Take the lists from step 2 and break it down, break, break, break, break it down yall. What will you use to teach each area? Will you teach or will you allow your child to explore? Will you be very formal about some or all of the areas? Will you be very relaxed about all or some of the areas? Do you have a ton of money to spend on supplies or not? Think outside the box. I know way too overused phrase but until there is a fresh way to say it I`m saying it.
Think about these things per subject and per child:
Must we teach all of this this year? What can wait until next year? With this question start a homeschool goals sheet that outlines your goals for each child. Keep this in a safe place and don`t lose it. You will want to refer to this in the coming years. Of course it may change but it is important not to forget these ideas.
For the areas we will be pursuing this year, will we purchase supplies or create our own program? How will we teach these areas? Think outside of what you are used to or what you think is accepted. There are so many ways to teach things. You don`t have to use a text book or a workbook, you may not even need a book at all. What about videos? Online games and courses? What about the tons of free resources you can find on the internet? Check out FreelyEducate.com for a great selection or Google something like Free educational resources, free homeschool lessons, etc. Sonlight.com is a wonderful resource. You dont have to purchase from them, just look over what they are offering. I trust that their choices are usually a homerun. Usually, not always.
Think about margin. You definitely don`t want to over do it. You may be excited about all of the exciting things you can do but it would be best to under do it. If you have extra time on your hands you can always add things. Who says we have to study each subject all year? We started diagramming sentences just about a month ago. It is something we will continue with, but if I had waited until next year to start I might have forgotten about it.
Make a course list per child. You just figured this all out, now make it neat. Very simple. List the courses and the materials you will use to teach them. This is a very important list. Keep it safe refer to it often throughout the year. You may want to write very short notes about why each subject is important to you under each subject heading. For example under spelling you could write, Can`t spell worth a dern, this really bugs me. BG. When putting together your portfolio you can use this as a guideline.
