Planning

As requested, I am posting a little about planning. I’m always planning! It is kind of an on going state of mind for me. However my planning is flexible and evolving, and is based on only the loosest timeframes. Some people plan by setting out a timetable and then slotting things in, maybe jotting down which pages of a book should be studied on which day and so on, weeks in advance. I admire this organised approach but I cannot implement it myself. It would cause me stress! I’d feel obliged to keep up, and the prospect of falling behind would make me feel like a hamster on a wheel. The other thing is that I cannot stop tinkering with plans, and writing them down too far in advance would make them look boring and in need of change.
To start with I need a clear idea of what I think the children should be learning, or want to be learning, in terms of subjects or topics. For some subjects I have a clear structure ahead of me, for example the history of the Prophets, from Adam (as) to Prophet Muhammad (saw), in chronological order. The boys began with Adam (as) in what would be school year 1, and have reached Yunus (as), whose life we need to study next, inshAllah. I have no set timetable to say how much further through the list I will have reached by this time next year. It is more important to me that I cover the life of each Prophet as thoroughly as possible before moving on to the next, than it is to get it learnt by a set time.
As I set about preparing to study each Prophet I need to give myself enough thinking time. While I’m studying one Prophet I am not ready to begin thinking about the next. I need to think about resources, how we will approach the topic, what different angles and lessons there are for this particular piece of history. I like to try to use a different style for the study of each Prophet as I hope this will help to mark out each story, and make it all more memorable. This kind of thinking planning will go on in the back of my head for as long as necessary, until the ideas emerge. This is why deadlines and timetables do not work for me. They would badly hinder the thinking process!
This may all sound a bit vague, but for me it works and is the way I plan Islamic subjects, geography, history and “wider reading” aspects of English. I would like my children to absorb and retain knowledge and for the knowledge to have a meaningful impact on their thought processes. This is more important to me than covering a set quantity of information in a set quantity of time. I find it hard to accept fixed boundaries around information. What is contained in one book, or one unit is never enough, I’m always looking for what may lie just over the horizon. This is why I find it hard to stick to resources devised by someone else. What else is there they haven’t mentioned, I’ll be thinking. Alhamdulillah, Allah has placed limits on our questions over some things, such as the Unseen. This is really a mercy. It is sometimes a relief to be able to know that the road ends here.
Anyway, I’m digressing.
Once I know what is on the topic menu, I need to arrange it into the week. For the boys each full HE day contains six elements. Quran, listening to me read a book aloud, maths, English and two other subjects. The two other subjects are chosen from the range currently being studied and may vary from week to week. Sometimes I will develop habits, such as doing an ICT worksheet every Monday. Some weeks we may be working on a project and do the same subject more than once in the week. Some weeks we may have just finished a topic, and may leave that subject for a week or two. As I think about what to cover for each topic I break it down into session sized portions. I usually plan for Monday and Tuesday at the weekend, and sort out the rest of the week as it emerges. By the night before I will usually know what is on the list for tomorrow.
Ia’s reception year has been based mainly around English, maths and surahs. I use a similar system for her, breaking the daily list down into different types of maths or English activities. Recently I have added Islamic studies to her list, and as we move into her Year 1, inshAllah, I’ll gradually expand her list further to include more subject areas. I’ll do this slowly, so that it is acceptable to her, allowing her to adjust happily. I kept records of work done with the boys and I will be drawing on that, (with the inevitable tweaking of course), inshAllah.
So, faced with a list to get through every HE morning we get started as soon as possible and carry on throughout the day until it is done, ticking the list off as we go. Who does what when is not fixed and does vary a lot. Sometimes we don’t complete everything on the list, but that means I just move it to tomorrow. Over time enough gets done, Alhamdulillah.
Keeping this openness in the planning allows me to easily move in new directions and follow new ideas and interests as they come up. Sometimes I’ll suddenly be struck by the thought that we should be leaning about such and such, and I like to feel that I can follow that idea without sacrificing a plan I slaved over months ago. When I find a new resource or a great idea on someone’s blog I want to be able to go for it right away. In this way the learning is always fresh and new, for me and for the children.