When I first started homeschooling back in 2004 the first question on my mind was: “What am I supposed to teach her?” I had phrases like “zone of proximal development” from Vigotsky and Piaget’s ideas floating through my mind. I wanted to be sure I challenged her but didn’t push too hard. Making sure to teach her what she was developmentally ready for was top on my list but I didn’t have a list to put that on the top of.
I knew there were complete curricula out there for purchase but I had a desire to create my own materials that were more realistic and less pencil pushing for my kindergartner. Not only that, but I didn’t want to spend hundreds of dollars on workbooks and knew there had to be an alternative to the prepackaged approach. In order to go out on my own, I needed a list of skills my daughter would need to know so she could “pass kindergarten.” Back in 2004 I went directly to teachers in local public schools, I used the glossary from the curricula I had last used at the private school I’d worked at. Then I sat thinking about what I wanted my daughter to know. I tried to think of what made sense for her age level and her personal abilities and sat down with paper and pencil in hand to list various skills I intended to teach for the school year. Dividing them by subject level and then dividing them into 4 quarter segments per subject gave me a list to work from that was workable. I created a spread sheet with the various content standards and 4 boxes to be checked off as I went. I wanted to keep track of what I had introduced, what she was working on with help, when she was getting more proficient with each skill and finally when it was mastered and I could use it to build on or just have checked off as “learned.”
Twelve years later my list has changed for my kids because of experience, increased information, and the differences in my kids. I became free to teach my children outside of prepackaged curricula and had a better control on what to teach my children in an individualized manner.
Remember that while you are teaching your children you may find that certain topics need more prerequisites mastered than you had included in your list. I have found this myself and just step back, insert a few new topics that would make the subject easier to understand and save it to a document on my computer for future use. Having a printed copy of the list with my check off squares keeps me grounded as I make my lesson plans weekly.
Finally – I want to make sure to mention that I’m always researching and talking to other homeschooling parents or teachers about what they are teaching for their school years. I love to look at styles of teaching such as classical and Montessori techniques because the research alone will give me ideas of how to implement several skills on my standards lists. Searching through curriculum catalogs also give me ideas for implementation as well as content matter for each subject.
Remember that there is a plethora of things to learn and we aren’t going to be able to teach our children everything but if we can teach them how to learn and to enjoy learning, then we will have succeeded in teaching them what they MOST need to know.
Lisa Blauvelt (with her family and three dogs, two cats, a horse, pony, donkey, two red eared turtles, a fluctuating number of tadpoles and baby fish, and various other creatures collected by her adventurous boys) puts her education degrees to work at her home in the Deep South. There she teaches not only her own children, but others who come to her home to learn. Her decade long experience in teaching children to read will soon be published as a 476 page guide for parents.
Another Point of View
While researching and making lists is commendable, some parents, especially those who are not trained teachers, may find this an overwhelming task. That is where online learning comes in. With online curriculum, parents can see exactly what skills and concepts their students are being taught. They can see what their children have mastered. The hard work described by this dedicated homeschool mom is done for the parent.
But does online learning take the parent out of the driving seat? Absolutely not! If anything, it gives them more control. They can customize learning to fit their students’ individual needs, interests, and learning styles.
The problem with online learning – TOO MANY CHOICES! There are SO many options out there! What’s a parent to do?! That’s where UDL shines! United Digital Learning offers EIGHT of the best online curriculum programs from one location at a monthly subscription. That means is you try one curriculum and find that it’s not a good fit, you can try another! It’s like test-driving before committing.
At UDL, we understand that students have different needs and homeschool families have different approaches. We’re committed to providing excellent options so families can find the approach that is best for their specific needs.
