My Annual Planning

So today starts the beginning of my annual planning marathon, and, of course, I am writing about it instead of doing it.  My 16yo son is away at church camp and my 10yo is ensconced in his room with an audiobook and Legos.  In my twelve years of home schooling I have usually followed an annual plan with what I call structured flexibility.  Meaning I make a plan and then am flexible when things go awry as they are apt to do or when we need to slow down for mastery.  I also do not go crazy when I have to tweak the plan for the above reasons.  I have also had years when I didn't make a plan for whatever reason and those always end up being bad years.  I love the first chapter of Genesis because the first thing God teaches us is that there really needs to be a plan.  He created the earth from a plan and took chaos and organized it into a world.  So to with us.  We need to make a plan and take chaos and organize it.  I know many people aren't good at organizing, but when it comes to educating children working with a plan is always better than not working with a plan- at least for me!  Pictures of my chaos to follow - just so you see what real life looks like at my house!

Common Core vs Classical Literature

So Dwane at Visual Latin posted this on his Facebook the other day.  I have spent a good amount of time (in between driving to swim practice) these last couple of weeks reading about Common Core.  And yes, this is going to affect homeschoolers very soon so if you are thinking this has nothing to do with you think again.  As I have been reading, I am so saddened by the deletion of classic literature from the curriculum.  In high school, the reading is 70% non-fiction to 30% fiction.  Some of the recommended readings are EPA reports and White House Executive Orders.  Forget Dick and Jane killing an entire generation of readers.  This will kill all the rest!!  I know I am old fashioned, but some days I long for the time before technology when real entertainment was family reading after the chores were done, and when teachers took time everyday to read aloud to students of all ages a really good story!  Thank heavens for homeschooling where the teacher can still read aloud everyday those very good stories.


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