How do you organize your lesson plans..more

[newhsmommy]

I guess it is that time again..

This year I have 2 students home and was curious as how other prople work their lesson plans? Last year, I made a template on Word w/the days of the week across and subjects along the sides. Weekly I filled out what were were going to work on and then pop it into DD portfolio. I was wondering if I should just buy a lesson book this year for both kids or do something similar as to last year? Maybe make my own more detailed in the subject area and have my middle schooler check off that subject when finished?

LONG way of asking what do you do??

 

Thanks so much!

[nukeswife]

I use HST+, it makes it easy to print out what we're doing each week. I spend about 2 weeks in the summer entering all of our curriclua into lesson plans and then just submit them to the assignment grid weekly. I can then print out either a daily task list for older ds (which has a check box for him to mark what he's done) or an assignment calendar or list for myself for my kids.

[Another Lynn]

I have to admit I am tempted by some of the beautiful planners discussed here recently (one was Well Planned Day, I think, the other was just a calendar from SCM called A Thinking Love). They look so good!

 

But, honestly, I end up doing the same thing you (op) do, except I do it in excel. Boring, but easy to change - and we can print a new one (if lost) or a clean one (if over-doodled) anytime. :001_smile:

[Heather in OK]

I have a 3-ring binder ("My Brain") that I keep my planner in. I have a couple different things which is probably redundant but it works for me.

 

In Excel I made pages where I can see the year's plan for Bible Study, History, Geography, Art, and Science since those are the only things I plan the entire year for. That way I can look at it, with everything all laid out, and know what's coming up so I can gather materials and library books.

 

Then I have another Excel-made planner that is hung up in our school area. It has the days of the week along the top and the subjects along the left side. From the pages I mentioned above I fill this one in and the girls can see what we're doing each week.

 

Each of the girls have an assignment page for their individual book work. I fill those in each Sunday afternoon. They are responsible for completing the week's assignments and I don't have to answer, "What am I supposed to do today??" a million times.

[Brooke3193]

Just finished mine using excel. I have a "master" plan as my first sheet...this lists the (general) time (down the side) and day (across the top) we'll do each subject during a typical week.

 

I copied the master onto 38 more sheets. Each of these sheets will be a week. Now I just have to type "RS lesson 5" over the box that currently says "math," for example.

 

Not fancy and I'm new to this so I could be doing it all wrong. But, it's free, easy, and I like it (so far).

[mom2denj]

I was using The Homeschool Tracker, but it seemed to take too much time to type everything in. So for this year I am using a planner. I am only planning for 2 weeks at a time and I am using workboxes. This has helped me tremendously to stay organized! I may switck back to HT for the high school years though. Good Luck!!

[bbsweetpea]

I use Homeschool Skedtrack (online and free) for ours. I LOVE it so far. I usually enter a few weeks or a month at a time (due to time) and if we get behind or ahead I adjust it online. Pretty easy. The only thing I don't like is that the lowest "grade" is Kinder and I don't really put my kids at a grade level. I just put my youngest as a kinder (she just does play work), my son as a kinder and my oldest as 1st grade so I could enter work into it.

 

[Julieofsardis]

Well, I do a little different than all of these. I use a database instead of excel. I just seem to be able to do better this way. I plan by the week and by the day, then I create a report that puts each week on an individual sheet with the days across the top. I can sort things by subject, week, or general category like language arts. I've done this for about 4 years now and I love the way it works.

[mama25angels]

I use HST+, it makes it easy to print out what we're doing each week. I spend about 2 weeks in the summer entering all of our curriclua into lesson plans and then just submit them to the assignment grid weekly. I can then print out either a daily task list for older ds (which has a check box for him to mark what he's done) or an assignment calendar or list for myself for my kids.

 

 

this is what I do!!!

[LanaTron]

The current summer term is the first time I have ever made lesson plans. I essentially planned out the 10 weeks and made a checklist in a chart that has the weeks going down the side, the subjects across the top of the columns. I just listed all the work for the week in each box, for them to check off as they do it. I also made a master sheet that has a chart telling each child which days they do which subject.

 

For the school year that is starting in September (for us), I am using the subject planner from Donna Young's website, at least for my middle schoolers. Only, I'm using it slightly differently than she recommends. I do have one planner for "English," one for "Math, Logic, Latin, and French," and one for "Science and Geography." Across the top of the columns I list the main text or subject. For example, on the English page, I have columns for Lightning Lit 7, Writing Strands 3, Hake Grammar, Megawords 4, and Poetry Memorization. On the math page, I have a columns for Life of Fred, Singapore Math 6B, Art of Argument, Latin Prep 2, and Learnables French. The header for each row is just a number, 1-9, for the week of the term. In the box, I put the week's assignments. So, for Life of Fred, Week 1, I have "Lesson 1, Lesson 2, Lesson 3," in a list.

 

I am about halfway done with my 8th grader...then I have three more dc to plan.:willy_nilly: I am deciding that I don't really like all this planning; I much prefer the "do the next thing" way. I think, however, it will make for a smoother school year to do all this, especially since I am combining curricula/resources in a few subjects.

[Narrow Gate Academy]

For myself, I use the semester planner at donnayoung.org to fill in assignments for subjects like math, grammar, spelling, etc. For plans I do myself (like history), I just use tables in Word. I put it all together in a binder.

 

Each week I print blank checksheets for the kids and pencil in their assignments from my planner. This way I can erase and make changes if need be.