Does anyone plan their curriculum weekly?

[displace]

In the past I tended to do curriculum planning in the morning or during the school day, which takes about an hour or so. I prefer planning on the weekend but getting the four hours to myself is not easy. I plan: preview Singapore math lessons, decide on reading and supplemental reading materials, OG lessons (new phonics rules, prep materials, preview worksheets, finding games or "fun" activities for phonics/spelling, sight word prep), science equipment lab material gathering, science book library request, literature library book request, occ art craft supplies and activities, handwriting prep sheets for copy work.

 

In addition it may be prepping therapy materials (gross and fine motor activities, coordination activities, etc).

 

At some point coming soon I will need to prep preschool too, mostly to keep DD more engaged and out of the way.

 

I'm using summer camp (1-2 weeks) for DS to give me time to hopefully organize and prep some things (like have fine motor packets for a week that can be rotated, or a rotating OT packet of things). I also have a lot of general supply organization to do at home to help our day.

 

How much time do you spend prepping weekly or daily? Did this time improve once you were more experienced with therapies? I think once I get some premade activities together for therapies it'll be faster to prep as they take up the most mental work and time for me. And when we have a good therapy routine it'll flow better. I'm still getting familiar with therapy activities rotating on a daily or weekly basis. We do have some activities that are easily incorporated but not enough variety. I ordered some books that will hopefully have some good ideas in one place but just reading through them will be time consuming, KWIM?

[FairProspects]

Yes and no. I plan a ton over the summer - that would be deciding and entering everything into HST+, printing all printables, and filing everything into subject binders or folders. Then on weekends I spend 1-2 hours assigning the work for the week and reviewing any concepts I need to refresh. On a daily basis, I do zero planning. Everything is printed out and I work down the plan or choose from a variety of activities & printables that are already prepped if that is part of the plan. In your situation, I would prep as many therapy bags or worksheets as possible over the summer to get yourself ahead.

[PeterPan]

Every so often I request a flurry of books on topics.  We read them as they come in.  

 

Math is Ronit Bird, so I preview the lesson (5 minutes) and preview anything extra I plan to do with him.

 

We have a box of open and go things.  For this year it was mazes, dot to dots, magnatab, that kind of thing.  (no prep)

 

Barton takes me several hours to enter lists into Quizlet, retype booklets, so I do that in chunks every few weeks.  Before a lesson I'll pull the letter tiles for that lesson (20 minutes).  Barton gives me everything else I need, so no prep beyond that.

 

Anything else we do on the fly.  I have bookcases and bookcases of interesting stuff, so it's just pulling some things we find interesting.  We usually have books around of things we're reading or interested in.  We're still working through CHOW and a book of Bridges to go with our Knex kit.  But a lot of it is more just hmm, that would be fun today.  But he's 6.

 

The main therapy we're doing at home right now is for all these stinkin' retained primitive reflexes, ugh.  That's like 30-40 minutes a day.  Since fine motor follows gross motor and gross motor is glitched by the reflexes, I'm not worrying about the fine motor for the moment.  That's my line and I'm sticking to it.  When I have time, I'm trying to learn ways to teach him to dribble a basketball.  He's a good shot but can't dribble, and apparently it's connected to the retained reflexes.  I figure it's sorta like balavisX, which means it's doubly worthwhile.  It's wicked hard for him, so it must be worthwhile.

 

The thing we're not doing that I want to ramp up is social skills and blending the We Choose Virtues material with social skills goals.  Sigh.  

 

Some of how you plan is just personality, and I say have fun, that's for sure.  What I find, and this is just me, is that usually people are a little more resource-driven (hmm, that looks good, let's do that today) the 2nd time around or with later kids.  So if you can give yourself some of that permission to get comfortable, channel your inner expert, or whatever, that's good.  If you enjoy what you're doing, it's good.  If it's making you feel anxious or stressed, that would be a way to pull it back but still be organized, to have things there by subject and just go hmm, what would we like to do today...  kwim?

[clementine]

In the summer I lay out my year.  How many chapters to cover in each subject - divide each subject (very loosely) to fill the year.  

 

Then, also in the summer, I plan the first full month of school, in detail.  After our first week of actual school, I plan weekly.  So, while schooling week 2, I am planning week 5 or 6 & while schooling week 3, I am planning week 6 or 7...and so on.  

 

Because I am planning that far ahead of time, I can adjust where needed.  I've been doing it this way forever & it just works for me.  

[displace]

Yes and no. I plan a ton over the summer - that would be deciding and entering everything into HST+, printing all printables, and filing everything into subject binders or folders. Then on weekends I spend 1-2 hours assigning the work for the week and reviewing any concepts I need to refresh. On a daily basis, I do zero planning. Everything is printed out and I work down the plan or choose from a variety of activities & printables that are already prepped if that is part of the plan. In your situation, I would prep as many therapy bags or worksheets as possible over the summer to get yourself ahead.

I agree with summer prepping of therapy resources. We now have some OT resources, we'll be adding in PT, and we still need to test for CAPD. I'm unsure about also starting home VT as well as maybe IM for the moment. Just having a list of all the therapies in place for a week, even if we rotate every few weeks will be great.

[displace]

Every so often I request a flurry of books on topics. We read them as they come in.

 

Math is Ronit Bird, so I preview the lesson (5 minutes) and preview anything extra I plan to do with him.

 

We have a box of open and go things. For this year it was mazes, dot to dots, magnatab, that kind of thing. (no prep)

 

Barton takes me several hours to enter lists into Quizlet, retype booklets, so I do that in chunks every few weeks. Before a lesson I'll pull the letter tiles for that lesson (20 minutes). Barton gives me everything else I need, so no prep beyond that.

 

Anything else we do on the fly. I have bookcases and bookcases of interesting stuff, so it's just pulling some things we find interesting. We usually have books around of things we're reading or interested in. We're still working through CHOW and a book of Bridges to go with our Knex kit. But a lot of it is more just hmm, that would be fun today. But he's 6.

 

The main therapy we're doing at home right now is for all these stinkin' retained primitive reflexes, ugh. That's like 30-40 minutes a day. Since fine motor follows gross motor and gross motor is glitched by the reflexes, I'm not worrying about the fine motor for the moment. That's my line and I'm sticking to it. When I have time, I'm trying to learn ways to teach him to dribble a basketball. He's a good shot but can't dribble, and apparently it's connected to the retained reflexes. I figure it's sorta like balavisX, which means it's doubly worthwhile. It's wicked hard for him, so it must be worthwhile.

 

The thing we're not doing that I want to ramp up is social skills and blending the We Choose Virtues material with social skills goals. Sigh.

 

Some of how you plan is just personality, and I say have fun, that's for sure. What I find, and this is just me, is that usually people are a little more resource-driven (hmm, that looks good, let's do that today) the 2nd time around or with later kids. So if you can give yourself some of that permission to get comfortable, channel your inner expert, or whatever, that's good. If you enjoy what you're doing, it's good. If it's making you feel anxious or stressed, that would be a way to pull it back but still be organized, to have things there by subject and just go hmm, what would we like to do today... kwim?

I used to have a scheduled library day, with lists of requests I wanted, library returns and check outs. It's gotten lax over the summer, but I want to improve in the audiobook area. I tend to allow DS free reign of audiobooks for quiet time, but now I'm wanting to place a little more influence on those books, plus better audiobooks for the car.

 

I'm also biting the bullet and investing in a ton more therapy games. Visual spacial fine motor games, logic visual stuff, etc. that way it can be break time for him if they are one on one, but also not too much free play. And also indoor sport type games that can double as therapy as well (beanbag toss, over door basketball, etc). Just having access to this stuff will require probably days of organization to rearrange parts of the house and rethink living areas, though. But to have it organized now so we can just take it out later on the fly will be easier than it sitting in a pile.

[SeekingHim77]

I plan for the year over the summer and break it down into terms. Then I make more specific plans for each week over the weekend.

[displace]

In the summer I lay out my year. How many chapters to cover in each subject - divide each subject (very loosely) to fill the year.

 

Then, also in the summer, I plan the first full month of school, in detail. After our first week of actual school, I plan weekly. So, while schooling week 2, I am planning week 5 or 6 & while schooling week 3, I am planning week 6 or 7...and so on.

 

Because I am planning that far ahead of time, I can adjust where needed. I've been doing it this way forever & it just works for me.

I think the only subject I could do this with would be OG, which would be great. Recipe for reading has the new phonics/spelling rule of the week, and I can figure out out sight words, get together readers, etc, as I know which thing we will be doing each week and I'm not rushing through OG. But with every other subject it's so variable! Math can be two days on a lesson, one day on a lesson, or skipping many lessons in a row or zipping through a few lessons in a day, or a day to review old concepts or whatever. Science and literature is the same. Some books take me a week to read aloud, some a couple days, some sit on the shelf, interrupted by other books. Science is so variable, usually many lessons in a day, then a scramble to find stuff for new experiments, or new documentaries, or books, then flying through another handful of lessons at once. Plus I'm likely adding Lego mechanics or robotics, and I haven't even seen that yet, but maybe it will be weekly or daily or who knows?

 

So many variables! Confusing but I guess I wouldn't have it any other way. Part of the reason to homeschool is to personalize what we can, as we need to. 😀

 

I guess I could always do an estimate of the other subjects, assuming maybe two science lessons per day, as well as math, that way it's prepared in case I need it and we can adjust as needed. Idk how to guess read aloud literature though, or read alouds in other subjects.

 

ETA details

[clementine]

I think the only subject I could do this with would be OG, which would be great. Recipe for reading has the new phonics/spelling rule of the week, and I can figure out out sight words, get together readers, etc, as I know which thing we will be doing each week and I'm not rushing through OG. But with every other subject it's so variable! Math can be two days on a lesson, one day on a lesson, or skipping many lessons in a row, or a day to review old concepts or whatever. Science and literature is the same. Some books take me a week to read aloud, some a couple days, some sit on the shelf, interrupted by other read aloud so. Science is so variable, usually many lessons in a day, then a scramble to find stuff for new experiments, or new documentaries, or books, then flying through another handful of lessons at once. Plus I'm likely adding Lego mechanics or robotics, and I haven't even seen that yet, but maybe it will be weekly or daily or who knows?

 

So many variables! Confusing but I guess I wouldn't have it any other way. Part of the reason to homeschool is to personalize what we can, as we need to. 😀

 

I think that's always the hard part with planning a new year....figuring out how much of each subject will get done per week.  

 

For English, we might do one unit every 2 weeks.  For Math we do one lesson per day, unless there is review or a test.  For History we do a section per day with a writing activity or art activity.  Etc.  

 

When I loosely lay out the year, I try to figure how far we will get each month ONLY.  Then as I plan the first month, I am very detailed & specific.

 

There are plenty of times when there are arrows in my planner to move an activity forward a day because we didn't get to it, but for the most part we stay pretty close to the plan.  

 

It's interesting for me to read how others plan because it's such an individual thing - but, I love it if I read a little gem here that makes my life a tiny bit easier :) 

[Heathermomster]

For grammar stage, I don't schedule history and science on the same day.  When DS attended private school, those subjects were never taught in the same week unless there was a read aloud that could count as one or the other AND a lit.  DD is squeezed into where I can fit her.  All of her subjects are open and go because of the demands made by her elder bro.  The only subject that requires pre-work are her copywork sheets and they take like 5 minutes to type up and print.  My laser printer is also a copier, so a science sheet may be copied quickly.  For read alouds, I use works in the public domain and download them via Voice Dream onto the iPad.  I do that in advance.  We own a Brock Magiscope, all kinds of building toys, science encyclopedias, and snap circuits.   My backyard is huge.  Girl plays as I help her brother.  I just cover Bible, the 3Rs, music, science or history, ballet on Friday, and swim of Saturday, and that is plenty.  

 

With DS, certain subjects are open and go and completed weekly by chapter.  Math is slow and I cannot plan because I never know when or where he will be stuck.  My presence is required for Algebra and chemistry.  I basically breathe math and adjust on the fly.  

 

You are eyeball deep in remediation.  Maybe work through the reading, get the math done, and work on activities to help the handwriting.  Try to combine subjects to cover two or more skills at once.  Socratic type questioning crosses all subjects simultaneously.  If you want to be purposeful with art, include an audio book from a literature selection and allow him to listen while he creates.  DD started drawing pictures narrations of the books as she listens, and they are pretty good.

 

Try to remember, you don't work for the curriculum.  Make it work for you.  Your little guy is a rising 2nd grader.  You will have 11 more years to cover what you want.  Reading and math and accommodated handwriting are the priorities.

[Heathermomster]

I wanted to add, I have never planned Singapore.  I must be like the worst homeschool parent in the world.  Anyhoo..

 

OP, I think you are doing great.  

 

Totally an aside, but a couple weeks back, DD started playing Scratch Jr. on the iPad because it was a free download and a CS friend recommended it.  DD loves it.  If your boy hasn't seen it, maybe check it out.

[PeterPan]

I agree with summer prepping of therapy resources. We now have some OT resources, we'll be adding in PT, and we still need to test for CAPD. I'm unsure about also starting home VT as well as maybe IM for the moment. Just having a list of all the therapies in place for a week, even if we rotate every few weeks will be great.

I find it hard to get done more than 2 therapies at a time.  I mean, knock yourself out, but sometimes there's just reality.  OT will make a better foundation for the VT, so you could do OT for say 6-9 months, then take a break for three months and do VT, then go back to OT.  You can work the metronome into your OT routine if you want.  Also therapies can be fatiguing to the dc.  It's ok to stagger them, sort of triaging...

[PeterPan]

I used to have a scheduled library day, with lists of requests I wanted, library returns and check outs. It's gotten lax over the summer, but I want to improve in the audiobook area. I tend to allow DS free reign of audiobooks for quiet time, but now I'm wanting to place a little more influence on those books, plus better audiobooks for the car.

 

I'm also biting the bullet and investing in a ton more therapy games. Visual special fine motor games, logic visual stuff, etc. that way it can be break time for him if they are one on one, but also not too much free play. And also indoor sport type games that can double as therapy as well (beanbag toss, over door basketball, etc). Just having access to this stuff will require probably days of organization to rearrange parts of the house and rethink living areas, though. But to have it organized now so we can just take it out later on the fly will be easier than it sitting in a pile.

You know we want to see lists of all this stuff you're finding!   :)

 

I love re-arranging, hehe.  I rearrange every year to a totally new set-up.  My dh says a woman's best friend is WHEELS and that all furniture should be put on it, lol.  

 

You know another good place to look for games is the thrift store.  I've gotten some wonderful ones there.  Our SLP just had a really good game she got at the thrift store, and she said they had had several copies.  I was totally bummed she didn't pick me up one!   :)

 

Adding: I haven't really decided how to handle audiobooks as specified school.  Right now he listens to them purely for pleasure.  I know I *could* create a list and say make sure you work through this book this week, but I haven't.  Little boys growing up and all that, sigh.  Mainly though I want to do it in a way (if I do it) that doesn't lose the magic of what he already does.  

 

 

[PeterPan]

Heather, does Scratch Jr require wifi?

[displace]

Great replies Hive! I'm unable to respond in detail but these are great perspectives!

 

I'll be had to start a new thread for "games used for therapy". I would love to put what I've found and I'm sure others have great resources. I will need to be at the computer though as most of my list Is on the computer or amazon

[Heathermomster]

Heather, does Scratch Jr require wifi?

P says no, but I will need to confirm that.

[Mom22ns]

I used to plan every weekend for the coming week. It took me an hour or two depending on how open and go the things I was using at the time were. Now I have moved to planning a semester at a time. I do a quick review at the end of the week to see if I need to do any shifting, but I liked losing the weekend planning job and feel more prepared overall. 

 

I did weekly planning when we first started homeschooling. It was a good fit then and left me with no regrets even though I changed styles later.