For those of you who plan ahead, how far ahead, and what's your approach?

[happymomofboys]

I start with an at-a-glance year plan for each child. I have a word document (landscape oriented) that has a table with the subjects listed down the left. The top 4 rows are divided into the following segments:

 

1st row: 12 months labeled July-June

2nd row: 4 quarters

3rd row: 3 trimesters

4th row: 2 semesters

 

Then for each subject, I divide the columns into either months, quarters, trimesters, or semesters depending on how I choose to plan for that subject. I base my choice on the plans that come with the curriculum, how the textbook is most easily divided, how many books I want the child to read per quarter, etc. Most subjects are divided into quarters.

 

For each subject and in each column, I list all the books I know we'll be using, the topics we'll be covering, and any memory work or special activities I have planned. I leave out any add-in books and just keep a running list of those as we use them throughout the year. Another person might not want to be so detailed, but I find it makes a handy chart to refer back to when I'm writing the quarterly reports my state requires.

 

I create the chart over a long period of time. I add to it and subtract from it as I buy curriculum materials for the year I'm planning. By doing it over several months, I only need to spend a few minutes at a time. If I had to do it quickly and I already had all the materials I would be using, it would probably only take a couple of hours.

 

Once the chart is finished, I get out my planner and start scheduling the first 9 weeks. I don't schedule more than 9 weeks a time, because life happens and plans change. The year-at-a-glance gives me deadlines and an overview of where we're headed for the rest of the year. I repeat the scheduling process during vacation between quarters.

 

Once I've scheduled 9 weeks of lessons, I put all the worksheets, maps, notebooking pages, lapbook pages, etc. in an accordian file for each child. I label the pockets 1-9 and sort the papers by week. This keeps everything neat and tidy and shows me quickly if I've overscheduled a week. Then I just take it a week at a time. :001_smile:

Edited June 20, 2012 by happymomofboys
typo

[Halcyon]

Why oh why didn't I use Excel before for this? I know Excel well, yet still plunked down 50 bucks for HST+. This is working much better for me already, I can tell. I am using tabs like Wendy&Milo did in hers, and pulling each subject into a Master doc which has every single day we'll be schooling on it listed on the left column. It is allowing me to easily see which days to schedule for vacations, and I even set up a formula that shows how many days we've completed and how many days we have left to go. I like being able to "see" my whole year at a glance, and I like how easy it is to change things if need be. I am scheduling 200 days of school; we may do more but that's our base. Loving this thread!

[wehave8]

I plan my year in advance. I put the days/weeks as columns with the subjects down as rows. I space the subjects out so that they will all take about 180 days to finish.

 

Each week, I will print off the appropriate columns and we can use it as a checklist. That way if DS wants to do all of his math on Monday, he can, he just needs to finish everything by Friday.

 

Heavily influenced by Sonlight's IG. :001_smile:

 

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AmUsFdXVXIPQdGlaS2diUGllcDVTMTZ3cHFsY3J3QXc

Is there a way in excel to "bump" one subject (not bumping the whole day)?

[Five More Minutes]

I do have a scope & sequence & curriculum spreadsheet for all the way through highschool, though . . . just so's you know I really, really am a mad planner!;)

 

Me, too ... for my students in K4 and Gr. 1. I started it last year. :blush: I am SO glad to know that I am not the only person with that kind of dedication to long-range planning. :001_smile:

[ChicoryChick]

I have never thought to use excel for my schedules as I always use that for financial stuff. I actually use MS Word with inserted tables. I schedule for the while year in advance by subject because if I don't the the sceduling doesn't happen. I usually hace 4 pages per subject per child that is divided into 9 weeks. I use this as a guide of where we are supposed to be if we get behind. I usually leave two weeks at the end of the year for makeup time. If by chance we don't have anything to make up then I will fill it in with dvd documentaries, free reading and PE.

 

i know you are set with Excel but let me know if you would like to see a sample done on Word. .

:) Ilm going to check out what I have been missing. ;)

[Chrysalis Academy]

Me, too ... for my students in K4 and Gr. 1. I started it last year. :blush: I am SO glad to know that I am not the only person with that kind of dedication to long-range planning. :001_smile:

 

:lol: Ooo, "dedication to long-range planning." I'll have to try that out on DH. I think he would describe it as "obsession with excel spreadsheet."

 

But I figure if you don't know where you're going, you'll probablly end up somewhere else, right? :D

[wehave8]

I have never thought to use excel for my schedules as I always use that for financial stuff. I actually use MS Word with inserted tables. I schedule for the while year in advance by subject because if I don't the the sceduling doesn't happen. I usually hace 4 pages per subject per child that is divided into 9 weeks. I use this as a guide of where we are supposed to be if we get behind. I usually leave two weeks at the end of the year for makeup time. If by chance we don't have anything to make up then I will fill it in with dvd documentaries, free reading and PE.

 

i know you are set with Excel but let me know if you would like to see a sample done on Word. .

:) Ilm going to check out what I have been missing. ;)

I'd like to see it. I have a STACK of "pencil and ruler" type planners I made (before we had computers) and a ton of files of Word planners I've tried over the years. I always just printed the grids and filled them in by pencil.

 

I am looking at HT+, Excel, and Scholaric. I like Scholaric, but I'm not sure I like the online part. I thought I'd do planning while the 3 dss were taking piano lessons, but there is no internet there.

 

Back to looking......

[Five More Minutes]

:lol: Ooo, "dedication to long-range planning." I'll have to try that out on DH. I think he would describe it as "obsession with excel spreadsheet."

 

But I figure if you don't know where you're going, you'll probablly end up somewhere else, right? :D

Exactly! I need to point that out to DH, who so far is right with yours in his assessment of my, er, commitment. :001_smile:

[ForeverFamily]

I do have a scope & sequence & curriculum spreadsheet for all the way through highschool, though . . . just so's you know I really, really am a mad planner!;)

 

Me, too ... for my students in K4 and Gr. 1. I started it last year. :blush: I am SO glad to know that I am not the only person with that kind of dedication to long-range planning. :001_smile:

 

I have made a "long-range" plan too... several times.... and my oldest hasn't even started 1st yet!:blushing: I am someone who needs to be able to SEE where we are going. My DH doesn't even question me anymore. He is used to it by now because I am always making some type of chart or graph.:lol:

[ForeverFamily]

I start with an at-a-glance year plan for each child. I have a word document (landscape oriented) that has a table with the subjects listed down the left. The top 4 rows are divided into the following segments:

 

1st row: 12 months labeled July-June

2nd row: 4 quarters

3rd row: 3 trimesters

4th row: 2 semesters

 

Then for each subject, I divide the columns into either months, quarters, trimesters, or semesters depending on how I choose to plan for that subject. I base my choice on the plans that come with the curriculum, how the textbook is most easily divided, how many books I want the child to read per quarter, etc. Most subjects are divided into quarters.

 

For each subject and in each column, I list all the books I know we'll be using, the topics we'll be covering, and any memory work or special activities I have planned. I leave out any add-in books and just keep a running list of those as we use them throughout the year. Another person might not want to be so detailed, but I find it makes a handy chart to refer back to when I'm writing the quarterly reports my state requires.

 

I create the chart over a long period of time. I add to it and subtract from it as I buy curriculum materials for the year I'm planning. By doing it over several months, I only need to spend a few minutes at a time. If I had to do it quickly and I already had all the materials I would be using, it would probably only take a couple of hours.

 

Once the chart is finished, I get out my planner and start scheduling the first 9 weeks. I don't schedule more than 9 weeks a time, because life happens and plans change. The year-at-a-glance gives me deadlines and an overview of where we're headed for the rest of the year. I repeat the scheduling process during vacation between quarters.

 

Once I've scheduled 9 weeks of lessons, I put all the worksheets, maps, notebooking pages, lapbook pages, etc. in an accordian file for each child. I label the pockets 1-9 and sort the papers by week. This keeps everything neat and tidy and shows me quickly if I've overscheduled a week. Then I just take it a week at a time. :001_smile:

 

I would love to see an example of this!:001_smile:

[Halcyon]

Is there a way in excel to "bump" one subject (not bumping the whole day)?

 

 

Well i use Open Office, not Excel, but I am sure there is something similar in Excel. in Open Office, I right click while highlighting the cell i want to "bump down" one day. Then I select Insert, and then there is an option for "shift cells down". This bumps the column down without affecting any other columns. If you're setting your days up along the top, with subjects on the left, you can "bump" one subject to the right in the same manner, just choose "shift cells to right". VERY easy in Open Office, and crucial!

[happymomofboys]

I would love to see an example of this!:001_smile:

 

Sending you a PM. :001_smile:

[wehave8]

Well i use Open Office, not Excel, but I am sure there is something similar in Excel. in Open Office, I right click while highlighting the cell i want to "bump down" one day. Then I select Insert, and then there is an option for "shift cells down". This bumps the column down without affecting any other columns. If you're setting your days up along the top, with subjects on the left, you can "bump" one subject to the right in the same manner, just choose "shift cells to right". VERY easy in Open Office, and crucial!

Thank you! I need to learn excel!

I think now it's between excel and Scholaric....online or not online.

[ForeverFamily]

Sending you a PM. :001_smile:

 

Thank you! It looks great!:D

[ChicoryChick]

I'd like to see it. I have a STACK of "pencil and ruler" type planners I made (before we had computers) and a ton of files of Word planners I've tried over the years. I always just printed the grids and filled them in by pencil.

 

I am looking at HT+, Excel, and Scholaric. I like Scholaric, but I'm not sure I like the online part. I thought I'd do planning while the 3 dss were taking piano lessons, but there is no internet there.

 

Back to looking......

 

ETA: Here are the link:

Sample of Language Arts Schedule

 

Sample of Overall Schedule

Sample of History Schedule Combining SOTW 1 & Story of the Ancient World

Sample of Science Schedule

Edited June 22, 2012 by kayinpa

[Pen]

I have a word table with our subjects on the left side, and days of the week above. I know how many days i want to do each subject per week (5x a week for Math, 2x a week for Science, etc) Up til now, i fill this in in pencil AFTER we complete a subject, as a record of what we have done.

 

I am considering pre-filling out what i would like to accomplish each day instead, and then checking it off as we go. Question- do those of you who take this approach do this WEEKLY? Monthly? The reason i am considering this isnt because we arent getting things done; we school year round so mostly we are ahead. Rather, i find that our days are too long because i dont have any end point in mind...i cant say "we are done" for the day, ever, and we just keep going until 3 or 4. I dont think it's neccesarily fair to my kids to rewards focus and efficiency with more work. I think a set schedule of what i want to accomplish each day would help me and allow them more free time.

 

Would love to hear from people who plan ahead and how you do it.

ETA: Adding a link to the planning page I am going to use...normally, as I said, this would be filled out post school work, but I'd like to fill it out BEFOREhand this coming year. Going to read the comments now :)

 

 

 

 

I have a length of time that I think each subject should be done--which I decide in part in order to get through a certain amount of material in a year, and in part to not make the days too long with schoolwork, because while I think academics are important, I do not think they are all-important.

 

If getting through what needs to be done looks like it needs more time, then it is given more time, but in general that means something else gets less time.

 

I don't have a specific schedule for reviewing that, but my guess is I probably adjusted time lengths for subjects about 4 times this past year. And already twice this summer.

 

From time to time I count pages of a book being used and calculate how many days at current rate it will take to get to the end of it. Then I might consider something like, at that rate, will we be at _____ (some possible target, like say algebra by grade__-). If yes, fine, if not, then I need to adjust...

 

And I have adjusted to doing less in some areas in addition to deciding we needed to do more. I also adjust as I see some activities in our lives taking shape...for example, I might decide something we are doing hands on will take the place of some seat work learning.

 

Basic skills areas get precedence, so that, for us, for example, reading was such a problem it took 2 hours per day and had precedence over even trying to do another language. Now writing is in that same position of focus subject.

 

And the summer program as to the basics is really really short. It does not have an absolute length, but my goal is to keep certain areas at least progressing or being reviewed slowly. Writing 5x per week only about 1/2 hour. Math 3 days, Science 2 days, each about 1/2 hour. That is all that is scheduled. Art gets done -- reading, nowadays, gets done - but they sort of just fit in to the day. We are not doing history this summer except answering questions as might come up related to Percy Jackson or some such.

 

During the regular Sept-June part of the school year more schoolwork gets done. I should add that we are where weather is generally very nice in summer and pretty yucky much of the rest of the year. If it were horrid hot in summer and pleasant in winter I would modify accordingly.

[wehave8]

I have been following this thread with great interest. Thank you to everyone for all of the great ideas. I have HST+ but for some reason I keep going back to Word, Excel, or pen and paper to do all of my planning :lol:. I should probably just give into my natural planning style and use Excel. I couldn't figure out a very good way to use Excel until seeing these great Excel files, thank you! If you don't mind I have a couple of questions about Excel (it has been since highschool since I have done anything very complicated with the program;)).

 

 

 

Your excell file looks great. I love how you made the top (with the dates) scroll seperately from the bottom part with all of the subjects and lesson plans. How did you do that? I love how no matter what subject/students plans you are looking at the school day and date are still visible.

 

 

 

I love the layout and design of your excel file! I love the idea of seperating each subject onto seperate sheets. Is there an easy way to copy and paste the cells location (e.g. =MEP!A36) into the weekly printouts or do you have to manually enter each one? It has been so long since I have had to do this that I can't remember:tongue_smilie:.

 

Also how did you make it so each weekly chart is its own seperate page in Excel? Did you use something like Insert page break (although when I do that it only shows the pages seperated by a dotted line :confused:)? Thank you for your patience I have a lot of re-learning to do when it comes to Excel, but it is probably worth it!

 

Again thank you all for your great ideas and for sharing your great excel files! I finally feel like I can get my planning done for the year in a way that makes sense to me.

 

ETA: AndrewsDK never mind I figured it out :). For anyone else interested, first you select the row BELOW the ones you want to be frozen then you go to the View tab and click freeze frames and select the option you want.

I can freeze the top sections OR the first column, but how did she freeze BOTH at the same time?

[Mimm]

I've tried planning the entire year out but when I need to make changes, or I get off track in one subject, it feels like things just fall apart. So this year, I'm planning just the first nine weeks. I like our school year to be 36 weeks so I will have to plan three more quarters as we get closer. I am putting together my own history and literature curriculum so I feel the need to plan that out. For my things like math, I simply have Singapore Math and Khan listed and my kids will check it off, but not specific exercises.

 

So yeah, I am not a planning expert, by any means, because I haven't found the system that works well for us, but this is what I am trying this year. I tried filing last year and it did not work for us. I really wanted it to.

[Down_the_Rabbit_Hole]

I plan every weekend. Usually Saturday morning I glance at the stuff to see if I need to pick anything up. The actual writing/filling in the plans takes place Sunday night or Monday Morning (I am an early riser 5am so this quiet time is my planning time). I have a grid I fill in, usually takes no ore then 15 mins.

 

For ds I only plan for his History. Everything else is do the next section type of work. The history is done every 9 weeks.

[heritagelearningacademy]

My first year homeschooling I tried scheduling for the majority of the year. We got off schedule with some family issues and then I felt like we were playing catch up the whole year. I didn't like that.

 

Now, I schedule about 2 months at a shot. I leave a week empty at the end of the 2 months just in case we need to catch up. If not, we move ahead with the next set of things. We school year round so this works.

[AnnaM]

I schedule an entire year out. I like to see where we need to be well in advance. We do 6 weeks on 1 week off so we can do any catching up we need to do during that off time. I am not a stickler for staying right on schedule so where we are vs what is in the planner may vary a bit, but I try to keep us close. I don't like doing school in December at all so it is nice to know what needs to be done each week to keep us on track.

[LivingHope]

I give my children weekly assignment goals. It is a bit more flexible for us that way.

 

I have been using an ipad app called Index Card. With this app I make one index card per course and type in all the assignments/lessons. Each week I copy and paste the weekly assignment goal from these cards to my children's subject cards (one subject per card) and email to print. At the end of the week, my children hand me their checked off pages, I edit the cards on my ipad to reflect what was accomplished, email the update for safe record keeping, and recreate the weekly assignments by copying and pasting from the course cards.

 

 

 

I wrote the above today for another thread: http://www.welltrainedmind.com/forums/showthread.php?t=400019&page=3

[justLisa]

I am a planning drop out. Taking notes :bigear:

[ForeverFamily]

I can freeze the top sections OR the first column, but how did she freeze BOTH at the same time?

 

I didn't realize she had frozen the top section and first column! I thought I had come up with a great idea the other day to do this:tongue_smilie:, and tried with no luck:glare:. I was only able to freeze either the top or the first column. I just figured that it wasn't possible and gave up. Sorry I am no help with this. Does anyone know how to do this? You could probably google it, that is how I figured out how to freeze the top section. I would but I need to get some cleaning done today;). Let me know if you figure it out.

[Five More Minutes]

I didn't realize she had frozen the top section and first column! I thought I had come up with a great idea the other day to do this:tongue_smilie:, and tried with no luck:glare:. I was only able to freeze either the top or the first column. I just figured that it wasn't possible and gave up. Sorry I am no help with this. Does anyone know how to do this? You could probably google it, that is how I figured out how to freeze the top section. I would but I need to get some cleaning done today;). Let me know if you figure it out.

Maybe I'm not understanding what you're hoping to do, but I'll give this a try ... I think you just select the cell immediately below and to the right of all of the cells that you want frozen. Then you select "Freeze Panes."

 

So if I wanted to freeze the far left-hand column and the top row, I would highlight cell B2 and select "Freeze Panes."

[wehave8]

Maybe I'm not understanding what you're hoping to do, but I'll give this a try ... I think you just select the cell immediately below and to the right of all of the cells that you want frozen. Then you select "Freeze Panes."

 

So if I wanted to freeze the far left-hand column and the top row, I would highlight cell B2 and select "Freeze Panes."

That was so easy!!! I should have gone to bed last night instead of trying every other way possible until 1:00 a.m.!!! I aksed my husband if I could take an excel class somewhere!

 

Thank you!

Pam

[Halcyon]

How's everybody's planning going? I am deep into planning using Open Office Calc (basically free Excel) and it's going really well. I am very happy so far with how it is turning out. I haven't gotten to the tough stuff yet (Science and History), however.

 

I was wondering if anyone could give me advice on scheduling SOTW1 with K12 Ancient Times. I want to do them "together" but still allow each kid some mom time. Would you schedule them on the same day, concurrently? Or on separate days, so each kid gets more one-on-one time with me? A good portion of the time for older will be reading K12 and writing narrations. Younger will be doing the AG of SOTW1 and that takes a fair amount of prep, if I recall.

[welovetoread]

Do any of you use a curriculum that is already planned out? If so, how do you work that? Do you just open the manual and go or do you have assignment sheets etc..?

[mom31257]

Do any of you use a curriculum that is already planned out? If so, how do you work that? Do you just open the manual and go or do you have assignment sheets etc..?

 

Almost all the curricula I use has at least a suggested schedule, but I still plan my year on paper first. I like to look ahead at things I know will be going on, as well as things that might work well together, and plan accordingly.

 

If I were using a curriculum such as Heart of Dakota, I might not; however, being the planner that I am, I don't think I could ever choose a curriculum like that. It would take half the fun out of it.

[Marsha SC]

I have an Excell spreadsheet, one for each month, for each child. I create a folder for each school year.

 

I tend to plan out at least two weeks, so I can order books from the library to have them when I want them. Our girls are free to pick any books they want for fun reading.

 

My spreadsheet has the date on the left, the subject and what is done in the middle, then I also keep record of how long it takes to accomplish each task. The time is for me. If either of them is taking more than an hour to do a subject, then we need to change something.

 

Math is the easiest, for us, to plan. We use ABeka; they complete a lesson a day (no skipping of anything!). They will either have a lesson with a drill, or a quiz with a lesson. Tests are their own lesson number, so they are done by themselves.

 

Spelling is a little harder. Note: We are going to try something new this year, so this is untested. I hope they will do a pretest and write definitions on day one. Day two will be the first two pages (we use Spelling Workout) of the lesson. Day three will be SpellingCity.com and the third page. Fourth day will be the fourth page and a test. I am hoping this will work, but honestly I won't know until we start in a couple of weeks. We are going to a 4-day school week this year.

 

Other subjects are trickier. When I first started homeschooling I made a spreadsheet of what I wanted each child to do in each of their subjects. I referred to it often (daily) to remind myself. Just focus on what you want them to accomplish, make a list, then see how it works.

 

Good luck!

 

Marsha

[ForeverFamily]

Maybe I'm not understanding what you're hoping to do, but I'll give this a try ... I think you just select the cell immediately below and to the right of all of the cells that you want frozen. Then you select "Freeze Panes."

 

So if I wanted to freeze the far left-hand column and the top row, I would highlight cell B2 and select "Freeze Panes."

 

Thank you! :D Yes that fixed the problem. I was trying to freeze the top and then the first column, freezing them seperately wasn't working. I didn't think about doing them both at the same time. :tongue_smilie:

[Mrs.Gregg]

With the exception of a 2 unit studies. I think I am done planning for the year.

[ForeverFamily]

As far as pasting into the weekly planner, I would start off by pasting "=Phonics!A" into the first Phonics box, then type "1". Then the next box I would type "2" after pasting. It actually goes really quick, especially if you have the 10-key on the side of your keyboard. Oh, you might have to click on the box, then paste into the formula bar up top. I know it sounds awful, but it's not.

 

I have been entering the lessons in the way that WendyAndMilo suggested, it is faster than hand typing everything however it is a bit tedious. Just curious has anyone figured out a faster way accomplish this?:bigear:

[wehave8]

Thank you! :D Yes that fixed the problem. I was trying to freeze the top and then the first column, freezing them seperately wasn't working. I didn't think about doing them both at the same time. :tongue_smilie:

That's exactly what I was trying to do!

[Five More Minutes]

Thank you! :D Yes that fixed the problem. I was trying to freeze the top and then the first column, freezing them seperately wasn't working. I didn't think about doing them both at the same time. :tongue_smilie:

Glad to help. :001_smile:

[ForeverFamily]

I have been entering the lessons in the way that WendyAndMilo suggested, it is faster than hand typing everything however it is a bit tedious. Just curious has anyone figured out a faster way accomplish this?:bigear:

 

In answer to my own question I think I actually figured out a faster way and thought I would share in case anyone else is having the same frustration. The idea came to me that I could get the same task done that WendyAndMilo described but do it in the opposite order. So instead of pasting "=Phonics!A" for example and then typing in the cell number, I first put the number I need in each cell (e.g. 1, 2, 3, 4,...100, 101, 102, etc.), that way I can let excel automatically finish the number sequence I start (by dragging the little black box in the corner), and then I go back to the beginning and start pasting in "=Phonics!A" in front of all those numbers. That way I don't have to ever go up to the formula bar on top (which is what was really slowing down the process). Does that make sense?