When do you start planning your new year?

[Abecedarianmama]

I have starting buying my curriculum for next year, we hope to start in August. When do you start lesson planning for the new year?

[TheAutumnOak]

We are going to start things up again in July...We did half a year this year (January to May), but are starting our next grade work in July...

 

I started planning last week...I still have much to get though...

[AmericanMom]

When do you start lesson planning for the new year?

 

As soon as I start to get the January blahs!:)

[TracyP]

We will start in July and I started planning yesterday. I hope to be done planning by when we break in June (I should be done far sooner), so I can just relax for a few weeks.

[Farrar]

Not sure yet when we're stopping for a break and starting again, but planning for me is a consistent process. It's always in the back of my mind and occasionally pops to the forefront and gets some more attention when I see a specific resource mentioned or see an issue with the kids that I want to a address or something like that. But I do very little "lesson planning" - we set goals, I do more long term thinking and then let the daily stuff run itself.

[NorCalMom]

I start picking the next year's curricula in March/April and work on getting everything I need. I don't actually sit down to do daily lesson planning until July. We start in late August.

[Jenny in Florida]

I try to have everything purchased and on hand by about June. Then, I try to carve our a week or so when I can have big chunks of time to myself to work on planning. Ideally, my son will be in a day camp or otherwise occupied so the house is quiet. Or, I can go sit in a bookstore cafe for a few hours at a time. I like to have it all done and typed up before August so I have a couple of weeks of break before we start.

 

We roughly follow the calendar of the local public schools, and they start on August 22 this year.

[G5052]

So I can watch for deals and spread out the expense, but there are always a few things that I don't nail down completely until January-February. I'm actually done with my purchasing for 2011-2012, just waiting on some backordered items. Summer is a tight time for us financially, so I try to be done in April or May and hold tight on watching for the next year until about October.

[kewb]

So I can watch for deals and spread out the expense, but there are always a few things that I don't nail down completely until January-February. I'm actually done with my purchasing for 2011-2012, just waiting on some backordered items. Summer is a tight time for us financially, so I try to be done in April or May and hold tight on watching for the next year until about October.

:iagree: This is what i do. I am now in the process of purchasing for next year.

[RachelFlores]

I find I'm planning all the time. It is always in the back of my mind, "That might be a good program for next year.", or "I want to make sure to teach that next year or the year after.". I'm constantly making a list of programs, books and links that I want to remember in the future. I'm working on scheduling for next year (starting in August) right now and hope to be done by May.

[missmoe]

I am always on the look out for what we might need for next year though I seem to have the basics pretty much down pat.

 

I don't allow myself to plan out individual lessons until I am done with this school year.

Edited April 16, 2011 by missmoe

[ChrissySC]

Now - As we get close to finishing a subject, I start about a fourth of the way to the end planning the next year.

[Tabrett]

Around the beginning of November. I do this so early so I can use Christmas money the dc get from family to start buying my material.

[Guest mrsajoy]

This is my first year I'm planning anything, and I started planning last week. I'm driving myself crazy with planning. We are on a very tight budget, so I'm not purchasing curricula. When I think I've gotten things narrowed down, for some reason I start all over. Hopefully I'll be done by the time we start in August:)

[In2why]

Now - As we get close to finishing a subject, I start about a fourth of the way to the end planning the next year.

 

 

Yep this is me. I can see the end in sight for some subjects and so I am planning next year. We school year round but reduce our subjects for the summer, but will actually start our new Math program as soon as this one is finished which will be within the next week or two. I have a prehistory unit I want to do over the summer since we are studying Ancients next year and it doesn't include Prehistory, so I am figuring out our weekly schedule for that and how it will work around out vacations. I also want to continue reading instruction with the preschooler since he would lose a lot if we stopped for the summer.

As for next year I have decided on what we are learning and what I am using. Now I am just waiting on the UPS man to bring the last of it, then I will start plugging it into my schedule.

[Testimony]

I actually start in January to prepare for September. I usually change my mind a hundred times. And it gets changed even after September because once the children start doing it, you may find programs don't work.

 

However, I hardly change once we are into the new school year. I have done a lot of rearranging prior so, I am not crying that I spent money on something that did not work.

 

Blessings in your homeschooling journey!

 

Sincerely,

Karen

http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/testimony

[Love2teach0307]

This is my 3rd year so I think (hope) I'm getting better at planning. Usually a bug gets in me in January to start evaluating how the current year is going and I start researching like mad. By the end of February I make decisions on what will fit our goals the best. I start buying used or new (hopefully with free shipping) and finish buying by the end of April. I try to take May off of planning and concentrate on finishing up the current year and maybe get in some projects (or art) that I never got to throughout the past year). In June I hit it hard planning out exactly what we'll do each week. For me, the more i plan, the more we get done during the school year. July, I rest and relax. We start school the first Monday of August.

 

BTW, I keep a notebook of ideas for long-term planning throughout the entire year. For example, I write down recommendations for the logic and rhetoric stage so I can keep in mind what direction I want to go.

[Luckymama]

In depth planning (coordinating chapters with additional reading and resources through the library, planning labs, gathering supplies) will begin in earnest in July. Ideally I'd like planning to be as complete as I need by early August, before our vacation and before my baby starts college.

[mlbuchina]

I never stop!:lol:

 

I need help.:tongue_smilie:

[AStableBeginning]

finishing up my planning now...almost done (that is if I don't change something :tongue_smilie:)

[Cornerstone Classical]

Usually the first of April because I like to buy as much as I can at our home school convention that is always the last week of May. But we run our school year from January thru December, so the curriculum I buy in May will be used beginning in January.

[gardening momma]

I plan what to buy and do the purchasing between January and the end of March (I think I have everything for next year). But I don't do lesson plans at all.

[kandty]

I always do my research and buying in the spring whenever the mood hits me. I usually get a little burn out and want to look at new stuff to help me make it through the winter. :tongue_smilie: I sit down to do my actually lesson plans in June or July. I do my very basic over view of the year of goals and what we want to get done and then I plan in detail the first few months of school. I usually do my next planning on Christmas break and then do to the end of the year during our spring break. That way if we get behind or ahead of something just isn't working I don't have too much erasing to do. And it helps me to really try to give new things a try before giving up because I really don't want to erase and replan in the middle. Overall I do it when the mood hits otherwise is takes longer and I don't feel good about my choices.

[mom31257]

I feel like research is always happening. I start buying in mid-winter, but won't do my actual planning until summer. My dh is a public school teacher and has June and July off. The time of the summer that I plan varies and depends on our family plans for vacation and seeing out-of-town family. I always start the first of August and finish the end of May. That usually gives me anywhere from 6-8 weeks that I can take off during the year, including the 6 weeks that he will have off.

 

I did the filing system last summer, and it has been the best thing I've ever done. I can't wait to do it again this summer.

[mcconnellboys]

I generally start in January for the next year, but I usually don't finish up until summer. We start in August.

[Mandy in TN]

I have starting buying my curriculum for next year, we hope to start in August. When do you start lesson planning for the new year?

Honestly, I am always planning. I like keeping what we will do next in mind as I work through what we are doing now. This helps me stay on track and keeps me focused on what skills and knowledge I hope to be gained in order to move forward.

 

I try to have a working game plan by Dec, so I can start buying in Jan. This way I can begin writing up more detailed plans during the Feb blahs. Right now, I have the vast majority of the little man's curriculum purchased, I have a working schedule, and I have already reorganized my bookshelves.

 

This year's science and history ends on Tues with the last meeting of CC. We will then look at Disney for two weeks until our vacation to Disney.:) When we get back, I have a automobile unit study that I put together. I don't know how long this will last, because we will be more relaxed for summer. Then, we study oceanography and explorers until CC begins in the fall.

 

With math and LA we will just continue on a lighter schedule through the summer.

 

Now, the 17yo, OTOH, is up in the air. We have a meeting with the headmaster of his umbrella school next week. Between now and then we need to talk a little more about colleges before we make final decisions on classes for his senior year.

 

Mandy

[Karen in CO]

I typically start planning a couple of weeks after school is over so that I have time to reflect on the year that has passed. This year, we had a terrible case of the flu hit the whole family about 4 days apart for each person so I had a lot of time to start thinking about school.

 

I started with the things I knew I wanted to "fix" then moved to the the subjects I knew I need to do (like chemistry). I reviewed a few audio lectures, essays and books for inspiration, then started a spreadsheet and comparative shopping list. I still refuse to buy anything until July for an August start.

[Jeanne in MN]

Honey, I never stop planning. I've probably been really nailing down what we are doing for next year and getting curriculum over the past few months though. I work very hard to not buy frivolously and waste money which means I need to take considerable time to research what I want, the best prices, etc. so I have to start months in advance.

 

But I'm always thinking ahead. Our oldest will be in 9th grade next year and so I'm now thinking forward to the next four years. For example, I know what we're doing for science next year. But I've also been doing a little research on Biology and Chemistry for the next years, getting an idea of what's out there and may be of interest. I bookmark, save, read threads and study it all a little bit at a time.

 

I feel like I'm always in planning mode!:tongue_smilie: