Planning- Forms/Schedules.... HELP!!

[BugsMama]

I am planning for our second year homeschooling- I'll have a first grader and we'll be starting K4 (light work, but work all the same).

 

I'm looking for examples of lesson planning forms/calenders to help me get all of this organized. Last year we did pretty well, but my biggest issues is I didn't spend enough time planning ahead, we didn't have a school calender layed out, and we had a hard time keeping the momentum up when I didn't have a plan. We also jumped curriculum.... a lot.

 

I know what I am using this time, I planned out a school year calender (40 weeks with every other friday off) and I am determined to get a FULL YEAR of weekly lesson plans together.

 

Help me? :bigear:

[Canadianmumof5]

Yeaaaa for year #2 :001_smile:

 

You can check out my horribly neglected blog for our schedules. I don't plan as far in advance as you so mine are done on a weekly basis as a checklist for the kiddos but maybe it will give you some ideas? I also have our daily schedules posted as well.

 

Good luck with year #2!!

[paceofnature]

Two of my favorite planners are Donna Young ~ tons to select from and free and Homeschool Creations ~ both PK and regular forms that you can fill out on the computer and save or print... it is $20, but is on sale for $12 through today ;)

[edeemarie]

Homeschool Classified has some nice planning forms:)

[PeterPan]

Just to make sure on your thinking here, I would encourage you to make your 40 weeks worth of lessons *for each subject* and then compile them into weeks as you go. That way if you get behind in one the rest isn't thrown off. Or get some software like Scholaric or Olly that allows you to bump.

 

If you have an ipad, you even have simple options like putting each subject onto a checklist in paperless or making a spreadsheet in Numbers, which also has checkbox options. :)

[LillyMama]

Bear with me if I'm off-topic, but I'm coming to think I don't understand what other people mean by lesson plans and schedules. :tongue_smilie:

 

Here's the calendar we're using for first grade this year (May-April) for my two kiddos. I use HST+ because I really like databases and I really do prefer to do as much as I can on the computer and print it out. I don't care how pretty it is. This chart is something I pretty much created in Excel from my Lesson Plan Schedule in HST+. Within HST+ it's more specific in some areas. For example, we're doing Singapore Math's Textbook and Workbook. So in HST+, the Monday math time says "Singapore Math Lesson for ch. A from textbook" and for Tue-Fri, it says "Singapore Math Exercises for Ch A" etc. Likewise, All About Spelling alternates between lessons and test, WWE shows whether it's a copy work or a narration, etc. We do, or more accurately, schedule the same thing on the same days every week. So over weekends throughout the year (we year-round school) I go in and look about 3 weeks ahead and plug in what we'll be doing. Every night I go into HST+ and spend about 10 minutes updating things (recording pages read, checking off completed items, bumping or deleting incomplete items, and printing off a checklist for my kids for the next day.

 

Not sure if that helps. I see the planning pages others link to and post, and I sure do think they're pretty. But the honestly have no meaning to me in my life. I cannot help but look at them and think they are I SO much work. But I know others look at HST+ like that, and I think HST+ is a breeze. Different strokes, I guess. ;)

[BugsMama]

Making each subject their own separate file is an awesome idea- thank you! It would still save me tons of time and hassle during the year.

 

Off the check the links!

 

Anyone else?

:bigear:

[Hunter]

I start with this

idea that is just a big piece of folded up art paper. It is one of those too good to be true methods of doing things.

 

I find it better to first know the big picture of the year, and then the big picture of each month, before I worry about weeks or days.

 

When I use this method I curriculum hop less, spend less, and am more satisfied with what I have.

 

I find it helps to set up a theme for each month, and to have a real sense of beginning excitement and then completion. Rhythms are good for humans.

 

I just started a new yearly plan yesterday. Because I was planning for the year, I was able to remember that in August is the Olympics, and that this Fall is the election. If I had started out with weekly plans of my textbooks, I would have overscheduled the core texts during August and October/November.

 

I also realized that some resources I thought I needed to purchase NOW, can be be put on a wishlist until closer to when I need them. Having a firm purchase date makes it less stressful to wait, and frees up some cash that I really need this month for non educational things.

[Mrs.Gregg]

I want to second Donna Young. This past yearwas our first full year homeschooling 2 kids one in K and the other 4th grade. I used just her Weekly Planner and would do 2-4 weeks at a time. But we'd get busy and I'd find we'd have some weeks where I was trying to do it as we went. It got a little overwhelming because I felt like I was always lesson planning so this year I'm doing "A Homeschool Plan Book" and I'm using her quarter/subject planner and planning out our first semester. I plan to at the start of each week pull all the subject together and do a "Weekly Plan".

[Zoo Keeper]

A few things:

 

1. Plan your subjects individually; if you get behind in one subject, it won't upset the whole apple cart...

 

2. Be wary about hyper-scheduling out SKILL subjects ( such as math or phonics). Some kids need more time to absorb some stuff before moving on, or will make a leap ahead and mess up those pretty little plans you make. It has always gone better for me when I plan these subjects 2-3 weeks at a time. I have a general goal of finishing ___ by the end of the year, but take it one bite at a time.

 

3. If you want to do school for 40 weeks, only make plans for 38 weeks of lessons. Something will come up. Your four year old will color the living room walls with permanent marker, or everyone will get a nasty stomach bug that hangs on for a week, or you will move across country, or have a baby, or your husband will loose his job/change his job, or, or, or... Give yourself some wiggle room. You WILL need it. If you do actually manage to finish on time, you have that space to do more field trips, crafty days, long afternoons at the library, or whatever else you want to count as school. :001_smile:

 

 

I also love Donna Young's site. I use her weekly planner grid to plan out each subject; I can't link right now, but here planning section is wonderful! So many forms to choose from...

Edited June 14, 2012 by Zoo Keeper

[sagira]

Great discussion. I'm taking notes. I'm always breaking my head over planning, especially this year. My idea is to plan 6 weeks at a time of reading schedules and such, with a week of catching up if we need it. My plan is to do 42 weeks.

[Chelli]

I recently finished the planning series on my blog:

 

How I Plan Our Homeschool Year

 

How I Plan Our Homeschool Week

 

How I Plan Our Homeschool Day

 

There are links to the printables that I used in each post.

 

Hopefully something in there will help! :)

[Mrs.Gregg]

I'm planning 18 weeks at a time. So our first Semester which I have scheduled to last us 21 weeks. Our work week is 4 days long and then the kids attend a PS co-op/workshop ALE one day a week. By planning 18 weeks and actually having 21 weeks I'm giving us 3 weeks of wiggle room. I'll plan the last 18 weeks (for 21 weeks) as we finish the first Semester.

 

I'm hoping by having a big picture by subjects and then a smaller picture by weeks well be focused and I'll be able to track better. I have to do monthly progress reporting.

 

Additionally I will be planning several 6 week "Mini" subjects. Mostly those will be unit study and will be combined for both girls.

[ThreeBlessings]

Here's my blog post about planning for this coming year with some printables. :)

[lindblomnest]

Two of my favorite planners are Donna Young ~ tons to select from and free and Homeschool Creations ~ both PK and regular forms that you can fill out on the computer and save or print... it is $20, but is on sale for $12 through today ;)

:iagree:

 

The Donna Young website was great- it helped me get an idea of how I wanted my lesson plans to be laid out. However, I ended up just creating my own planner in Microsoft Word so that it is specifically tailored to our curriculum choices.

Homeschool Creations has a plethora of activities for 3-4 year olds!

[happypamama]

I plan by subject, rather than by week. For history, that also encompasses geography, some writing, and some art. I plan the history first, and the other things get added as parts of history.

 

For each subject, I plan what I want to do, and I write it in my spreadsheet as a lesson. For some things (Saxon Math, WWE), it's easy -- just the next thing in the book -- but I type it all into the spreadsheet anyway. For other things, I have to make the list up myself, based on what I think is reasonable to accomplish at one time. History lessons, for instance, look like this: Read SOTW chapter 1 and do coloring sheet (one line, so one day's worth of activities); read supplemental books to go with chapter and do map page (second line); history project (third line); history project and notebook sheet (fourth line).

 

Every week, I'll go through our spreadsheet and copy and paste work for each specific day, printing each day's sheet. (This will also be my journal, because I'll check off what we complete and jot notes at the bottom about other things we do that day.) I can't plan well enough by week this far out, because I need to leave flexibility for family visiting, sickness, appointments we can't schedule for the afternoon, the occasional no school pajama day, really nice days when we ditch the books and head outside, etc. But I usually know about stuff a week in advance, and for unexpected things, or if we need two days to cover a subject, I'll just make notes on my printouts (one for each specific day,

I know there are times when it might take us two days to finish a lesson, for whatever reason, and that's okay. I'll make notes on my daily printouts as needed, and when I plan the following week, I'll adjust as needed.

[Zoo Keeper]

Here's my blog post about planning for this coming year with some printables. :)

 

Nicely done! I especially like the bubble planner and calendar.

 

Thanks! :)

[Tidbits of Learning]

When we were afterschooling, I printed from Donna Young's site often. Our first year homeschooling, I bought a Class Lesson Planner from Christian Liberty Press per child and it contained all the forms that I needed. I did have to fill in a lesson planner per child that way.

Now that I have 3 kids in upper elementary/middle school, I use the well planned day planner for myself and the children have student planners from lakeshore learning.

I really find the well planned day printed planner to be everything that I need to keep up with my school calendar, appts., schedule the kid's work, and has all the forms that I need for a pretty decent price.

[Paula in MS]

Just to make sure on your thinking here, I would encourage you to make your 40 weeks worth of lessons *for each subject* and then compile them into weeks as you go. That way if you get behind in one the rest isn't thrown off. Or get some software like Scholaric or Olly that allows you to bump.

 

If you have an ipad, you even have simple options like putting each subject onto a checklist in paperless or making a spreadsheet in Numbers, which also has checkbox options. :)

 

I completely agree with this. Plan everything out by subject, then put it in a weekly plan but not more than 2-3 weeks ahead. I also agree with using the IPAD. It is easy to use the Task checklist that comes with it to make folders for each subject and check them off as you go.

[BugsMama]

Thank you all, I've been planning the full year by subject, with the intention of plugging things in week by week, and I am already much happier with my organization this year! :grouphug: