How do I become a planner?

[Mama Lynx]

I've always done things loosely, casually, and up until now, this method has served us well.

 

However, as we move into 7th grade, I find that my oldest is not really where I would like him to be in some skill areas. The reason for this is *not* his abilities, but my casualness.

 

Also, we're getting ever busier with extracurricular activities, and need to make the most of our school time.

 

I know how to plan content areas like history and science. No problem! That's fun! And if we don't end up following the plan, or get off track, I don't care!

 

But I have always had an incredibly hard time scheduling skill subjects. They're so very dependent on ability, and mastery. How can I make goals for writing, when I don't know how long it will take for him to master the skills? If I make goals, won't I just stress us out by trying meet them by my set date, when that is not at all what I believe homeschooling should be? How can I set goals for Latin, when I don't know if we'll hit a snag? Math - who knows? What if he seems ready for algebra now, but a month into the program is struggling?

 

I treasure the freedom to move at his pace, to chance curricula and approach when his needs dictate. I look at planning pages for these skill subjects, and just can't do it. I feel like I'm roping us into something artificial.

 

Also, I am an overachiever. If I set out goals ... they're going to be high. I will stress us out trying to meet them.

 

And yet, we *need* more consistency, and we *need* some goals.

 

So how do I do it? How do I learn to plan skill areas? How do I do it so that we have goals that are realistic and attainable, maybe that leave us plenty of breathing room to go beyond, if we are able? How do I keep my feeling of freedom to be flexible, but still have something to which to be accountable?

 

Are there any people out there who have happily and productively gone from being a non-planner to a planner, without losing your mind?

[Trivium Academy]

Start with an overview, general yearly goals and then fine-tune where you feel you need. You probably already have a structure that you follow, it's just not down on paper. Use your curricula as a guide for general yearly goals and then look to each of your children at their strengths and weaknesses.

 

Assess what is feasible for each child, maybe your 7 and 6 year olds need to build fluency this coming year or your 10 yo needs to focus on his writing skills. These are things you already know, putting them on paper won't really change it but what will change is that you will have an opportunity to truly focus on improving those weaknesses.

 

Don't forget character training too, maybe one of your children needs to learn to better temper their emotions, that could be a focus. You already know the things you want to address with your kids, putting it on paper just allows you to zero in on those things with a proactive mindset. If you start scheduling your time out 6:00 am wake up, 6:15 am coffee...yes you will get stressed and planning will not help you. I find it's best to write down all the goals I can think of for the year at the beginning and reassess as we go through the year. Some things fall away as unimportant whereas other things become the single most important hurdle to get over.

 

I hope this helps even in a small way. :)

[LisaNY]

What about making a very general plan for 1/2 the year, and then a specific, yet flexible weekly plan? I pretty much share your feelings and experiences with planning.

 

This year, I have been planning things on a weekly basis. Over the summer, I am going to work on an overall plan, with certain goals in mind for specific skills. I will still do my weekly plans throughout the year, because my schedule gets crazy during different times of the year. It would stress me out to constantly have to modify my school plans if I make them too far in advance.

 

Why not set certain goals for say, writing an essay? You could map out how you want to go about teaching the skill, giving yourself a block of time in which to teach it. You could then set up specific assignments on a week by week basis. This way, if your dc need more time, you can stretch it to the following week, etc. I think it is difficult to have a set in stone plan for skills-based subjects, because so much of it depends on the individual student. If you are like most hs'ers, your goal is for your dc to actually learn something, and that means spending as much time as you need in order for your dc to learn that specific concept/skill. I have a tendency to want to follow what is written down on a schedule, so making a weekly one works much better for me. This way, whatever we didn't master one week could easily be carried over into the following week.

 

So much is trial and error on skills-based subjects. You just don't know how it is going to play out until you begin the journey. Having a flexible plan minimizes stress, and allows the learning process to move at a pace that is geared to the individual.

[Carol in Cal.]

I think it is much easier to move that way than to move to daily goals and schedules, and it is more likely to succeed.

 

I would say that if you break up your math, writing, literature, science, and history into weeks, and plan 3 or 4 'catch up' weeks, and really go after those amounts of progress, that you are much more likely to stick with your plan.

 

Also, it's important to have a view of where you are behind and what it would look like if you were 'caught up'. Would you have finished a particular curriculum? Would you have been able to ensure mastery of certain skills? What evaluation would convince you that you were caught up? Ideally you should figure that out first.

 

Also, there is no shame in taking an extra year. If you're behind because of laxity, then by all means this is the time to establish a better work ethic. But if you're behind because you are focussing on things in a different order than the public schools, for instance, or you want to go into more depth in some areas, those can be very legitamite choices that you should just decide to feel good about.

[dragons in the flower bed]

Math - who knows? What if he seems ready for algebra now, but a month into the program is struggling? <snip> And yet, we *need* more consistency, and we *need* some goals.

 

Instead of saying that you want Kiddo 1 to achieve Goals A, B, and C by the end of the year, you would say that you want Kiddo 1 to spend 50 minutes working towards Goal A, 40 minutes towards Goal B, and 30 minutes towards Goal C every day this month. Whichever goal has been coming along the slowest at the end of the month, bump up to the 50 minute time slot for the next month.

 

Take that with a scoop of salt, though, as I have definitely lost my mind over the planning issue.

[Rhondabee]

and that *is* very, very hard!!!!

 

You wrote:

 

But I have always had an incredibly hard time scheduling skill subjects. They're so very dependent on ability, and mastery. How can I make goals for writing, when I don't know how long it will take for him to master the skills? If I make goals, won't I just stress us out by trying meet them by my set date, when that is not at all what I believe homeschooling should be? How can I set goals for Latin, when I don't know if we'll hit a snag? Math - who knows? What if he seems ready for algebra now, but a month into the program is struggling?

 

I'll be honest, I don't set my *own* goals. I just follow the curriculum that I've chosen.

 

I try to map out how fast we need to go to finish our curriculum in 34 weeks - that automatically gives us two weeks of breathing room.

 

I also try to be sure to have two review days before tests in math and grammar - that gives me built in flexibility to change one of those into a "Think we better try this lesson again" day.

 

If Math, Grammar, Latin gets too hairy, I just slow down - though I would only change curriculum under extreme circumstances (esp. in Latin, I will just change the schedule to a "review until we get it" week). I have those two extra weeks (which I like to save in case someone gets sick - a frequent happening around here); and, frankly, if we don't exactly *finish* the curriculum by a chapter or so, well....I doubt it will matter *that* much.

 

In writing, I just look for progress and praise it. What else can you do? One thing that has helped is for me to look back at things my kids wrote two or three years ago - things I thought were sure omens that this experiment called homeschooling was destined for failure! Funny, but when I look back, I tend to see all the *good*. Now I try to look at their current work remembering that this isn't the end - just really the beginning.

 

Sorry this is disjointed - gotta get to supper!

Rhonda

 

ETA: I forgot the most important part !!!!

 

What I do to keep from over-loading my guys is to in-depth plan 6 weeks at a time. I read every lesson in my TE, and look at their book as well. I make notes to myself *exactly* what to do - what to read, what to do together, what to *not* do, what written work to assign. I try very, very hard to be very, very fair - and limit written work to 20-30 minutes per subject (if no daydreaming is done - LOL!). *And*, while I'm planning, I look to see how much written work, etc. they have in every subject that day, so that no one day is over-loaded.

 

(I only do 6 weeks at a time, because you just never know how you might want to change things up the next 6 weeks.And, I make sure every assignment on their grid communicates my expectations very clearly!)

 

All this extra, admittedly-detailed planning really helps me in those moments when they cop an attitude. I no longer hem and haw and change my mind and doubt my every move. I *know* the plan I made *is* fair - the amount of work *is* fair. I will change my plan if they truly don't understand and need review, or if they are sick, or if life has truly interfered in some unforeseeable way. Otherwise, the plan stays.

 

I am so thankful to Momof7 for all her planning posts on the old board!!!!! If you really want to know how to do it, I would look there - no joke!