The First Part of Planning: Brainstorming (part 1)

Most homeschooling parents I know have a general idea of each student's educational path for the next few years. Sometimes, this is not much more than a sense that the student will just keep going with the same curricula or series of texts. Sometimes, the more organized among us actually have curricula mapped out all the way through high school.

(Note: I am not one of those people.)

Our process is a little different, since the curricula and materials for any given year depend largely on what comes my way at a reasonable price. Here's how it usually works for me.

By about the middle of the current school year, I'm thinking about what we'll do next. I watch how things are going at the moment, what my student likes and doesn't, what approaches are working and not, etc. Since my student is doing high school, I compare the credits he's already completed against the master list I made a few years ago, checking to see what he still needs to fill out his transcript. And I start making notes. I create a document called something like "Ideas" and save it in the folder for the academic year I'm planning.

I come up with a list of the subjects I want to cover. For example, the original list for 2012 - 2013 included:

Math - algebra II? More problem solving?
History - American, post Civil War
Spanish - II, continue Destinos? Grammar supplement?
Science - chemistry? Need to choose kit, T&K?
English - Need grammar, puctuation review. Dystopian lit?
American Government - Election year, so good time.
Elective - creative writing - NaNoWriMo?
Elective - computer programming, MIT OCW course or other?
Elective - food chemistry, MIT OCW or other?
Art/Music - on-hand and freebies

As you can see, it's all very precise.

Once I have those brief thoughts in place, I start researching.

My first step is usually my own bookcases. I love bookstores -- big chain retailers, small independents, little holes in the wall that sell used books and closeouts. So, over the years, I've accumulated a good number of titles on many, many subjects. I rarely get rid of a book, either, which means I have shelves pretty well stuffed with reference books and bargain table encyclopedias and whatever else I thought "might come in handy some day."

I wander the house, scanning shelves and putting into a big pile any materials I have on hand that have anything at all to do with the subjects I plan to teach the following year. I add those to my ideas document and make mental notes of which subjects need the most attention.

Next, I hit Google. I search for " 'high school' syllabus " and the subject in which I'm interested. I read over anything I find, taking more notes about the subjects covered, materials used, assignments and grading rubrics and all of that good stuff. Anything especially interesting I save into a separate document.

For example, in researching before planning our American history course, I found a syllabus that listed a Glencoe textbook and the following units of study for the year:

• United States Geography
• Creating a Nation (1754-1816)
• The Young Republic (1789-1850
• The Crisis of the Union (1848-1877)
• The Birth of Modern America (1865-1900)
• Imperialism, Progressivism and WWI (1890-1919)
• Boom and Bust (1920-1941)
• Global Struggles (1931-1960)
• A Time of Upheaval (1954-1980)
• A Changing Society (1968-present)

I checked to see what I already had on hand, which didn't amount to much. I had a few reference books that mentioned specific events and a copy of Don't Know Much About History: Everything You Need to Know About American History but Were Afraid to Ask, by Kenneth C. Davis. But I remembered seeing on the homeschooling message boards I frequent someone mention a book that used movies to teach American history. Since my son is a big lover of anything viewed on a screen, I thought that might be an interesting option for him.

After searching the boards and poking around on the internet, I found a book called American History on the Screen: Film and Video Resource, written by Wendy O. Wilson and Gerald H. Herman. I put the book on my wishlists on www.bookmooch.com and www.paperbackswap.com and waited a few months.

Meanwhile, I read over the table of contents I could view on www.bn.com and started checking whether the films would be readily available through Netflix or the library. And then I got to thinking of a bunch of other films I thought my son should see, and I started making that list, too. Several of the films on the list are based on books, and I checked our shelves again to see if I hadany of those on hand. I did (The Great Gatby, The Grapes of Wrath), and I added those to the stack of other materials I'd culled from our home library. I scooted back to BookMooch and PaperbackSwap and looked for the other titles I would need. I requested copies of anything already available and put the others on my wish lists.

Since I had started this process months in advance, I now had the luxury of waiting to see what fruit all of my requests would bear. Over the following weeks, I recevied copies of all of the history-related books on my wishlists, with the exception of the film resource book. When it was time to start planning in earnest, at the beginning of the summer, I went ahead and ordered a used copy through Amazon.

During this time, I also perused homeschooling message boards and read any notes I had made for myself to find additional resources. Specifically, what I really wanted for this class was a "spine," an organizing frameork.

More on what I found and how I put it all together (and how much it all cost) in my next post. See you then!