Time Mangement Tip 26: How To Create A Homeschooling Plan That Encourages Independent Learning

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Our family homeschooling goal is to raise independent learners.

When the children were little, I spent 3 to 4 hours a day, teaching them to read and write.

Now that all three children are successful at both those skills, homeschooling takes up 1 to 2 hours of my day.

A lot of our success of being “hands off” homeschoolers is in the planning. Each summer I spend approximately 20 hours planning out the following year.

During planning I :

1. Create a written daily plan for each child:

This includes when the school day starts, when breaks are, how long each subject should take, what to do in each subject, and what to bring to parents for marking.

2. Research curriculum

I want curriculum that works with the child’s learning style, and is user friendly.

3. Seek out audio and visual additions

We use textbooks that come with an audio book version and have our children listen along as they read. Not only does this help their comprehension but it frees up my time as I no longer have to help them with words they don’t know how to pronounce. Two audio sources our family loves is the CD versions of Mystery of History, and Exploring Creation (upper grades only).

4. Seek out virtual flash cards and workbooks

I love apple apps. for i-touch that replace the need for route flash cards in math and other memorization areas such as state recognition.

Our family also uses Spelling City to give spelling tests, Critical Thinking Co. software instead of grammar workbooks and Teaching Textbooks instead of math books. All of these programs do the marking for me.