Do you structure your day

[JudasInTheTescoVan]

I'm new to Home Education and I'm thinking about whether it would suit us to structure and plan out our lessons or for it to be autonomous. I'm leaning towards structuring them because of my sons personality and the fact he's done several years of school but I am interested in what others do.

[JoJoSM2]

I work with sb home schooled. And yes, there’s a clear routine. It generally works for children and helps them settle and it useful in adult life.

[Saracen]

Start out with whatever feels right to you. It is easy to change if it doesn't suit. Most families do find that their approach evolves over time. That's totally normal and fine.

My own family has no schedule aside from what is imposed on us by our participation in organised activities such as sports, clubs and voluntary work. I know some families whose children like to know what is happening and have a predictable day, but there is still some variety and spontaneity within their loose structure. For example, after breakfast might be time to go outdoors and get some exercise, then it might be time to work on a project for an hour, then computer time.

BTW, structuring/planning isn't the opposite of autonomous learning. Autonomous learning means that the child is learning whatever he wants to learn, in the way he wants to do it. It could be structured or unstructured. He might ask to learn in a formal way using a curriculum. Some families have a very structured day, but nevertheless the child directs his own learning and creates the schedule with the parent's input. For instance, one of my children asked me to teach her to read. She liked the Oxford Reading Tree books and decided to use those. She wanted to set aside time for reading every day at bedtime, so that's what we did.

[1099]

DS has a tutor twice a week, so I suppose that's structure, but generally we have found that doing things as and when works much better for us, how useful structured learning is in adult life is debatable, if you are able to adapt to a situation as it unfolds I think a lot of employers would find that a desirable trait.

[JoJoSM2]

1099, well I went to school but had no uniforms, with the school day a lot shorter (often only 3h a day), sometimes am, sometimes pm and would say that I found adjusting to 9-5 in adult life a completely nightmare and never did really. I find that friends from those less structured backgrounds tend to go for self-employment more often as being an employee feels too restrictive. Not a bad thing at all but sth to consider.

[1099]

That's a fair point, however I spent 22 yrs in the forces and whilst you might think this was the most structured of organisations, being able to be flexible was really important as things like mission creep were a constant issue. That said you're right I'm now self-employed and loving it just as much as I enjoyed my career in the forces.