More planner issues

[Moxie]

After homeschooling for 6 years, I have still not found a system that we've stuck with for planning :glare:.

-I have to have a printed daily checklist for the kids.

-I have to have everything planned out, in extreme detail, over the summer. There is no time during the school year for planning.

-It has to be flexible. I think this has been the problem in the past. Something interupts the schedule and I have no idea how to get back on track so I scrap it altogether. We end every year flying by the seat of our pants. I can't stand that!

 

How do you make a flexible, written-out, detailed plan??

[momee]

No help, just commiseration. We're using SL and that does a great job at keeping us on track. The other subjects we just do the next lesson (Rod and Staff, Saxon) It's the things like art or IEW we struggle with.

 

Signed up for SCM's organizer but I have to click that we've done stuff for it to move to next day and even that is a pain for me.

Looks like I'm a pen and paper girl for planners after all...

as I said, no help here.

[bluemongoose]

You didnt mention if it had to be in writing, or if a computer software would work for you. If you are open to using a software, I highly recommend HST+.

 

As for your specific requirements:

 

 

-I have to have a printed daily checklist for the kids. HST+ can do this by day, week, or between whichever dates you choose. They do have check boxes for the kids to check off when you they are done. They then turn it in to you, and you enter the check marks into the software.

-I have to have everything planned out, in extreme detail, over the summer. There is no time during the school year for planning. This is what I do. Plus, you can reuse the plans if you have a younger child that uses the same curriculum later. Say you use Singapore math. Your first DC uses level 4 and you make a lesson plan for it. The next kid that begins level 4, all you have to do is apply the plan to their schedule. This makes it so much faster in later years!

-It has to be flexible. I think this has been the problem in the past. Something interupts the schedule and I have no idea how to get back on track so I scrap it altogether. We end every year flying by the seat of our pants. I can't stand that! This is the problem I had with a written planner. I ended up getting ahead or behind and having cross outs, erases, or arrows all over the planner. Drove me nuts! HST lets you reschedule whenever you need to. You can reschedule a whole day, a couple of subjects, or just one subject. It makes it so easy!

 

 

It is true, HST has a bit of a learning curve, so expect that! But once you get it, it is so easy to use. Sorry if this sounds like a commercial, but really HST has helped us a ton!:tongue_smilie:

[ELaurie]

I planned every week in detail, including all of the optional art projects, science experiments, history resources that I might want to include for a given week.

 

I knew that if I didn't list them, they wouldn't get done, because I would forget to include them later.

 

However, I also knew that it was unrealistic to do everything on my list.

 

Each week on Monday, I reviewed the list, and made adjustments based upon what my priorities for the week ahead, and based upon what I thought it would be realistic to accomplish.

 

If I really wanted the kids to do an art project, I crossed off an optional biography for history. If it seemed like ds 11 needed to spend more time on writing, I crossed off the optional science experiment.

 

My planner page is set up in such a way that I can shift when we do things, as long as I check off the required number of boxes by the end of the week :)

 

For example, if my goal is to do 3 lessons in FLL, and my plan is to do them Monday - Thursday (we save Fridays for field trips, science experiments, art projects, history projects, and to tie up loose ends from the week) I just make sure that we do three lessons sometime on those days.

 

It's the right combination of detailed planning with built in flexibility for us :001_smile:

[SilverMoon]

To make your plans more flexible, map out each subject separately.

 

I use a form from http://www.donnayoung.org that has nine weeks on it, one for each subject for each kid (unless they're combined). I do a quarter at a time. Those are filed behind the tab for the proper kidlet in my master binder. Then I can easily jot out the next week or two in my plan book with a little bit of flipping around in my binder. I leave my plan book on the school table where kids can cross off what they've finished; it becomes a family checklist.

[LunaLee]

I use HST+ and the lesson plan option. I input every lesson (pg. numbers, reading, projects, essays, etc) for every subject over the summer and between the two kids, it takes about 3 weeks. Some subjects take longer than others, but in the end it's worth it because when school starts all I have to do is is move the lessons over to assignments. Even if I have to tweak assignments and make small changes it's still worth it since planning only takes maybe 30min. on Sunday to schedule the week.

 

I also use a Circa notebook for my homeschool planner, because of the flexibility it allows.

[kristinannie]

You didnt mention if it had to be in writing, or if a computer software would work for you. If you are open to using a software, I highly recommend HST+.

 

As for your specific requirements:

 

 

-I have to have a printed daily checklist for the kids. HST+ can do this by day, week, or between whichever dates you choose. They do have check boxes for the kids to check off when you they are done. They then turn it in to you, and you enter the check marks into the software.

-I have to have everything planned out, in extreme detail, over the summer. There is no time during the school year for planning. This is what I do. Plus, you can reuse the plans if you have a younger child that uses the same curriculum later. Say you use Singapore math. Your first DC uses level 4 and you make a lesson plan for it. The next kid that begins level 4, all you have to do is apply the plan to their schedule. This makes it so much faster in later years!

-It has to be flexible. I think this has been the problem in the past. Something interupts the schedule and I have no idea how to get back on track so I scrap it altogether. We end every year flying by the seat of our pants. I can't stand that! This is the problem I had with a written planner. I ended up getting ahead or behind and having cross outs, erases, or arrows all over the planner. Drove me nuts! HST lets you reschedule whenever you need to. You can reschedule a whole day, a couple of subjects, or just one subject. It makes it so easy!

 

 

It is true, HST has a bit of a learning curve, so expect that! But once you get it, it is so easy to use. Sorry if this sounds like a commercial, but really HST has helped us a ton!:tongue_smilie:

 

:iagree: I would suggest leaving everything in your lesson plan then scheduling assignments each Sunday for the week. I just put everything thing into my assignments and then it was a real pain to reschedule. I love this program!

[oraetstudia]

I would consider planning out a 32 week school year, instead of a 36 week one. Make a schedule in Word or Excel for each of those 32 weeks with as much detail as you need. Then either on Friday, when you are rounding out the week of what has actually been accomplished, or Sunday, when the next week is about to begin, adjust the next week as necessary by cutting and pasting.

 

By making only a 32 week plan, you have some flexible weeks in there for adding on, doing longer projects, dealing with children who just take a little longer than you thought on something, or taking field trips.

[RahRah]

I'm only going into my second year doing this and can totally relate!

 

I tried Homeschool Sedtrack - didn't like it.

I reviewed Homeschool Tracker+ - like it better, but not by much.

 

So, I'm back to paper and pen (well, Word on the computer) because I can plan faster and customize more easily - at least I think I can! :)

 

But, I also do use (now) google calendar so I have all the plans available from anywhere I have access to the internet (via cell phone, computer or ipad).

 

I like to have a list for the week, what I expect we'll get done, but also need it to be flexible because things change, sometimes my plans are too much or too little, and sometimes we'll get ahead or fall behind the plan.

 

So what I did this year was first do a year outline - each subject, the texts, spines and such we'd be using, the supplements by subject, books I have, books I'm on the look out for, etc.

 

From that, I detailed out each month by subject on a page or two - what chapters, projects, labs, etc. we should be able to accomplish in a month.

 

So those two outlines, combined, are one document, which I've printed out for reference as I do the weekly plans within each month.

 

To do those, I have another word document I'm working within. It has 52-pages (52 weeks) and each page has a table with six boxes - one for each day Monday-Friday, one for the weekend (2 columns, 3 rows).

 

At this point, I've planned out our first three months, by week and have that on the computer and will print each week's page as needed. Once we finish the week, I'll edit to cut & paste anything we didn't finish to complete the next week and/or cut & paste from the weeks ahead if we get ahead....then print the next week's schedule based on where we left off for the week we completed.

 

What I also do is cut & paste this into my google calendar homeschool tab by day for two weeks - this let's me see what's coming up, what we need to do each day and for the week, especially when we're not at home and I don't have the printed copy in front of me.

 

I have no clue if this is going to be easier or more difficult to keep us organized this coming year - but we'll see!

[dcjlkplus3]

After homeschooling for 6 years, I have still not found a system that we've stuck with for planning :glare:.

-I have to have a printed daily checklist for the kids.

-I have to have everything planned out, in extreme detail, over the summer. There is no time during the school year for planning.

-It has to be flexible. I think this has been the problem in the past. Something interupts the schedule and I have no idea how to get back on track so I scrap it altogether. We end every year flying by the seat of our pants. I can't stand that!

 

How do you make a flexible, written-out, detailed plan??

 

This is how I like to plan. I use xcel. I have one spreadsheet for the whole year for history, science, grammar, writing, and math. I don't plan out latin, reading primer, handwriting, math facts, memory work like this (although it would be easy enoug to add another column. I have 3 lines per "square", one for each kid.

 

I cut and paste from this into a daily/weekly lesson plan (and add in the non-planned out stuff) each child has their own list and I can either print it out or make notes on it while on the computer.

 

They are huge files, I'll see if there is a good way to share them, if you are interested.

[Rhonda in WA]

-I have to have a printed daily checklist for the kids.

I am still trying to come up with something for my daily check list. But I really like this moms idea. Here is her sons personal notebook. http://livelearnandlovetogether.blogspot.com/2010/07/new-improved-independent-notebook.html

Here is her planning notebook http://livelearnandlovetogether.blogspot.com/2010/06/planning-progress-part-1.html

She may actually be on here but I don't really get on here that much. :-)

 

-I have to have everything planned out, in extreme detail, over the summer. There is no time during the school year for planning. I did this for myself this year. Put all the dates on the left & subjects on top. I have 3 weeks to a page. I just copy & paste my subjects every 3 weeks to the next sheet. I just added a cell if we got behind. This way I could see when we would finish a year.

 

https://spreadsheets.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0Ath4uwl-n63sdFVTOHNOelNmRUt2QU93d0hDZWExNHc&hl=en_US&authkey=CJvZuacM#gid=0

 

It was totally flexible for us this year. Best year I have had yet. I also did the file thing. Which I will not be doing next year. We did end up getting behind on that. Makes for a crazy catch up.

[hsmom]

Now one thing I do is I plan out everything to a T. What I need, supplies needed, library books to get, movies/shows to watch, etc. Then I fill in the planner (homeschooler journal has spaces for everything without dates!) BUT I do not put a date by anything. Then once we are finished with something I date it. This keeps me on track a bit (except last year we got off track, not due to the planner just me being lazy). This way if everyone gets sick or the weather is nice I don't have to worry that x did not get done on a certain day. We can just pick up where we last finished.

 

Also not having it all lined up to be dated or set to a specific week puts way less pressure on me and takes away the whole "oh no we are behind" feeling. So, if my son wants to continue further in science one week more than another we are able to do that.

 

Now I do leave a little space in the scheduled area to add in extra items that we add or do. Off to the side I note about the day or week of what worked and did not, so I have a little reminder for myself later on.