Need some practical scheduling advice/calendar

[LAmom]

What dates are you doing school? How many days off, etc.?

 

I have received some of the curriculum I will be using. A bit overwhelmed as to how to schedule each subject, lesson, etc.

 

How do you do it? Sit down and look through each book and write down a day by day plan? Or a monthly plan? :confused:

 

For example, I have R&S spelling and english 2. BUT, I want to use some of PLL, too. And then I have to figure out math, etc. I will be using MFW Adv, so that will help a lot with scheduling.

 

I just came out short last year and did not complete books/lessons I should have.

 

I know this is a simple task most have figured out, but I am have some trouble with this. I can't imagine sitting and going through each subject (someday for each kid, I have 4) and figuring out a plan.

 

Thanks for any help. It does not look as simple as, oh, math has 154 lessons, so if I do math everyday I should be fine.....KWIM?

[missmoe]

I have two kids in different schools plus my kids at home that I homeschool, so I sat down with the calendar and marked off all the days the older two have off. I picked a start date and an end date. That left me with 36 weeks. Some weeks are short by 1 or 2 days. I made sure to mark that on my calendar. Then I just sat down and marked down lessons for each subject day by day. I kept in mind that for math--I like to fit in a review every so often. Every other Friday, I fit in a different book that I want to supplement with. R&S in the younger years does not take the whole year, so I took 2 days for the writing lessons and review lessons. Paging through the books lesson by lesson, I was able to see that some of the writing lessons will be covered in history, so we skipped those lessons. Also, on the short weeks I tended to plan for one less day than we actually had. That way we have a catch up day built in.

 

For me, sitting down and physically going through everything helps me to plan better.

[Closeacademy]

What dates are you doing school? How many days off, etc.?

 

Our school year:

4 day work weeks, Friday's off for playgroup/errands

 

September--Labor day week is off

November--Thanksgiving week is off

December--last 2 weeks are off

May--3 weeks off

June--1 week off for VBS

July--or 1 week off for 4th of July

 

We may have 1 more week off in the spring. We do just over 180 days.

 

How do you do it? Sit down and look through each book and write down a day by day plan? Or a monthly plan? :confused:

 

Most of my curriculum has weekly plans rather than daily plans. So I write out 52 weeks. Mark the weeks for "no school."

 

I do 1 notebook page for each subject. I write down the titles/pages/theme for 4 days worth of work each week. When I get to the end, the text should be long finished or close to finishing. I look at what is left in the book and ask myself:

 

Is it worthwhile?

Is it busywork?

Is there anything earlier on that we can drop so we can do this instead?

Should we add it to the beginning of the next year?

Should we just skip it?

 

That gives me enough weekly plans to pretty much take care of 180 days of lessons.

 

 

I do this for both of my children. Once I have the subject lists done then I make weekly schedules that combine all the information. I only write/type in things that are not likely to change like we are going to do trees on week 5. I do not type in math, reading or any difficult subject that is changing because we need more time to work with it.

 

Each week, I pull out my schedule and write down the math, reading, lapbooks, etc. And pull together everything we need so that the week runs smoothly.

 

It takes a while to get a good system going. There are a lot of good resources, inspriations out there that can help you along. I've got a page on organization at my blog with links to ideas on how to do things.:001_smile:

[TheCoffeeChick]

What dates are you doing school? How many days off, etc.?

 

We are starting on the 6th of September (Labor Day) and will end on the 10th of June. In all we'll put in 180 days.

 

I don't like to just take a day or two off if I can help it, so if we take time off - it is a whole week. :) Our scheduled days off: October 18-22 for a fall break just because we need one; the week of Thanksgiving; the week of Christmas and the week after; Feb. 28 - Mar 4 for spring break that matches dh's spring break; April 18-22 for Easter. Of course there will be sick days, but I still count them as school days as long as we get reading done. I figure it's way more productive than some of the school days in ps. ;)

 

I have received some of the curriculum I will be using. A bit overwhelmed as to how to schedule each subject, lesson, etc.

 

How do you do it? Sit down and look through each book and write down a day by day plan? Or a monthly plan? :confused:

 

First I go through each book and make a subject schedule. I divide the chapters in the book by 36 weeks. Sometimes this ends up nicely divided, sometimes I have to fiddle with it a little to work. For example, our religion curriculum doesn't evenly divide out, so there are some weeks I have 2 lessons scheduled and other weeks I have 3 lessons scheduled. Or Rod & Staff only has 34 weeks in most of their books, so I just plan on finishing the books in 34 weeks instead of 36.

 

Next, I decide how many days a week I want to do a subject. Math, Reading, and English we do 5 days a week; spelling we do 4 days a week; history and science we do 3 days a week; religion we do 2 (sometimes 3) days a week; art we do 1 day a week. So within my subject schedule I break up my lessons by how many days a week we do the subject. Math is easy - we do a lesson a day for 34 weeks (R&S). History is a little trickier, we do it 3 days a week for 36 weeks, but there are more chapters than weeks so I had to go through the book and decide which weeks we were combining chapters. My history schedule follows the same pattern each week though: day 1: 1/2 the readings, narration exercise, and color page; day 2: last 1/2 of readings and map work; day 2: project.

 

I've always done a version of filing, this year we are doing it full-fledged. So I have any and all paperwork filed by week so that we can just grab a file folder for the day along with a few books and supplies and have everything we need in front of us. (Handy when we need to car school ;))

 

For example, I have R&S spelling and english 2. BUT, I want to use some of PLL, too. And then I have to figure out math, etc. I will be using MFW Adv, so that will help a lot with scheduling.

 

I just came out short last year and did not complete books/lessons I should have.

 

I'm not sure you need to do R&S English and PLL. Flipping through each book, you may realize it could be overkill.

 

I know this is a simple task most have figured out, but I am have some trouble with this. I can't imagine sitting and going through each subject (someday for each kid, I have 4) and figuring out a plan.

 

Thanks for any help. It does not look as simple as, oh, math has 154 lessons, so if I do math everyday I should be fine.....KWIM?

 

:grouphug: Believe me, it gets easier the more you do it. It can be overwhelming, just look at how many threads pertain to organizing that are on the boards and you'll realize there are many people with your questions. The key is to find a system that works for your family and not worry about what everyone else is doing. :) Good luck on getting your school year planned out!

Edited July 31, 2010 by BramFam

[Firestar Academy]

What dates are you doing school? How many days off, etc.?

 

We are doing full days mon,tues,thurs,fri. We are doing bare minimum/nothing on wednesday due to dance schedule. 1/2 hour drive to studio, then dd(7) dances from 4-5, dd(10) 5-6 and 6-7, the dd(7) from 7-8, then 1/2 hour drive home. If needed, hs can be brought to studio

 

 

I have received some of the curriculum I will be using. A bit overwhelmed as to how to schedule each subject, lesson, etc.

 

How do you do it? Sit down and look through each book and write down a day by day plan? Or a monthly plan? :confused:

 

I started using http://www.homeschoolskedtrack.com/

 

I entered in the minimum information. like under math, I just put lesson 30. It will calculate to the end of the year for each subject. I haven't actually looked to see when the offical last day of school is b/c I 'plan' to school year round. so when the kids are almost done with the 'book' I will just get the next 'book'.

 

But if you have an end date in mind, you can compare each subject end date. if you need math to go 180 days, maybe make math only m,tu,wed,thus and see where that puts the schedule. or if history is going too long into the summer, you can make sure to do it 5 days or you can 'merge' some of the lessons.

 

 

I know this is a simple task most have figured out, but I am have some trouble with this. I can't imagine sitting and going through each subject (someday for each kid, I have 4) and figuring out a plan.

 

With the program above, you can copy and paste the common schedules from kid to kid.

 

 

Thanks for any help. It does not look as simple as, oh, math has 154 lessons, so if I do math everyday I should be fine.....KWIM?

 

 

robin in NJ

[Guest aquiverfull]

Here we are required to do 180 days of school. I usually use my school board website to see what holidays the Public school schedules, and their start and end date. We follow that pretty closely.

 

During the summer, I do sit down and write out quarterly plans with books in front of me. It is a lot of work, but doing this helps us to stay on schedule throughout the year and gives us an idea of where we are heading. Each week, I take that quarterly schedule and then write out a weekly checklist for my dd to do. I have to do that every week because I had found if I scheduled her weekly schedules too far in advance, it resulted in a lot of crossing off, re-arranging, etc. due to not getting around to certain things or unexpected appointments changing the plans.

 

Even when things are already planned out for me (as in open and go curriculums), I still write them on the quarterly planning sheet. Some things are very easy to schedule this way, especially the "do the next lesson" sort of subjects, like Math. Others are more difficult and those I generally dread doing...lol.

 

For my quarterly planning, I use this sheet from Donna Young. And for the weekly schedule I use this sheet also from Donna Young.

 

Hope that helps.

[Rosy]

What dates are you doing school? How many days off, etc.?

 

I have received some of the curriculum I will be using. A bit overwhelmed as to how to schedule each subject, lesson, etc.

 

How do you do it? Sit down and look through each book and write down a day by day plan? Or a monthly plan? :confused:

 

For example, I have R&S spelling and english 2. BUT, I want to use some of PLL, too. And then I have to figure out math, etc. I will be using MFW Adv, so that will help a lot with scheduling.

 

I just came out short last year and did not complete books/lessons I should have.

 

I know this is a simple task most have figured out, but I am have some trouble with this. I can't imagine sitting and going through each subject (someday for each kid, I have 4) and figuring out a plan.

 

Thanks for any help. It does not look as simple as, oh, math has 154 lessons, so if I do math everyday I should be fine.....KWIM?

 

I don't really plan out that aspect. But we rarely start new books at the beginning of the year, either. We work our way through the book, and when we finish, we start a new book. This gives my kids the freedom to go at their own pace. We skip lessons that seem redundant and add in supplemental work when they aren't getting a concept.

 

We're doing things a little differently this year...we've implemented the file crate system, so I've files many of our subjects and we'll do what's in the file. We have to borrow from another file if we want to work ahead or move pages back if we get behind, instead of just grabbing the book and going for the specified amount of time.

 

As far as our schedule, we do 36 weeks. I knew I wanted to end at the end of May, so I made that Week 36 and counted backwards. I marked a week or two off in Dec for Christmas and a couple others for vacations and such. We ended up with August 9 for a start date. :glare: But at least I know going into it that I'll have the time to cover everything I want to cover this year...and we tend to be flexible when we need to.

[Embassy]

What dates are you doing school? How many days off, etc.?

 

We have a 192 day school year, but instead of counting days I count hours. I considered how much time to spend on each subject per week and added it up. I allowed 20 school days for extra things like homeschool group days, field trips, or special projects. As we go through the school year I mark off how much time we spend on each subject. I don't plan on how much to do in math each day because every day is different. Sometimes we may need to slow down and other times we need to speed up. I do list assignments chronologically so if I am combining two different math programs I will list assignments in the order I wish to do them such as page 50-51 in x book, pg 112-130 in y book, math game, etc. When our time is up for the day we stop and continue where we left off when we do that subject again.

[mom31257]

We start August 2nd and go through the end of next May. We will take several weeks off as breaks because my dh is a public school teacher and follow his schedule. We'll have a fall break, Thanksgiving break, 3 week Christmas break, winter break, and spring break.

 

I do go through each set of curricula and plan out a sketch of the whole year, deciding how many lessons per week we need to do to finish by the end of May. For example, my children are using CLE for math and LA. We did one Light Unit this summer in each to allow them to only have to do math and LA 4 days a week for the whole school year. Some things are not the full week or every week. Dd is doing IEW SWI-B this year, which is only 15 lessons, but they will take more than one day to do sometimes. I plan on her doing a lesson every other week.

 

My plans for the whole year are very simple, just lesson numbers, unit names, chapter numbers, etc. I make a spread sheet for each semester, listing each subject across the top and the Monday dates of each week down the left column. This gives me just a little space to work in, so I have to keep it simple. It really keeps me on track. I have one sheet for each semester for each child.

 

It may seem overwhelming but each subject didn't take me long. You could set a timer to work for x amount of time, take a break, then do it again.

 

Good luck!

[elise1mds]

I follow my DD's school schedule since she attends a private school. I get my calendar all laid out for me.

 

I then take every subject and write down what I want to accomplish during the school year - not very specific goals, just general ones like "History - Understand medieval-era history using SOTW 2" or "Writing - Continue at or slightly below grade level using WWE or WS four days and HWT one day per week. Practice fine motor skills." Then I create a word document that I call "Weekly Scope" where I go through every item of curriculum and write down what I plan to do - roughly - each week. Some curricula won't get finished, and others will be finished and more will need to be ordered.

 

Before a specific week rolls around, I then take a peek at the weekly scope and request books from the library, set up/shop for projects, find web sites, print off pages, plan for field trips, etc. to prepare. The only things I insist on doing daily are math and writing, but I set a time limit for each so that we don't get bogged down. After that, I let DS look at what's left for the week and pick what he wants to do. As long as we touch on most subjects each week, I let the rest slide. Sometimes we get ahead or behind of the scope and I revise it; no big deal. My goals keeps me focused.

 

As has been mentioned, there are tons of ways to organize - or NOT organize - your schedule. You have to do what works for you and your family. Good planning thoughts headed your way!

[LAmom]

Thank you for the helpful replies. I want to do a 4-day a week schedule, but with vacation days, holidays, etc., we go way too far into the summer. I want to start Aug 16 until first or 2nd week of June. Officially, I will do some light things on day 5 of the week, but I don't want to schedule things like math and english for 5 days, just 4. So it gets a bit confusing for me. :glare:

[mom31257]

Thank you for the helpful replies. I want to do a 4-day a week schedule, but with vacation days, holidays, etc., we go way too far into the summer. I want to start Aug 16 until first or 2nd week of June. Officially, I will do some light things on day 5 of the week, but I don't want to schedule things like math and english for 5 days, just 4. So it gets a bit confusing for me. :glare:

 

Are you having problem figuring out how to do math and English just 4 days, or is it more deciding what to do the 5th?

 

If you could keep your main core academics to the 4 days, you could use the 5th day for art projects or artist studies, music studies, poetry reading, nature walks, field trips, etc. You would still be able to count it as a school day (at least here in GA you would), yet have fun and be relaxed.

[SamanthaBea]

When I decided to start homeschooling, my son insisted that we follow the ps schedule to. the. letter. I think he was scared that I would plot to ruin his summer vacation with school!

 

While working on my lesson plans, I pulled up my local ps schedule and discovered that even though I am required to homeschool for 180 days, the ps only has 175 instructional days scheduled!!! :confused: Do as I say, not as I do ... :glare:

[mcconnellboys]

You won't necessarily have to do it for each child, because once you've done it for your oldest, you can use that plan over and over again for the youngers, just tweaking with changes you want to make.

 

I did most of PLL orally, just adding it in during our oral lesson time before he did his written exercises for R&S. We actually did a lot of R&S orally, too, as my younger son was pretty writing challenged at that age. I didn't try to match PLL to R&S because the latter covers grammar and PLL is more narration lessons, memorization, etc. than grammar. It was an enhancement to our grammar time. Because many PLL lessons are short, we sometimes did several a day.

 

R&S 2 has 6 sections of 25 lessons each. That's 150 lessons. At the end of the first five sections, there are 2 reviews, an extra activity, and a short poetry study. That's 4 extra lessons x 5, which equals another 20 lessons. So you have potentially 170 lessons in the R&S book. If you are using a workbook or test book to supplement (I don't now recall if R&S offers these at this level), then you'd have extra potential days of work in addition to that (or more work each day; one or the other). If you stretch out some of the writing to take more than a single day, then you can easily fill a 180 school year.

 

I do happen to plan out the entire year because I have so much going on during the course of any given year that I'd never manage to be able to think or adequately get lessons covered during the course of a given day if I didn't have a plan staring me in the face. I can be very adle-brained.

 

However I think that doing a week at a time is perfectly fine for most folks too. You just have to have the time weekly to sit down and do it (which I don't).

 

Lots of books are pretty straight forward. Many happen to have their lessons set out either in 36 weekly bits, or in about 180 days of lessons - both of which are a typical school year (they may not number them from 1 to 180, but if you start adding, they're there). Extra days can be used for testing, review, doing short extra assignments or a ton of other things.

[LAmom]

 

I did most of PLL orally, just adding it in during our oral lesson time before he did his written exercises for R&S. We actually did a lot of R&S orally, too, as my younger son was pretty writing challenged at that age. I didn't try to match PLL to R&S because the latter covers grammar and PLL is more narration lessons, memorization, etc. than grammar. It was an enhancement to our grammar time. Because many PLL lessons are short, we sometimes did several a day.

 

 

 

So using PLL with R&S isn't an overkill? It does seem like a lot looking at both, but I just couldn't decide between them!! :tongue_smilie:

[Ellie]

We hsed in California and didn't have to worry about how many Official School Days we did.

 

I put a bookmark in any textbooks where we stopped; the next time we did school, that's where I started.

 

The only time I actually planned things out was the two yeas I did KONOS. Otherwise, we just did the next thing.