How to write a unschooling learning plan!
For every state in Australia a part of the homeschool registration process - is you have to write a learning program for each child you plan on homeschooling : This learning plan shows how your child will learn the required key learning subjects - english , maths ect for your states requirements and for the registration period (years you are registered for ) ,
it will also need to explain how you will keep learning records/progress reports of that learning , where & when the education will take place & the resources and materials you will use. Some learning plans you will need to explain your learning approach / philosophy you have chosen to use and other learning plans require more or less infomation:
To find out what your states requirements are
- click below.
How to write a homeschool/unschool learning plan for registration :
A learning plan is part of the home-school registration process, you are required by each state in Australia to provide one that explains how you will teach your child " subjects" - each state has different subjects that you are required to address , subjects can be created from everyday living, if you are unschooling you will find that life skills like cooking cover a variety of subjects like maths,english,tech & science.Some states require your learning plan to explain how you will keep records of your childs learning and the outcomes,this is to show your child is "learning" to the educational department and you will be supervising them (that sort of thing )- you will also be able to use these records to reflect on their learning progress over the years if you are unschooling - you can notice the difference of natural writing skills that have developed if you keep hardcopy's of your childs lists, diaries ect, you will be able to see the interests they have had and the natural learning journey the have been on. You can display your learning plan in a plastic sleeve folder,so you do not lose any important documents
most learning plan requires you to explain the following :
When and Where the "learning" will take place:
When : refers to the general schedule of learning. For example, will the instruction and learning take place on weekdays?
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When: does not mean that you have to account for each hour, each day, each week or even each month. ·
Where : means the location in which the learning will take place throughout the year. For example, home, specialist locations such as a museum, library, swimming pool,or out within the community
Where: does not mean you must list every learning location you plan to use during the year.- as things pop up through the year you may decide to attend - (just say , * when other opportunities for learning arise i will make sure i record them , these may include events,markets,fates, or classes.
if your are using a Unschooling -Natural learning approach
When :
As we are taking a natural learning approach to our educational plan there is hidden potential for learning ALL of the time.My childs learning is free to take place whenever and for however long my child feels necessary .Their learning will not be restricted to the normal school hours and days,as my child is always questioning and exploring so the "when" happens whenever learning opportunities come up an as natural learners -opportunities are endless.
Where :
As we are taking a natural learning approach to our educational plan my childs education will not only be limited to our home, but also within our community,on daily outings to shops,relatives and friends houses,at playgrounds,at the local swimming pool & the library and within our home ed groups.Also when other learning opportunities arise this could be food markets,shows,holidays and lessons my child wants to attend We love being amongst nature so their learning can also take place on outings to beachs ,bush walking and sight seeing. - note:
places we visit will be recorded down as they happen
How learning outcomes will be recorded :
The way you keep records is completely up to you -
you are not required to keep school like reports
You are required to keep records to show evidence / progress of your childs " learning"
You do not to keep times and daily records or use a "school like" approach.Although many Authorised Persons (APs) ask for a daily diary linked to Syllabus Outcomes, you are NOT required to do this
There is various ways you can keep records of your childs learning , some ways include : create a blog, write down in a diary or journal , you can take photos and create a learning photo album,save any work samples in a folder,or you can use a online recording app.
You will need to explain how you will keep records for both
learning activities & how you will record achievements and progress
Recording Example if your are using a Unschooling -Natural learning approach
learning activity recording - I will keep a diary i will jolt down things my child has done/ learned throughout the week i will include the date of the weeks beginning. In this i will also list any resources my child has used or activities my child has done - i will also list what kla (subject ) it has covered .This diary will be called my kla achievements diary .I will keep a plastic sleeve folder to keep any "hard copy" work they have done like drawings,lists,things they have wrote on , and printed work from any online "learning " .I will also take photos of learning experiences & projects they have done or excursions we have been on as evidence- this will be kept in a photo album and will form a "visual learning portfolio"
achievement & progress recording- at the end of each term i will go through my kla achievements diary, my hardcopy portfolio and any visual records i have - photos / projects i will refer to the NESA syllabus statement outcomes and write down in a separate journal which ones we have covered for each
kla( subject) ,-i will be referring to all primary stage statements as we are following a child - led learning approach ,their are no expectations only encouragement
i will list in this book my childs current interests, achievements and if any goals for the next semester also. At the end of each year i will write a short report of the year and add this to my childs plastic sleeve folder.
Consider your childs needs:
some states require this,it can also refer to your reason behind learning philosophy
information about your child’s learning needs and how the educational program supports these needs;
Here you can explain your childs needs,you may give a summary of their areas of interests, what their strengths are and areas they need additional support with.You can explain what you hope to achieve for the year or what you would like to work on , you can also explain the learning philosophy you have chosen that best suits your child learning needs.
If you are using a Unschooling/ natural learning approach
Note: This is a example explaining childs learning needs and learning philosophy (unschooling)
Throughout the last couple of years due to covid, i have had the opportunity to be present in my childs education while teaching them from home.In that time i noticed how my child was struggling with the work load given by "formal education" , She wasn't able to keep up and i found she was exhausted and kept forgetting the lesson she had be taught as she lost interest. So i tried a different approach, a child - led natural learning approach, i let her follow her interests and she had surprised me with her natural curiosity and willingness to learn when she is in charge of what and how that learning comes .So i have created her educational program based on her interests and based on daily natural life skills.I believe when given the freedom to learn at her own pace and the opportunity to explore and follow the things that interest her,for her to learn from everyday life, she will become naturally curious , and when you have curiosity especially for something you have chosen ,i believe you become highly motivated and passionate for that subject you naturally want to explore it and naturally want to learn more about it.I also believe in everyday life there is always opportunities for learning instead of my child encounter ideas in a textbook form or formal lesson , She will encounter these ideas at her own pace through her own interests and through everyday living using a natural child - lead learning approach.
My child will be encouraged to write down prices of each of our grocery items while doing our grocery shopping,they will use decimals and appropriate dollar / cent format,we will discuss rounding to the nearest dollar tally eg 99c = $1.- she will use our phone calculator and add the prices together and give me the total sum of the bill.
learning money
rounding to nearest dollar , place value, & decimals skills
How you can Unschool subjects
here are examples, how you can turn everyday living into subjects, i have been approved previously using the same examples as below,tailor them to suit your family or use them as a guide to help think of how you can change the way you live into subjects
Here are some math and english examples
directions & distance
my child will take leadership in navigating and giving directions while out on one of our bush walks ,this will help teach them about direction North,South,East,West
and right from left.This will help them with checkpoint memory and help gain a sense of distances. we have a fitbit watch that we will use we will have open discussions while hiking about what it reads - like , distance we have travelled in km and miles,the distance covered in the time it took to cover,we will all view and discuss the area we covered via the watches map - we will give estimates on how much distance we think we covered in km at the end and see who gets the closest - this will help my child gain a sense of time length, and how far a km/m area covers
Learning Temperature
My child will learn how to check and read different temperatures by checking weather reports on our phone app and comparing them to the day before, we also have a weather thermostat that tells the weather and humidity were my child will be encourages to read these on their own to learn Celsius and Fahrenheit .We also have a meat thermometer and a body thermometer that they will get chances to use and read the temperature
Learning weight
my child will use the scales while shopping to weigh our produce,and reflect the weight we are after.
While cooking in kitchen they will use our digital kitchen scales to weigh precise measurements,we will have open discussions about what kg and grams are and they will get to know the different weight in heaviness of things we buy like milk and potato's
Measurements
my child will help with cooking from time to time, they will follow precise measurements and directions that we will read together on the packets,we will use our measuring spoons,kitchen scales,measuring cups and our kitchen timer,for these various experiences, we will discuss ml, l, cups, tbs and t,grams,we will also discuss, what Equivalents are practice fractions
we have a tapemeasure , my child will be encouraged to use this to measure various objects around the house and to write them down , we will discuss metres and cms,height width,and length (this and there measurements will be recorded as they happen )
money
my child will be productive and help out with house hold chores, - here they will earn pocket money,i will set them up there own bank account were they will be able to download the app.they will be able to keep track of their savings and gain a understanding of how money is handles they will also get to understand the cost of things ,how money works and learn saving goals.They will be able to use this to save or buy there choosing.
my child also enjoys playing online virtual games, were she earns virtual money that she uses on there to buy and build "virtual merchandise"- she does online jobs on there to earn this money just like a real job.- by her playing these games it will increase her budgeting and saving skills,and better her adding and subtraction skills.
mental math skills
i will give my child mental mathematics skills to answer from time to time - for on the spot thinking and to advance there maths,all questions i asked will be written down as they happen in my recorder - examples could be - asking them what the time is , telling them to share them evenly between siblings,asking them what 35+ 22 equals; and what 4 x 2 equals - . We will also learn maths while out and about from shopping sign discounts , like you save 10 % off - over time these skills will advance,we will discuss how to answer them and what they mean
communication and punctuation
My child will use technology to communicate with other people using chat platforms on their online gaming to message other children , they will use iphone text messaging and facetime to communicate with family, - this will help them learn communication skills, punctuation and advance reading and writing knowledge.
writing
My child has various interests books and diaries available that they can reflect on anything they find of interest, they will be encouraged to record in these - but not heavily enforced- i will review any writting they have done in these books or online and will discuss any spelling mistakes they have made.My daughter frequently writes about me's for her online gaming and discord - i will frequently take screen shots to add to her portfolio as evidence
reading
english will be used daily in my childs life,from reading signs at shops,reading words around the home on packets ,media content ,reading instructions and packaging,and from her online youtube and google searches she is frequently doing to gather information on her intrestest ( note things that are read will be recorded as they happen )
english through games
we have various english related card games, that i will play with my child, magic beach memory card game, uno this will help with thier memory skills and sight word flash cards will help advance reading.We also enjoy playing hang man and eye spy games , - in our eye spy games we mix it up and use letter sounds as well as the letter, we often spell the word outloud when someone gets it correct.- this will help with her spelling
expand their vocabulary
We have a large amount of books in our home library covering all different topics that my child is free to read whenever they like, we will have read out louds occasionally (these books will also be recorded as they are read ) - my child will also watch movies with sub titles on - as this will also help them connect words with speech , expand their vocabulary, and help improve spelling and reading
conversations
my child will always be encouraged to come to me about anything they have of interests or want to spell , we will have open discussions on these topics, gather more information via google if required, i will spell out words they do not know how to spell if they ask - all this will help further there writing skills,logics skills and knowledge ( these will al be recorded as they happen )
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