Homeschool Lesson Plan Series: Week 4
This is week four in a year long series, all about lesson planning in an interest-led homeschool. Each week, I share a recap of last week’s plan vs. reality and then our new lesson plan for the upcoming week.
There are a few questions that you have repeatedly asked with our last few plans.
- How does this work into a high school transcript?
- What exactly are you doing with spelling?
- What are you doing for Drivers Education?
- Can you provide some examples of the word problems you create for math practice?
- How is this enough to practice reading with a struggling reader?
I am working on more detailed posts to fully answer these. In the meantime, I will try to fill in the blanks as much as I can throughout the lesson plans and weekly recaps.
For now, here is our recap from last week. You’ll notice that Monday actually progressed relatively close to the plan. Then, almost every other plan I had for the week changed completely.
Last Week’s Homeschool Plan vs. Reality
Monday
The Plan
- Audiobook and Discussion – The Island Of Doctor Moreau
- Rubik’s Cube Course
- YouTube Video – Aquatic life themed
- Infusion – 4 hours
What Actually Happened
- Rubik’s Cube Course
- Infusion – 4 hours
- YouTube Video: Extinct Animals That Were Rediscovered
- New Dirty Jobs Episode – included background information about The Crazy Horse Memorial
Tuesday
The Plan
- Driver’s Ed – Finish Module 9 and Quiz
- CTCMath
- Spelling Practice using Spelling Plus – we are on list #21
- YouTube Video – His choice, something educational
- Online Voice/Music Lesson – one hour
What actually happened
- Outdoor hike and rock climbing – 6 hours
- Audiobook and Discussion
- That’s it!
My son had the chance to go for a climb outdoors with a friend, a rare occasion and something that he loves. I tagged along and we spent the day outdoors, in nature. We also listened to his audiobook in the car.
It was a great day.
Wednesday
The Plan
- Physical Therapy – 2 hours
- Driver’s Ed Module 10, Part 1
- Audiobook and Discussion
- Science Lab – BookShark (third time’s the charm???)
What actually happened
- Reading practice with music lyrics
- YouTube – River Monsters, specifically about a fish in India
- India/Nepal Geography and Varying climates
- Indian River Systems
- Indian Culture
- Began to create our own map of India using Nana’s map tutorials on You ARE An Artist
He was still interested in learning more about marine life after last week’s interest-led deep dive. We landed on the River Monster’s YouTube video and then that sparked a whole afternoon of learning about India.
He also has a popular song that he loves and wants to learn the lyrics to. I printed up the lyrics to the song, using an easy to read 18pt font and double spaced into a word document. He read the lyric sheet a few times through.
If you have an older struggling reader, I highly recommend this activity for reading practice. Because he is a little familiar with the lyrics, he is easily able to decode any words that are a struggle. If the words rhyme, it also gives him some context clues. We do this with songs and also poems for the same reason.
Thursday
The Plan
- Audiobook and Discussion
- Social Time with friends – 1 hour
- Art class – 1 hour
- Rock Climbing with friends – 3 hours
What Actually Happened
- Social Time with friends – 1 hour
- Art class – 1 hour
- Rock Climbing with friends – 3 hours
- Reptile Facts “Teach Back”
We have almost three hours in the car together on Thursdays, between driving to the private school program, then the rock climbing gym and home. We typically spend most of our drive time listening to audiobooks. But, on this day, my friend Cait sent a video of a frog screaming (you can see the video here – it’s horrifying!). We saw it before we got in the car and then spent most of our trip talking about all the random amphibian and reptile facts my son knows.
Because he was so interested in teaching me all the things, I had him pull up the notes app on my phone and type/use speech to text to capture them. It kept him engaged and busy, and I was blown away by how much this kid really knows.
Because the document he created was so long, we decided to use it for another learning activity the next day (see Friday below).
Friday
The Plan
- CTCMath
- Driver’s Ed Module 10 and Quiz
- Rubik’s Cube Course
- YouTube Video – his choice and educational
- Creative Writing or History – his choice
What Actually Happened
- Researched and created 50 Fun Facts About Reptiles For Kids
- YouTube Video – Poison Specialist (after discussing the difference between poison and venom in our reptile facts post)
- Watched Dr. Robin’s video on The Pancreas
- YouTube Video – Venus Fly Trap
If you have a child who loves to share their knowledge about all the things, I highly recommend using this in your learning. While you don’t need to create a blog post with 50 facts, having them come up with a Top 10 list and create a word document, poster board, or power point presentation to show you what they know is a great way to capture the learning.
We combined his knowledge, with a little research and a few YouTube videos (which you will also find in the post) and called it homeschool for most of the day.
My son was hospitalized for pancreatitis in 2017. It was extremely painful and one of his worst memories. Because I am planning a human body unit study for next month, I have been looking at some of Dr. Robin’s School of Pre-Med online classes. (Again, Cait told me all about her. Cait is my homeschool teacher.) My son saw me looking at the various topics and asked to watch the one about the pancreas. I will be sharing more about this program in the upcoming weeks – this was just a one off based on his curiosity.
Please note, we did not do math and we did not do driver’s ed this week.
Our Homeschool Lesson Plans For This Week
Monday
- Audiobook and Discussion – The Island Of Doctor Moreau
- Finish Map of India
- YouTube Video – His choice
- Infusion – 4 hours
Reference Notes: Every Monday, my son has subcutaneous immunoglobin infusions. Because of this, our Monday routine is very light. We do the minimum and prepare for his medical treatment in the afternoon.
Tuesday
- Driver’s Ed – Finish Module 9 and Quiz
- CTCMath
- Spelling Practice using Spelling Plus – we are on list #21
- YouTube Video – His choice, something educational
- Online Voice/Music Lesson – one hour
Reference Notes: Tuesdays are our first full school day of the week. Because my son always feels better post-Monday’s infusion, we typically do a large percentage of our more traditional homeschool work on this day.
Wednesday
- Physical Therapy – 2 hours
- Driver’s Ed Module 10, Part 1
- Audiobook and Discussion
- Begin Human Body Study
Thursday
- Audiobook and Discussion
- Social Time with friends – 1 hour
- Art class – 1 hour
- Rock Climbing with friends – 3 hours
Reference Notes: We spend Thursdays in lessons mostly outside our home. My son attends a program on Thursday afternoons through a local private school.
Friday
- CTCMath
- Driver’s Ed Module 10 and Quiz
- History – read aloud
- YouTube Video – his choice and educational
- Creative Writing or History – his choice
New Lesson Plans And Updates, Every Week
Additional Resources For Strength-Based And Interest-Led Homeschooling
Research shows that a learner allowed to spend the most time studying in areas of strength, tends to perform exponentially better in all areas including the areas of weakness.
These resources will help you get started!
Weekly Homeschool Lesson Plans: Interest-Led (2022)
Want to see our previous lesson plans and recaps? You’ll find links to every week HERE.
This blog series is my favorite new resource for inspiration, ideas and knowing my homeschool style is the okayest.
This is really great! That flexibility is the beauty of homeschooling and I really can’t imagine my son tolerating it any other way. Wish I would’ve been able to do this interest-led lifestyle as a kid! Thank you so much!