Those of you who lesson-plan, do you schedule everything you'll use through the year?

[melissel]

When I plan, I distribute the lessons through the weeks, but I get bogged down when I try to plan the extras--read-alouds, videos etc. Do you plan every detail at the beginning of the year? If you do, do you have any advice for how you decide what you'll use without losing your mind? :D

 

TIA!

[tuzor]

I dont plan our bible. And I don't plan read alouds that are not connected with our curriculum. Everything else I schedule. Sorry i am a little OCD that way.

[ELaurie]

and doing them a little differently this year. I'm listing all of the resources I have on hand that we might use for each subject each week on my dc's weekly assignment sheets. For example, we're using Classical Magic to study composers. I also have several books with biographies about composers.

 

If I just list the chapters we'll cover from CM, I'm likely to forget about the supplemental biographies, so I've listed the biographies on their assignment sheets as well. If we don't get to them, that's fine. My dc will be 12 and 9; nothing terrible will happen if we skip a few of the composers :tongue_smilie:

 

OTOH, if I don't schedule them, I know we won't do them. I've also learned to be flexible about crossing things off of the list if I need to - if we're busy with a project for history, or we have a field trip, I can cross off a biography, or a subject like art or music altogether for that week. (We don't skip lessons for core language arts and math.)

 

I'm also listing biographies and projects for history that we may or may not actually do. When I look over my plans on Sunday evening, I can cross some things out and highlight others, depending upon my priorities for that week.

 

The kids think it's great when I reduce their assignment lists; I don't tell them that I never planned to accomplish all of it in the first place :D

[Joker]

I have planned every.single.thing...for the first four weeks.:tongue_smilie: We do four weeks on and one week off (with a few weeks off between) and we start our new year in about three weeks. I have the first four scheduled down to the smallest detail but if I don't we get lost. One of the members on this board just sent me a template for a weekly schedule she uses and I spent all day working on it and I like it a lot. If I plan it all out in advance I am amazed at the amount of work we get done. I don't try to plan every detail out for the entire year because it is just too much but I do know how many lessons of the basics need to get done every four weeks for us to finish on time.

[melissel]

One of the members on this board just sent me a template for a weekly schedule she uses and I spent all day working on it and I like it a lot.

 

Oooh, organizational tools! :D Is it a paper-and-pencil template or a computer-based version? If it's the latter, would you mind sharing? :D

[sewpeaceful]

I created an .xls spreadsheet with the week numbers going down the side and the subjects going across the top. In the intersections I entered what we would be studying this week. This includes their independent reading (I browse the book and gauge if it is a 1 week book, 2 week book, etc).

 

SOTW is a different story. I put the week number in column A, the lesson number in column B, Chapter name in Column C, subchapter in column D, AG pages or project in E, and literature/additional reading in F. We follow the model: read a subchapter and narrate per day. When a chapter is finished, we do the mapwork and coloring page. This leaves a few empty days which we do projects. Now, if the project is to cook a Chinese meal while we are studying the Mind Dynasty, I simply "double up" because that is dinner, not a class project - which allows me to sneak in a few extra projects. This coming year (SOTW2), there are a few more projects I would like to do than project days allow - in walks Friday, a standard non-elective day in my house but my kids LOVE projects so they never balk at something like that showing up on a Friday. Does that make sense? By putting it all in an excel spreadsheet this way, I prevent myself from planning more than we can handle AND not underdoing it either.

 

week lesson

1 1

2

3

4

2 1

2

[Mallory]

I have a chart that has the months (and how many weeks we school in each month) across the top and the subjects down the side.

 

Then in each box I put where I want to be at the end of the month. For some subjects that is pretty much all the planning I do. Before we take Dec. off M. should be half way through his math book and L. should be on lesson 44 of his grammar.

 

I go a head and do this for the whole year. I mean it isn't much writing (I do it in pencil) and if I have to change something that's okay, but at least I have a year overview to start out with.

 

For some subjects I go very in depth. History, Science, and Geography are the three I am planning out for next year. We are going to try out the 3 months on/1 month off schedule, so I have split things up into trimesters. I am only planning out 12 weeks at a time.

 

I start by planning out our basic text/spine, then add in all the extras. I do plan reading for the boys in those subjects, but have a separate list for read alouds, because trying to cooridinate them with any other subject never works well for us. If it goes along with hist or sci, it doesn't matter if we read it exactly on time or not.

 

Like ELaurie, I plan out everything we own, if I don't I'll forget about it. Then I cross things off depending on what we've already done, or how much time we'll have this week.

[laughing lioness]

When I plan, I distribute the lessons through the weeks, but I get bogged down when I try to plan the extras--read-alouds, videos etc. Do you plan every detail at the beginning of the year? If you do, do you have any advice for how you decide what you'll use without losing your mind? :D

 

TIA!

 

 

Honestly, I plan by the year, not week. Our academic class day determines btweek so I flow with that.

I do list all of the CD's we'll be using each week, all of the memory work (coordinated with history/english/etc.), DVD's I want to watch, etc. Read-alouds- yes, Bible reading- yes.

Have you looked at Daisey's blog (I'm Nobody Who are You - it's in my side bar on my blog- she has an incredible list!!)

I also add as we go. I have a very detailed Yearlly overview plan and then fill in and tweak. Too many little detials in a short amount of time drives me nuts.

[....]

I plan what we need to accomplish for the year and then every Sunday, I sit down with our upcoming week and pencil in our schedule for that week.

 

I need flexibility and we need breaks sometimes.

[woolybear]

Oooh, organizational tools! :D Is it a paper-and-pencil template or a computer-based version? If it's the latter, would you mind sharing? :D

:)

 

 

I am trying to find the balance between planning everything (which I never get to, so fail before I start:glare: and it can get too rigid) and not planning enough and therefor don't do all I want to. It's really helpful seeing how all of you do this.

[Homeschooling6]

I don't plan out every, single thing. I do jot things down. If there is a dvd, book or cd that I want to include I write it down so I won't forget.

 

I do plan a few weeks in advance. I'll sit down see where everyone is at.

 

I use a Weekly Lesson Planner that I purchase at Rod and Staff. I write each child's name on the left side (vertical). Across from each name there are five boxes. I write assignments and such there. I keep it open during school hours and use it to help me remember what each child did for my Week in Review.

 

Anyway, I tried the filing system to keep me organized but it didn't work. This year I plan to have a teacher binder for each child to put all test (yes we use test), answer keys and any notes for that child.

[Greta]

I created an .xls spreadsheet with the week numbers going down the side and the subjects going across the top. In the intersections I entered what we would be studying this week.

 

...

 

By putting it all in an excel spreadsheet this way, I prevent myself from planning more than we can handle AND not underdoing it either.

 

Ooh, I like this! I normally just plan each week individually on the Sunday evening before. But this is a great way to have a scaffolding with which to build the entire year, and make sure we are staying on track. Thanks for mentioning this!

[Embassy]

Yes, I schedule everything for the whole year. Sometimes I have to add, delete or tweak, but in general I like having things set for the year. I list all books, activities, experiments, and DVDs chronologically and then check them off as we go. I don't separate things by day or week - I need much more flexibility than that. I keep each subject separate and I just choose what subjects to cover each day and we do the next thing on the list. You can see more about what we do here.

[missmoe]

I do plan everything for the year. I don't always follow my plan exactly, but I need the plan in place.

 

I do like ELaurie's suggestion of having a list of resources added to the plan already in place. I think I'll add this to my plans I put together this summer.

 

I recently wrote a post about how I plan our history.

http://missmoe-thesearethedaysofmylife.blogspot.com/2011/03/planning-your-own-curriculum.html

 

Keep in mind I'm a bit of a control freak--something I'm working on.

 

I never have time during the school year to write up plans so I do this during our summer break.

[mama25angels]

I do plan everything for the year. I don't always follow my plan exactly, but I need the plan in place.

 

I do like ELaurie's suggestion of having a list of resources added to the plan already in place. I think I'll add this to my plans I put together this summer.

 

I recently wrote a post about how I plan our history.

http://missmoe-thesearethedaysofmylife.blogspot.com/2011/03/planning-your-own-curriculum.html

 

Keep in mind I'm a bit of a control freak--something I'm working on.

 

I never have time during the school year to write up plans so I do this during our summer break.

 

 

 

Thank you!! That was post was awesome!!!

[2cents]

I rough plan on my calendar program in the computer so that I can stagger projects/units. For example, I want to do Shakespeare but I want to do it after LOTR so on my rough I pop in in after we are sched to finish LOTR. It just helps to keep from jamming in too much all at once. I have a lot I want to do so this just keeps me sane.

 

Then, every week I plan a detailed daily schedule from that rough schedule. That is when I scour the net etc and add in all my extras, get my copies and folders in order, and do whatever else needs to be done so that things go smoothly during the week. I can see the week at a glance and can tweek it if we have a day that needs more or less going on. I have started putting clickable links on my weekly schedules so that during the week I can keep it in the background of our TV/computer and we can instantly pull up videos, text or interactives as we go along (we have a link from the computer to the big tv).

[TheAutumnOak]

I list all books, activities, experiments, and DVDs chronologically and then check them off as we go. I don't separate things by day or week - I need much more flexibility than that. I keep each subject separate and I just choose what subjects to cover each day and we do the next thing on the list. You can see more about what we do here.

 

I am in the process of planning, and you have really given me something to think about!...I like the ideas you mentioned, thanks for posting this...

[JessMcG]

:bigear:

[joysworld]

I plan, but not detailed. I do not like to be chained to a schedule:) I've attempted to make daily lesson plans for us, but if I missed something, or if we had an off day, I felt sooooo behind. Instead, I'm doing weekly lesson plans. I map out what I want to do for science, and history, topics to cover for each week. Then I assign books for each week to coordinate with the topic. I will write down different suggested ideas for experiments, projects, etc. These things I do not HAVE to do, but if we are in a projecty mood, we will. It's more like brainstorming ideas for each week. That way, when that week comes, I have plenty of ideas and don't have to fly by the seat of my pants. But at the same time, I don't feel tied down to every single activity.

 

For reading, grammar, and math, I look at what we have to do in the book, and then write out how I want to break that down. I don't label what a day is, and I don't label what a week is. I just make a list, and check it off as we do it. When we finish up the book we are going through, we just start a new level.

 

I also don't plan the weeks we have school, and when we have time off. We do school until we need a break, and take a break when we feel we need it:) As long as I get my 36 weeks done with by the next school year, I'm good.

Edited April 29, 2011 by joysworld

[WTMindy]

If I don't plan it, it doesn't happen it. I'm much more likely to do it if I put it on our checklist!

[mama25angels]

If I don't plan it, it doesn't happen it. I'm much more likely to do it if I put it on our checklist!

 

:iagree:

[kalanamak]

I plot out what I want to cover, and divide it into the months I think I'll need, and make some marks about what page of SM I should be on by the end of May etc, and then I adapt as I have to change expectations. But not a week by week, day by day plan. I run an organized life, with plotted plans, but not THAT tight with hs. Got to be a bit nimble. Got to be ready for surprises, good and bad. :001_smile:

[TXMary2]

I plan the whole year and I only put minute details where there is something I really want to cover. If I don't make notes when I think of something I lose the thought and it rarely returns!

[Miss Tick]

I'm in the process of planning also, which is a bit intimidating, but I'm finding relief in some of the things I *don't* need to plan. For instance, we do math every week day (we take an occasional holiday, or spend an extra day on lessons as needed). So I know what we are doing, I plan to keep moving ahead as long as it is working, so it isn't something that I need to plan. Reading is currently working in a similar manner. Since these aren't things with year-end goals (except improvement) I don't feel any need to plan them.

 

The "need to plan" category has history and science at the top of the heap. For SOTW I've written out all the chapter subsections and the map/extra activities. That way I know how many "teaching days" I need. I didn't actually assign days, just left blanks to fill in the date we do them. That way I can check that we are about half-way at the mid-point - not too fast (add more supplementary material!) and not too slow (double up some sections of reading). Plus I'm not sure what weekly schedule we will be happiest with. I'll work on science next, list the experiments in the order (roughly) that I want to do them along with needed materials to give me the best chance at actually having them on hand.

 

Everything else falls lower in priority and also requires less planning. As we go along I will try to look ahead every four weeks, or so and see what other details I can add - library materials, internet projects, things like that.

 

I guess I'm middle-of-the-road, I don't have the patience to plan it all out and if I haven't done some planning I start to stress out.

[Mommee & Baba]

Last year I began to plan everything in advance and I've already begun the full year planning for next year. Because I liked having so much prepped for me when school began. It was so less stressful!

 

For me I input all the lessons into my software. I include details, projects, supply lists and book lists...I don't get bogged down because I do it in bits and pieces. I will spend a couple days off and on planning History...then take a couple days break and then begin inputting Science and so on.

 

I think last year when I planned the entire year I jammed it so full that there was NO room for adjustments! This planning for next year I've only got us scheduled for 2 days a week for Science and 2 days a week for History....and I've not included ALL the narrations for each lessons or all the projects in each lesson..I've slimmed it down to OUR reality. We do projects and fun things that are in the lessons but we don't plan 3 projects in one day...instead I've planned 1 good project on 1 day and a small activity the next day...any books that we can add in I have listed on the schedule but these books will be our "bedtime" books...and the kids will be able to pick from the box of books that we check out for particular lessons...if any are needed. Alot of quizes will be done orally and there will be writing and notebooking but it will not be so full like I did with Science the year before...it stripped the fun out of it for us all.

 

Before I would've NEVER considered doing 2 day/wk for ANY subject...because I wanted to do all we could....but now I'm a realist...:lol: