cholderby Posted February 6, 2011 Share Posted February 6, 2011 Just curious, how much work do you do to prepare for school? Can you do most of it during school time or do you do it before/after? I'm currently not doing much, but my oldest is in Kindergarten. I log maybe an hour each weekend to print out stuff (art, coloring sheets, etc.). I'd love to get a sense of how much prep others have. Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boscopup Posted February 6, 2011 Share Posted February 6, 2011 I'd say maybe 30 minutes a week? I printed everything out before we started, so I just have to grab this week's work from the subject files and print out assignment sheets, also reserve library books ahead of time if needed. My oldest is only first grade. I'm sure it will take longer when I have 2 or 3 to school, but my plans are already made (without dates attached) and copies made at the beginning of the year, so the really time consuming stuff is done. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nitascool Posted February 6, 2011 Share Posted February 6, 2011 I Spend about 10 hours per child in Sept. and another 10 hours or so mid-year (tax time) preparing the next years materials lists, library lists, weekly schedules, etc. During the year I spend between 10 and 20 min. per week adjusting and checking to be sure I have what is needed each week. Of course, that's not including library trips and reprinting misplaced work. My younger two have more printables then the older two. Having things loosely laid out works best for us. It helps us to move things around a bit when needed. During school time I'm the elastic woman spread out between 4 overly dependent little munchkins so there isn't much time for me to be printing things off and flying by the seat of my pants. :lol::lol: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
---- Posted February 6, 2011 Share Posted February 6, 2011 It takes me about 1 hour on Sunday evening to prepare and plan the next week out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
patchfire Posted February 6, 2011 Share Posted February 6, 2011 I spend an hour or two on the weekends to prepare for the week ahead. When I am in a groove, I can knock out ds's portion in between his schoolwork on Fridays. I also do my printing and copying a week at a time. I don't really want to even consider how much time I spend prepping for each year. I'm quite sure I've already spent at least five hours researching for next year, and I'd say I still have the bulk of the actual planning in front of me. Thank goodness for "do the next thing" curricula in a few subjects! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crazyderiver Posted February 6, 2011 Share Posted February 6, 2011 I have a 1st and K'er currently doing TOG yr 1. I LOVE researching, reading, and planning but my planning for "real" school work takes 1-2 hours per week. I print off any map/worksheets and make up copywork pages online. I pull books and have everything put in my baskets before the school week starts. If I don't set out any and all extra supplies for projects, they don't get done. I know that what I will be preparing will change over time, but if I ever start to consistently need more than 3 hours of planning, it will be time to change curriculum or find a better organizing system. I will eventually have 3 kiddos and I plan on needing/using 1 hour of planning per kid per week. I could be hopelessly optimistic! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
texasmama Posted February 6, 2011 Share Posted February 6, 2011 The curriculums I use are mostly open and go so I spend very little time each week preparing for the next week...maybe ten minutes. This is a very big part of what I am purchasing when I purchase a curriculum. I spend about an hour or so twice a year planning out a schedule for our Singapore math lessons. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
foxbridgeacademy Posted February 6, 2011 Share Posted February 6, 2011 Right now, I spend about an hour per week. Usually late on Sundays! II hope to do better in the future. I've already started planning for next year (we start in April/May) I've got 6 weeks planned out, it probably took me 3 or 4 hours. I feel so much better about staying on track. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mommyto4 Posted February 6, 2011 Share Posted February 6, 2011 I spend 1-2 hours each Saturday evening to plan for my two boys (gr.1 and 3). I also spend some time going to the library or buying supplies if needed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dani3boys Posted February 6, 2011 Share Posted February 6, 2011 I spend about two hours Sunday afternoon getting everything ready. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wheres Toto Posted February 6, 2011 Share Posted February 6, 2011 I did the huge filing at the beginnng of the year, then re-did it to put things by subject so setting up our workfolders for the week is about 15 minutes. I'm putting together our Continents study and Habitats study and that is taking a lot of time - probably a few hours a week. Making copies, printing, researching, typing up lesson plans, etc. At some point I will have them done and the time will be much less. Once we start Ancient History and a regular science sequence I anticipate less time since we are using more of a prepared curriculum. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MaMa2005 Posted February 6, 2011 Share Posted February 6, 2011 My curriculum is open and go for the most part. I do spend a fair amount of time during the summer making out our schedule in HST+. Whatever prep needs to be done (an extra worksheet, etc.) can be done while DS takes one of his breaks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kalphs Posted February 6, 2011 Share Posted February 6, 2011 Dh and I spend one week during the summer mapping out the next academic year. During the week I usually do a prep time of approximately 20 minutes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
heart'sjoy Posted February 7, 2011 Share Posted February 7, 2011 I'm glad I'm not the only one that's not ready in 30 minutes or less when making individual schedules. I've wondered if I was crazy some weeks.:D 2-3 hours with the normal interruptions of mommyhood to make 3 schedules. dd11 and ds9 work independently from their schedules other than instruction time like spelling, new math concept. The schedules are detailed with everything from page numbers, group latin practice, weekend assigned reading. ds7 is the third schedule and I can abbreviate for me to read. Now that ds is doing about 1/2 the day independently, I tear out a week's worth of independent work and jot the day of the week in the upper right hand corner for my sake. Independent work goes in the "Mommy check box." Detailed Goals and making plans such as how many pages a week, or how many chapters this 18 weeks happens twice a year. This takes 1-3 hours per child. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
angela in ohio Posted February 7, 2011 Share Posted February 7, 2011 A lot. I believe a lot of the concepts in The Seven Laws of Teaching, and so I prepare myself as a teacher in order to better educate my children. For K, I did a week or so of intensive planning before the year began (mostly coordinating a schedule to utilize resources available in our area) and then an hour or so a week in prepping materials. I knew all the information and concepts covered, though. ;) By now, with a 9th, 7th/8th, and a 3rd grader, I do hours and hours a week. I am reading literature, studying math concepts (they do a video math program, but I need to know how to help them and expand the concepts,) learning logic, prepping for science labs (although my older dd does this a lot for me,) grading, planning, searching for resources, and so on... I couldn't even guess at how much time it takes. I guess I would give the answer my dds give when people ask them how long homeschooling takes them: "always." :D I wish I had spent even more time in those early year preparing for now. I did quite a bit, and I have always been an eager learner, but I should have done even more. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Farrar Posted February 7, 2011 Share Posted February 7, 2011 Untold hours over the summer just "thinking." Then, during the year... it varies. I like to have stuff that's just ready to go and most of our stuff is, but then I have to plan outings, the co-op classes I teach, the Shakespeare production I'm directing, the DI team I coach... Yes, no one needs to tell me, I know I probably do too much. And sometimes I unexpectedly end up taking time to plan something else for us - adding to what we're doing, changing, etc. Oh, and if you count the time we spend at the library, then that adds an hour to every week. But that's part errands, part planning and finding things, and part hanging out with the kids teaching them library skills and reading books. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Halcyon Posted February 7, 2011 Share Posted February 7, 2011 Some sundays I spend 2 -3 hours, other sundays (like today, when I'm really worn out) I spend 10 minutes, but then try and make up for it Monday evening LOL. So generally, it's about 2-3 hours a week. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Satori Posted February 7, 2011 Share Posted February 7, 2011 Countless hours researching and choosing curriculum, and then countless hours planning it all out in my online scheduler or blog. (Doing this now...) I print out anything needed ahead of time. I love binders. However, once that's all done, it's pretty much just open and go. Some subjects like science or history I'll have to gather last minute items, but nothing too hindering. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
petepie2 Posted February 7, 2011 Share Posted February 7, 2011 About an hour...sometimes more if I feel the need to do more history prep to understand the subject matter. Of course, I spent many hours before the school year thinking through a master schedule for everything. Most of my work on a weekly basis involves scheduling TOG reading/assignments. I also schedule out Singapore Math week by week. With the exception of TOG, most of our curriculum is pretty much open and go. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amy Jo Posted February 7, 2011 Share Posted February 7, 2011 Countless hours researching and choosing curriculum, and then countless hours planning it all out in my online scheduler or blog. (Doing this now...) I print out anything needed ahead of time. I love binders. Me too, but I'm using the FCS. Right now I'm deciding on needs for next year, this summer I'll do my files for next year. I love, love, love to plan though, so I actually have to remind myself the goal is to finish planning and implement. LOL. Every few weeks I sort the school files into daily files (like the 31 folders in Getting Things Done, aka Tickler files). Then the daily files just go into workboxes, which is fast now that I have my master schedule sheet. I'll have to read over the science lesson and gather supplies, reserve library books, and other little tasks, but I don't think that takes over an hour. Most of my curriculum is open and go, especially after I understand the system. Now, if we are including my self-education time (Latin and reading) that estimate goes up a lot. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Homeschooling6 Posted February 7, 2011 Share Posted February 7, 2011 I spend about two hours on Sat. or Sun. writing lessons and pages into my the student planners for three kids and in my planner for the younger three. About another 30 minutes 4xweek in the evening, looking over some lessons for the next day. Saxon Phonics is pretty much open and go but I like to read the lesson the night before. Things just run more smoothly that way, same with Bob Jones Math, McRuffy and Saxon Math. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheCoffeeChick Posted February 7, 2011 Share Posted February 7, 2011 I'm another summer planner. I spend a ton of my time during July & August getting ready for the upcoming school year. I literally go through every lesson in every subject before the school year starts. While going through the lessons I make: a weekly materials list - each week when I make a grocery list I look at my materials list for school and write down anything I need to buy or collect for the follwing week. a weekly book list - we go to the library every Wednesday, so I look ahead 3 weeks at a time and check out everything we need at the library, or put it on hold. If it is a book I feel we really need but cannot find it in the library system, I purchase it on Amazon. We have prime shipping so it arrives at our house in 2 days. subject planners - for each subject I go through and make a schedule with what lessons need to be completed each week for the entire school year (36 weeks). I use the same layout as the schedules on the Core Foundation blog. I make one of these for each subject for each kid. weekly schedule - I also print out 36 weeks of a weekly schedule to fill in each week as we go -- it looks very much like Donna Young's ruled 2-page weekly planner except I made one that more fits my needs in excel a couple years ago. I have these in a small 1/2 inch 3 ring binder. I keep a sticky note on the week we are currently on and on Monday mornings while the kids are getting read for school and I am drinking my coffee I pencil in what we should get done for the week using my subject schedules as reference. I can't fill these in ahead of time because we have days that don't always go as planned so sometimes we are behind schedule in something and other times we are ahead of schedule. When we are behind I either plan on 2 days of work in one day, skip a lesson, or just plan on being behind for the year. print - I also print or copy everything I'd need during the year and put them into folders according to subject. For example - I when I went through SOTW last summer, I choose 1 color page, 1 map, and 1 activity to do each week. So I printed off 2 of each color page (for both dc), 1 of each map (only ds), and the instructions for the project I had planned. (It helped that I bought the PDF version of the student pages - it was worth the $10 to me so that I didn't have to be constantly flipping through the activity guide to make copies.) Some weeks I also printed a recipe for a meal to make during the week that pertained to the lesson. I kept everything in order (with week 1 in front) and put them into a pocket folder labeled history on the front. So, when it is time for history, I just pull out the next paper in the folder, grab the book to read, and we are ready to go. take apart workbooks - this year I didn't keep anything in a workbook - I cut the bindings off them all and put them either into folders or into 3-ring binders. This makes them as easy to access as everything I printed. Math was one of the biggest subjects to do this with - we use Rod & Staff so to put everything in order, I popped out the workbook pages, stapled them, punched holes in them, and grouped them together with a blackline page for each day's lesson. I had to use a 4 inch binder for math to fit it all. Other things like Explode the Code were easy and small enough to fit into a pocket folder. So by the time school starts in September - I have our school shelves all stocked and ready to be open and go. I have 4 magazine holders for each dc labeled math, language arts, history & science, and other. Thay hold the books and papers needed for each subject. (My 3-ring binders that go along with the subjects don't fit in the holders, so they are on the shelf next to them.) Because I've done so much work during the summer, it means that during the school year I at most spend 10 minutes a week filling in our weekly schedule, another 5 minutes writing down the materials we need onto my grocery list, and another 15-20 minutes placing books on hold at the library for the upcoming weeks. I won't count going to the library to check out books as part of preparing because we'd go there anyway. ;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dinsfamily Posted February 7, 2011 Share Posted February 7, 2011 I spend about 2 hrs at the beginning of the year to plan (mostly SWR) so it will all be open-and-go. After that, it takes me about 15 mins per week to update my schedule based on what we accomplished, make a copy, etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AngelBee Posted February 8, 2011 Share Posted February 8, 2011 A lot. I believe a lot of the concepts in The Seven Laws of Teaching, and so I prepare myself as a teacher in order to better educate my children. For K, I did a week or so of intensive planning before the year began (mostly coordinating a schedule to utilize resources available in our area) and then an hour or so a week in prepping materials. I knew all the information and concepts covered, though. ;) By now, with a 9th, 7th/8th, and a 3rd grader, I do hours and hours a week. I am reading literature, studying math concepts (they do a video math program, but I need to know how to help them and expand the concepts,) learning logic, prepping for science labs (although my older dd does this a lot for me,) grading, planning, searching for resources, and so on... I couldn't even guess at how much time it takes. I guess I would give the answer my dds give when people ask them how long homeschooling takes them: "always." :D I wish I had spent even more time in those early year preparing for now. I did quite a bit, and I have always been an eager learner, but I should have done even more. This is where I have been for a while. My planning has been taking longer than the actually schooling. But I am learning right along with them. :) We also school year round, so I do not have summer to plan. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AngelBee Posted February 8, 2011 Share Posted February 8, 2011 Countless hours researching and choosing curriculum, and then countless hours planning it all out in my online scheduler or blog. (Doing this now...) I print out anything needed ahead of time. I love binders. However, once that's all done, it's pretty much just open and go. Some subjects like science or history I'll have to gather last minute items, but nothing too hindering. :iagree: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AngelBee Posted February 8, 2011 Share Posted February 8, 2011 Me too, but I'm using the FCS. Right now I'm deciding on needs for next year, this summer I'll do my files for next year. I love, love, love to plan though, so I actually have to remind myself the goal is to finish planning and implement. LOL. . :lol: I think we are sisters! :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cholderby Posted March 7, 2011 Author Share Posted March 7, 2011 Thank you all, I am now resolved to do more planning which will (hopefully) result in more organized schooling! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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