planning your year when you have a socratic/organic/natural learning approach to education

So, we talked a lot about planning out the school year this episode (Episode 12 of Make Joy Normal podcast). I thought it would be good to include some planning pages for those who would like to print them off, or use them to get ideas to develop their own. I’ll also include photos of the duotang with pages in it, so you know what we were talking about!

I’ve included these pages to print out as a full size 8.5 x 11, but they are JPEG format because that’s all I know how to do on my blog. It was complicated, but, hey. You’re worth it.

I promote a lot of learning that is natural and inductive based, socratic in nature (meaning questioning and discussion based learning), and literature oriented. The question has come up, “how do I work within my districts rules and regulations for planning and reporting while still wanting to use this approach?”

I hope these resources will be helpful, both for those who need to submit plans, and those who don’t. I never was required to submit anything, but it was important for me, in the event of ever being queried about my children’s education, to have a clear paper trail of what we do all day.

I’m working on a resource to help parents know what their children are accomplishing (according to educational ministry recommendations) in their daily walk. Stay tuned on my Facebook page, Homeschoolers, make joy normal.

This outline could be used in the “this year school year” pages, and the “individual children’s plan,” or it can be just written out like the sample document provided here. Some families will be required to fill in a form, but it will include this type of information.

And finally, here are some photos of how I would put the book together, for ease of planning and record keeping in one place. I’ve also put the school requirements in the back, for an easy cross reference. Bear in mind, that if you need to submit a report of your educational plan, these pages can just be photographed and sent. There are even free PDF apps to turn your photos into PDFs for you, if you are required to format them that way. We use the “Tiny Scanner” app.