| Are homeschool lesson plans as necessary as the | | | | or everyone just wanders around playing video games |
| lesson plans that public school teachers use? Lesson | | | | or playing and not accomplishing anything. Usually |
| plans help administrators keep track of what their | | | | homeschoolers work on table work in the morning and |
| teachers are doing. Homeschoolers need some kind of | | | | projects in the afternoon. |
| structure to their day but their plans or checklists have | | | | Just because children are home all day, doesn't mean |
| a different purpose. | | | | they need the television to entertain them. There are |
| Here are some basic facts I have found in regard to | | | | plenty of interesting things that children can do with |
| lesson plans: | | | | their afternoons. Sometimes they just need to get |
| 1. In my years of homeschooling I have found that | | | | used to the idea of entertaining themselves with |
| people that use lesson plans tend to burn out quicker. | | | | interesting projects. It may take a few days, but you |
| Lesson plans take time to write and develop. Then | | | | can train them to find projects to work on if they |
| when you have the plan you feel like you need to | | | | know they will not be allowed to watch TV. |
| complete it. This can cause a lot of stress on the | | | | 3. Once you have a guide or goals written down of |
| family if the children don't cooperate or if | | | | what subject areas you want to cover for the year, |
| circumstances come up that take time away from the | | | | you can start making your checklist of what you want |
| plan. | | | | to accomplish each day. It's basically just a matter of |
| 2. Usually a checklist or guide end up being a better fit | | | | looking at the big picture and dividing that list of goals |
| for most homeschoolers. You can have a general plan | | | | into smaller monthly, weekly and daily nuggets. You |
| of what you want to get done for the day or week | | | | might enjoy making out lesson plans to accomplish |
| and not feel like you are tied to a strict schedule that | | | | your goals or you may decide to switch to a checklist |
| tends to change often. | | | | instead, with a basic structure to your day. |
| Homeschoolers do need a basic structure to their day | | | | |