How do you write your lessons?

Part of my job as an administrator of a homeschooling program is to talk to families about what really good homeschooling looks like. I often have parents ask me how to make a lesson work for their family and how I get it all done. The quick answer is that it's different every single time I sit down to plan. But there are definite strategies I try to use.

1) How much time will this take? 

It's important to be really realistic. I've over and underplanned so many times! You can get really hopeful and think something will only take 30 minutes and it ends up taking two hours. Or you have grand plans of a lesson being amazing and it's a total dud, taking up five minutes or less. Think through it start to finish and decide how much time you need to do it well, without overdoing it. Add twenty more minutes to your plan, no matter what. It'll give you time to get organized, go down a rabbit hole in the middle or for some extra free time afterwards. 

2) How much is it going to cost me?

We recently tackled a science curriculum that we were both very excited about! It was chock full of lots of experiments and hands-on opportunities to do real scientific investigations. Unfortunately, each of those experiments also had costly parts, chemicals and requirements to complete. While we were able to make some safe substitutes, I also had to eliminate several projects due to cost and time. When you need a tablespoon of ethanol and it only comes in a $20 gallon container that you have no other use for, that might rule out the experiment altogether. This happens sometimes with art and social studies projects too. If a project requires expensive, single-use equipment, I recommend you skip it altogether.

3) Are we going to like it?

This seems like common sense right? Yet, every family I know has tried to put something together that they felt like they had to do, knowing nobody would like it. If you hate mess and the kids don't like surprises, it's perfectly acceptable to read a book on volcanoes rather than make a baking soda and vinegar one. If at least one of you isn't interested, find a different way. Sometimes it's just the wrong fit and it's ok to let it go. 

4) Is it engaging?

Not everything needs to be ponies and rainbows and chocolate cake. But the luxury of homeschooling and the benefit to the kids is that we can try to make every lesson engaging in some way. We can incorporate a video into reading, an interactive simulation after the worksheet or a hands-on project instead of reading altogether. Using the project-based learning strategies in a traditional classroom, you can always ask the kids "How do you want to show me you understand this concept?" Often my son comes up with a more complex, more engaging and more challenging project than I ever could have imagined. 

Using these questions, I'm able to plan out our lessons. Some of our curriculum is from our charter school but often I either find or write my own. Whenever we use standard curriculum, I always go back to #4 and mix it up wherever possible. It's always more interesting for both of us if we can break out of the read and answer questions mode into something more challenging!