Foundational Concept
Flexible Timeframes
Flexible Homeschool App is designed around the concept of Flexible Timeframes rather than specific dates on a calendar. Understanding the basics of this concept will help you get started with the app.
School Years
In many ways we already use the concept of flexible timeframes in our everyday homeschool life. For instance, we think of a School Year as a flexible span of time. It can have starts and stops. It’s not a specific period of 12 months. In our minds a School Year is a rather flexible concept.
Terms
Terms have flexibility built into them as well. You can have any number of Terms and those Terms can be any number of weeks.
Weeks
It is the idea of a week where our thinking gets rigid. We tend to think of a week as 5 consecutive school days or, more specifically, as September 3rd through the 7th. However, Flexible Homeschool App treats a week much more flexibly.
For instance, in the app, Week 3 is simply the third week you do school, not specifically September 3rd - 7th. So if you take two calendar weeks to complete Week 3, the app can handle it without any effort on your part because a week is considered a timeframe for flexible planning and execution, not a rigid set of dates on a calendar.
Segments (Days)
When scheduling School Work in the app, the concept of “Segments Per Week” is used (For instance, 3 segments per week) rather than the actual dates on the calendar (Sept 3rd, 5th & 7th).
Segments are roughly equivalent to weekdays. They can even be labeled accordingly. For instance, you could do two segments of math on Tuesday if you had to get things done more quickly that week. You can even change the Weekday label if you like. The app easily flexes around the realities of your life.
Pro Tips
Because the app is built around flexible timeframes, there are three pro tips we want to share with you right from the top.
First, when using the app to plan a School Year, don’t concern yourself with interruptions (potential sickness, vacations, etc). Simply insert the total number of weeks you intend to do school for each Term. You can start and stop school as needed—Flexible Homeschool App won’t even notice.
Second, when setting up School Work, you will be asked to enter General Instructions. Be sure to keep them general—that is—flexible. For instance, "Read one chapter per segment” is general and helpful. It doesn’t matter if you speed up, slow down or even stop schooling for a bit. It’s a general goal for every Segment.
Third, keep in mind that a segment represents a standard day’s worth of work. If you want to do two sections of your math curriculum each day — three days a week — make a note in the General Instructions that two sections of math are to be completed per segment. Then schedule three segments for math each week.
Once you get going, the flexibility of the app and the tremendous advantage that flexibility provides will become much more obvious, but it’s good to be familiar with these foundational concepts before you begin.