HOME
SCHOOL
Homeschool, school calendars,
planners, subjects, and tips for
those who are educating children.
THINGS YOU NEED
LESSON PLANS
SCHEDULES
FORMULATING LESSON PLANS
CURRICULAR GOALS
OTHER GOALS
TIME
LEARNING STYLE
LESSON PLAN FORMAT
HOMESCHOOL LINKS
EHOW
http://www.ehow.com/
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SECTION 1
THINGS
YOU
NEED
THINGS
YOU
NEED
These are but a few
items that you may
need.
Your fund, space,
objectives, child's
age, the number of
students and other
factors will decide
your overall plans.
Library Cards,
Answering Machines,
Personal Organizers,
Internet Access,
Computers,
Homeschool Publications.
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SECTION 2
LESSON
PLANS
LESSON
PLANS
Lesson plans can be intimidating for
a parent-teacher to develop the first
time around.
Here are some simple,
helpful guidelines.
INSTRUCTIONS:
STEP 1:
Start with the end in mind.
List three to five learning objectives
for the lesson and work backward.
For example, you might decide, "At the
end of this lesson on volcanoes, my
child should know how volcanoes are
formed, the different classifications
of volcanoes and how they have affected
and continue to affect the earth."
STEP 2:
Assess your child's prior knowledge
on the subject.
This helps to identify any gaps in
background knowledge you will need
to fill in; plus, it serves as a
starting point for the lesson,
connecting the new with the known.
STEP 3:
Plan lessons across subject areas.
For example, if you map a region in
which a historical novel takes place,
you'll multiply the return on your
lesson plan investment.
STEP 4:
Gather all necessary materials before
you start. Nothing kills interest faster
than stopping an activity halfway through
because you don't have enough empty film
canisters.
STEP 5:
Follow the three Ts of teaching:
Tell them what you're going to teach,
teach it,
tell them what you taught them.
This model maximizes learning
and retention.
STEP 6:
Include a review activity at the end
of each lesson. Be sure to produce
something for your child's portfolio,
even if it's just a snapshot of your
field trip to the crayon factory.
Tips & Warnings:
Take advantage of the flexibility
the homeschool arrangement allows.
If your child develops a keen interest
in some part of the lesson you planned
to cover briefly,
follow your child's lead.
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SECTION 3
SCHEDULES
SCHEDULES
How to Schedule Your Day for Homeschooling.
INSTRUCTIONS:
STEP 1:
Plan your lessons weekly.
That way, if you're way behind,
or ahead in a particular subject
by Wednesday, you can adjust your
schedule for the next couple of
days to stay on track.
STEP 2:
Make a schedule and stick to it.
There's nothing wrong with some
healthy flexibility, but you
should at least start "school"
on time.
STEP 3:
Avoid getting locked into "school hours."
It's surprising how much more you can
accomplish in three hours a day than a
classroom teacher with 28 students can
in six or seven.
STEP 4:
Note that not all "school time" needs
to be "teacher time." You might try
two hours of instruction in the morning
followed by "project time" after lunch.
STEP 5:
Fit school into your life, rather than
working your life around school.
Involve your children in math lessons
related to cost per pound of grocery
items and your science lessons on
photosynthesis while you garden
together.
STEP 6:
Schedule housework into your homeschool
day in such a way that your children
participate and learn some valuable
nonacademic lessons, too.
Tips & Warnings:
Turn on the answering machine
when school starts,
and don't answer the phone
no matter what
until lessons are done.
Preschoolers, more so than babies
or toddlers, offer a tremendous
challenge to a parent trying to
homeschool older children.
They don't nap regularly or long
enough for you to give undivided
attention to lessons for any amount
of time.
If you're serious about teaching,
consider forming a cooperative or
hiring a baby-sitter to occupy your
little ones for a few hours in the
morning
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SECTION 4
FORMULATING
LESSON
PLANS
Things to Consider
When Formulating a
Lesson Plan.
SECTION 4A
CURRICULAR
GOALS
CURRICULAR
GOALS
The curriculum you are following will,
of course, be one of the prime guides
for the content of your lesson plan.
Identify as specifically as you can
what the student(s) will accomplish.
You may find Bloom’s Taxonomy:
which lists verbs that fit with
educational objectives, helpful
for this.
It divides cognitive skills
into 6 areas:
knowledge,
comprehension,
application,
analysis,
synthesis,
evaluation,
and each of these areas has
specific abilities and skills
within it.
You may also consider
cross-curricular
lessons:
lessons that combine goals from
different subject areas into a
single coherent presentation.
You might, for example, create a lesson
that combines language arts and science,
or visual arts with math.
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SECTION 4B
OTHER
GOALS
OTHER
GOALS
When curriculum is presented in a
context, sometimes there are other
skills or items to be learned as
well that are outside of the
curriculum you have chosen to the
present.
It’s still worth noting such
accomplishments.
Suppose, for example, that you are
doing a lesson to teach the shape
of certain letters.
You decide that today you will have
students use a tapestry needle and
yarn to stitch the letters on plastic
canvas.
In this case, one “other goal” might
be that the students learn to thread
a needle.
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SECTION 4C
TIME
TIME
As you progress, you will learn
the cues that help you estimate
how long a lesson may take, and
how to adapt if it’s not going
according to plan.
Keep in mind the student’s
attention span(s) as you
decide on a task.
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SECTION 4D
LEARNING
STYLE
LEARNING
STYLE
The term learning style alerts
us to the fact that people have
different preferred ways in
which they can best interact with
the world and ways of learning.
The student’s preferred learning
style(s) is a factor to take into
account when preparing a lesson
plan.
Providing variety in the daily work
is another item to keep in mind when
creating a homeschool lesson plan.
This can apply to:
Length of time it task
takes to complete,
Means of accomplishment
computer use, paper and
pencil, painting, talking,
pantomiming, etc.
Alone or in a group,
Many steps or few steps
in the procedure,
The kind of thinking
involved.
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SECTION 5
LESSON
PLANS
FORMAT
Here is a homeschool lesson
plan format that you can
use/adapt for your purposes.
Name:
Date:
Subject:
Grade Level(s):
Students:
Summary:
In this activity,
the student/students
will learn.
Goal:
The purpose of this
activity is to:
It meets State
Standards as
follows:
Objectives:
the various component
steps that will lead
to the goal being
achieved.
Materials:
Resources:
references,
including on-line
information, videos,
books, etc.
Procedure:
Evaluation/Assessment:
Vocabulary:
Written by Mary Elizabeth
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SECTION 6
HOMESCHOOL
LINKS
Answers.com
http://www.answers.com/
Applied Language
http://www.appliedlanguage.com/
Connections Academy
http://www.connectionsacademy.com/
Donna Young.org
http://www.donnayoung.org/
ED.GOV
http://www.ed.gov/
Education Bug
http://www.educationbug.org/
EDUCATION WORLD
http://www.education-world.com/
EHOW
http://www.ehow.com/
Enchanted Learning
http://www.enchantedlearning.com/
Engineer Girl
http://www.engineergirl.org/
English-To-Go
http://www.english-to-go.com/
ePals
http://www.epals.com/
Explorica.com
http://www.explorica.com/
Free Translation
http://www.freetranslation.com/
The Global Schoolhouse
http://www.gsh.org/
Global Schoolhouse Net
http://www.globalschoolnet.org/
GLOBE CORNER
http://www.globecorner.com/
Great Achievements
http://www.greatachievements.org/
Homeschooling Adventures on the Web
http://www.homeschoolingadventures.com/
Homeschool Legal Defense Association
http://www.hslda.org/
Homeschool Resource Page
http://www.midnightbeach.com/
The Home School Mom
http://www.thehomeschoolmom.com/
Homeschool World
http://www.home-school.com/
I Love Languages
http://www.ilovelanguages.com/
INFO TODAY
http://www.infotoday.com/
ISMAP.COM
http://www.ismap.com/
Kid Link
http://www.kidlink.org/
Kids' Space
http://www.kids-space.org/
Language Quest
http://www.languagequest.com/
The Lesson Plans Page
http://www.lessonplanspage.com/
Let's Homeschool
http://www.letshomeschool.com/
LEXICOOL
http://www.lexicool.com/
Lonely Planet
http://www.lonelyplanet.com/
Map Quest
http://www.mapquest.com/
MINDSPRING
http://www.mindspring.com/
National Academy of Education
http://www.naeducation.org/
National Academy of Engineering
http://www.nae.edu/
NEW LIFE
http://www.new-life.net/
School Express
http://www.schoolexpress.com/
School World
http://www.schoolworld.asn.au/
Science Daily
http://www.sciencedaily.com/
Soleil
http://www.soleil.com/
TEACHING.COM
http://www.teaching.com/
Time 4 Learning
http://www.time4learning.com/
A VILLAGE SQUARE
http://www.avillagesquare.com/
Virtual Tourist
http://www.virtualtourist.com/
WORLD KIDS
http://www.worldkids.com/
World Language.com
http://www.worldlanguage.com/
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