Plan B: Begin homeschooling mornings twice a week, and continue to attend our wonderful Family Childcare Program to supplement our work schedule
As a beginning, we will start with just a basic schedule that allows for one-on-one time and some exploration of new interest. This will give me a feel for how Jason truly learns best, and what interest we want to focus on. Our goal is to support his learning in the most optimal setting, and to create a foundation for learning that last a lifetime.
What will our schedule look like?
That's still to be determined. I would like to see a morning schedule from 9 - 12pm, twice a week. One day we will focus on specific learning skill-building exercises and the other day will be outings, errands, and experiences that include practical hands-on application. For instance, As we cut coupons, and make a grocery list, we will talk about budgets and take a shopping trip to the store, to match our coupons to the items on the shelf. Come home, store our groceries, plan our menus, and prepare our meals. All of those are learning experiences, that deal with math, counting, sorting, classification, and understanding volume. I haven't seen that experience in the classroom, have you.
I can't help but think about how families existed before organized schools and systems. How lessons were taught, character, integrity. All of those lessons were taught in the home, and that's what homeschooling for me is really all about.
When I create the homeshcooling space, I want it to be uncluttered, and clearly labeled, so that Jason can begin to take ownership of his learning environment. I can see a year from now, him being able to go in and get started on his lessons on his own, as I accliment Jeremiah to his homeschool schedule in the next two years. So this first year September 2011 - May 2012, we will set the environment, identifying learning styles, and interest and then build the foundation for next year. September 2012 - May 2013 will be a little more structured, move into a 5 day a week plan and create a full year of experience for Jason by himself. September 2013 - May 2014 will be Jeremiah's launching year, starting with two day's a week like Jason did, and then moving into a full year plan.
The other element that we want to add this year, is identifying two families with children around the same age, to join us in our journey. Launching slowly, and then developing our full program by next year.
So this month, is research month, planning and organizing our work and schedules. Getting a feel for what our daily life will evolve into, and how to keep everything on a consistent basis. Next step, decluttering our spaces so we can actually get it all done.
Happy Homeshcooling!
