how do you do lesson plans...or do you??

[kfeusse]

I have been experimenting with different ways to do lesson plans...at the beginning of this year I started planning every 2 weeks (for 2 weeks)...I would type up a spread sheet of each assignment for each subject for each day for each kid. Then my kids would just cross off the assignments finished as they finished them. It seemed to work really well for a while, but then we ran into the problem of needing to spend more time than I thought on some areas...or there were days where we added a field trip (spontanious) and then we were off a day for the rest of the 2 weeks...

 

so then I started to sit down each night and write out on index cards the next days assignments for each kid...not a bad idea...is working, but kind of a pain to do each night...

 

so that got me wondering how everybody else does this...or do you not really plan and just tell the kids to do the next lesson...

 

thanks for sharing!!

[regentrude]

No lesson plans for us!

We know which materials we use for which subjects, and how far we are. So, we just resume where we left off the last time.

My kids get to pick which subjects they want to work on in which order (only math and DD's outside class are set). Sometimes we have science heavy phases, sometimes we do a lot of history. It balances over time (if it is out of whack, I gently remind that they need to do xyz again). They each have to do a certain number of school hours per day.

 

I have a lose idea what we want to accomplish each school year - but don't want to make a detailed plan. I do not KNOW beforehand how fast DD is going to read the Aeneid, how much time she would like to spend on background research, and how many interesting essay topics come to her mind. So, we may get through the reading list, or we may not.

If DS wants to spend more time on Henry VIII because he is fascinated, I let him - and we may shortchange Mary Queen of Scots. As long as they do good work, I don't mind.

[suzf242]

I don't write out plans, either. We do Ambleside Online, which has the readings broken down into a weekly schedule, as well as various texts for math, Latin and English. I write our activities on a planning calender as we do them, just in case I need to show evidence of what we are doing to the ps.

 

Take care,

Suzanne

[Mommyfaithe]

Usually, I pull out all the books, stare at the pile, have an anxiety attack, make a stiff drink...gulp...look at books....Then realize I bought mostly DO THE NEXT THING curricula....so,

 

I make a daily schedule....we do these subjects these days in this order....check! I sometimes write dates in the margins of the books, or on the TOC....but, we basically just do the next thing, do the next lesson, color the next map, etc,

 

Put away said books and go back to homeschooling.

Faithe

 

ETA...sometimes I will plan out a course and then I will break up my lessons on a sheet of paper, making the course a DO THE NEXT THING curricula. IOW, I use Ambleside Online...so I may take a book and write out 45 days worth of read pp 1-4...narrate___ date when finished.

Edited January 6, 2011 by Mommyfaithe

[justamouse]

no plans here. I aim. so far that's worked well for us and we've finished what I set out to accomplish.

 

We've also begun Ambleside Online this past term and I just printed out the lessons and we do it. But again, just aiming.

[bluemongoose]

I use HST+. I put in my lesson plans during the summer for the following year. When the school year starts, all I have to do is print off a weekly schedule. You can also do daily. It even has a check box for the student to check when they finish the assignment. I clip this schedule to a clipboard and hand it over on Monday. DD is 6yo, so we do most of the work together anyway, but this helps get her into the habit of checking to see what comes next and also checking the box when we completed the lesson.

[kfeusse]

I use HST+. .

 

 

what is this...can you share a link?? thanks.

[Heather in OK]

I have a couple ways I do lesson plans.

 

- In my binder I have an excel page that has columns for the week and each subject that we do together. When I'm preparing for the year I write out lessons here. This helps me see when we'll be done with that book, how much extra time we'll have in case we need to bump something back a week, etc. I don't really look at this much during the year.

 

- On the wipe-off board in our school area I have a lesson plan page posted with the week's plan for the subjects we do together. When I get done with the above page, I put lessons onto these pages with more detail. For example, on the above pages I just put the lesson number and topic. On the weekly page I can write that on Monday we will read library books, on Wednesday we will do maps and work on our timeline, etc. I look at this daily and can change things if I need to. The kids can also look at this and see what we'll be doing.

 

- Each of my children have a 3-ring binder and they each have assignment pages. On Sunday I sit down to look over the previous week's work. From that I gauge what they need to do in the coming week. Do we need to re-do a quiz? Is there a math lesson that needs to be re-taught? Has she/he really grasped the concept so that we can skip something in an upcoming lesson or skip one altogether? This way it's not planned out long-term and we can adjust as needed.

 

They know to look in the binder and see what needs to be done that day. When they complete it, they put a little check or mark out the box.

[bluemongoose]

Sure:001_smile:

http://www.homeschooltracker.com/tracker_plus.aspx

 

They have a basic free version, but it is nothing like the + version. I wouldnt waste my time on the free one. For example, with the + version you can reschedule by simply telling the program to move selected subjects from one day to the next. You cant do that with the free version.

[Once]

Put away said books and go back to homeschooling.

 

 

 

OK. I love this and will remember it for a long time mostly because I can easily fall into the rat race. Thank you.

 

 

 

 

I have a pocket chart for each kid to use. They have ten laminated cards with subjects to complete (some days less). They monitor the completion of those cards, move them to the back and I correct their work at the end. We try to get done quickly. So we can go do other things. This year teh success of that has been more frequent.

 

So I guess that means we are "...do the next thing" kinda people. But that being said, most curr is based on one school year so it fits naturally. I do not hold to a typically school year so if we get mired down part way through I am certain that part of our summer will be available for "catch up".

 

I love to plan out things but I do not often follow through precisely and life does happen in good and bad ways so, I like the freedom to respond to that in a more casual way. It takes the stress off of me.

 

 

Have fun planning!

[Mommyfaithe]

OK. I love this and will remember it for a long time mostly because I can easily fall into the rat race. Thank you.

 

:lol::lol: You are welcome!

 

 

I have a pocket chart for each kid to use. They have ten laminated cards with subjects to complete (some days less). They monitor the completion of those cards, move them to the back and I correct their work at the end. We try to get done quickly. So we can go do other things. This year teh success of that has been more frequent.

 

 

Pictures pretty please. I like this idea!!!!!

 

So I guess that means we are "...do the next thing" kinda people. But that being said, most curr is based on one school year so it fits naturally. I do not hold to a typically school year so if we get mired down part way through I am certain that part of our summer will be available for "catch up".

 

I love to plan out things but I do not often follow through precisely and life does happen in good and bad ways so, I like the freedom to respond to that in a more casual way. It takes the stress off of me.

me toooooo. Life happens, and homeschooling is a lifestyle. We just keep on keeping on....

 

Have fun planning!

 

You too. I like to plan to plan...but the actual planning thing...OY!!!

 

Faithe

[G5052]

Each kid has a lesson plan book (I use the cheap R&S ones), and I pencil in their assignments for each day and they cross them off. I do one week at a time, and certainly end up erasing/correcting.

 

However, I am very brief on some subjects. For Handwriting, it is NP (next page) and for Latin it is NL (next lesson). That way I don't have to be digging around to find each book. Some subjects need detail but most don't. I also have "Show Mom" for some subjects to say that they can't cross it off until I've seen it.

 

We have outside classes on Fridays, so I try to be at the table most of the day with them and do some of the planning on Thursday while they're working so I have a sense of where they actually are in subjects that I don't do daily checks on (i.e. Handwriting). On Friday I look at their class materials and add that into their assignment sheets.

 

Bottom line -- don't do more than what you need to keep them going.

[SnowWhite]

I also use a pencil/paper lesson planner. I bought mine at Wal-Mart in the school supply aisle in July. I think it was like $6.

 

Then I found this planner for ds's independent assignments the other day http://www.teachervision.fen.com/tv/printables/botr/botr_052_19-19.pdf - it's a pdf you can fill in as a form. This is going to make his personal assignments so much easier for me to hand him in a nice format!

 

In my planner book, I do lots of circling, arrows to the next day, checkmarks, etc. I like a "pencilled" plan because it feels more fluid. I like it in a physical book because it's easier for me to lay my hand on at any given time.

 

Oh, and the timing- I try to fill in "chunks", like a week, two weeks, a month, or whatever I can do in a given planning session. Then it naturally evolves as we go along.

[dcjlkplus3]

I do plan, this year I am planning in three groups of 12 weeks, because I am making history, science, grammar and writing notebooks that cover that much material. ( I make narration sheets for each section in history and copy the appropriate student pages from the AG. I had already detrmined that it was easier for me to type up pages for noeo science - and I like my pags much better). For grammar and writing I just divieded the student pages into the appropriate groups.

 

As far as writing out my plan. I made an excel spreadsheet to look like a teachers planner. It has groups of 5 subjects across (history, science, WWE, FLL and math and 5 days down. I type the work into the boxes. I do NOT plan out things like reading, latin, spelling that are do the next one and that I do not have a timeline for. The kids can look at the list on my computer, but all they really need to be able to do is open the workbooks where I already have that information.

 

ETA: I am a color person, so I hilight on the spreadsheet what is done and I can see at a glance if we are current, or where we are behind, also no flipping pages or erasing. If I found that I have really misjudged where we should be I can cut and paste stuff where I want it to go.

Edited January 6, 2011 by dcjlkplus3
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[Sahamamama]

:bigear:

[Once]

I have the pictures with the pocket chart organizers in photobucket but need easy to follow instructions for posting here......anyone?:001_smile:

 

I was able to post them in my user control panel but if someone can give me directions to do it in a more direct way....I would be happy to! We love our pocket charts!

Edited January 6, 2011 by Once

[FairProspects]

I use a green spiral Teacher planner. I write out a week at a time in pencil, because I agree with PP that penciled plans are more fluid and can easily be adjusted if a lesson takes more time or needs to be broken into 2 days.

 

In grammar, phonics, math & handwriting it is always just do the next lesson, but I write down the page numbers so I can flip to the pages quickly. The plan is mostly for me to review the material myself so I'm not glued to the books reading word for word and I know what concepts are coming. I also write down the read-alouds for each day.

 

I make more detailed Excel spreadsheet plans for the content subjects of History and Science week by week for the year, because I want to be sure we get through a certain number of chapters or topics in a school year and I want to have all the materials ready for our projects. I also have all the library books planned out per topic so that I can request them 3 weeks in advance. That way, I know what to prep and do on each day and what to skip or condense if we get sick or something comes up.

 

This much planning is certainly not necessary for early primary, but I enjoy planning and it has enabled us to get a lot of ground covered without a lot of stress!

Edited January 6, 2011 by FairProspects

[cjzimmer1]

I designed (and my husband coded - we are geeky computer people here) a database where I can put in lessons and then I get a list of lessons that have been assigned to a kid where I can assign dates. Then on Sunday nights, I put in dates for the week and it prints out a spreadsheet for each kid's assignments. If things change during the week and things don't get done as planned, the next Sunday I just change the dates to reflect what actually got done and enter new dates for assignments that didn't get done and print new spreadsheets.

 

As far as the lessons, for things like math or english that have a specific lesson to them (at least in the curriculum we use they do), I enter all the lessons in my database during the summer. For things that are a bit harder to define like a research paper. Typically I will have entries like read 1 book for the research paper, spend an hour researching, spend an hour on rough draft etc for whatever is appropriate for the task. I will just add these into the database each Sunday night on a as needed base for what we need that week.

 

I use to write it on on paper like you do but it was such a pain to change. Now my lessons plans for the week take me about 5 minutes total for all 3 kids combined and changing plans can be done in seconds. I can also reprint anytime I need to if a kid loses their schedule (or course all of our kids are very responsible and would never do that) and tries to fudge about what was assigned that week or if too many things change in the week, that it becomes easier to just have a clean schedule than try to figure out what should be done.

[Closeacademy]

My lessons plans

 

When I get all my curriculum in for the year, I sit down and write up weekly lesson plans for everything except math. I type these up and put them in the weekly file folders. I also make a cross reference for each subject including math and then when it is time (each semester or month), I print out the worksheets and put them in the files.

 

On a weekly basis, I have a lesson planner book where I write out the assignments for my children. This is the one found in the dollar spot at Target in the summers. For these I write the subjects across the top and fill in the boxes for the days. And I put their work in their workboxes.

 

This method has been working for quite some time for us.:001_smile:

[MaMa2005]

I use HST+. I put in my lesson plans during the summer for the following year. When the school year starts, all I have to do is print off a weekly schedule. You can also do daily. It even has a check box for the student to check when they finish the assignment. I clip this schedule to a clipboard and hand it over on Monday. DD is 6yo, so we do most of the work together anyway, but this helps get her into the habit of checking to see what comes next and also checking the box when we completed the lesson.

 

:iagree: Exactly how we do things in this household. If I didn't have plans, things would be all :willy_nilly:. I am an organizer person and DS is a schedule person so HST+ really works well.

[susankenny]

No lesson plans for us!

We know which materials we use for which subjects, and how far we are. So, we just resume where we left off the last time.

 

 

:iagree: We do the same thing.

 

Most of our curriculum choices have lessons, so we just pick up where we left off. If there are only 80 lessons, and we want to use it throughout the year, then we only do about 2 lessons a week to stretch it out, etc. If it's something I am creating from scratch (say history or science with living books) then I will plan it out with the *minimum* of a scope and sequence...we don't just wing it.

 

Susan

Edited January 6, 2011 by susankenny

[JudoMom]

I'm another HST+ user. Over the summer, I enter all of my lesson plans. On the weekends, I assign them to the week. I print out assignment sheets in the morning for each boy.

 

I love it because it's so flexible, and it allows easy, neat reschedules.

[TXMary2]

It is a constant battle for me. For my high schooler I use Homeschool Tracker and print it out for him each day.

 

I would like to use HST for my 1st grader, but I just haven't gotten to it yet. My favorite planner is the paper spiral planners from Teacher Created Resources, but life happens here everyday and I can't use them because we never get to everything planed each day.

[Hannah]

We are do-the-next-thing people too.

 

We do maths and violin practice daily and my older dd can decide in what order she wants to do her subjects, as long as she hits the schedule for the week.

 

We do sometimes finish a subject before the end of the year, but that leaves time for the subjects we may be a bit behind in because of rabbit trails.

 

ETA: To keep track of what was done, we have a daily log. Basically just the subject and pages covered, piece memorized or book read.

[Princess Peach]

I made an Excel sheet for each child. It has subjects on the left column and days of the week on the top row. I fill it in a week at a time with their assignments. This keeps me sane and makes our days run much smoother.

[kfeusse]

thanks for all of the responses...I really appreciate it.

[kwickimom]

I planned out and numbered lessons in each subject, but I dont put it on a calendar for the whole year. I made 180 days worth of lessons (I dont have to report, just picked this amount of days) I wrote out a master list of supplies and books that correspond to each lesson. I plan 2 weeks in advance so that I can order library books and buy supplies. I just put the lesson number down.

 

This way if I get ahead in one area but not another, its no problem. Or if we make take extra time on something, or need more review, it wont throw off the whole plan. This makes me planned out, but super flexible! I wrote evrything down in a notebook (I love pencil and paper) and I have a monthly calendar to write lesson numbers down. My DD gets a wipe off board daily checklist for chores/independant work and off we go!

 

This system was awesome...it allowed me to not worry the 2 weeks I was sick that we were behind. If I have to school into June or something, so biggie, it wil get done :D