What ARE you planning???

[Sebastian (a lady)]

So I have seen the threads here about "done with planning", and similiar threads on other HSing forums I visit. Threads about what planners to buy, where to buy them, etc etc etc.

 

I'm sitting here thinking "What am I missing?!?!:confused:". What are you planning? Why are you doing it for "first semester", etc? Doesn't your curriculum come with Teachers Guides, etc? How difficult can it be? Do one lesson, and then move on to the next...right?

 

I don't normally plan full semesters in advance. Most of my curriculum is open and go. A few things we have done, say Apologia Elementary science books, I did need to count chapters to get a rough idea of how many weeks it would take us if we did one week vs two weeks per chapter...so basic things like that. Or knowing we are going on a vacation in a month or so, so checking to see where we would be in curriculum at that point, so make sure we stop at a good point.

 

I get basic supply planning, like making sure art supplies/science etc are on hand.

 

But what I don't get is the whole "I've planned the first 12 weeks" type statements.

 

Let me say that I am organized, and even known as "anal about organization" by certain family members.

 

I use the basic HST software. But I just sit down each Sunday night and input what we will do that week. Certain things, I might even load in for a couple of weeks at a time if I have to make my own plans, like Apologia (how many pages to read each day, what other activities to add to it). But for the most, it's like, just do the next lesson in the book. By just doing one-two weeks at a time, I can adjust our schedule for last minute field trips, Dr's appts, random days off, whatever life brings. What happens to your 12 week plan when life events throw it off? What happens when your child didn't "get" today's lesson, say Math, and you are going to need to stop and spend an extra day or two on that topic?

 

I have alot of plans in my head. For example, I know in my head which subjects we will do every day, and which we will do a few times a week. That gets incorporated into my weekly plan that I input on Sunday nights.

 

So yeah, I GET some planning, but what I am scratching my head about is the 12 weeks of planning in advance, or even the WHOLE school year planned. I know PS teachers have to do this.....but why do you do it?

 

Until last year I was pretty much of the same flavor as you, just doing the next lesson. But for various reasons, I'm taking one of our major subjects and tweaking the purchased schedule (taking 2.5 years to complete 2 36 week schedules). Part of what this means is that I might be on week 14 for science but week 12 for history (with more divergence as we go along).

 

So part of what I'm planning is what lesson week we're doing for each actual school week. So for example, week 2 of the year will have week 11 history, week 16 science and lessons 6-8 plus a test in math.

 

I've also found that I tend to either get stuck in something (especially history) or forget about something (sometimes an entire subject:confused:) so having a more specific plan helps me keep momentum.

 

I also made a promise with the kids that if they would do everything I scheduled, I wouldn't reward hard work with still more schoolwork. Instead they'd get free time to pursue their passions.

 

Now what I am planning from the ground up is our German studies. I have three kids, two with passable passive comprehension but low active skills (ie, listening is far stronger than speaking) and one with almost no German at all. Then I have loads of materials, but not one single overarching plan. So this week I'm trying to create a plan.

[Carrie12345]

I'm flexible when it comes to implementing my plans, but I don't function well without *having* one.

 

Ds carries a fairly heavy workload, mostly by choice. I work hard to help him fit it all in without burning him (or me!) out, as well as eliminating as much redundancy as possible, and that can take some careful juggling.

 

Also, he's most likely going to be skipping the 8th grade, so there are certain skills I want to be sure to work on this year, before we get into "permanent record" mode.

 

For him, breaking certain subjects up into semesters, or even quarters (along with daily block scheduling) allows us to accomplish more (work and fun!) than spreading it all out over 180 days.

 

It's not nearly as big of a deal with my younger kids right now. I mostly do it for them just for my peace of mind.

[TengoFive]

I really enjoy rough planning to get an idea when we'll finish a book and need the next one. We school year round and everyone is at a different point in their books, so I need to know when they'll be finishing up.

 

I usually plan in depth by the week, so I can print out what we need, gather supplies, etc. This year I am setting up the file box for all 36 weeks, since I know my tendency to take too long off after a baby comes. I want to have everything open and go, so we all know what we're doing. I also think it will give my oldest a little bit of independence she's craving but is not quite ready for. I've tried this year just letting her do the next page, but she always has an excuse why she can't. This way she can plan her week out and make sure she has everything she needs to complete her assignments before hand.

[rwjx2khsmj]

I just got our 2010-2011 curriculum and plans up on my blog. You can find them here.

 

Having one in high school this year I felt like I needed to have things for her in a syllabus format rather than hand written on my planning calendar. I don't want to be scrambling in three years to remember what we did in order to put together a transcript. I also wanted to be sure that what she had going in one subject wouldn't overwhelm the time she needed for another subject.

 

For the youngers, since I borrow most of my books from the library, I like to know what they've got available and have it a bit in advance. Without knowing, roughly, what's we are studying and when, it's tough to get things pre-ordered. Now, if only things would go like I've planned!

Edited July 14, 2010 by rwjx2khsmj

[Leeandrea]

Planning for me has a few different facets.

 

First, I plan what I will use the upcoming year - what books we will need, what curriculum to purchase. I evaluate what worked, what didn't, what I want to change, what I want to do more of, etc.

 

Once all that is set, I sub-plan. Everything I use isn't open and go type stuff. For instance, we use a curriculum called Student of the Word for LA, creative writing and Bible studies. Planning for that will involve mainly printing out the various forms/study sheets from the CD for each week we will use SOW and arranging them in some logical way so I can stuff the kids folders in the beginning of the week with what they will need each week. Same for VP stuff, I will print ahead anything I will have them do. I saw these really cool plastic pocket multi-page organizer things that I may use for each child as a daily place for work...anyway, if I do something like that, I make sure it's all ready to go.

 

Also, once I know what curriculum/materials we will use, I will make a schedule/chart specific to what each child will use and what is to be completed when (i.e., part A of spelling on Monday, part B on Tuesday, etc.), and leave parts that will change blank like what book they are to read or who they are writing a bio about that I will fill in as we go. I hope to make them an assignment book of sorts this year instead of printing out the schedule each week. There will also be a chart for chores. I could do all the printing/planning on a weekly basis, but I prefer to do most of it ahead of time in the summer when I am "off." Once we start our "school" schedule, it's nice to have it all ready to go so that I'm not constantly trying to keep up.

 

Lee, homeschooling 5 kiddos and 1 baby/toddler

[prairiegirl]

I have never been a planner. All of my plans were of the mental variety. We just did the next thing and if I were combining some resources I just made a mental note of them and that was it.

 

THEN this year happened.

 

I found myself with three kids who all have learning challenges. This put a different spin on things. My oldest is using different curriculum for history and science than what the two youngest are using. All of these different balls are making mental planning very, very difficult.

 

I had cancer this past year and it has messed me up mentally to the point where I am in a state of apathy right now. I really don't care if school gets done. I don't care about anything. So, again, mental plans just don't cut it anymore because I can't trust myself to carry out on those plans.

 

SO. I am using the filing system this year. I am making myself getting our whole year planned to the last detail so that during the year if apathy rears its ugly head and I don't want to do anything, I have everything ready to go in the folders and the kids can get started on their own. I know that I will be able to 'just do it' if it is all set out for me but it is the planning ever week as we go that I know I won't be able to do.

 

It is good to know where we will end up at the end of the year. When I just did mental planning, I never knew if we would finish our books or programs. I like seeing the end. It is comforting for me.

[AuntPol]

I plan because I am an escapist :). It gives me an excuse to lock myself away and fantasize about everything going smoothly -nobody complaining, nobody sick, etc. Just daydreaming about it gives me a rush. I have to deal with 9 months of reality that no matter what curriculum I use, my kids are going to complain they just want to watch tv or play computer games (when not complaining about each other). That is why I relish my planning time!!!

[LNC]

Example quarter planners for each child:

http://docs.google.com/document/pub?id=1JPjm9_I8z6rZPc5Gpbv9oL-lbn5KLic8Iqe--EbNwmo

 

Example TQ History quarter planner:

http://docs.google.com/document/pub?id=1Aacv6aLcQ9_rMm2c2Qu-lmnLYb19R4VCwC9pe58YQiY

 

Google doc changes the formatting somewhat but you get the general idea. It doesn't take long at all to make these checklists, and our school year goes very smoothly.

 

I have 4 quarters, 36 weeks planned. I have always done this. To me planning is mostly a process of scheduling weeks and library lists availability etc. We love our checklists!

Edited July 14, 2010 by LNC

[MomOfOneFunOne]

I responded b/f I had read many of the replies but now that I've seen a few, I'll comment on the over-kill aspect.

 

Planning may not be defined the same by all. For example, planning open-and-go is easy I would think. I mean, open and go; what else do you need to do?

 

There is a greater amount of planning if you're not the open and go type. For example, I love to teach so I teach. I design lessons that include projects, information gathering, reading, discussing, and often, going. That takes planning. I'll be teaching writing to a group this year. I actually do plan out what we'll cover in each class, what topics we'll cover, what elements we cover each week, and a ton of other stuff. Why? I want an awsome class! I want to teach writing, incorporate note taking skills, vocabulary expansion, writing tools, and lead these students to become writers who can write research or creative papers with incredible description and personal voice. "Okay, Kids, do page 1 . . . Great, see you next week!" doesn't really need the planning that I put in but it doesn't reap the same rewards, imho.

 

There is a definate difference b/t an open-and-go approach and creating a more, um, varied learning experience. One would hardly take any planning at all. One takes a lot of work. I think it would definately be easy to plan to hand my daughter a history textbook or wkbk and have her read the chapter, do the questions and call it done. Using the text as a spine, designing a unit to go along, getting a good literature list together, planning a trip to somewhere that has a related something, creating a list of composers/artists for the time period you're studying, figuring out how to make a archimidean screw . . . all take a bit more planning than open-and-go.