Natural Learning: Part 3

We left off last time (see earlier post here) with the observation that topical learning is cross-curricular. One subject can be examined and researched and categorized under several “school subjects”.

This idea reminds me of all the great looking unit studies I’ve seen in the past and wondered when on earth these families had time to add in unit studies to their school day! It’s a no-brainer for me now. These unit studies took the place of all the school subjects 🙂 They aren’t done “in addition to”. There are so many great resources online that have already been put together for you on so many different topics!  If your child is interested in popcorn, bikes, book making, or black holes, just search for it, and you should find a unit for it! ( For example: I just Googled bike unit study and there were several that popped up.)

There is so so soooo much more that I’ve read about and learned that I could share, but this series will get way out of hand. So here’s where the rubber meets the road. Now that I have this new found knowledge about natural learning, what will I do with it? I have done a LOT of thinking, praying, and discussing with some of my homeschool friends, my husband, and our children and we’ve come up with some ideas. It’s a tweakable and loose plan, but it’s a plan nonetheless.

I WiLL say that I am very much afraid to post this plan here since I am almost 100% sure it will be changed before the year is over (maybe before the day is over!) However, I’ll give you an idea of what we want to do.

First of all I want to try an idea that I got from Chelli over at THE PLANTED TREES. It’s similar to block scheduling for History, Geography, Science, and Interest-Led time. We will rotate these subjects like this….

Rotation Plan

Week 1: History

Week 2: Geography

Week 3: Science

Week 4: Interest-Led

(REPEAT)

We will study each of these subjects together for a week at a time, and I will find books and ideas for each child to explore on his/her own level. The last week will be a very free week for them to explore and learn about whatever they wish to know. I was thinking that unit studies just might help them on these Interest-Led weeks. We will cut out other subjects during the Interest-Led weeks and see how it goes.

When I talked with the kids about going all out with interest-led learning, they were a little concerned that they wouldn’t know what to study. I think that giving them some ideas and topics to study for a few weeks, and then giving them a break to dig on their own will work best for us right now.

On the other weeks, we will still continue our math curriculum and grammar/writing lessons on each child’s level simply because it works for us and I feel that the structure is needed. We will also have other things to explore every week, just not every subject every day.

I think this may be getting confusing if you aren’t in my head…..anyway, our weekly schedule will look something like this:

Individual Subjects In the Morning

1. Math
2. Grammar or Writing
3. Foreign Language

Family Work and Once a Week Subjects

1. Bible Reading (Daily)
2. Memory Work (Daily)
3. Literature (Daily)
4. History, Science, or Geography (Rotation)
5. Poetry (Monday)
6. Picture Study (Tuesday)
7. Habits(Wednesday)
8. Hymn Study (Thursday)
9. Nature Study (Friday)

Another change I’m making is that I know what resources I will use to explore these topics, but I am not going to plan it out by page numbers or weeks or days with check boxes. I am very much aware that this hinders me. I tend to stop allowing them to learn and worry about the check boxes and the timer that is set when I over plan. This year we will go at our own pace and learn as much as we want to learn each day about whatever interests us.

We may begin the year this way and then decide to just have math, grammar, and Interest-led everything else. I know that my children learn best when they are interested, but this is something so drastically different from what we are all used to that it’s going to take some adjustment time and experimenting.

I hope this has been helpful in some kind of way to someone else! If you have questions, I’m here! I will post updates throughout the year when we get this plan in motion.