Planning Through the Year

This school year I will have two children in highschool!

Planning for my eldest’s first two highschool years has actually revolved around this coming year, as I purposely held back some grade nine and ten science and grades nine and ten math for this moment. Science and math are so much more fun together, and it allowed me to spend almost two years in a history/geography and practical math deep dive. They are subjects my son loves and worked as a bit of a reset after a bumpy year eight and half of year nine. It gave us space to reconnect and enjoy conversations about topics we are both passionate about, whilst creating some much needed distance from that sticky year and a half.

We tend to school year round, with a long break at the start of winter (and many mini breaks through the year) so with the exception of a year here or there where we took summers off, I’m always planning as we go. We still work in blocks, but now we have two blocks each morning instead of one. We continue to spend afternoons on personal projects and the “arts”.

Planning in our home involves a few steps:

First, I sit down and spend some times creating a picture of my children. I look at their physical, emotional and mental abilities and really try and connect with an essence of who they are and the gifts they bring. After this picture I review the developmental phase they are in and look at the topics that would best suit their current phase.

Secondly, I spend a lot of time sitting down with each child and discussing where they want to go next within the realm of grades subjects and personal interests they’d like to focus on. We are always reevaluating, making sure things are working and balancing our energies with the seasons of the year and our lives. They have become wonderfully aware that winters are for the “cosy” subjects and fall and spring for the more active subjects, which helps us to avoid burning out.

It’s a slow approach to education, but it works for us and that is what is most important.

Until next time,
Marina