To Choose or Not to Choose? Scheduling in an Over-Scheduled World
(This article is adapted from the original that appeared in the NYCHEA newsletter many years ago.)
How do homeschoolers make sense of all the choices? There are miles of curriculum to choose from, and a list of topics to study that could stretch to the moon! It’s as overwhelming as a homeschooler’s choices in New York City, where there’s so much do that you know you can never do all that you want! Yet we chose to homeschool and educate our children outside of the system for this very reason, so our choices would be greater. When my youngest was about 12, homeschooled since age 9, I had the following dream.
I dreamed my child was in school. The schoolroom looked like a composite of a cafeteria and an auditorium. There were long tables with attached benches, and also long racks of clothing. Children filed by in rows, going through an obstacle course that went over benches and tables, up to the auditorium stage, snaking down through the racks of clothing, back to the cafeteria level. At every turning point a young, friendly teacher offered a helpful hand to any child who might stumble. The teachers repeatedly encouraged the children to select clothing from the racks and, as the line wound around, the children’s clothing changed, layer by layer, until almost all of the children had selected several items from various racks. My son, however, chose nothing. I stood on the side, observing him, and silently thought that none of the clothes appealed to me either. Suddenly a teacher appeared from the back of the stage area and announced that musical instruments would be handed out. For the first time my son perked up. I, too, was intrigued. Music sounded pretty good to me. The line of children looped by the music teacher who handed out bassoons. Only bassoons. They looked like enormous recorders, as long as a child was tall. Some children took them and continued in line. My son passed the teacher, and then passed by again. I could see him looking behind the teacher, craning his neck, and I could hear him thinking, “Where are the flutes?”
That next morning, as soon as I awoke, I vowed to get my son the flute lessons he had been begging for. This dream had helped me decide. It also gave me my metaphor for school: the off-the-rack education. We all buy off the rack, and many of us search for bargain basements or Goodwill shops. But anyone with a wardrobe that reflects their own personality knows it takes countless mall visits and thrift shops to put it together, perhaps reinventing pieces to make something old feel new. And anyone who yearns for the luxury of custom tailoring has probably made some items from scratch. A great wardrobe, like a great education, can be had at fancy places like Harrod’s or Oxford, but the public school on the corner feels more like Walmart’s basement! I vowed to customize my children’s education to keep them happy and engaged, and to fit their personality and life goals.
How many activities are too many? How many are too few? Only your child can tell you. I resisted flute lessons for so many reasons: the time, the cost, the inconvenience, our schedule overload. My son was already taking piano, and three dance classes a week (on scholarship). Of course he has no time for flute lessons, I reasoned. But my son makes the time. He could choose to give up piano or dance (c’mon, your Mom’s exhausted!), but he only wants more! Just last week I asked him.
“This year, we’ll see if flute and piano together are too much for you,” I said.
“I know,” he answered.
“What do you know?”
“I know you think it might be too much for me.”
“But what do you think?”
“I don’t think it’s enough; I mean I don’t think it’s too much.” Give your kid the power to choose, and they just might choose the world!
I used to try to keep a schedule. Now I just try to keep up with their schedule. This year I devised a new method to help me keep track. I print out a weekly calendar template with a list of subjects along the side. Parent, teacher or student can fill in the spaces, logging hours or content of studies. This works out well, because at a glance we can see if we are neglecting an area, and it’s a quick review when I write my quarterlies.
Is it helpful? Do we agree? Don’t make me laugh. When do independent thinkers really agree? Besides, I gotta go or I won’t fit in that math lesson before the next dance class!
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Scheduling templates for record-keeping, with examples of different types of schedules