How to Align Hobbies and Curriculum

by Andrea Hermitt | More from this Blogger

20 Jan 2007 08:42 AM

A cool byproduct of homeschooling is the elimination of educational redundancies. What I mean by this is that if the child has a hobby or activity that fulfills a homeschool requirement, then it can serve as part of the child's curriculum, instead of having to spend "schooling time" repeating what they have already learned. Julie Gentry, a guest blogger on homeschooling, explains how she does this with scouting. Here is how you can align your child's hobbies and curriculum.

Step 1: Observe:

Look at your children's activities and take note of them, especially the activities they do "just for fun".

Step 2: Document:

Record every instance where your child's activities may overlap into curriculum. For example, Ballet class will overlap with physical education, and a mock trial group will overlap with language arts (writing, reading, and public speaking). Drama may overlap with literature. Look at all their activities from a different angle and you may be surprised what lessons you are duplicating.

Step 3: Eliminate:

If it is clear to you that your child is fulfilling what would be considered an academic requirement in the course of participating in their hobby, then eliminate the "class time" that you would have spent re-teaching it. At most, all you should have to do is have a brief conversation with the child comparing their activity to that lesson, and move on.

Step 4: Plan:

You may want to eliminate, add, and postpone an elective activity or hobby until a time when you know they will be covering a certain piece of curriculum. For example, when the opportunity to take a paleontology class came up, I passed on it because my kids are studying the modern time period. We will take it next year however when they are studying ancient history. This way their outside activities will immediately relate to what they are studying, and that will either allow us to skip lessons, or to better reinforce them.

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Learn more about Andrea Hermitt

Andrea Hermitt is a native New Yorker currently residing in GA. She has been married for over 16 years and has two teenage children.

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Nola Redd (7081) 20 Jan 2007 10:55 AM

Great set of articles! I loved the correlation with the activities and academics.

Karen Edmisten (310) 20 Jan 2007 03:17 PM

Great post, Andrea. We incorporate many interests, extracurriculars and hobbies as curriculum as well. So many "everyday experiences" are truly educational, and I agree that there's no reason to double up and add unnecessary "class" time.