I think that it is a common theme, the eternal hunt for the next year’s curriculum, activities, topics… For many families (myself included) there is always a little part of you thinking to the next year in the last weeks of the current. Although, this is our 2nd year of really planning to go full year with a decreased lesson load over the summer. I have found that when we took a full on vacation over the same months the public school does we lost a lot of momentum and were actually rather bored. So we lighten our load to continue with basics and focus even more on the outside and getting active. But, while the kids are running in the sun and splashing in puddles this mommy is trying to plan the next year…

The Homeschool Classroom has some great advice for those of us feeling a little out of our depth in planning the fall with their blog entry Planning for Next School Year HERE. This specific post was written by one of their contributing authors – Kris Bales. You can check out her blog Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers HERE.

She has 3 main points: REFLECT, PLAN and CONSULT.

REFLECT on the current/previous year seems to be one of the most common suggestions, but it bears repeating. You need to consider what worked, what didn’t… did you cover everything you wanted to? I have my master lists for the kids in my post titled Working Out the Basic Structure HERE. A deep breath is required before this post is reread on my part… again these are GUIDELINES!

• Did we cover all points? Not completely but did we do our best!!! YES!
• Are there things that did not work, YES but we found new ways and are looking for others.
• Dis we see progress? A lot!
• Are there things we want to do that didn’t make it in? Oh yes, but that is what lists are for… I keep a list all year as the kids tell me new things they want to do, that way when we do have a spare moment I can squeeze them in or remember them for the following year!

PLAN, well I am a planner and while I don’t like to structure our homeschooling year into a firm curriculum based structure, I do love lists and routine. We added a much more strict one to our schooling this year… with spelling and reading and journal time being firm in the morning. What I did find works best with our elementary school age is planning a month at a time using the guidelines from the beginning off the year as our starting point.

CONSULT… Now Kris Bales suggests talking to the children… she makes an excellent point: “For the most part, it’s their tailored education, not mine, so I try to find way to accomplish what needs to be accomplished in the ways that work best for them.” My favourite ways of teaching may just not work for the kids, so it is VERY important to be tuned in to what they feel works and doesn’t work.

I would suggest talking this one step further and chatting with people (homeschoolers or not) about what they enjoy learning about, what they remember from their childhood. Some of our favourite activities were born out of memories I had of school… there are classic crafts that we may not think of on our own. But this has to be tempered with the knowledge that what works for other families is not always the best for yours. Comparison can be detrimental to your own confidence (one of my friends had a GREAT point when I was worried my homeschool set ups were just too chaotic and cramped as compared to an established homeschool blog’s… photographs are taken to show the best of the best! What is behind that camera? So don’t worry so much!).

What has to come first is the love and enjoyment of learning, the rest follows with a little leg work on mom’s part! Good luck this summer as you plan out your next year! I know I am going to do my best and find some interesting things for us all to learn about together!