Plan to Improvise

In a previous post I encouraged you to “prepare for tomorrow, today.” In other words, I suggested that planning as opposed to “winging it” yields better results. The question I often get asked is, how far into the future and how specific should lessons be planned? A week, two weeks, a month?

Years ago, one of the top-selling publishers of Christian textbooks sold daily lesson plans that accompanied their curriculum. The lesson plans gave the teacher approximately 180 days of directions. This was an “all inclusive” system covering all subjects. The Curriculum Guide, as it was called, orchestrated everything a teacher was to do from when and how long to teach phonics or math, to when the student should be given a snack break.

Was this to be taken literally? It seemed like it. A friend who was a principal of a school not far from Basic Skills told me of a time he went to a training put on by this publisher. He visited a large, “model school” and toured one of the elementary buildings so that he could be shown the curriculum in use, the way the publisher intended. What struck him was that each classroom teacher of the same grade level was presenting the identical lesson within minutes of the teacher next door.

As a home school parent, what if:

• Your child doesn’t get it? Do you go on anyway?
• Your child understands the lesson quicker than expected? Do you do the drill anyway because it’s there?
• You get behind in the lessons due to sickness? Do you double up on the work and extend the school day? School six days a week to get caught up?

You’d probably answer “no” most of the time to the above.

I’ve read that the Apollo space crafts on their way to the moon were off course 97% of the time. They needed to constantly be put back on course. In spite of this, they reached their destinations with pin-point accuracy and timing.

Don’t plan your lessons in terms of specifics too far down the road. Think in a “big picture” sort of way, of where you want to go, what you want to cover, and approximately when you want to get there.

Plan to Improvise!

That’s the tip of the week!
Curt Bumcrot

It’s possible to download templates and “make your own transcript.” However, family generated records may prompt admissions counselors to question the credibility and accuracy of what they are looking at. If you want to sidestep this experience, consider enrolling into New Covenant Christian Academy’s Diploma Program. January is the month we offer our deepest enrollment discount to new and existing families. Click Here to learn how to save $50.00 per student. But you’ll need to act now — This offer expires January 31st and will not be repeated.