Having Structure, Yet Encouraging Creativity
Do you love the idea of balanced, complete homeschool plans – but still want your kiddos’ creativity to shine through? Well, with Heart of Dakota‘s Charlotte Mason-inspired guides, you get both! While the daily plans provide specific guidelines for each school subject, a living books’ approach to learning naturally encourages personal creativity.
For example, when children give oral narrations, the plans provide the structure of which book to read, which pages to narrate upon, and which kind of narration to give. However, the plans also encourage personal creativity! Students choose which parts to retell, how to retell them, and which connections they’ve made. This is the opposite of a textbook and workbook approach, which includes a more encyclopedia-like ‘facts only’ response. Similarly, the different assessments included in the structure of the plans are the opposite of ‘test and forget it’ assessments, which I grew to love.
High School Credits and Personal Creativity
Do you want help making sure your students earn all the credits they need – but still want high school to be personalized? Well, with Heart of Dakota’s high school guides, you get both! Guides include all necessary credits and electives, yet plans continue to encourage personal creativity.
For example, World Geography’s written narration plans include the structure of specific guidelines. Students read assigned Mapping the World with Art pages. Written narrations need to be 3-4 paragraphs long. Students must read aloud their written narrations to edit any mistakes. The content of the written narration must stick to the topic, support the topic with details, mimic the author’s style, and include strong opening and closing sentences. Finally, students must use the Written Narration Skills in the Appendix to edit their narrations. Nicely structured, right?!?
However, students can get creative too! They can pick their own details to retell, choose whether to write 3 or 4 paragraphs, pick whether to write in print or in cursive, and craft their own opening and closing sentences to catch our attention! This is freeing because if your student didn’t write what you’d have written – that’s okay! Personal creativity is encouraged. However, structure demands reading, writing at least 3 paragraphs, reading it aloud, including noted parameters, and editing. If it’s not legible enough for the student to read aloud, that’s not okay either. Structure and creativity – the best of both.
World Geography’s Living Library Plans
Do you love picturing your kiddos lost in reading amazing books, yet want SOME follow-up response from them? Well, World Geography’s Living Library plans assign certain pages to read, a one-sentence summary to write, and guidelines to meet within that summary (i.e. include the main character(s), the main action taken, any important conflict, the goal, and the setting).
This assignment is the perfect follow-up to the Living Library reading! It does not ‘get between the child and the book,’ as Charlotte Mason would applaud. Keep in mind, this isn’t a required part of earning credit. This is an extra credit option in the plans, so if the summary isn’t the exact sentence you would have written – in the name of encouraging personal creativity – let it be! However, structure demands the summary is limited to one sentence and includes the main character, a main action taken, a conflict, a goal and a setting. Structure and creativity – the best of both.
World Geography Activities Plans
Do you remember World Geography as being a boring time of memorizing facts you soon forgot? That’s how I remember my own public high school experience with World Geography. Well, not so with Heart of Dakota’s World Geography!
For example, in World Geography’s Activities, students need to watch the DVD Scenic Cruises of the World (from the Must-See Places of the World DVD set), make a bulleted list of important things to experience or see, and need to make lists for 3 provided topics. However, they also decide their own details to include in their list, pick whether to write their list in phrases or in sentences, decide whether to write in print or cursive, and choose whether to read their notes aloud.
Since this is a response to a DVD viewing of geographical places being studied, students don’t have to write in complete sentences and they don’t have to include certain facts. However, they do need to view the DVD segment and bulleted notes must pertain to each provided topic. Structure and creativity – the best of both.
Looking Back
I could go through every guide and find examples of how Heart of Dakota provides structure yet encourages creativity! Looking back at my homeschool journey of teaching my sons PreK to 12th grade, I am thankful for both. The structure made creating a high school transcript easy. It made getting accepted into college easy. Finally, it made following college classes’ guidelines and adhering to professors’ structure of classes a seamless transition.
However, creativity helped my sons each find their own personal interests and use their own personal God-given talents in life – in and out of their professions. It has been a blessing to see each of them become their own ‘man’ in life, and after giving due credit to the Lord first, next – I credit much of that to both the structure and creativity of Heart of Dakota’s plans. I hope you look back and feel the same – God bless!
