Self-Teaching System Part 5 – Create Your Lesson Plans
- Self-Teaching System Part 1 – Introduction
- Self-Teaching System Part 2 – Specifically Identify Why You Want to Learn
- Self-Teaching System Part 3 – List What You Want to Learn and Why
- Self-Teaching System Part 4 – Figure Out How to Learn Each Subject
- Self-Teaching System Part 5 – Create Your Lesson Plans
Before I begin today's addition to my autodidaction series, I want to link you to PickTheBrain's steps to effective 'self-learning'. Just its existence makes me happy; the material is pretty good, too.
So I’ve got some spare time. I open up MysteryList and let it choose a random subject for me to study.
. . . then what?
Once you complete the previous step and have your tools gathered together, you need to figure out how you’re going to use them in each unit of learning. Different subjects’ units are measured differently; you might do, say, twenty math problems, five minutes of reading a novel, and read one chapter of your history book.
As in all things, I resolve to take the 'thinking' out of things beforehand. Decide this stuff in advance so that your studies are as smooth as possible.
What follows is my sample ‘lesson plans’, the list I consult whenever it’s time to study a subject.
| Math | Read over the explanation of the first Mathemagics I haven’t memorized and do exercises until I have the hang of it. |
| English | Read fiction until I get bored with it. I can’t really make this one any more specific. |
| Science | If online, watch a video from Kahn Academy. If offline, read a PDF (???). |
| Vocabulary | If online, earn 1000 grains in MobileRice. If offline, go over 50 GRE flashcards in Flashcards Deluxe. |
| History | Read The Mental Floss History of the World until I get bored. |
| Geography | Play a round of GeoMaster. |
| Writing | If I don’t have an assignment, listen to a Writing Challenges entry. If I have an assignment but can’t work on it at the moment, listen to a Writing Excuses podcast (an older one if I’m online). |
| Civics | Read an immigration book until I get bored. |
| P.E. | Open i365 Workout of the Day and do the exercises. If at home and able, go through a workout with the EyeToy Kinetic. |
| Study Science | Read How to Talk About Books You Haven’t Read until I get bored. |
| Bible | Read the Bible passages that correspond with the next Adult Bible Studies lesson. Answer the questions if I can. |
| Auto Repair | Read Auto Repair for Dummies until I get bored. |
| Japanese | Go over 50 JLPT flashcards in Flashcards Deluxe. |
| Drawing | Draw something in Sketchbook Mobile or on my tablet. |
| Survival | Read my Marines survival manual until I get bored. |
Each of these takes less than twenty minutes (usually), so I can knock through a few per day. I hope you try it out; it might strengthen your learning process.
