Evaluating the School Year..... Preparing For the Next
Crystal Miller
As our school year is coming to an end I thought I would share how I evaluate our year and prepare for the next. My hope would be that it would give some advice or information to help you as you make curriculum choices and decisions for your children. As I evaluate the year I look at what worked, what did not, did last years choices meet the needs as I had hoped, did each child make good progress or are there areas of weakness that need to be addressed? Every year I make changes in response to these questions. This year I found some positive things that worked well for me and my children. Studying history and science by researching and writing reports was a great success. But some things did not work well. Using a non-graded program to learn English grammar did not give my older girls enough of the structure they seem to need. So next year I will be going back to some old favorites that will help them have solid foundations in the basics. Next I look to see if each child is getting his or her educational needs met. Some learn best by more hands on or a slower pace than others. One child of mine needs extra help in spelling and handwriting while another needs to brush up on basic math facts. Do my curriculum choices meet each need? Just because I like a particular program does not mean that it is what is best for each child. Before I purchase anything I look the program over, if possible (at curriculum fairs or Christian book stores), trying to evaluate how much of my time it will take to implement it. If it calls for daily lesson plans that are suppose to be administered by mom, then I may think twice. I can’t feasibly give each child in each subject separate lessons! I would be homeschooling all day. However if I was able to combine subjects and grade levels for several children then this may work, for example…report writing (English writing, handwriting practice) and the Revolutionary War (history, reading classics from that time period). When I do this I don’t need separate programs for each of these subjects. I may use a text book to get ideas and follow some sort guide but I don’t actually “use” the text book. For my older children I look for programs that are as self directing as possible. I just check in with them on a weekly basis or they come to me if they have a problem. For my younger children I try and just stick to basics. Reading, math, spelling, handwriting, with as much read aloud time as possible. It is so good for young children to be read to. And then last to consider is that homeschooling is a very important part of my life, but it is not my whole life! When I first started homeschooling I spent hours and hours learning how to teach, looking and using curriculums and figuring out what worked and what did not. As the years went by I became more polished in my role as homeschooling mom and was able to spend less time learning and more time just doing. In the long run I was able to free up more time to pursue other activities in my life. I think it is wise to make sure the curriculum choices are ones that allow school to be “part” of our lives and not take over our lives, and to know that many daily activities provide wonderful educational opportunities. So with these thoughts and goals in mind I will be pouring through catalogs, talking with other homeschooling moms about different programs they use, visiting the curriculum fair that comes each year and visiting the Christian book store to review and prepare for next years schooling! |
