Planners?

[susankenny]

How do you plan out your subjects? What do you use?

 

I am looking at next year, and although "planning" should be relatively simple - it isn't! I have everything purchased, but breaking it down into assignments is proving to be a little difficult. Do you plan for the year...6 weeks? 12 weeks? Please help me.

 

Thank you,

Susan

[Mrs Mungo]

I plan a basic outline for the year. However, I only lay out assignments a week at a time. Too much life happens to plan out more than that! :)

[hillfarm]

I love this plan book ( http://www.amazon.com/Homeschool-Teachers-School-Specialty-Publishing/dp/0764706071/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1273266333&sr=8-1 ). I bought enough to last through elementary school and am now planning to buy enough to last on through high school!

 

I sit down at the beginning of the school year and determine approximately how much I need to get done in each subject each month/week, but I don't write it in the plan book until a week or two prior to teaching the material. Then as we cover the material, I highlight that which we have completed, adding extra as necessary.

 

I have an irrational fear that the laws may change and some day I might have to "prove" that we were actually doing school. These plan books allow me to say, "On the morning of April 5, 2006, we covered page 34 in our Rod and Staff English curriculum." Or not, as the case may be...:D.

[johnandtinagilbert]

First I research what materials we'll need and get them. Most everything we need is already written to be used in the typical 180 day school year, so I don't have to worry too much about lesson break downs. From here, I think I less plan and more prepare.

 

I print and make copies for things I know we'll use, TOG maps, student pages, lit pages, reading lists, evaluations etc. Any lesson plans for the kids to follow (like Donna Youngs Biology plan that lays everything out for us). I think this summer I will probably add vocabulary to our online flashcards too, so I don't have to bother during next school year, too. I like to have our dailys ready, no matter when we get to the dailys :)

 

I order books 2-3 weeks ahead of time from the library.

 

I watch DVDs from the programs I use over the summer and take notes so when its school time, I can grab and go. The topic is not brand new and I take notes that will have me ready in 5 min.

 

I do decide what our days off will be and mark them on a calendar.

 

I'll read ahead for high school lit. and history for familiarity, but not so much for notes. This I'll do as my "homework" throughout the school year.

 

I don't divide lessons in math, grammar, and write them out b/c for us, they're all "do the next lesson." I give myself an idea of the half way point and note it on the calendar for reference.

 

Every Monday I fill in the "holes" in my planner by jotting down what days I'll read what books to the dc. I usually do this for 2 weeks time. I also note what the big kids have to do for their subjects (Math: 81, Scie wk 16 day 2), extracurrics, etc. I've found I prefer installments of this information over running lists or a constantly changing book b/c I entered too far ahead (that drives me nuts). By the months end it now moves from planner to a record of our days.

Edited May 7, 2010 by johnandtinagilbert

[Guest SimplyClassical]

This is my planner: http://www.levenger.com/PAGETEMPLATES/PRODUCT/Product.asp?Params=Category=16-901|Level=2-3|pageid=5817

 

At the beginning of the year I plan our schedule and figure out basically when we need to be starting each subject. (We school year-round - 4 weeks on and one week off - so we have about ten "sections" each year.) Usually the last section is left free (in case we need more time to complete anything) and the first section is usually lighter, starting some subjects later. I then plan out six to seven weeks at a time in my planner. I have a 3x5 card with a list of each day of the week to write books that we read together (like SOTW), a 3x5 card for reminders, a card for notes, and a card for each child. I can keep track of all the schoolwork that is done for the week on each card (my older two at 10 and 12 are keeping track of their own work completed each day). These individual cards are great to plan out what literature book we will be reading each week, to write notes on when an oral report or paper is due, and to list what they still need to complete towards the end of the week. I file the 3x5 cards chronologically in a card file when we are done with them. This system really works for me because each 3x5 card is a different color (I am a visual person).

 

Planning each subject is easy for me because it is just the next lesson or chapter in the book (for most subjects). On the rare occasions that I have actually written out a plan for a week or two, life gets in the way and it all has to be crossed out, so I have learned to write it down as we go with a general plan in my mind (complete a chapter a week or four lessons a week which I worked out at the beginning of the year). Around the beginning of the calendar year (January) I try to double check where we are and make sure we will finish when I had planned, that way we can either speed up or possibly slow down our current pace.

 

Good luck finding a system that works for you!

[Mom_Abear]

I plan during the summer when I'm excited about what all we'll be studying the next year. If I planned just a few weeks at a time, I'd probably cut out stuff because I was tired during the middle of the year - especially here at the end! :)

 

I plan for 36 "weeks" so I can take off when I want and just pick up the next "week."

 

For open and go curricula, I just divide by 36 to see if I need to do three or four lessons a week. I don't write these in my plan book until after I do them (for record-keeping) so that I can feel free to take field trips, etc., knowing that I do need to "keep up" so many lessons a week to finish in 36 weeks.

 

For history and science, I plan each subject for two times a "week" for 36 weeks. Here's a blog post I recently posted about how I plan out our history and science.

 

I've yet to find a lesson-planner I like, so I made my own in excel. That way, spelling ("Lesson 13 Pretest") gets a series of four small boxes for the week and history and science each get a half of a page! ;)

 

Hope this helps!

[Amy Jo]

This is my planner: http://www.levenger.com/PAGETEMPLATES/PRODUCT/Product.asp?Params=Category=16-901|Level=2-3|pageid=5817

 

NOOOOOOOOO! I'm trying to move on from the Circa concept since I decided I couldn't afford the hole punch ($69 :ohmy:). Now I'm re-thinking... again. I really want a bound book to work, but I know I would change it. And my local Staples sells the basic system...

 

Amy, the compulsive planner who switches planning systems at least monthly.

[Aletheia Academy]

I spend some time before each school year creating a detailed subject-by-subject list of what we would like to accomplish. I plan for 3 12-week terms (that include @ 2 weeks off in each term) and 1 8-week term (summer). This is my broad plan, sort of a checklist.

 

Then each day we have school, I record in an inexpensive planner what we actually accomplished that day with page numbers, chapter numbers, etc. For the 3 R's, I simply put one foot in front of the other, keeping an eye on that broad plan. For the other subjects, I do my best to stay on track but don't stress out if it doesn't work out exactly as planned.

[Cleopatra]

I plan each subject separately into a weekly format; the more difficult subjects I will even plan daily. I plan in detail in the late spring/early summer so I do not have to think too much when school begins and I can use my brain power on other things. I do not stress if I am not right on schedule as something usually intrudes to interfere with the best laid plans. :001_smile: I simply highlight off each week as we cover it. Most of the time we don't finish everything I've planned but I find it keeps me on track.

[2cents]

I plan for the year mostly because we hs year-round. I have a long term masterplan that I keep for up to 1.5 yrs in advance and from that I break it down weekly and that weekly plan is on a spreadsheet that I print out for the corkboard for each child. They can check off what they have done and it gives me the security that we will meet our goals and it is also easy to tweek if we need time off. I have a notebook that has copies of all of our weekly sheets so I have a running record throughout the years. I love planning, it keeps me sane. :)

[KJsMom]

I picked up a CLASS lesson planner from CLE for $3 at a book sale. It has a guide for planning your school year.

This is their example:

Full year = 52 weeks

Less

Summer break 8 weeks

Easter/Spring Break 1 week

Ten Holidays, sick days 2 weeks

Total 12 weeks

Remaining weeks for your school year 40

 

Divide the number of pages by 40 (or whatever you come up with) to get an approximate weekly goal for each book.

 

This sounds reasonable to me. I have always had a hard time planning unless it is a well laid out curriculum, and I hope this helps.

[mom31257]

You have received a lot of good advice. I do planning in the summer as well. I made spreadsheets for each child and for each semester. I list the weeks of school down the left side and subjects across the top. Here is where I plan out chapter, lesson, or unit numbers, topics to be covered, etc. I only do actually weekly plans one week at a time. You never know when the plan you made needs to change!

 

I have always made my own weekly lesson plans on spreadsheets. My latest came from tweaking the planner on the first post in this thread. For next year though, I am purchasing planners for the kids from Good News Planners. I will be creating my own planner and having it bound at Office Max or Staples.