Say the word Spine and one immediately thinks of the human anatomy. The backbone that contains all those important nerves traveling through it. In a way the Homeschool Curriculum Spine is also a backbone. It is the backbone for your syllabus and all activities planned with it. It can be considered a living book that has all the details of stuff that needs to be done.
What Data Does It Contain?
Ideally each subject should have it’s own Spine as everything together would be a rather thick book. The purpose of the Spine is to give order to your curriculum. The lesson can be split up into the reading required, the assignments that go along with it, the hands on activities that support it, and eventually the testing to ensure that the homeschool student really does understand what the lesson was all about. This happens for every lesson in the subject.
Why Should You Use a Homeschool Curriculum Spine?
The Spine gives you a bird’s eye view of what you intend to do and what you have already managed to do. It allows you to see all the main points that you are touching and most importantly it also tells you when you are done. The basics can get muddled if you keep adding extra stuff to do in each topic. The Spine prevents you from doing that. Plus it’s a living book. It can be added to or modified as you go along. This allows greater flexibility in what you want to do focus on in each topic.
The Spine Adds a Check To Your Activities
If you cover what you have planned to do in the Spine you will have met the basics. Remember the Spine is a starting point for your lesson. You move it along as you want. It serves as a good check point to see what you intended to do and what all you have done. Yes it takes time to make a Spine for each subject but it’s well worth the initial effort. You can even refer to it for the next grade at a glance to know what has been covered and what you need to move on to.
