Wednesday 3 August 2011

To plan or not to plan?? (do I want to live by a schedule or not)

This is something I really struggle with, (and I know some other home educators do too). I want to have a schedule so that we get some work done, but I love the feeling of freedom aswell :)

As N has a passion for knowing exactly what we are doing each day, it would seem a schedule would be a sensible way to go. I know some HE families who very sucessfully say 'school stuff' between 10.30 and 12.30 and play for the rest of the day. You know where you stand and you have that time set aside each day.

I just don't know how I feel about differentiating between learning and having fun, I like it all being mixed up together. Then every now and then (as we home edders do from time to time) I have a panic of ahhhhhh, we need to finish this project before we forget what we were doing in the first place!

3 comments:

  1. We have been home-ed for only 2 years but in this time we have gone through so many different methods with the typical panics in between. Am considering a change of plan as we speak which means subconsciously I could well be panicking arrghhh!

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  2. It's a difficult one. I've tried the 'schedule' approach, only to bin it within a week because I was so stressed trying to keep to the bloomin' thing! (tbh I spent more time writing the schedule than doing any of the things on it).

    Perhaps if N needs to know what is going to happen, you could compromise and have a very basic schedule on the wall, just with key events and activities that you know are definitely going to happen. (E.g. regular groups you go to). And perhaps a list of outings you are planning (N could tick them off as you do them) and some basic plans for any ongoing projects you might be doing. If you used a whiteboard it wont feel so permanent, giving you flexibility to change plans if needed :)

    We fluctuate between HE methods, but mostly have an eclectic mix somewhere in between all of them. And the occasional panic!

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  3. We have a rhythm to our week but not a schedule. We know that Monday is going to be a blah 'get on with it yourself' day because I will be busy with work, Tuesday is this, Wednesday we do that, Thursday we can this or that and Friday we do the Friday thing.

    The week goes by far too quickly even looking at it like that! I like to think that there is nothing we do that we can't change for something else if we feel like it but that we have enough gaps s that we can take advantage of a short-notice invitation or a sunny day.

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