S/O scheduling thread-how do you plan in advance but still keep it flexible?

[HappyGrace]

I want to plan out our next 18 wks to make sure we hit goals by the end of the year.

 

But I usually just write in what we've done after we've done it because a lot of our stuff (math, etc.) is just do-the-next-thing. And we do history by topic of the week on the VP card, etc.

 

Plus, and this is the biggest problem, when I try to do a schedule like this:

http://triviumacademy.blogspot.com/2007/07/year-at-glance.html

which is what I want to do for the next 18 weeks, it never works out because if I schedule 5 Singapore lessons for a week, it never fails that he will do seven lessons or need to do just three because they're hard. Or he will do six lessons in ETC because he's having fun with it that day. Or we'll have our day scheduled, and be reading Paddle to the Sea and it talks about Niagara Falls, so we take a huge rabbit trail to learning all about Niagara Falls on the internet for an hour and a half!

 

I want our days to be fluid like this to take advantage of this type of thing. So it has made me NOT want to do planning in advance, but then I feel like we don't finish up things, or are very uneven in what we are covering. How do you schedule in advance, but still keep it fluid, and keep the learning across subjects more even? I am good about not being a slave to curriculum, but at the same time I don't want to not finish curriculum on a regular basis, esp. math, etc.

[Halcyon]

lately, i have simply been writing it what we accomplish in each subject. It works better for me--less stress. However, every couple of weeks I peruse my handwritten grids and confirm that we are moving along at a nice pace. I want to finish certain things by July. I do find that at my son's age (7), setting an amount of time for each subject, rather than a certain number of pages in a workbook (for example) works better. And some subjects in, say, math, my son 'gets' very quickly (let's say the text spends 4 lessons on measurements of all kind,and my son can do all of them quite quickly, but then he encounters some tricky word problems that he needs more time on...it all seems to balance out)

 

With this method, we're on track to complete what we'd like to complete, without the stress of following a schedule.

[HappyGrace]

This is how we've always done it, but I feel it is not giving me enough accountability. Plus when I set a time limit, esp with ds7, and see he is past the point he can concentrate even though the time is not up yet, it defeats the purpose of setting the time limit, if that makes sense?!

 

Floridamama-can you explain what you put on your handwritten grid that helps you stay on track?

[Halcyon]

I can scan a copy of last weeks schedule if you'd like to see it! will need a couple of minutes though. :)

[HappyGrace]

Are you saying you do a handwritten grid AHEAD of time of what you PLAN to accomplish, or that the handwritten grid is what you already accomplished?

 

Because I already do the second one! I need help with how to set up a flexible yet solid plan in advance somehow!

 

(Thanks for offering to scan it though-you're the best! :))

[Halcyon]

okay, well I scanned it anyway :tongue_smilie: Perhaps it will help someone else :)

[patchfire]

We are required to "do school" for 180 days. Since that divides into 36 weeks, I plan for either 180 days or 36 weeks. In almost every subject, I actually plan up to "day 170" or "week 35" or "week 34." Everything is by day or week number, though. I have a separate spreadsheet that lines up dates to day number, but that is easily changed or moved around. So, if we go faster - I just highlight what was done, and go from there. If it's slower, again, just highlight was what was done. I use those planning spreadsheets to plan out the week's assignments.

[TracyP]

Have you tried doing a subject planner Donna Young style? I plan on doing this next year so I don't know how it will work in practice but it sounds good.

http://www.donnayoung.org/forms/planners/term.htm She says to plan out your subjects on a subject planner and then transfer them into your weekly planner one week at a time. That way if something does get out of sync it doesn't throw the whole schedule off.

[MamaT]

I spend several weeks in the summer planning out 36 weeks. I then schedule out the daily work for each child. Everything written down for that week gets done THAT week. I am pretty rigid about keeping up with my schedule. I know that wouldn't work for everyone, but it keeps me sane and everyone knows exactly what they have to do each day.

[Laurel]

I have experienced the same problem. I like to be an obsessive planner, but I get frustrated when I am not "on schedule" and hate feeling behind, and yet I want the flexibility that homeschooling allows to go on those rabbit trails, and enjoy them, without worrying about what I had originally planned.

 

I use HST+. (The Plus version is a necessity for me because of the lesson plan feature.) Each subject or text has its own lesson plan that I have created, which gives me our progression, and lets me see at a glance how many days we have left in that particular subject/book. At the beginning of each week, I input the actual assignments, allowing me to reschedule lessons that we didn't get to the previous week, or adjust plans if we got through more than scheduled (which really only ever happens with math). Every few weeks, I highlight all the assignments in a subject, and begin to input them (but I just cancel it before it makes the assignments), so I can get an idea of where we are and how much longer the subject may take us. If I think we are getting off-track a bit, that's the subject that I prioritize for the next few weeks. (This is generally more for content subjects. We are pretty consistent with skill subjects, and just keep trucking along.)

[JoyfulMama]

...

I want our days to be fluid like this to take advantage of this type of thing. So it has made me NOT want to do planning in advance, but then I feel like we don't finish up things, or are very uneven in what we are covering. How do you schedule in advance, but still keep it fluid, and keep the learning across subjects more even? I am good about not being a slave to curriculum, but at the same time I don't want to not finish curriculum on a regular basis, esp. math, etc.

 

I'm hearing goals:

1) You want some sort of plan as to how you might accomplish your goals for 18 weeks. 2) You want flexibility to be able to accomodate needs/interests.

Then there are struggles:

1) Keep learning across subjects more even. 2) Be able to complete curriculum without being a slave to it.

 

First, I don't know that you necessarily have to keep the learning across subjects even. I think that you are able to go at different speeds through different subject. I think that the flexibility of accomodating needs and interests lends itself to not necessarily focusing on the same amount of each subject every week or day.

So maybe you want to set up weekly or biweekly or monthly goals for each subject, recognizing that every week may not look the same. Some weeks you might fly through math or science, and others you might fly through language arts.

This is where the quarter planner that was linked above can come in handy. You can plan out each subject individually, without regard to other subjects. Progress through each subject, having goals marked somewhere for where you'd like to hopefully be by certain dates. And when you get to that date, evaluate where you are. Not necessarily say "What did we do wrong/right?" but more of "What worked/didn't work?" And make adjustments for the next goal date as neccesary. Maybe you weren't realistic about how many rabbit trails you take off on for science, and only got 2/3 toward your goal. So adjust - you either need to adjust your expectations for the next goal or decide you need to take fewer rabbit trails. (Me - I'd adjust my goal, as I so enjoy rabbit trails!)

Maybe you got 12 more boxes completed in math than you thought you would. Again, see if you want to adjust your next goal or not.

If it's a non-favorite subject, and that's why it's not getting done, what can be done differently - change the time you focus on it? Decide that it will only be completed while enjoying hot cocoa (or some other treat you love)? Alter the method of using the books/knowledge source? More oral, less written, or make supplies easier to get out?

 

Well... now that this has become another book...

I do something similar to the DY quarter planner, but use plain old filler paper. I use one page (or more) for each subject, and PENCIL. Very important, as then I can change things and it doesn't look like I am behind or ahead. :D

[johnandtinagilbert]

I don't plan the stuff that is clear b/c it's the next assignment. I will glance at the assignment and say, "Do 2 exercises today." That's enough of those things.

 

The stuff that comes laid out for me (Noeo, Phonics Road) I follow along their schedule and as we finish, I just place a check mark in pencil.

 

As for things I need to plan, I have designed a general schedule for the older gang that is day specific. I.e. Vocab Tues., Geography Monday, etc. If we miss a day, it just moves on down the line, but since the schedule follows the same pattern, I don't have to make corrections, I just don't write the days. I have a spiral notebook with dates written on the top, then I jot down (weekly) what I plan to do over the next week. This works though, b/c I already have all the copying, book selection, etc. finished. I have to do those things, so I get them ready, just not date labeled.

 

Did any of this make sense? I think I should go to bed. I'm getting tired!

 

I also have a simple schedule with subjects and a bullet box for each child. As we meet for our daily meetings, or as I finish with the dc, I check the box complete. This way, I'm not forgetting anything and I have a weekly evaluation of what we've accomplished.

Edited February 12, 2010 by johnandtinagilbert
forgotr something

[NancyNellen]

Something that helped me schedule Singapore Math:

 

Go through the book you are working on. Check the exercise length and difficulty and then fill an Excel spreadsheet or Word table with the order and number of assignments. For instance, my Singapore Math 6B spreadsheet reads:

 

text & ex. 1 + 2

text & ex. 3

Practice 1A (text)

text & ex. 4

text & ex. 5 + 6

etc.

 

This helps me to know the appropriate amount to schedule for him in a week. I fill in what he is to do on his assignment sheet, and he does it. I schedule a week's worth at a time. At the end of the week I cross off what he has done on my spreadsheet and schedule the next week's work. This way I have a great visual of how much is left to complete.

 

HTH,

[HappyGrace]

Reading these responses has GREATLY helped to get my creative juices flowing on how to do this. I think a combo of many of the above could work.

 

After reading the posts, I'm picturing looking ahead in each subject and writing down the big picture of where I'd like to be in 18 wks using the term planner, and then plotting out actual lesson plans (kind of like Nancy mentioned) on another paper, maybe six weeks at at time or so ahead of time. Then they are there for me to get to and transfer the day's work to my weekly record as we do them. Maybe I'd do two whole days' worth off my lesson planning sheets one day-just write that in on my weekly for that day after we do it.

 

So that way I'm still writing the day on my weekly planner afterward (to keep as my record of what we accomplished each day), but I have my lesson plans set up ahead of time to use as fodder for what to do each day, and I can just move ahead in my lesson plans at whatever rate feels comfortable, but try to set at least a minimum amount to accomplish off it each day.

 

And I am agreeing with Joyful Mama to not worry about being even, as long as I maybe hit some minimums, at least.

 

(Thanks to Florida Mama for the scan-this is almost EXACTLY what my weekly planner pages look like!)

[Halcyon]

hehe-well, at least someone does it like you :)

[Melissa B]

I spend specific amounts of time on each subject every day so the pre-planned schedules were not working for us either. Now we use bar graphs. I decide where I want to be in each subject at the end of a term (15 weeks for us) and I make a bar graph for each subject broken down into segments. For example - I want to get through ten lessons in the science text so I write the name of the science text at the bottom of a graph with the numbers 1-10, a number in each square (using a spreadsheet.) If I want to get through 30 lessons in history I write the name of the program at the bottom of the bar graph and the numbers 1-30, one number per box, etc. So each child has approximately 15-20 bar graphs all printed on a one page spreadsheet at the beginning of each term. As they finish each lesson they color in a square. The kids look over the graphs daily and I check them each week. We can quickly see if we are keeping up in each of the classes. We are a very visual family, so we do each graph in a different color and keep them very neat so we enjoy looking at them. The kids get very competitive (in a fun way) about finishing a bar graph before a sibling. Each time a graph is completed a shiny star sticker is put at the top to signify its completion and the time normally dedicated to that class can then be spent catching up in another subject. This has truly been one of my best ideas ever. I still love watching the colored graphs grow through the 15 week period and being able to quickly see right where we are in each class without having to schedule ahead of time. And my dds 10 and 12 still get just as much satisfaction as their younger siblings out of the shiny stars at the end of their graphs. :)

[Guest Alte Veste Academy]

okay, well I scanned it anyway :tongue_smilie: Perhaps it will help someone else :)

 

It helped me. Thanks! It's a perfect compromise between my beautiful but ridiculously OCD first attempt at a daily schedule and just flying by the seat of my pants. :)

[cin]

I'm impresssed. I don't schedule. I just do the next page, chapter or assigment. And when we finish the books, we're done. :D If we pass the tests at the end of the year, I'm happy.

 

(most of our books have 36 chapters, or 180 assigment type of things, so we get all the work done. It may take a few more or less days, but it is 180 days worth of work).

[Halcyon]

It helped me. Thanks! It's a perfect compromise between my beautiful but ridiculously OCD first attempt at a daily schedule and just flying by the seat of my pants. :)

 

 

Re your 'ridiculously ocd attempt'--we had that too!!! All typed up, looking pretty, different colors for different subjects...ooooh, it looked nice.

 

But then we couldn't do it all. :tongue_smilie: Nice pretty schedule, out the window. :chillpill: