Organisation Really Helps!

Last year I did not consider the forthcoming year curriculum until the 4th September. I stayed awake until the early hours of the morning planning a rough guideline, so I could face the girls in the morning with some confidence to welcome in the new learning year together. 

This year I planned it at the beginning of August! I reviewed what they had learnt over the past year, wrote their yearly reports and from there gauged the path I wanted to take them down this year. Dad and I also had a long conversation about our end goals for their education, so we can start to roughly plan the next ten years out for them. This gave me clarity in the direction we are guiding them towards. 

I sat at the school room desk and calmly planned and noted, with the full knowledge based on last year, that flexibility and spontaneity remains absolutely pivotal and should be your constant guide. 

This may sound conflicting, but in practice having a plan whilst allowing spontaneity to flow alongside can make for a successful outcome, especially for children with learning difficulties or those on the spectrum. As you follow this blog you’ll see this method play out, with the children and I working as a team. 

This year I aim to build a learning environment where we are all teachers as well as pupils, to build their confidence to believe they have something to offer others. Teaching is not just a question of snowing them under with facts in teacher mode. 

 If I may add a note: Xander has been excluded from the written plan this year as he has to concentrate on his physical and mental recovery from chemotherapy and radiation. However I will be spontaneously teaching him when he feels up to it, for as he showed during the transplant, his love for learning has not waned!

Here I am signing out dear readers, it would be lovely if I have inspired you in any way, but no matter, keep smiling and enjoying your day.

Comments

  1. jhooper12 August 2021 at 23:37

    Can't wait to see what this year holds for you all!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Learning From Your Environment

Image
There is so much potential for learning on car journeys. This time Sophia's attention was caught by seeing electricity pylons and wind turbines and she was avidly asking questions about these. I briefly introduced them to her and offered to set up some follow up science educational YouTube videos at a later date. Good old 'Dr Binocs' came through and the children have been eagerly learning about fossil fuels, renewable energy and electricity. Sophia has started writing down her thoughts and knowledge on electricity in her new science book. It is a great sidestep from their current topic of light, which is being learnt enthusiastically. They have loved their light experiments, as simple as they were, including going into a dark room and shining a torch, seeing how a pencil seems to change when placed in a glass of water, just with a light shining on it. Observing what materials allow light to pass through and which cast shadows, and performing shadow puppet plays on the wall...
Read more

Role playing Is A Serious Business!

Image
The morning period is personally the best time of day for lessons for my girls. They are alert, focused and raring to start lessons, consequently breakfast lessons are an established learning time. I have a captive audience, they are in the kitchen with me anyway learning how to prepare the food, tidy down and set the table. This session can be the best for attention span and concentration out of the entire day, so I have learnt to capitalise on this precious half hour.  This morning we learnt twenty spellings from two word families. They are storming through their word lists, quickly approaching the 200 mark in only a couple of months. I cannot recommend this learning style enough, the girls are retaining their spelling knowledge and are actively using the words in their artwork in their free time. Today they also requested spelling tests to be their handwriting practice, and did further spelling practice on top for another half an hour through choice.  The rest of breakfast ...
Read more

Always be thankful

Image
 It was December 2021 when Miss Jo, The Children's Coach contacted me and offered the girls free places in her January zoom class. This was the tutor who had organised and ran the summer fun project which the girls had been nominated and awarded for bravery. The girls absolutely loved her as a teacher and had immediately bonded with her. They wrote her letters and talked about her every day during this project.  I took her up on this very kind and generous offer and the girls had a regular half an hour zoom class every Thursday on the theme of gratitude. The girls were the youngest ones in the class and they handled it really well.  Sophia wrote the classes on the calender, scheduling in the lessons, for the month. Kira took a postcard written to her by Miss Jo, which she had received the previous year, to bed with her every night until the classes took place. She read it to me as her bedtime story.  The first thing Kira said to Miss Jo on class, was to thank her for...
Read more