I've been looking at some areas that we need to "shore up" before I have an official high schooler. Working with her today on some math things, I realized that she KNOWS mnemonics but just won't write them on her paper to help her. Why? I have no idea. She says she didn't think she was allowed to... that maybe that was cheating. Clearly, it's NOT if you write it when you are given a test. Clearly, it's not if you write it at the top of your homework paper which BY THE WAY is straight out of the book. I guess it never dawned on her that she could refer back to the lesson. It's mindboggling to me. But then I realized that she is a very different student than I am. I naturally do things that are taught to you in a Study Skills type program. She doesn't. (Look at titles, subtiles, bolded words, graphics, flip through to see how long the lesson is, etc.) So how do YOU teach this to your students? And then I realized that she knows how to write a keyword outline, but NEVER takes notes as she reads unless it is a specific outline task. And then she only knows IEW keyword outline process. So maybe I should put "Read and OUTLINE" on her assignment list. She also struggles with time management. I know a certain amount is normal. I was a procrastinator in public school too. But I would like to get her to a point that I can say "This week xyz needs done" and not spoon feed her the daily breakdown. I also need to figure out a reasonable consequence when expectations aren't met. For various reasons, our homeschooling as been a little more relaxed than I'm comfortable with and we nee to get back on track. Soooooooooo... what does this process look like in your homeschool?

I am considering dividing up the coming year's worth of lesson plans by week. To keep everything organized, I'd like to use a filing system. Does anyone have experience using such a method? What are the pros and cons? If you use such a system, do you have more than one child? If so, how do you divide among the children? What type of filing box or cabinet do you use? Any other advice? Thanks, Cindy

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I am thinking about getting a mac. For those of you who are using the online version of HST, how is it working out? If you moved from HST+ to the online version, are there any features that are not part of the online version that you miss from HST+? Are there any features in the online version not included in plus? Have you had any issues accessing the online version when you need to do so? Have they had any server issues? Thanks

Apart from having a general idea of what you’ll accomplish for a year, how do you do your lesson planning? Do you plan your days down to the minute, or do you play each day by ear? And how has your style of planning changed over the years? Poll to follow (if I get it right this time!)

I'm wondering how far people go when planning out the new school year. Previously I have chosen and collected the curriculum and I sit down once a week to plan out what's going to happen in the upcoming week. This approach is not working for my daughter or I. We are behind in a number of subjects which has interrupted a planned summer-long break. I have sat down with a monthly calendar and mapped out what should be done when (i.e., Monday new SOTW ch, WWS, SM, etc). Reading what other people do it sounds like they plan out the whole year in advance, day by day what page in each subject will be done along with holidays and the like. So how do you plan out a new school year? What do you use to do it with? Can you hand your kids a sheet of assignments for a day and have said child get them all done?

I'm beginning my first year of homeschooling in Aug and plan to do 4-day weeks year round with a couple of weeks off here and there. I have K and 2nd graders. My question is.... how do you divide up the year's worth of material (mostly 32 to 40 weeks) across the entire year. I "should" end up with about 46 teaching weeks. How do I stretch out the material or should I? Maybe I should plug along and get follow-on levels when current levels are completed? Or should I supplement with other materials to stretch it out? Or should I skip some weeks (maybe around major holidays)? TIA, Brandi

Im going back in forth between curric like Galloping The Globe, Elemental Science, etc. We already have our main subjects planned--but for Science, History, etc I need advice on putting together your own lesson plans for your kindergartener. I originally wanted to buy a curric so that I wouldnt be able to mess anything up, or slack off.. but now Im thinking if I could plan ahead for these lessons this summer, it would sure save some $ to not have to purchase additional curric! So for fun subjects/topics.. what all do you include in your plans? Also how long do you typically spend on a subject? Any advice is appreciated!! :confused:

Part of the draw of a box curriculum is the lesson plans are all done for you! I'm just finding a hard time choosing a box that has exactly what I want. Lesson planning everything is so daunting for me, as I'm not a naturally born organized. Would love some tips and resources to walk me through the process. Actually, I'd like to take all the materials I want to use and hire someone to break it down and lay it all out for me for the year. :tongue_smilie:

I just ran across this resource on the Homeschool Classifieds website and thought of those of you on the boards that are looking for templates for your planner. They have a weekly assignment sheet, one-page and multi-page calendars, sequential weeks of numbered days lesson plan page, Bible reading chart, etc. Just very simple, but I thought it might be useful to some. Blessings, Lucinda

Hello, My son will be starting 1st grade in August, and I still need to plan out everything. I seem to be overwhelmed right now as how to begin my planning for his school year. Last year was our first year homeschooling with Kindergarten. I simply used HOD and added whatever I wanted to it each day. I didn't put too much thought into it as HOD was fairly planned out already. This year I have chosen several different things instead of just one program. I would love to plan out the year so that I know each week what we are learning and supposed to be looking at. How do I do that??? I have a planner. Do I just look at each subject, decide what topic or chapter we will hit that week and go from there? Do I look at the standards to make sure I am teaching my son everything he is supposed to know??? Just to give a little more information, we are doing ... *Rod and Staff Math *Rod and Staff Spelling *Hooked on Phonics 1st grade *Draw Write Now (Books 1 & 2) *A Reason for Handwriting A *1st Grade Writing Practice (gentle intro to nouns, verbs, adj., etc...) *American Pioneers & Patriots for History *Scholastic Maps workbook *Science will consist of learning about the body & space, plus we will do little experiments here and there, and also plant a garden *May do a nature journal too *Bible *Art and Music (no specific thing, just being creative with these areas) *LOTS of reading books, both my son reading out loud and me reading to him and having him tell me about what we are reading later How do I schedule these things each week??? How do I know that I am doing everything he needs and teaching him correctly? I was surprised just this past weekend because my son was talking about Super Mario to a friend of mine (who is a kindergarten teacher in the public schools). Well, the friend was talking to my son and saying "well, Mario is Italian right?". My son just stood there saying "what?". I asked my friend if they really were already teaching different nationalities and cultures to their five year olds right now, and she said yes. That shocked me! I didn't know that my five year old should know those differences between people yet! :001_huh: I felt that I had really left out something important that I should have taught him last year. Please give me any guidance possible in helping me to plan out my sons' first grade year. I want to plan out each week, but don't know how. Should it be by themes, subjects, chapters, etc.....???? I just don't know. :confused: Help! Thanks so much in advance, and have a wonderful day! :001_smile:

It's a retelling for children. My library has it, and I'm assigning it to my rising fifth grader. But I don't have it in yet, and I want to get these lesson plans made. If anyone can tell me the number of chapters (including prologue and afterword if there is one), I'd greatly appreciate it!

What is your favorite resource for planning? Do you have a favorite planning book that you use? I think I would prefer something on paper vs. computer. I think part of the reason I don't like open and go curriculums is because they are "open and go". I don't know what is coming next unless I sit down and read through it myself before doing it with the children. Thus, partly defeating the "open and go" of it :). Does that make sense to anyone???