top tips for first time planning!

[LMD]

We school Jan - Dec. Next year, 2012, I'll have a 2nd grader and a K-er. So far I've been finding my feet and taking it easy and we've all been happy with that. Now we've found our groove (mostly :tongue_smilie:) and I'm finding the need to become more organised for next year.

 

Any tips on the actual planning part? Simply divide up lessons into weeks? Do you plan the whole year? Term? Do you use a system (I looked at skedtrack but it just felt like double handling to me, I guess I'm more a pencil/paper person!), or just wing it? Do you plan out your days in detail? What do I need to know? HELP? :D

[sleeplessnights]

Hi,

 

We also school Jan - Dec and we also had a 2nd and a K this year! What worked for me was to divide the year into quarters (3 months each) and plan for 10 weeks of work per quarter. We work about 7 weeks from Oct-Dec because we take off from Thanksgiving to New Years.

 

This way I could plan what I wanted to get done in each quarter, which helped me stay on track without obsessing over scheduling software. And this method also allowed for taking days or weeks off without getting off track.

 

Happy planning!

[happypamama]

I have a semi-specific plan. That is, I have the lessons I want to cover (though I'm laid-back; if we don't quite get to all of the lessons in the year, I'm okay with that), but we might spend more time on some and less on some others, so I don't plan the weeks too far in advance. I like to take some time on Saturday or Sunday to look at what's next for each subject and to plan what I want to accomplish that week. That way, I can adjust for needing longer on a topic, adjusting the plan for books that didn't come in from the library yet, work we didn't get to the previous week, unexpected company, illness, extra nice weather (so that we ditch schoolwork altogether), etc.

[Myeightkiddies]

We do things a bit differently. Over the years I found that life just happens, and trying to plan things out in the traditional fashion just does not work (for us). Between having babies, moving (always needing something bigger), 4-H, co-op classes, clubs, dance/scouts/sports, hurricanes, illnesses, being a principal of an umbrella school (recently retired which is why I finally have time to visit hs forums and post), etc., I just never seem to keep things on their daily schedule. Certainly they were completed but not on Tuesday as specified but maybe on Thursday with a Saturday added in periodically or double on Friday.

 

Early on I realized that some of that "burn-out" feeling was because I was feeling as if I was failing - the schedule. Certainly the children were learning and accomplishing all that was intended for them to that year (and more) but I was feeling as if I was a slave to the schedule - always back-tracking or adjusting and being too concerned with it. So, ultimately, I adjusted - to life.

 

In Florida, attendance requirements are 180 days in a twelve-month period. I take the curriculum and divide each into 180 days. Each lesson is placed on an index card. Each child has their own card file(s). For example, one index card in the Math card file will have one day's worth of a lesson, so there are 180 Math lessons on individual cards, 180 English lessons on individual cards, etc.

 

In addition, I keep a regular calendar schedule too. On there I'll add things that seem to pop-up such as field trips, music lessons, library trips, nature hikes, etc. This allows us to be spontaneous too and not just adhere to what the cards have listed to be done.

 

Each day a child will get the next card for that subject and complete the lesson. When finished I make notes on the back of the card - sometimes grades, comments, ideas for books on the subject, critiques, etc. and place them in a master file.

 

This works with some of my children who prefer to do some subjects in blocks, such as five lessons of Math in a row. They really enjoy being given the choice and ability to customize it to suit their styles.

 

Of course this isn't going to work for many who enjoy strictly scheduled lessons or who follow a curriculum that lays everything out for them. Also, it may be challenging if teaching multiple children from the same texts. For us, it works. I've used it for multiple children using the same program, and I've used it for already planned-out curriculum. However, having done this for years, I am use to it. My school days are busy no matter what. Removing the stress of doing this on this day or that on that day makes life less complicated.

 

At the end of 180 days they have completed all that they would have anyway..and then some (because often they finish a subject early as they were doing it in blocks. This would allow for them to feel as if they have extra time to add in more).

[PeterPan]

I try to make sure each subject has a "do the next thing" amount of prep accomplished. For history that might be more involved (getting the shelf of extra books in order, making a chart, picking crafts ahead) and for math it might be simple. Around 2nd grade we started using a daily or weekly checklist, and that took care of the rest. Keep it simple.