A Week Of Homeschooling 2022: Week One
To paint a picture of what strength based, interest-led learning entails on a daily basis, for all of 2022 I am sharing our interest-led weekly homeschool lesson plans. I will also be checking back each week to be completely transparent, and let you know exactly what we did, and maybe more importantly, did not do.
Welcome to Week One of our 2022 Homeschool!
Overview Of Our Interest-Led, Strength Based Lesson Plans
A few things you should know.
I am only homeschooling one child this year. My oldest is a freshman in college. My youngest is technically a freshman in high school, but has several learning differences that make our curriculum choices and grade levels all over the place. He also has a serious chronic illness that impacts our routines and capabilities.
Almost everything we complete each week is grounded in two things –
#1 – How is my son feeling and what he is physically able to accomplish.
#2 – What my son is most passionate about learning and how to create activities that help him progress academically while still maintaining his interests.
You may look at one of our weeks and think, “How will that ever be enough to graduate a child from high school?” I won’t blame you if you do. I’ve asked myself the same thing over and over again.
This is the same weekly approach I employed with his older brother throughout high school. For four years, I worried and felt guilty. For four years, I constantly wondered how it would all turn out. (Truth be told, I felt like this for more than a decade. The last four high school years just seemed to intensify it.)
Looking back, I now feel confident in saying that it all adds up over time. It’s why I feel so strongly about sharing these plans in this way.
A single week doesn’t define a child’s education or a mom’s ability to homeschool.
An entire year of weeks? Well, that creates a much more accurate reflection of the learning that is actually taking place.
Related Post: More About Why I Am Sharing Our Lesson Plans For Every Week This Year
Now that we’ve got the background established, allow me to share my plan for our first week of homeschool, 2022.
Real Life Homeschool Lesson Plans: Week One
Monday
Every Monday, my son has subcutaneous immunoglobin infusions. (Think two needles, every week, with an anxious child.) Because of this, our Monday routine is very light. We do the minimum and then prepare for his medical treatment in the afternoon.
This is my lesson plan for Monday:
- YouTube Video – Fish Biologist reacts to Medieval Fish In Art (parental guidance suggested on this one)
- Audiobook – The Island of Doctor Moreau
- Infusion – 4 hours
- MythBusters before bed
Tuesday
Tuesdays are our first full school day since the previous 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.
Here is our lesson plan for this Tuesday:
- Audiobook and Discussion – The Island of Doctor Moreau
- Driver’s Ed Module 8 and Quiz – I read the online module to him. We discuss and then he completes the online quiz.
- Math – Real life multiplication and division word problems (I create these based on animals, rock climbing, music and stories about his friends)
- Mapwork – Rock-climbing locations around the world
- Online Voice/Music Lesson – one hour, not taught by me
Wednesday
We are usually a little stir crazy by Wednesday. Because of this, I try to make Wednesday a little bit more active and hands-on.
Wednesday’s Lesson Plan:
- Rock climbing all morning
- Guitar lesson – 30 minutes, not taught by me
- Driver’s Ed Module 9 and Quiz (same as Tuesday)
- Audiobook – The Island of Doctor Moreau
- Math – Real life multiplication and division word problems (same as Tuesday)
- Science Lab – BookShark
Thursday
We spend Thursdays in lessons mostly outside our home. This Thursday is still up in the air as we are not sure what COVID testing requirements will be in place for a return to in-person classes (or if we will be able to find a test for him). My son attends a program on Thursday afternoons through a local private school.
For now, this is our lesson plan for Thursday:
- Audiobook and Discussion – The Island of Doctor Moreau
- Social Time with friends – 1 hour, without me
- Art class – 1 hour, not taught by me
- Rock Climbing with friends – 3 hours
Friday
This is my oldest son’s birthday and last day home with us before returning to college. Our only remotely educational plans include playing Snake Oil together while he’s home (a four-person game that is not fun with just three of us left in the house) and Geoguessr.
This is exactly what I sketch out each week. It’s not super detailed because it will inevitably change. I will keep track of all the changes as we go.
Next week, prior to showing you my Week 2 lesson plans, I will review this week’s plan and let you know how it worked out.
In the meantime, I hope we all have a great week of learning!
New Lesson Plans And Updates, Every Week
Additional Resources For Strength Based And Interest-Led Learning
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.
This has certainly been my experience as well! These two resources will help you get started.
Shawna Wingert is a former training and development professional turned education specialist, and has homeschooled her two children for the last ten years.Shawna has written four books about homeschooling unique learners and has been featured in homeschooling discussions on Today.com, The Mighty, Simple Homeschool, My Little Poppies and Raising Lifelong Leaners.
You can find her online here at DifferentByDesignLearning.com.
I love this !! I worry so much with my daughter with special needs that I am not doing enough. But she spends a lot of time doing what she loves which is working with horses.
This nearly brought me to tears. Celebrating our children based on who they are and not who society imagines they should be. Thank you for taking the time to share this and to be such a brave mom. In a world full of doubt and judgment it’s so refreshing to see a family taking their own path and meeting each day head on, knowing that it won’t be easy but it will be real.
Shawna,
This is SO encouraging! I have a 6th grader with several learning differences, and I myself have an autoimmune disease that often limits how much we’re able to accomplish in a day, so I relate to a lot of what you shared here. I’m really looking forward to following you throughout the year, and learning how to lean into more strengths-based learning in my own homeschool. Thanks for doing this!!
Yes–thank you so very much for doing this…and being willing to also include each week what actually ends up getting done. Today was another day in our homeschool where some subjects just weren’t happening. I could tell my son just wasn’t up for it and if I tried to “force” it by just going through the lesson so I could check it off the list, well, that would do no good. I never know each day how much to push, and can get rather discouraged at times over what doesn’t get done and how far “behind” we are. Anyways, it can be a daily struggle. Thank you for a look into your home school and for being real.