s/o filing system..how do you schedule

[kwickimom]

Ok, I posted this in the filing system thread but thought i would make a new thread for this question to get more responses.

 

For those of you that schedule out the entire year, or even a few weeks or whatever at a time, how do you schedule subjects that you arent sure how many pages to do?

 

I am trying to set up a basic MM schedule for DD but I have no clue how much she will be abe to do in a day/week. I divided up the number of pages/quizzes/and tests by 36 weeks and have a number in mind, but I have no idea if that will work out ok.

 

So for you planners...do you think I should just leave MM to the side and see how she does the first few weeks so I have a better idea of fast we will go OR do you think I should file it all out according to my idea of what we need to do weekly and then adjust as needed? Just wanted to see what worked or didnt work for you. thanks!!!

 

*I really need as much planned as possible for my first year, even if I have to adjust like crazy. I will be babysitting 2 babies and HS'ing my 2. So any suggestions on what you think the easiest route would be would be awesome*

[2cents]

I always just divided the work by the number of weeks I had allotted for that curriculum. You can always adjust later. :)

[TracyP]

I am just trying out this filing system too so I have not BTDT. With that disclaimer out of the way, I scheduled MM so we will get done by the end of the year but I threw in a free day every 3 weeks that we could use to play catch up if needed. We use two maths so I don't see wanting to move any faster. If we do I guess I will need to start juggling.:tongue_smilie:

[plansrme]

It is very important to me to finish the curriculum in the time allotted, so I start from the basis that we will finish the text in 36 weeks, no matter what. Then I do what you did, dividing up the number of pages or sections or chapters by weeks, then by days, and schedule it out for each day. BUT, every few weeks, I schedule one or two "math catch-up days" or "history catch-up days" or whatever. Thanksgiving week, for instance, I almost always put Monday and Tuesday as catch-up days. For me, the catch-up days are the perfect combination of flexibility and rigidity that allow us to keep to the schedule without having to redo it every time someone has the flu or a heavier-than-expected workload in another subject.

 

Terri

[kwickimom]

I am just trying out this filing system too so I have not BTDT. With that disclaimer out of the way, I scheduled MM so we will get done by the end of the year but I threw in a free day every 3 weeks that we could use to play catch up if needed. We use two maths so I don't see wanting to move any faster. If we do I guess I will need to start juggling.:tongue_smilie:

 

Excellent idea on the free days.

 

I am actually thinking of rearranging my schedule to having a 5 day school week, but only having the first 4 planned out with the core subjects. Then I can use day 5 for any catch ups and fun stuff like art, music, library trips, etc. My DD loves to play on the computer so if we are ahead I can have her play educational games pertaining to that weeks lessons. This will also give me some extra time to readjust everything if I am totally off :D

[DragonFaerie]

I am actually thinking of rearranging my schedule to having a 5 day school week, but only having the first 4 planned out with the core subjects. Then I can use day 5 for any catch ups and fun stuff like art, music, library trips, etc. My DD loves to play on the computer so if we are ahead I can have her play educational games pertaining to that weeks lessons. This will also give me some extra time to readjust everything if I am totally off :D

 

This is what we're going to do this year. I'm planning out four days and leaving Fridays for catch up, field trips, etc. I'm also planning five days' worth of school work in those four days (five math lessons in four days, etc). That way I can be sure that we're getting all the work done while still allowing for those "free days." And I can change things up easily if it doesn't work out.

[Mommee & Baba]

This is my first year actually planning as organized as this. Last year I planned but it was more in my head and not so much on paper. So ready to use the paper this year :p

 

 

 

 

For certain subjects I had my dd's doing them everyday. Such as

 

• Math
  
• Reading
  
• Science
  
• History - Off on Fridays
  
• Penmanship
  

For other subjects I have my oldest dd only doing a couple days a week. Such as

 

• Spelling - 2 Days a Week
  

And for a couple subjects I have planned the entire week to do the lesson. This gives us the flexibility of either spending 1 day or 3 days or the entire week on the lesson. Depending on the depth of the lesson and how my dd grasps the lesson. Subjects I did that with are..

 

• Geography
  
• L.A.
  

We have approx. 3 weeks off through-out the year so this will give us time to play catch up if we need to. Also most of the subjects are completed at the beginning of May. And we do have Spelling and Geography that go through some of the summer...and we're ok with tagging those onto the beginning of next year if we don't want to continue through summer. So I wanted that flexibility with some subjects. For instance I wouldn't want reading or math to be that way..as those are core and what I consider the basics.

 

As how much work to give your child. I estimated based on how well she grasped school work this past year and went from there.

 

Reading - I alloted 2-4 pages per day. Depending on the lessons of course. Some I alloted 2 days to work on new words and other lessons that were just review pages and learning some new words I would give her a couple pages.

 

Math - Because we use MEP I find that they have PLENTY of review work done through-out the entire year so I wasn't focused so much on doing anything "extra" with the lessons. I think doing a lesson a day may seem like a lot but 45min of math is pretty typical per day. Then if she struggles a bit with it we'll continue what we CAN in the lesson and then move on the next day...and knowing that MEP is set up to review through-out the lessons so I haven't a single bit of concern that she won't eventually get it and understand it. So for math we have it a lesson a day. Also the last page in each "section" per say is review. So this will allow us to sit and grind out more of the things she just simply couldn't grasp that entire week. Make sense?

Edited July 1, 2010 by mamaofblessings

[Mandy in TN]

I like- really like- making schedules. While I do go through and break down most texts, I don't schedule math or learning to read. Of course, over the years I have tried, but (unlike the elementary survey topics of science and history or even grammar where you know they will see it again and again) a child needs to have mastered the material to a certain extent before you move on.

 

With elementary history you can schedule a week on ancient China and then a week on modern Canada and then a week on the geography of Europe. With elementary science you can spend a week looking a topic and then plan to move on. OTOH- with math and reading the child needs to be proficient with one skill in order to be proficient with the next. You never know when you are going to need to camp out on a topic.

 

So, my suggestion would be to schedule science, history, and most components of LA. For reading and math just schedule a time slot and roll with it.

 

HTH-

Mandy

[Guest aquiverfull]

Thanks for starting this thread. I'm currently trying to figure out how to schedule LFC A and it's hard not knowing how practical my schedule will really be since this is our first year with it. I'd like to incorporate the filing system into our homeschool but I'm getting caught up in scheduling problems like this.

 

Normally I schedule Math and Language arts for 5 days a week. I usually only schedule the other subjects like History and Science 4 days a week or a light schedule for the 5th day.

 

I'm like you and would rather get the bulk of it done ahead of time, but I also don't want to have to be re-arranging a ton all year either. So I'm interested in reading the replies you get. :)

[LoveBaby]

I am planning 40 weeks of school in my crate.

 

I also have a smaller file thing to set on my desk that will have the first quarter in it. In that file box I have a *Plan Next 5* folder. Then weeks 1-5, then a *Plan Next 5 folder*, then weeks 6-10, then a *Project/Catch-up* folder. I also have the teacher's guides for those weeks of work, like the Phonics Road manual, Biblioplan manual and SOTW AG Guide.

 

I will keep library and supply lists in the "Plan" folders. The last week will spell out any projects that we want to do, field trips we want to do and any extra work that wasn't done the previous 10 weeks of work.

 

Then the next quarter I will re-boot the files, having 2 planning weeks and 1 project/catch-up week. This should make it easy to adjust math as we go through the year whether we are moving fast or slow.

[Geek]

So, my suggestion would be to schedule science, history, and most components of LA. For reading and math just schedule a time slot and roll with it.

 

HTH-

Mandy

Oh, this is what I need to do. Thanks.

[Karen in CO]

Typically, I use material that will be finished in a year if a do a certain amount per week or per day ( like math , one lesson per day will get done in 120 days). Then I just plan do it every day.

 

This year, life had changed and I have to be much more organized so I downloaded the free HST after trying lots of other approaches.

 

I sat down with my stack of material and for each child, I planned out each book, each day, each lesson into the program. One chapter of Famous Men of Rome a week will take us X amount of weeks. The three literature books at once chapter twice a week. The spelling book at one page, three times a week. Typeing twice a week. I typed in every copywork passaged for my K child fromthe books I wanted to use, but I only wrote math and phonics for her other assignments because I didn't want to be too rigid with her workload. I did this over a couple of weeks. As I was going, I would preview the weekly assignments to make sure they looked balanced. I even scheduled our poetry and nature studies. It is all in there. I feel really good about the schedules and about the fact that I can cancel or reassign work if I need to. I can also easily see what the workload it.

 

Hopefully it will work out because I really need it.

Edited July 1, 2010 by Karen in CO

[kwickimom]

Thanks for all the replies! I am as of right now leaning towards scheduling the stuff that I know will be pretty much on base (like LA, Chem, SOTW, and SWO) and I am just going to file MM into 6 weeks and see what happens, then I will readjust.

 

I tend to be too OCD about stuff and want it all perfect and laid out for the entire year. But the more I think about it...I need to schedule out what I can, and the subjects I am having trouble scheduling I will just plan them out until my first planned week off and then readjust from there.

 

I did write out a basic yearly plan so I can see where we need to be at certain times. I am going to keep this in my planner as a gauge. I divided up all the lessons into 36 weeks, so for MM I know that I will be doing 4 solid days and I will need to cover 9 pages a week to get done by the end of my "year"

 

I think that maybe trying to plan in certain increments could also work well for everyone based on your situation? I figure this way i wont waste time planning out all of MM and having to do major adjustments. I will have a basic plan that I will only need to adjust for 6 weeks, and I will have an extra day a week to make up stuff. I also am only planning a 36 week year, but actually plan on going pretty much year round on certain subjects so I think in the end I have a good system, but LOTS of wiggle room in it. :D