Category: Curriculum Planning

Homeschooling Expectations

Expectations. We all have them. We have them for our marriage, our homemaking, parenting and our homeschooling. Unmet expectations will make us think we haven’t done too well throughout the year. Uncommunicated expectations will make us set unrealistic goals for next year. Expectations – be false, met or unmet – will have a bit impact on how we assess our success for 2012 and how we plan for success in 2013. We need to acknowledge our expectations to ourselves, discuss them with our spouse, pray over them, tweak them, and set goals toward meeting real honest true expectations – this way, our hopes and dreams may well show fruit in season. Continue reading

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The Australian National Curriculum in a Home Education Environment

If you are an Aussie and a homeschooler, then you will want to check out what our talented partner, Homeschooling Down Under, is doing for you! Aussie curriculum within the Australian National Curriculum! The Australian Curriculum to be phased in by 2013 is available online and Michelle has spent time reading through the documents in an effort to understand how it can work for Australian home educators. Only four subjects are currently available; English, Math, Science and History—the geography curriculum is only in a draft phase but is still helpful for planning. For those homeschoolers who do plan on following the...

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Sonlight: Literature Based Curriculum for K-12

Sonlight is a literature-based homeschool curriculum provider. Families around the world enjoy the literature-rich, internationally-focused curriculum. The goal of Sonlight curriculum is to empower parents to nurture enthusiastic, life-long learners who are motivated and equipped to follow Christ wherever He leads and in whatever He calls them to do. The curriculum has an Evangelical Christian perspective. Sonlight offers complete curriculum in all subjects for Preschool through 12th grade. Their specialty is the Core Programs, which are literature-based packages that weave together History, Geography, Bible and Literature. All your lesson plans are done! Discover Sonlight’s complete homeschool curriculum packages. But...

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In Search of the Perfect Curriculum

By Diana Waring Premise: If the right curriculum can be found, it will perform the magic – the abra-cadabra – to transform a student from ignorant to educated all by itself. As an experienced homeschool mom, speaker and curriculum writer, I’ve noticed that many believe this and seek earnestly for the genie, or the wand, or the catalog. And, lest you think I’m loftily looking down my nose, let me add that I was one of them. In the early days of homeschooling, I was convinced that there truly existed a perfect curriculum, and spent years on a quest,...

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Curriculum Planning: Identity Directed Education within a Biblical framework

I was asked to outline how I plan the curriculum for each child, considering that we use an Identity Directed approach within a Biblical framework. This was originally written for my blog, so if you want further information feel free to pop over there . The 4 P’s When planning the curriculum for each child, I have learned that the best way for me is [what I call] the 4 P’s: to pray, to ponder, peruse and plan. I tend to do that same thing each year- so why does the appearance of what we do always change? Because...

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National Curriculum for Australia

A National Curriculum for Australia © Beverley Paine, 27 Nov 07 A media statement issued by Kevin Rudd and Stephen Smith on the 28th February 2007 outlined the newly elected government’s plans to set up a National Curriculum Board with the aim of developing a “rigorous, consistent and quality curriculum for all Australian students – from kindergarten to year 12” within three years. A National Curriculum has long been sought largely to eliminate the problems that arise when students move between states. According to the statement “the National Curriculum Board will bring together Australia’s best and brightest educationalists to ensure the best aspects of State and Territory curricula are available to all our children.” It would be wonderful to see some input from home educators, but I suspect that this education sector will be overlooked. In reality, a National Curriculum is yet another move towards eliminating the sovereignty of the States. Nationalisation is probably an inevitable outcome of Federalism, it’s just taking a century or so to completely weasel the authority away from the States… In the 1990s a National Curriculum was vociferously rejected, principally in the first instance by universities, and then by private schools and most senior high school staff. It was implemented fully in only one state (SA) and then abandoned. I can hear SA teachers groaning at the thought of learning yet another new curriculum...

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Recording with Natural Learning

The Value of Recording a Learning Naturally Approach to Home Education © Beverley Paine "Natural Learning sounds considerably more involved than the average curriculum and might be difficult for many parents to do well. " Sharon   Which is why most of us begin with the average or traditional curriculum and move to more learning naturally methods as time passes and we gain confidence and experience. I get worried I am neglecting my children's education from time to time with our approach, but I as I record our daily activities it's easy to see how filled with learning they are. As I record I convert our daily activities into educational jargon – this trick especially reassures me. If I couldn't see that playing postman and dress-ups was essentially covering language learning, social studies, personal development, drama I'd feel very insecure about our 'play curriculum'. Likewise with Lego – I've learned to recognise the traditional curriculum in everyday Lego play (classifying, sorting, patterns, symmetry, levers, pulleys, planning, design – all elements of the mathematics and technology curriculum learning areas). It is by doing this consistently over many years that I was able to see how closely our non-curriculum followed the school curriculum, which led me to believe that the school curriculum is based on a child's natural developmental progress as well as society's requirements (employment training based aspect of all...

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