Fail to plan, plan to fail

We're about to move into August, when usually the boys would be going to holiday clubs and seeing lots of friends who are off on school holidays. This summer of social distancing is going to be quite different from our norm! Needless to say, my planning for our next block of learning is also very different while they are at home and the littlest has moved into full-on toddler mode, aka climbing everything he sees and wanting to be hands-on in all his big brothers' games.

Making a mindmap for our Wales project

But nevertheless, planning does need to be done, if only so that we can have some structure to our days and we can all agree the goals that we are working towards. Every cloud has a silver lining and while focusing on the task in hand can be more difficult with all three at home all day every day, it does mean that they can be involved in the early stages of working out what we would  like to learn next.

One project on the cards is delving into the history, geography and culture of Wales, ahead of our trip to the Brecon Beacons and Carmarthen Bay later in the year. This will be our first foray back into worldschooling since the pandemic hit and we are all really looking forward to exploring a new part of the UK. I'm hoping that showing the boys how to use a mindmap to pull ideas and resources together will enable them to take on more responsibility for what they do in preparation for our trip and when they do it. There's plenty of space for them to add their own ideas and they can choose what order they do the various ideas we've jotted down, depending on how the mood takes them. Ultimately having them at home to help plan this project may make the planning stage more drawn out, but that in itself is learning opportunity for when they are a bit bigger and need to start progressing their own work and figuring out how to tackle it.