If you're a lesson planner, just how detailed are your plans?

[melissel]

For example, if you plan a week, do you just plan out the basic components and let the small details (say, the readalouds for a SOTW chapter) fall into place when the week arrives? Do you schedule specific copywork in advance, or do you pick something apropos on the fly?

 

If you do make very detailed plans, do you find that you often stick to them, or do they overwhelm you?

 

If you don't, do you find that not having the smaller details in place derails you or frees you?

 

TIA!

[2cents]

I have very detailed plans. I have a notebook of weekly plan sheets (a year or more) that I use to plot out beginning and ending dates of curriculum and breaks and vacations. Every week I take the weekly plan sheet for that week and using a spreadsheet program break it down to assignments for each day of the week. Each child has their own weekly schedule with assignment broken down daily. We have a cart that has bins for the subject areas and these hold the texts and paperwork the kids will use during the week. We stick to the schedule really well. If we get off it, then I re-do it so that we will get back on track. My schedule is such a comfort to me. It is one of the reasons I don't worry about yearly review. I know that sticking to the plan ensures we cover everything we need to and no frantic last minute test prep.

Edited August 23, 2009 by 2cents

[Tree House Academy]

I have a very detailed plan using an excel spreadsheet on the computer. I also use HOD, so I end up with really detail-oriented plans that I didn't even have to write. LOL I do stick to them pretty closely. If I stray too much, I tend to go back and pick it up somewhere else in a kind of "double up" fashion. Don't you love OCD? I do. LOL

[Garga]

Excel sheet, very detailed. I have page numbers of exactly what we'll read and which worksheet we'll do, etc. For example, here's what we'll be doing on Monday for history: (don't know why the font got bigger for this??)

 

History/Geography -30 minutes

Attila the Hun pg 302

Narrative

Review Questions

Draw a picture of Attila the Hun

Usborne: First Book of History--read 4 Roman pages

 

And here's an example of handwriting for Monday:

 

Handwriting -15 minutes

HWT--FOR E, TOO

pg 14: practice shaking hands.

Do something to the hand--peppermint

TG pg 36-38: posture

pg 40-41: grip

Practice picking up and dropping pencils--check for grip

TG pg 54, WB pg 7 (photocopy)

 

And every single subject is written out the same way. I'll know exactly what we're doing and where we're going with everything.

Edited August 23, 2009 by Garga

[melissel]

Excel sheet, very detailed. I have page numbers of exactly what we'll read and which worksheet we'll do, etc. For example, here's what we'll be doing on Monday for history: (don't know why the font got bigger for this??)

 

History/Geography -30 minutes

Attila the Hun pg 302

Narrative

Review Questions

Draw a picture of Attila the Hun

Usborne: First Book of History--read 4 Roman pages

 

And here's an example of handwriting for Monday:

 

Handwriting -15 minutes

HWT--FOR E, TOO

pg 14: practice shaking hands.

Do something to the hand--peppermint

TG pg 36-38: posture

pg 40-41: grip

Practice picking up and dropping pencils--check for grip

TG pg 54, WB pg 7 (photocopy)

 

And every single subject is written out the same way. I'll know exactly what we're doing and where we're going with everything.

 

Oh wow. I feel so inadequate right now :blink:

 

:lol: You're right, that is very detailed. Thank you for sharing that with me! I think I really need to go to that level, but I'm worried I'd be setting myself up for failure and then finding myself paralyzed because I can't keep up with my own expectations. Maybe I'll give myself 3-4 weeks on that level and then re-evaluate?

 

Time to get out all my books...

[Jean in CA]

When I was only homeschooling 1 or 2 children and was very new to homeschooling, I would write a schedule for myself, since the children could not read to follow a schedule yet. It would include the subject and suggested time to complete like: Phonics 10 minutes, Math: drill 4 facts for 5 minutes, Read-aloud: 30 minutes. They were completely dependent on me to help them with each subject. We didn't have babies underfoot and generally it was easy to just pick up from where we left off last time.

 

As the children got older however, and more babies arrived, I realized one thing that drove me crazy about homeschooling was not having a detailed schedule and having to figure out what page to do next, what chapter to read, or what problems to assign in math on a daily basis. I'd be changing a diaper and 9dd would come in and ask, what problems do I do in math? Simultaneously, 7ds who had completed short copywork assignment was running around chasing 2ds, both yelling.

 

 

I figured I needed to start giving them assignment sheets with detailed instructions so they could work independently on a large number of subjects. Since then I've printed out an assignment sheet each week for them, and things have gone more smoothly. It does take an hour for me to do this on a Friday or Sunday evening, but it makes the week go so much better.:)

 

In terms of feeling overwhelmed, I find it helps to not make rigid plans too far in advance. I come up with a general plan in each subject for 6 weeks. For instance SOTW Chapters 1-6. Then I'll come up with a specific M- F plan the weekend before we need it. Finding read-alouds from the library can be quite time-consuming if done on a weekly basis, so I try to make one library trip for 3-4 weeks worth of books.

 

Regarding copywork, what really worked well for us at your dd's ages: I would pre-select sentences and write them myself very neatly on the grade-appropriate lined paper. I would leave space under each word for the child to copy. If you do copywork, 4 x's a week, then make 4 sheets and put them in a folder for each child. Teach them to locate the folder each day and work on copywork independently. I even used post-its and labelled them Mon, Tues, etc. These were all baby steps we took to put the children in charge of area they were ready for. Overall they have thrived and like knowing what to do next.

Edited August 23, 2009 by Jean in CA

[Amy in CO]

I used to "try" to be very detailed with my scheduling, but I could never keep it going.

 

Now I just make semester sheets from Donna Young. There isn't alot of room for detail on them. I type them up with the assignments for each day for the year, and print 2 copies. One for me and one for the kids.

 

I have one sheet for each subject. And then usually just the page number, chapter, or lesson number is listed. And the children just know the routine for what is expected of them.

 

I has taken years for us to get to this point though. As the children have gotten older, it has definitely gotten easier for me. I don't know if that is because of practice on my part or maturity on theirs.;)

[Paisley Hedgehog]

nm

[2_girls_mommy]

For example, if you plan a week, do you just plan out the basic components and let the small details (say, the readalouds for a SOTW chapter) fall into place when the week arrives? Do you schedule specific copywork in advance, or do you pick something apropos on the fly?

Exactly. I plan the basics: Tues and Thurs. we do history time. I plan SOTW read sec. 1&2, do narrations, color sheet, map, and activity (some on Tues. some on Thurs.) But for the extra books we read them throughout the week. I pick them all up. Some I read out loud during bedtime reading or for storytime during the day. Some I read to myself and relay something interesting. Some my dd7 pick up and read to herself. Some my 5 yr old flips through and asks me about. I pick one for dd7's reading aloud time. I get an idea in my head once I have the books in hand for a week. But I do not write it all out.

 

If you do make very detailed plans, do you find that you often stick to them, or do they overwhelm you?

I don't know, I have never made those kind of plans on paper, very far in advance.

If you don't, do you find that not having the smaller details in place derails you or frees you?

Yes, I do. I may glance through stuff and decide that for tomorrow I want dd's copywork to be X. But I do not plan it further ahead, except for a certain day is the DAY we will be doing certain things. I would hate to feel behind because we didn't get to something on my list because we were wrapped up in something else. For us, if I have an experiment or project in mind, but everyone is caught up in the reading of books, or we have a friend stop by after her school or something, I just carry it over to the next time I have that subject planned or to the weekend or something.

[dragons in the flower bed]

2006-07: general plan

2007-08: purchased a strong plan

2008-09: on the fly, almost unschooling

2009-10: extreme planning

 

You can actually see the difference in this blog post showing my planner last year and my planner this year.

[ConnieB]

Oh wow. I feel so inadequate right now :blink:

 

:lol: You're right, that is very detailed. Thank you for sharing that with me! I think I really need to go to that level, but I'm worried I'd be setting myself up for failure and then finding myself paralyzed because I can't keep up with my own expectations. Maybe I'll give myself 3-4 weeks on that level and then re-evaluate?

 

Time to get out all my books...

 

I write detailed lesson plans also, but I do NOT specify what day anything is supposed to be done. I'd have all the handwriting plans written in one section, all the history in another and all the sciene in another. I combine music and art appreciation with History so that would also be on the history sheets. By having each subject on separate sheets I don't have to worry if we don't, for example, get to handwriting on Monday.....then I don't feel like we're behind or failing, because Monday still has activities left to do. Instead, I break each subject up into about what I think we can do in one session......and when we're ready to do that subject I just go to the first unchecked box and that's where we start. Most of the lessons are set up to take about 30-60 minutes but even if we cut short without reading the last book or doing the last activity, I don't worry because the next time we do that subject we just start up where we left off, whether it's the next day or the next week. If that subject is the only one we do that day, none of the other subjects are "behind" because they too will just pick up where we left off the last time.

 

Occasionally there will be something that I want to do on a particular calendar date so that goes on my calendar....and occasionally something in science will correlate with something happening in history, for example, so I'll make a note on both history and science sheets so that whichever one I get to first I'll know to talk about the correlation (or wait and talk about it when we get to the other subject, whichever is appropriate).

 

The best schedule is always going to be the one that works best for you and causes you the least anxiety, lol.....it took me several years of tweaking to come up with what works for us, so be patient with yourself and spend a bit of time evaluating why something isn't working for you before you decide you've failed. Most times a little tweaking will make it work again. I felt the same way with calendars and lesson planners....I never found a store bought one that worked for me....either it was missing things I wanted, or it had a lot of extras that just took up space for me and was never used.....so I started making my own. And we love it, we get the designs to pretty them up that we each like, no more generic sunsets, but now we have actual photos of sunsets WE saw, lots of characters for my younger ones without the expense of buying a licensed calendar, and lots of little reminders that are specific to our family (like this month we celebrated the anniversary of moving into this house....we made a house shaped cake and ate dinner in the living room sitting on the floor with boxes for individual tables, just like our first night living here, lol).

 

Good luck coming up with a system that works for you.....a planner/calendar that flows smoothly for you is like a brand new box of chocolate....heaven.

[workingmom]

last year in my first year i wrote down the page numbers for each subject the sunday before and found either i couldn't fit everything into the small space (i used a monthly calendar printed off i cal) or we'd be doing things ahead on different days. since my district doesn't even require all that i decided this year to copy the plans from those that already have it (SM, FLL, HWT) and in the monthly schedule write down for the week what chapter we're on so there is nothing per say daily in the monthly calendar just like what chapter or which book for each section i want to cover that week. then i have a separate weekly schedule which i've written in which subjects we do which day (tue science reading , friday science experiment) etc. then i know mentally which subjects we need to cover each day and basically do the next thing with a general outline to check off as we finish it. for those that don't have a premade lesson plan i just to sotw one chapter a week, science one chapter a week, and wordly wise one chapter every two weeks.

 

don't be so hard on yourself. when i first started thinking of hs many of the planners scared me into thinking i wouldn't be able to handle it and then i realized i don't have to document all that stuff for the state so make it easy on you and even though i love lists and plans, i hate erasing so this way is easier.

[caitlinsmom]

Oh wow. I feel so inadequate right now :blink:

 

:lol: You're right, that is very detailed. Thank you for sharing that with me! I think I really need to go to that level, but I'm worried I'd be setting myself up for failure and then finding myself paralyzed because I can't keep up with my own expectations. Maybe I'll give myself 3-4 weeks on that level and then re-evaluate?

 

Time to get out all my books...

 

 

:) I was VERY detailed our first term last year as I was new to homeschooling. I found that for me this was a hinderance rather than a help! I became so overwhelmed when something didn't get done at the right time that pretty soon I was dropping a whole subject because it was too planned out. I scaled back and while I am still detailed it is on a much more relaxed level.

 

Now our day looks more like:

Math page 34

fun math game with manipulatives

Reading lesson 64

review blends

 

And on and on. I have a defined outline of what we want to finish for the day but not such a strict schedual that I freak. :) To the person who said it first, OCD is great. LOL

[LanaTron]

I found this summer that having exact plans written out for each week, that we tended to actually get it all done. It frees us up to decide which days we are doing which subjects as the week progresses.

 

For the upcoming school year, though, we won't have as much flexibility. I am making even more detailed plans, because it gives my older kids more freedom to go ahead and get their work done. They like knowing exactly what they need to get done in the week. Also, we are going to be quite busy with outside activities, so I don't want to be trying to figure any of it out as we go.

[runamuk]

I plan a week at a time and it's pretty detailed. If I don't write down what we need to do, I'll either be scrambling to pull everything together or I'll forget.

 

For example, this week for History we're reading Chapter 1. On Monday, we'll read the first section, answer the questions, do a narration and read pages 184-191 in the supplemental history book. For our grammar lesson, we'll review, cover the lesson, do oral practice and she'll do written practice, sections A & B, all questions.

 

The only thing I don't plan is the time it will take to do the work. I know that can vary from day to day.

 

A big part of my planning is to put together a shelf of things we need for the week. That includes books or movies from the library, extra supplies for projects, and copies of tests or worksheets we will need.

[patchfire]

I get more detailed each year. The more detailed I can plan ahead, the better we are at actually getting our lessons completed.

 

For history, every week has a page, like this. I have tables laying out daily work for Latin & science. Every other subject has an excel spreadsheet. I match all the assignments up to a day of school (001-180), not a specific date. Every week, I transfer the assignments to dd's assignment book.

 

I'm not as specific with ds for his preK work. Everything we do together is essentially "do the next thing," but I do review the next day's lessons at night, to make sure I have any necessary materials. When I evaluate the first quarter of the year, if I feel like he's getting shortchanged, I'll make adjustments to how I plan for him.

[Shelly in the Country]

I plan out every detail. I plan for each day exactly what pages we'll be reading (read-aloud and independent). I plan out each and every assignment for each and every subject. I plan out memory work and copywork. For copywork, I made up copy sheets ahead of time, labeled them by week and filed them away. I don't know what I'd do without a file box. I have hanging folders for each subject. These are subdivided with folders for different resources/levels. I can pull out any worksheet needed for each day because they are pre-copied, labeled, and filed away. The only thing I haven't been planning out is what passage to use for narrations. I sort of wing this based on whatever we are reading that day. I do schedule in that we are doing A narration on a particular day though.

 

I have to do this or it doesn't get done. If I don't keep everything hyper-organized I have a personal tendency to put things off and let them slide.

 

So, each year when I buy our books, I do the entire year's schedule in advance in the Lesson Plan section of Homeschool Tracker. Once the school year is underway however, I revise as needed every 9 weeks. I stick pretty closely to my original plans though. I should also add, my two school-age kids need this structure, too. They are both "check listers". They need a visible list to be checked off as things are completed or it drives them batty trying to figure out how much school is left for the day. If I tried to make up assignment sheets on the fly each day, this would be a serious time hog at the beginning of each school day. By doing my planning ahead of time all I have to do is print out the assignment sheet from HST+.

[Garga]

Oh wow. I feel so inadequate right now :blink:

 

 

 

 

Oh no! Don't feel inadequate! Dang. I didn't want to make anyone feel bad. Ugh.

 

I only do this the week before. It's not like I have 180 days worth of detail like that--I only have 5 days of detail like that. And it's just my basic personality. If I don't have it written down I feel like I can't do things. I am a list person. I mean, if the laundry and dishes obviously need to be done, but I haven't written "Do Laundry" and "Do Dishes" on my to-do list, I'll sort of wander around the house trying to find things to do. Once I've written something on paper, it gives me purpose.

 

If you're not a list person, this won't help. This is just me. It's my own personality. It won't work for everyone. AND I type reeeally fast. I mean, really fast. So, filling in an excel sheet doesn't take me much time at all. I just posted it because you asked. I didn't intend to make anyone feel overwhelmed.

Edited August 23, 2009 by Garga

[Guest 4boys]

Right now I have a very basic plan. Before we began this summer I made up a summer schedule and determined which subjects I would cover on each day. So now, knowing what subject goes on which day, I write up Monday like this:

 

Studying God's Word --

 

math --

 

reading --

 

HWT --

 

Piano lesson --

 

When we get to that day and complete our work, I write down what each child accomplished. I also keep in mind how much of each subject we need to complete. For example, I know that my 7yo needs to do 5 pages of math per week in order to finish all the math units by the end of next year.

 

So far this is working for me and it's really simple. In a couple of weeks when we start our official schooling and add in all our subjects, then it'll be a bit more work. And someday when I have all four boys doing school work maybe I will have to be more detailed but for now I am liking this system.

[Suzannah]

I'm a list-maker. I experience a great deal of satisfaction checking items off a list. So I make somewhat detailed lesson plans for a my own purposes. But when my son was in 1st grade, I realized that he seemed to think I was just giving him more work ever time he finished something just to keep him working all day. He couldn't see the end in sight. So I started making assignment lists for him that were very general (Math, Reading, Lunch, Grammar, History) just so he had an idea of what to expect.

 

I don't really plan math, we just do the next lesson. But I do look through and make a note to myself of approximately where we should be at mid-year, Spring Break, etc. to keep us on track.

.

SOTW supplementary reading is chosen as we get to it. I try to look them over a week or two ahead of time so I can request any items I particularly want. But unless it's a significant work (Beowulf for instance) whatever we do is fine. Some weeks we read a bunch, sometimes nuthin'.

 

When I planned on paper I only made specific plans about 6-8 weeks in advance. With Homeschool Tracker I try to get the year planned out over the summer. It's not a big deal to push things back.

[mycalling]

I loosely plan. I have weeks numbers with a topic in each content subject for that week. I made index cards for each week with color-coded subjects listing topics. That is used for our research, which is how we do content subjects. They know now it's time for History, in blue is Mycenaean Collapse. They find videos and articles on the topic on Cosmeo and write a summary. We also use those plans for finding shows to DVR for following weeks. A week's Science topic/experiment example would be: Circulatory System / Dissect a sheep heart, Blood-typing kits.

 

I also tried making detailed lists of pages out of our reference books that pertained to each topic and wrote those on color-coded index cards, but that reading rarely got done and could have easily been researched by the kids and saved me wasting my time. I want my kids to learn to be more resourceful than me obsessively planning content subjects for them.

 

For LA, I have day by day plans I write a few weeks at a time right now. Last week we were finishing lessons using Writing Tales and a creative writing workbook. Those plans had pages and assignments. For instance, next week is:

 

M: Explain Novelist Club and prepare notebooks. Overview of writing a story.

T: Genre - List types and attributes. Kids pick favorite to write about and list 6 cool things to include in their stories.

Th: Noun and Verb. Diagram Subject/Verb sentences. Discuss S/V agreement. Assign 10 S/V sentences and check for S/V agreement.

F: Multiword subject. A group of ___ is singlular. Compound Subjects and Verbs. How to diagram compounds. Assign 5 compound sentences with diagramming.

Edited August 24, 2009 by MyCalling

[melissel]

Oh no! Don't feel inadequate! Dang. I didn't want to make anyone feel bad. Ugh.

 

I only do this the week before. It's not like I have 180 days worth of detail like that--I only have 5 days of detail like that. And it's just my basic personality. If I don't have it written down I feel like I can't do things. I am a list person. I mean, if the laundry and dishes obviously need to be done, but I haven't written "Do Laundry" and "Do Dishes" on my to-do list, I'll sort of wander around the house trying to find things to do. Once I've written something on paper, it gives me purpose.

 

If you're not a list person, this won't help. This is just me. It's my own personality. It won't work for everyone. AND I type reeeally fast. I mean, really fast. So, filling in an excel sheet doesn't take me much time at all. I just posted it because you asked. I didn't intend to make anyone feel overwhelmed.

 

No no! Don't feel bad! I was only kidding. I'm actually exactly like you. My problem is that I work 30 hours a week, and I'm trying to fit too many things into a small number of available hours. I NEED to be that detailed. You should see the spreadsheet I did today detailing our schedule starting in the fall (new preschool schedule, my mom is coming one fewer day per week, the girls are going to a friend's house two mornings, etc.). To anyone not like us, it's laughable. Me? When it was finished, I breathed a huge sigh of relief :lol: Suddenly, everything felt under control!

 

I truly was only joking. I meant it when I said I really do need to plan to that level of detail. Otherwise, you're right. I'm wandering around wondering which of the SOTW readalouds we actually own because I never put the library copies on hold, etc. What you posted was actually incredibly helpful to me. Thanks for that!

[kalanamak]

I plan out the months, get my books together month by month on a couple of shelves, chart my progress daily, check my progress mid month and just before the last weekend of the month, and review what books I haven't gotten to yet. That is history and science. (Which we do a lot of on the weekends).

 

For math, reading and grammar/spelling, we open up where we left off and keep chugging. Around March, I check to see if he is up to grade level, and see if I have to jettison anything to concentrate on that.

 

Art and music are the chinks I stick in the cracks in the wall.