How Much Time Do You Prep For Year

[HSchoolmom]

Last year, I listened to hubby and figured, I would prep as I went, little by little, I knew it wasn't working.

 

So, my thought was I would prep during the summer. It's my 2nd year, my question to all of you, WAY more experienced than me, is that is this overkill? Should I really be spending all of this time, or am I missing the boat somewhere.

 

I have 2 girls, 8 and 10.

[Embassy]

Last year, I listened to hubby and figured, I would prep as I went, little by little, I knew it wasn't working.

 

So, my thought was I would prep during the summer. It's my 2nd year, my question to all of you, WAY more experienced than me, is that is this overkill? Should I really be spending all of this time, or am I missing the boat somewhere.

 

I have 2 girls, 8 and 10.

 

I do planning over the summer. I work at night so it is very difficult to plan as I go. It takes me a good deal of time because I put my own things together for some subjects.

[raceNzanesmom]

I switched to a program that allows me NOT to plan. I spend about an hour or two in the summer making sure I have everything printed, in binders, a loose list of supplies, etc. Then, on weekends during the year, I try to skim over the next week to make sure I have everything I need. That takes less than 5 minutes. During the week everything is open and go.

[Mrs Twain]

I spend a lot of time preparing in the summer. This includes making copies, preparing lapbooks, buying supplies, etc. I find it has made the school year much easier since most of my subjects (even the ones I plan myself) are open and go. At the end of our day during the school year, the kids are done and I am done, too, since I don't have to do much or any prep work for the next day.

[KristenR]

Still a relative newbie myself and I am amazed at how much time I spend planning, researching, and scheduling. Even more amazing is how much time I spend on these things YET I still do so many things by the seat of my pants! :001_huh:

[ErinE]

Before purchasing any curriculum, I take into account prep time. I don't want certain subjects to require hours of my time. I prefer to spend my time on other things.

 

I print out all worksheets, maps, coloring pages, notebook pages, etc. before the school year begins so I only need to pull as needed. When the new school year begins, I take a rest from planning, then around January, I think about plans for the next year. Since literature is loosely tied to history, I create a spreadsheet with each chapter of our history spine in the left hand column. I plug in suggested literature from the AG, but I also have a list of classics that I substitute in when I think it would be a better read.

 

History: SOTW. I print out all maps and coloring pages before the year starts. I plan on printing lines on the back so narration stays with the map. I might glance through the AG the week before and place a hold on library books, but the book is meaty enough for my young kids.

Math: Math Mammoth. We used Singapore for over a year, and I love the program. However, we travel a lot and hauling all the books around was getting old. I printed out each semester and put the sheets in my kids work binders.

Reading: I originally placed holds, but the library fines were getting expensive. Now, I buy all of our literature books.

Science: I'm either going to buy an all in one-kit or buy all the materials beforehand and place them in its own box. We read many books and watched videos, but we didn't do many demonstrations. The kids still learned a lot.

Grammar, Spelling, Spanish, and Geography: Open and go. I really wanted my kids to be fluent in geography so I created my own curriculum. I worked on it a little each week until it was complete. I purchased the other subjects with the understanding that it wouldn't take me a lot of time to prep.

 

My kids don't care for lap books or crafty activities as they'd much rather run around and play. So my planning is much easier.

[Mama Anna]

Last summer, planning for a 3rd-grader and a K-er, I think I spent about 15 hours at the library plotting subjects out, selecting books for assigned reading, choosing artists and composers for appreciating, etc. I expect it to be a bit higher this year since I'll have a 1st-grader. However, I reeeaaally enjoy that part, so I probably focus on it more than necessary. I usually spend 1 to 2 hours each Friday night looking ahead to the following week and plotting exactly which grammar exercises to do, making sure I've read the history sections, and previewing math and art/music stuff. It was more at the beginning of the year than it was at the end because I developed a pretty good groove.

 

Note: Part of the length of time is because, again, I enjoy the planning and detail. Part of it is because dh sometimes teaches for me and needs everything laid out exactly in order to know what to teach.

 

Mama Anna

[mom2scouts]

This year was my second year of homeschooling. I spent quite a bit of time prepping last summer and it made my school year so much easier. My art and science supplies were there when I needed them, my timeline figures were attached to the schedule page where we covered that person or event, readers were pre-read, my books were labeled and on the shelf, and all my plans were entered into HST plus. It's a lot of work in the summer, but things get so busy during the school year and I think it's worth the effort.

[KS_]

I like to prep for the next year at the end of the current year. The past few weeks, I've been getting my schedule for next year solidified, making sure I have the needed books and supplies (just placed an order for chemistry supplies over the weekend), and get most of the things I'll need to have printed done, so I'm not scrambling around at the beginning of next year. That way, I should just have to get everything out and be ready to go. It's difficult enough for all of us to get back into the swing of school in the fall, without me having to try to get all my prep work done, too.

[Lily_Grace]

I like to try to get our curriculum around the beginning of summer so I have time to gather extra resources, plan out our year, and make notes to help me use what we already have. Then I spend each Saturday/Sunday actually planning out the week and making sure we have everything.

[WIS0320]

I think it is good to set your pacing plans for the year, especially if you are not following a scheduled curriculum like SL. I start by creating the school calendar for the year, numbering the weeks and then taking our curricula and pacing it over those scheduled weeks. I can already tell you what we'll be learning next year in March in history and science. :)

 

I think this is overkill for some people and some things you can't plan pacing for (math and phonics for us) and there were times I changed things last year as my DD wanted to spend a bit more time on something. But for the most part, I know what I want to cover, how long it should take approximately and get it scheduled. Works for me and I choose to ignore the naysayers! I have three little kids and a husband who is out of town a lot and I need routine and a plan to survive and keep all my balls in the air.

[nellecv]

I plan in trimesters. It's ridiculous for me to plan a whole year at a time because I always find new materials, end up ahead or behind, etc. I spend a LOT of time planning, but that's because I am an obsessive schedule and list maker.

 

For math, I used MM which doesn't require much planning. I print the worksheets and supplements from Sunshine Math and Singapore Challenge Word Problems. Then I stick them all in a binder and try to do 3 sessions of MM and 1-2 sessions of supplements each week.

 

SOTW takes the most planning for me. I spend a couple of hours looking at recommended books and adding them to my list on my library's web site. I also choose the projects and activities for each chapter. I put all this info onto a form with a box for each chapter. (This probably takes about 6 hours to complete)

 

Reading is simple. We read good books all the time. A few book lists and a weekly library trip take care of this.

 

For grammar/writing I print out the student pages at Staples. Done.

 

My biggest planning time use is choosing curriculum. I spend weeks poring over materials and oohing and ahhing before I finally make up my mind. :D

[Ellie]

I'm trying to imagine homeschooling with methods and materials that would require a whole summer to prepare for. :blink: Even when I did KONOS, there wasn't that much work involved in getting ready to teach...

[Walking-Iris]

I'm trying to imagine homeschooling with methods and materials that would require a whole summer to prepare for. :blink: Even when I did KONOS, there wasn't that much work involved in getting ready to teach...

 

I'm taking the summer to prepare. And like the OP I did it in chunks as I went along with the year. It's not working. For me, I've decided I need this summer to organize our learning space and materials and to put some things away in storage. I have a lot of new curriculum I'm using with a 4th grader and Kinder and I need the time to read through some TM and various homeschooling books and websites. I'm using the time to go through and make materials lists and to organize those things needed for art and science and other projects. I need to purchase/make and organize math and science manipulaitives. Like a pp I'm going to print out what is needed before instead of as we go along.

 

Oh I also need to parent these kids, keep up with the household chores, keep up with all the other extra activities and family obligations that pop up etc. I say take the summer to get as prepared as you need to be. ;)

[Allearia]

I do a lot of planning over the summer, but do not get down to the level of dates or limiting time. I like to have the flexibly of seeing how things go and spending more time or less time on things. But I like to plan how things should be spread over the school year to be finished, so that during the year I can see if we need to speed up and compact some things. During the year, i do like to schedule specific dates for shorter spans of time, like four weeks. I am not as consistent with that however, that is my goal for this next year. That is when I do copies, get resources from the library, plan around field trips or other days off, etc.

 

Eta: summer is a good time to get most of,the supplies needed for science, art, and other projects. I also like lists to go with the plan so I can get anything else we need and gather things for a specific project for that set of weeks.

Edited May 29, 2012 by allearia

[Snickerdoodle]

I'm trying to imagine homeschooling with methods and materials that would require a whole summer to prepare for.

Me too. :tongue_smilie:

 

But mine are only elementary age. Everything so far has been pretty much open and go. What has been a lot of work is keeping up with the lit reading for discussions. I have my own personal reading and all these extra kid lit books are killing me. :P

 

We don't do "projects" like lapbooks or poster board presentations or anything else like that. We didn't even mummify a chicken. Although we did do a goldfish which pretty much turned to fish jerky after one night in the salt--but I digress. I bet that *is* a lot work to prep.

[Mrs Twain]

I'm trying to imagine homeschooling with methods and materials that would require a whole summer to prepare for. :blink: Even when I did KONOS, there wasn't that much work involved in getting ready to teach...

 

If you are not a tweaker and you buy all open and go subjects, then it won't take you a whole summer to prepare. Even so, just the photocopying can take quite a while.

 

On the other hand, if you happen to prefer to tweak everything to personalize it all according your goals and children, then planning takes a lot longer. If you also throw in a couple of subjects which you plan out yourself (literature, reading, history, lapbooks, etc.) then the time required dramatically increases.

 

Even though it takes me an inordinate amount of time in the summer to plan out my subjects into a 36-week school year, I am far happier in the end. :D

[happypamama]

I have been planning for next year for a few weeks, as I have time, and I'll be finishing it up over the next few weeks. That includes looking up supplemental books for history, to see what my library has, so that I can just order them from the library as needed every few weeks. Even for the open and go subjects, I've got the lessons put into a spreadsheet, so that I can pick what we're doing each week, depending on what else is happening that week. I found that last year, if I didn't plan it out carefully ahead of time (printing stuff, listing materials needed, etc.), it didn't end up happening, and with a toddler and a preschooler this coming year, I think planning will be necessary.

[Nestof3]

I do spend a lot of time over the summer planning. It makes the school year so much easier. Plus, I hate summer weather and prefer to hibernate. This allows me to spend more time in the fall and spring outside enjoying the weather.

[coffeegal]

In past years when I planned out the year, it involved a lot of printing (e-books) and a day per quarter of planning... so 4-5 days for the year. This year I won't be planning the entire year during the summer. We make too many changes come January/February for it to be efficient. This year I plan on mapping out the big milestones, and then only planning out the first quarter of the school year. Planning quarter by quarter has been working well this spring. :001_smile:

[heritagelearningacademy]

I plan the bulk of things in the summer. I look through the curriculums and familiarize myself. Then on Sunday nights during the school year, once the kids are in bed, I do any last minute prep for the week.

 

I find the more prepared I am, the smoother my days go.

[WIS0320]

I'm trying to imagine homeschooling with methods and materials that would require a whole summer to prepare for. :blink: Even when I did KONOS, there wasn't that much work involved in getting ready to teach...

 

My planning only took about a week of plugging things into the calendar and making a schedule. I'm a new homeschooler and I prefer to feel prepared and not flying by the seat of my pants. That doesn't mean non-planners are not prepared, but I would feel that I was if I did no yearly planning ahead of time. I like to have a known beginning and projected end established prior to getting started!

Edited May 29, 2012 by drexel

[AmyontheFarm]

I will spend somewhere between 12-15 hours prepping STOW 2.

 

So far,

 

 

1. I went and read through the activity guide,
   
2. determined which extra activity/game/craft we were going to do,
   
3. made a list of supplies,
   
4. notes on how to connect specific activities to other family activities we can do
   
5. created book lists by chapter on our library system, so I can in one click later on order in the books I need
   

 

I still need to

 

 

 

1. buy the supplies, group by chapters in baggies
   
2. take the spine off of the activity pages
   
3. hole punch them and place into a binder.
   

 

by doing this, I'll have everything I need for history in the crate or at the library and I can simply open and go teach. I could do this weekly, but I thrive on the satisfaction that I simply can't be more prepared before I even start. Yeah, I OCD at times, my friends say that is what makes me loveable. :001_smile:

 

 

 

Of course, my one nightmare is the house burns down! Even if the kids and family are all safe, I will sob because my prepped teacher's manuals will be gone!

[Mommy22alyns]

I don't have to actually plan anything, it's just prep work. LA and math are open and go. Everything else is planned for me (I use MFW). I make supply lists for about 10 weeks at a time and buy for 5 weeks' worth. I make copies weekly, on Sunday nights usually. I didn't have many copies to make in Adventures, but there will be more copying in ECC. I'll do a section at a time.

 

Even when I did plan everything, I took a weekend every month and did it.

[Snickerdoodle]

Many of you said you make copies. What are ya'll copying?

[LillyMama]

We do year-round school, so I have to plan as I go. But I do take a week here and there between subjects or books so I can plan. For example, when we finished most of our kindergarten stuff in March, we just did reading and phonics for the month of April as I got ready for first grade. (We do a May-April school year.)

 

What I've found, though, is I can usually do about 3-4 weeks at a time in about an hour or two on a weekend day/night. This includes copying map work, requesting books from the library, scoping out supplies for experiments, etc. I have to do it this way because we travel with my husband a lot, and he's very last-minute about everything. So we just have to be very, very flexible. If I've spent the time to plan and then have to change things too much, I get grumpy. ;)

[Twilight Woods]

It's our first full year and I am currently prepping. With my first grader I am just making sure the books I need are available at the library or I am adding them to my rainbow resource/amazon wish list for purchase a week before I need them.

 

My 6th grader I am doing a lot more prep. I am trying to read the books a week in advance before she does so discussion is easier.

 

I am also working on a supply list for both girls and I am making a weekly schedule for my 6th grader so she knows what she has to get done daily.

 

Once we officially start up I figure I will spend about 1-2 hours on the weekend prepping for the week ahead.

[PeacefulChaos]

Last year, I listened to hubby and figured, I would prep as I went, little by little, I knew it wasn't working.

 

So, my thought was I would prep during the summer. It's my 2nd year, my question to all of you, WAY more experienced than me, is that is this overkill? Should I really be spending all of this time, or am I missing the boat somewhere.

 

I have 2 girls, 8 and 10.

 

Well, I'm not any more experienced than you are, it doesn't look like - we're finishing up our first year now. :D

BUT this is how I do things, and it's what works for me. Note: I'm a MAJOR planner. I'd prefer to have everything worked out in advance, if possible.

I do all my main planning in the spring (for the following year). But in general, my overall schedule of 'planning' (some of which is very light) is this:

FALL - begin making lists of possible curricula for the following year (YES, I was doing this for the 2012-13 school year in the fall of 2011), and make note of any changes and subjects added

WINTER - get the homeschooling budget made up, and make decisions on specific curriculum (for the most part).

SPRING (early) - order everything I can. The only things that I DO NOT yet have are: math for both boys (switching programs, needed to do placement tests to see where they would start in the new ones), supplementals (reading, mostly - we have a used curriculum sale here where I found a LOT last year, but didn't need much because I'd already ordered it. I changed up how I did that this year, and will be looking for most of my supplemental stuff there), Bible (I want to see it at our convention and get my hands on it, look through it, etc), and possibly a geography program (because my kids hate doing the maps with SOTW).

Once I get everything in, I begin planning. I have different documents on my computer for each subject - Link Grammar, Astro Grammar, History (since they do it together), etc. I also make my master Daily Schedule, which I do for the entire year.

Each week, I just use my Daily Schedule, which I printed out once all the planning was done. I make any copies that I need to in the morning.

That's just me. :)

[PeacefulChaos]

I forgot to mention above that I'll be going through all our stuff and arranging everything for this year (and putting away this past year's stuff) once we finish. So that would technically take place in the summer. :)

 

 

Many of you said you make copies. What are ya'll copying?

 

Usually all I have to copy would be the stuff from the SOTW AG, or other coloring/activity pages (from whatever source) that both boys are doing. :)

[Ellie]

If you are not a tweaker and you buy all open and go subjects, then it won't take you a whole summer to prepare. Even so, just the photocopying can take quite a while.

I prefer not to buy something that I have to tweak to that extent. :-) Ditto with photocopying...I prefer not to use things that require lots of pages-that-look-like-workbooks-or-require-photocopying.

 

On the other hand, if you happen to prefer to tweak everything to personalize it all according your goals and children, then planning takes a lot longer. If you also throw in a couple of subjects which you plan out yourself (literature, reading, history, lapbooks, etc.) then the time required dramatically increases.

 

I can see that. As I said, though, I couldn't bring myself to use methods or materials that required me to spend that many hours in planning and photocopying and tweaking. To each his own. :)

[HSchoolmom]

:001_smile:

[Parrothead]

I prefer not to buy something that I have to tweak to that extent. :-) Ditto with photocopying...I prefer not to use things that require lots of pages-that-look-like-workbooks-or-require-photocopying.

 

 

 

I can see that. As I said, though, I couldn't bring myself to use methods or materials that required me to spend that many hours in planning and photocopying and tweaking. To each his own. :)

:iagree:I'm with Ellie. I'd rather spend my time looking for something that fits better than to have to do a lot of tweaking. Which is why I stay away from most religious curric.

 

For me I'm finding more and more is becoming open and go. Not a lot of craft or activity projects past 5th grade or so. So my planning is simple. Day one starts Lesson one. If I have more than 175 daily lessons in a book we will double up until the extra is covered so we end the last day on the last lesson. Usually the books have less than 175 lessons.

 

ETA: I don't procrastinate doing the lessons either. When the book(s) arrive I sit down with it and enter the info in the computer. Each book takes about 10 minutes start to finish. I can now have the entire year planned out in about 2 hours.

[Mommyfaithe]

I'm trying to imagine homeschooling with methods and materials that would require a whole summer to prepare for. :blink: Even when I did KONOS, there wasn't that much work involved in getting ready to teach...

 

:iagree::iagree:

 

My one son loves his work all laid out on a clip board.

 

I was spending way too much time preparing each night....so I just pulled everything apart and stuck it in daily folders....nothing fancy, no numbers, no dates....just....shove, shove, shove.....done:D

 

Now it takes about 3 minutes to pull it out....list subjects on little white board...he likes erasing:D and done.

 

I use a lot of do the next page, read the next section, write me a summary, do the next experiment....find the stuff in the box type stuff.

 

P.S. I spend every summer reading through a list of "Teacher Sabbatical Material". IOW, I like to read books on education...re-read WTM, CM articles, books that excite me to homeschool such as The Whole-Hearted Child, When Children Love to Learn, etc. I love to do this....so it is not painful...lol.

 

I also like to read and outline any teaching materials ..... And Pre-read some, not all, of dc's reading books. I sometimes write my own study guides or lesson prep for these books....but again, it is because I LIKE to....not because I HAVE to....

 

In the summer, I will tend to pull out all the curricul I have gathered over the years for the time period we will study and then use the parts I like....puttingbit together in a usable 180 day format. ( we are required to school form180'days....which I call 160 fully planned and 20 review, catch up, donsomething different, field trip days.

 

HTH,

faithe

Edited May 30, 2012 by Mommyfaithe

[Mommyfaithe]

Many of you said you make copies. What are ya'll copying?

 

I copy maps, some worksheets that I want everyone to do, forms for reports that I make up, assignment sheets....stuff like that. I also will copy lap book materials or notebook materials if we are doing any of those.

[EastTNmom]

Many of you said you make copies. What are ya'll copying?

 

For next year, I printed out the student book for CKE Earth Science, will make copies from SOTW AG, print out B4FIAR packets from various websites for my Pre-Ker, print out a reading program, print out our artist/composer studies, and also any additional unit studies. I copy and laminate all year long but like to get a jump start in summer.

 

I just need binders for all these papers, lol.

[kalanamak]

I don't have to actually plan anything, it's just prep work.

 

The time I spend is researching, purchasing, READING the dang thing, and buying a few supplies. I think, actually, teaching myself takes up much more time than planning.

 

Many years back I went through WTM and totted up all the "recommended times" for each subject for each grade. I divided that by 12 and each month I get out a paper and with a grid and put the topics down one side with goal times and the days across the top.

 

The three Rs and math are just open to the tab, teach/do, note time on my record and put away for the next day. Art and science I tend to look a month in advance and get supplies, so they are ready when the mood is right. The non-core subjects are in my desk apprentice and if we are going strong, I'll pop one out and do it and mark credit. The last week of each month I review what I'm "behind" on, and we do more of that.

 

So, no schedules or plotting out. If I were a SAHM with a non-wiggly kid, I might, but I can't predict when I'll get home late/exhausted, nor when kiddo will be so distracted by the beautiful weather we are wasting our time.

 

What I AM doing is encouraging HIM to have a schedule. I set out work for him the night before, and regularly point out how getting it out of the way before Papa is up will mean he has more free time when the sunny afternoon (when the ps kids are in the park) arrives, and Papa will be willing to take him. There were a few rebellions at first, but sometimes he'll even sit down and do it just before getting into bed. All Praise Delayed Gratification!

Edited May 30, 2012 by kalanamak

[Guest]

Still a relative newbie myself and I am amazed at how much time I spend planning, researching, and scheduling. Even more amazing is how much time I spend on these things YET I still do so many things by the seat of my pants! :001_huh:

 

:iagree:

Me, too. I have tried the infamous filing system (bomb), a binder planning system (bomb), copying TONS of paperwork (waste), and last summer I bought all our supplies for history and science and bagged them for each week. (Double bomb!) I tend to do better finalizing everything the weekend before. It also doesn't help that we are still trying to find curriculum that best fits us.

[RoundAbout]

I'm trying to imagine homeschooling with methods and materials that would require a whole summer to prepare for. :blink: Even when I did KONOS, there wasn't that much work involved in getting ready to teach...

 

:iagree:

 

Even though I'm a planner by nature I really want to avoid overplanning our homeschool. I just never want to have the anxious feeling that we are "behind" if we take extra time on a concept or go off on rabbit trails. I have no way of predicting 6 months in advance if my son will get lesson 179 of OPGTR in 5 minutes or if we'll need a week of review or time off altogether. Keeping everything open and go means that we are always exactly where we need to be.

 

For things like Righstart which require some photocopying and prep work I simply do it the night before. If I don't feel like it, then we spend a day (or week) playing math games until I get around to it. ;)

[happypamama]

 

Even though I'm a planner by nature I really want to avoid overplanning our homeschool. I just never want to have the anxious feeling that we are "behind" if we take extra time on a concept or go off on rabbit trails.

 

Believe it or not, having a plan of what we might want to do, and roughly in what order, but not necessarily what we'll do six months in advance, actually lets me keep from feeling behind. If I HAVE a good plan, I feel comfortable skipping the plan when we want to spend more time on something, or less time on something, or even do something completely different. If I have no plan at all, I feel like we never end up doing any of the extra stuff -- the stuff that my kids don't know about but enjoy if I introduce them. For instance, last year, they loved making a jello-and-candy cell model, and it did help them get a feel for how a cell works, but if I hadn't planned it out in advance, it never would have happened, and we live too far from anything to do spur-of-the-moment trips for supplies or anything very much. I also find that even with the open-and-go stuff, if I don't have some sort of plan ahead of time, it doesn't end up happening. I'm all for real-life learning, but I also feel that kids don't know what they don't know, and sometimes I do need to make them do things that aren't their favorites, same as I make them brush their teeth, so again, no plan, nothing happens.

 

I plan loosely, and I stop the plan whenever needed. If we need more time on a math concept, we'll move the next lesson back a bit. No biggie.

[PeacefulChaos]

:iagree:

 

Even though I'm a planner by nature I really want to avoid overplanning our homeschool. I just never want to have the anxious feeling that we are "behind" if we take extra time on a concept or go off on rabbit trails.

 

Planning actually has me feeling the opposite of what you describe. :) I plan out my 36 weeks in advance, but I actually start our school year mid July and end it the beginning of June, so there is plenty of time in there for us to take breaks for trips, vacations, sicknesses, etc. :) It helps me to know just how much time we have, and plan things accordingly. It's perfect for us - even though sometimes it seems like we take off a day per week for a month at a time, it really doesn't matter because we have so many extras 'built in'! It's totally relaxed and easy, I love it!

[Beth in SW WA]

I will work all summer to prep for next year's math and science. I am already savvy on the other content.

 

For instance, last night I watched an hour of AoPS videos and Crewton Ramone's precal videos. I'm a big-picture gal and like to know what's coming down the pike so I'm not caught with my pants down. Plus I love it -- and I'm so thankful I have the time to devote to self-study. Older dc are in high school and I don't 'teach' them anything anymore. The students have become the teacher on many levels. Dd earns money 'tutoring' little dds so I'm home free this summer and able to devote to my reeducation. :tongue_smilie:

[Sharilynn29]

Planning is my favorite time of the year. I love to sit down with a ton of books to read and prep for the coming year. I schedule 140 days of school. This gives me plenty of wiggle room for field trips, rabbit trails, and standardized testing. I only plan day 1, day 2, ect. Otherwise I would always be behind.

 

Next I fill out each kids' schedule for 2 weeks at a time. On this schedule, I add in planned days off, field trips, special assignments not planned ahead, etc. I try to complete each 2 week scheduled as planned, but don't get worked up if I end up a day behind. We just move those days to our next 2 week schedule.

 

I love summers for reading all my homeschool books. This summer I will be reading about learning styles, learning disabilities (to help my dd), and Drawing With Children. Plus all the actual school texts...

[EMS83]

I am not at all more experienced, but I wanted to throw in that for first grade, I've already spent hours and hours and hours since the end of January reading, planning, prepping, etc. BUT we are not doing much packaged curriculum and we are using the library for the content subjects, which means I have to preview books in science, history, and lit. We are also DIY in math, spelling, and copywork. I got Growing with Grammar and we have science and history spines. We're following TWTM suggestions pretty closely, we're just creating a few subjects from scratch instead of using all workbook programs. Time I've got--money, not so much.

 

Also, DD is the first of three and the only thing I intend to change in the DIY stuff is the delivery method. Example: our spelling lists will be what they are forever. But if DS needs letter tiles instead of doing it orally, that's an easy adjustment to make. Also, if I have excellent spellers, then I can easily foreshorten things, combine several lists, get done sooner, and move on to vocabulary. Theoretically, anyway. Like I said, I am NOT more experienced.

[Nestof3]

I don't plan in the sense of deciding what to do on exactly what day, but I do a lot of prep work.

 

I photocopy logic sheets and any other daily handouts. -- at least for the first book we will work through.

 

I check my library and then Amazon to decide all supplemental reading for history (SOTW). I created a table in MS Word with a column for the name of book and whether I own it. whether it is at the library or whether I need to order it. I print one sheet for each chapter, and then I write down each supplemental resource. I also photocopy any items I will use along with maps, papercrafts, political cartoons, internet items, etc. I place all these in a binder. It really makes the year so much smoother, plus I have time to ask my library to order items (they order almost everything I ask for!). This subject requires the most planning from me because these read-alouds really keep the boys interested in history. It is so worth it for me.

 

I've also done this with science in the past, but this year, I expect I will be printing out materials (using American Chemical Society's Middle School Physical Science and Ellen McHenry's Elements and Carbon Chemistry). The first will require gathering materials while the latter two will require prep work.

 

The core subjects are pick up and go.

 

So, much of my time is spent making choices and preparing stuff -- not placing items on a calendar. In fact, that never works for me.

[Nestof3]

I also think it has a lot to do with personalities. Planning and organizing is actually fun for me. :D

 

Aside from still caring for my kids, my summers are spent culling our belongings, organizing the house and school stuff, and working out a lot.

[ThreeBlessings]

I'd say it takes me all summer. But this is only because I do the planning at my leisure with lots of life thrown in there. I might do some work on it for an hour, then not touch it for a week, or I might work on it for several hours, then not touch it for two weeks. I am planning for three kids. I am eclectic and pull together varying resources. I do sometimes reinvent the wheel. :) I am looking at more time than usual this time because I am planning lots of fun stuff for my PreK 4/5 dd. I do lots of file folder games and other hands on type stuff that requires work for me. I'll be doing prep probably all year for some of it. I'd like to be 'ahead' as possible.

[Alte Veste Academy]

Believe it or not, having a plan of what we might want to do, and roughly in what order, but not necessarily what we'll do six months in advance, actually lets me keep from feeling behind. If I HAVE a good plan, I feel comfortable skipping the plan when we want to spend more time on something, or less time on something, or even do something completely different. If I have no plan at all, I feel like we never end up doing any of the extra stuff -- the stuff that my kids don't know about but enjoy if I introduce them. For instance, last year, they loved making a jello-and-candy cell model, and it did help them get a feel for how a cell works, but if I hadn't planned it out in advance, it never would have happened, and we live too far from anything to do spur-of-the-moment trips for supplies or anything very much. I also find that even with the open-and-go stuff, if I don't have some sort of plan ahead of time, it doesn't end up happening. I'm all for real-life learning, but I also feel that kids don't know what they don't know, and sometimes I do need to make them do things that aren't their favorites, same as I make them brush their teeth, so again, no plan, nothing happens.

 

I plan loosely, and I stop the plan whenever needed. If we need more time on a math concept, we'll move the next lesson back a bit. No biggie.

 

This is exactly how planning works for me.

 

I have to laugh at the idea that if you have to tweak something so much, just look for something that is a better fit from the start. Well, until someone invents the perfect curriculum for us... Oh, wait! That's what I am doing with all this tweaking of my eclectic mish-mash of resources for my very different kiddos. :lol:

 

As I constantly tell my kids (and hold on to your hats because this is life-changing stuff :tongue_smilie:), people are different. How boring the world would be if we were all the same. ;)

[Five More Minutes]

I don't know how much time exactly I spend in planning for the whole year, because I do it in 30-minute (or 10-minute ... or even 5-minute) chunks in the evenings. :glare: By early summer, I like to have an overall idea of how our year will break down, so that I can try to order curriculum, resources, and supplies in as few shipments as possible.

 

For math, for example, I try to guess how many chapters my daughters will go through in a month (on average), and roughly pencil those in -- just to figure out what levels to have on hand for the year. I usually order an extra half-level just in case ...

 

For LA, so far everything I've done has been open-and-go. Planning for these just means figuring out ideally how many lessons I want to do in each in a week, and where that will take us.

 

For history, I assume roughly 4 chapters per week and pencil in topics. Then I make an Excel list of all of the extra books we want to request from our library for each chapter, since I need to request at least 3 weeks ahead of actually starting the topic. That probably takes the most time.

 

For science ... none of my planning has worked. :willy_nilly:

 

Then, during the year, I take 1 hour a week to review what we actually accomplished the week prior, check against what I penciled in for our year-long outline, and plan what chapters / pages / projects we'll do for the upcoming week. If I plan in detail any further ahead than 1 week, I just end up with an irrelevant planner after a couple of weeks.

[kwickimom]

This year I did HOD Preparing...no planning needed except to gather supplies.

 

For the fall I am making a History plan that involves SOTW and HO and CHOLL (I am trying to combine my 1st and 5th grader as much as possible) and I am thinking about doing BFSU for Science, so I have a LOT to go through and a lot to learn and plan out. I will spend a few hours per week reading and then sketching out a plan and adding in books and activities. My kids really love History and Science hands on and so I am going to work hard to have a good solid year laid out for them. I also love to plan :)

[justLisa]

I have a schedule for myself for the entire summer. I have over a dozen history books to read, as well as getting far enough in our foreign language class to have immersion time at home. I also need to finish watching the IEW DVDs. As far as schedule out curriculum, I don't think that will take me more than some time daily for a couple weeks.