...put *my* schedule aside to do a day of curriculum for *that*." That's what I heard from one of the mom's going on our field trip to the corn maze on Thursday. I asked if her kids were doing the curriculum so that they could use the clues specific to it. I love her, but boy am I glad I don't feel that tied to "school". Honestly, I'm surprised that she's even taking the day to go on a field trip. Girls who are going, are you doing the curriculum? They didn't send me a password, so I can't open it. Think my kids might actually learn something from a field trip?:wink:
I mentioned to one of the mom's at Academy today that if the weather is as nice tomorrow as it was today I was going to take the boys to the Nature Center for the day. The other mom in the room asked if I'd planned it in my lesson plan. I, of course, said no, that I was just going to take them to experience the first nice Fall day and I was sure we could learn a few things while we were there. She was all aghast and said, "How can you just throw out your lesson plan for the day!?" I don't understand the point of homeschooling if you can't sieze every teachable moment because you're so tied to a paper plan.
I can't imagine being so tied to a lesson plan or curriculum. Last summer, my ex-stepmom took dd on a trip across many of the western states. She gave me a list of the places they intended to visit. We spent weeks before she left researching the places she was going to see, learning as much as we could about them. Between my ex-stepmom & I, dd had a binder full of information & educational materials relating to the places they planned to visit. Dd kept 2 journals while on the trip - one where she wrote about what they did & saw each day, and the other she listed 3 things she learned each day. She sent us post cards from the various places & kept some postcards on which she wrote info about her trip. We let her take one of our cameras & she took about 200 pics. After she got back from her trip, we printed some of the photos & used them & the postcards to make a scrapbook of her trip. She included writings from her journal in it, as well. The whole experience was very fun & educational for her. I had no problem putting other things on hold to do all this. It was wonderful for her & what she learned could not have been duplicated solely from books or workbooks. I simply can't imagine having instead said "We can't hold off on these other topics just so she can learn about The Grand Canyon, Mt. Rushmore, Crazy Horse, etc. That would put us behind schedule." One of the things I love most about homeschooling is the flexibility of it. The fact that I can let her go on a 2 week vacation, 2 months into our school year. The fact that we can spend a day learning about the things we'll be seeing on our trip to the museum. The fact that I don't have to stick to someone else's schedule & can do what we want, when we want.
I have a hard time letting go of my schedule, this year it is out the window and I am constantly trying to set one in stone around our mixed mashed days. Ds is more independant study kid than anything this year, I try to be teachermom but end up being encourager and grading lady, which consists of checking his SOS math to send back things, seeing thathe completed WS and DG and Getting enough Astronomy done to make the next Co op class not seem a totaly new thing. Tomorrow for instance we are cramming in Astronomy, doing the one colorado mom wrote plus his home work on Mercury. He already has the answers for the questions he has to answer but I am making him do more to keep it up to his challenge level. Eventually he will get back on his SOS science as well. When I said I would teach the Drama class and help with Math U See class I did not think of what a difference it would make in ds. He is off kilter with out his schedule and now I am lost wihtout my schedule and trying to rebuild one. I totaly can relate to this lady. Sorry, but last couple years of co ops I had the hardest time getting the co op stuff done because i had a full schedule already and just joined for the kids to have friends that homeschooled.
This is one of the reasons I don't do a co-op, but I still deviate from my "schedule" when I see another teaching opportunity. I don't want to have "homework" to teach in addition to what we are already doing, but if I can turn a field trip into a great learning experience, I'm certainly going to. I realize that some of us are scheduled folks, because that works for us. I can't imagine feeling like my whole would be at risk if a missed a day or two of my plan.
I am with you on the missed day or two doesn't have to to ruin the plan thought. But on the other hand too many of those days in the past have made us "do school" well into the summer. That I didn't care for. Balance. There must be balance. Turn a negative trait into a positive one: Too Strict - Well Disiplined (Found in a daily calendar by Gary Smalley for husbands and wives. )
I don't think it's unusual or too rigid for a person to weigh the value that they personally find in a particular field trip or outing against their own lesson plan schedule. I think we often forget that, just because one family's schedule allows for great flexibility doesn't mean another family's schedule does the same. They may have other vacation plans or breaks planned out ahead and so want to stick as closely as they can to a schedule. I know I like to try to have stuff finished by early May so that I can buy curriculum from our book fair and grab discounts. We usually finish earlier than May in many areas, but it gives me a bit of a timeline to keep an eye on. We school all year round so that we can take off for nice days and fun, spontaneous events, but I can understand why some weigh those events against other plans they have, including lessons. What might seem like a totally fun and worthwhile outing to you may not be so great in another's eyes. I also know a few families that are in multiple homeschool groups/co-ops and have kids who are in multiple extracurricular activities. I know their schedules are fairly rigid, but that doesn't mean they aren't still enjoying the homeschool experience. Everyone's homeschool looks different, and I don't think one is necessarily better than another; they function according to what works for that family. Also, it's always good to remember that some kids don't deviate well from the regular plan. I won't do more than a couple of days off at a stretch right now. My kids are horrible to try to get back into the swing of things, and, frankly, it would have to be something of super greatness for me to deal with the fall-out headaches of getting them back on track after more than a couple of days off.
I do think having a general schedule and goals are important. We have found that the homeschool groups here do so many things during the week that I don't know how they ever do homeschool. I tried a co-op and became so far behind with my 1st grader that it wasn't funny. When I dropped out of co-op explaining that we were behind, I felt bombarded with ladies telling me he couldn't be behind b/c we homeschool. I tried to explain that we were getting almost 2 weeks behind our work. I honestly felt that they were pushing me towards not weighing what I felt was important and choosing the co-op. With 4 kids, it is extremely stressful to get off track. We did go to a local corn maze but not with the homeschool group. We went with friends on a Saturday and I didn't have to make the decision of whether or not to choose between school or fun. I have spent the week since I quit co-op battling headaches and stress as I try to get 3 school aged kids back on track to finish by the end of June. So I don't see anything wrong with saying that you can't afford to get off track to go to a field trip.
That's the beauty of homeschooling -you don't HAVE to follow any schedule if you don't want to. Personally we have a loose schedule but "life" happens and sometimes it does interrupt our schoolwork. No big deal -we can always make it up. Coming from the public school -Aug.- June calendar and everything was scheduled and we had no choice and no options I feel like a kid in a candy store sometimes when we're not "doing school" and raking leaves for my elderly parents las we did today. What works for me is to not get hung up on what "school" is - I try (not very successfully) to not use that word - I want to say we learn. Today, my son learned to take direction from his 74 year old grandfather, learned to finish a job even when he didn't want to, learned the value of work because my parents paid him . In my mind that is as beneficial as if we had spent the whole day doing "school" maybe more?
If I would be tied to a curr. then I would never get it all done. I have a plan I use, but I just go with the flow. We took off last week 3 days bc I was so sick that I could not "teach" school. I wish I could get the password for the curr on the corn maze. It would be fun to do tomorrow!
That's what I do. I have a plan...but am very flexible when opportunities come up to learn outside our regular stuff. My plan is basically what needs to be done, but not so much that it has to be done by a certain time/day.
I do use a curriculum and I try to follow it. I am a bit flexible but I still make sure we follow my plan. This now is my plan no one elses. When my kids were younger it was easier to be more flexible but now that they are in junior and senior high I try to stick more to a schedule. I guess that I understand where the lady is coming from. But that is the joy of homeschooling - to do what works for each of us and this works for us.
I'm not sure I should even comment because I'm one of those moms. I'm kinda bummed reading this thinking that other moms think badly of me just because I make different choices than they do. I dont feel I am rigid at all or a slave to a schedule. IMO I would rather go to a corn maze in the evening enjoy all of the exhibits and learn while it is still like and then go through the maze in the dark with a flashlight. (I so miss AZ for that. no corn mazes in AK) Awesome at teaching mapping skills. Same with the Zoo and any Museum. If it can be seen on the weekend I will apt to do it then instead of taking a day off homeschooling durning the week. I know for our family we take all days that daddy has off no matter the day and so we already have quite a few breaks. to each their own.
I can't speak for anyone else, just for myself. I was NOT trying to insult anyone or trying to imply that I think badly of anyone who does things differently. I was simply saying that I can't imagine that for MY FAMILY. If I finally got my family on a strict schedule, and something happened to throw off our schedule, it would be all but impossible to get them back on that schedule. We have a plan for school. We have a schedule for certain things. However, our schedule & plans allow for a lot of freedom. They have to. Life happens. Someone gets sick. We have to take a day off for a funeral. DD has a meltdown and gets nothing done that day. Someone breaks into the garage and I get multiple calls from the police because they can't figure out how to file a report. All of these things interupt our day (and all of them have happened recently). If we had a strict schedule, I would always be playing catch-up & constantly stressed out. As for doing field trips, here's my thoughts: 1) If it's a field trip I've planned, I will take time before the trip to cover info on what we'll be seeing or doing. This is especially true if it's a trip unrelated to something we've been studying, such as a limited time opportunity to see something the kids would really enjoy. 2) I would prefer to do trips to museums & zoos during the weekday. In the evenings & on weekends many places are very crowded. I perfer to go when there are less people there. That way, we can take our time, go at our own pace, and visit the exhibits we wish to see without having 60 people already there in front of us. Also, having 400 unruly, screaming kids running around a rather small, enclosed area is not my idea of a good time. I enjoy museums & zoos when they are less crowded. They're quieter, more fun, and we can truly enjoy ourselves. These are just my views. I don't look down on or think badly of anyone who chooses to do things in a different way. This is what works for my family, and I know that it's not what works for everyone. There's nothing wrong with strict schedules & plans or field trips on evenings & weekends. That just isn't the way I want to do things. I can't imagine trying to keep my family on a strict schedule. It would never work for us. I wouldn't want the stress of constantly worrying about falling behind because we took a day off from our regular work. I have enough going on without adding undue stress to my life by trying to live in a way that doesn't work for us. If anything I said gave anyone the impression that I'm against plans or schedules, I'm sorry. If anything I said gave the impression that I think those who have strict schedules are in some way wrong, I'm sorry. That was not my intent at all. The freedom for each family to conduct their children's eductaion in the way that works best for them, instead of going by what someone else thinks we should be doing, is one of the greatest benefits of homeschooling.
No... I don't think badly of anyone for being structured. We just school very differently, and I can't imagine that amount of structure working for my family! We can't do things like this in the evening, because we have activities every evening except Friday... and this event is a Homeschool event.
