Those who plan your whole year ahead of time

[CatholicMom]

What's your method?

 

Do you stay on track?

 

Should I do it?

 

Or should I do my old approach: Basically figure out how many pages I need to do per day and take it one day at a time.:tongue_smilie:

 

For those who plan all your days over the summer, do you literally look up the extra activities and movies to go with THAT particular lesson on THAT day... months ahead of time? How detailed do you get??

 

Do you use a paper planner? Homeschool tracker?

 

Tips or suggestions?

 

:bigear:

[Halcyon]

:bigear: i am considering this. Would love to hear more.

[4ofus]

:bigear:

 

Totally paying attention~

[FairProspects]

What's your method?

I make Excel schedules for our content subjects only (science, history, writing/literature). Our skill subjects are just do the next thing.

 

Do you stay on track?

Sometimes yes, sometimes no, but it doesn't really matter because I title the schedules by chapter # or activity/concept, so if we don't get to Chapter 14 of SOTW one week, we just do it the next and it is still planned out.

 

Should I do it?

That depends on if you want to and think it will work well for you. :D My kids are total spazzes and I need to have things planned out. If we did it on the fly, nothing would happen here. That doesn't mean that we are slaves to our schedule though. If we get really into planets, we can park and hang out there and move onto the sun a couple weeks later.

 

Or should I do my old approach: Basically figure out how many pages I need to do per day and take it one day at a time.:tongue_smilie:

 

For those who plan all your days over the summer, do you literally look up the extra activities and movies to go with THAT particular lesson on THAT day... months ahead of time? How detailed do you get??

Yes, I do. I plan out spine, supplemental reading, any activities/mapwork, materials, and movies/websites we are using.

 

Do you use a paper planner? Homeschool tracker?

Excel. I don't think Homeschool Tracker is user-friendly, but YMMV.

 

Tips or suggestions?

Spend some time in your chosen materials to determine a pacing that is realistic for your students and figure out how to break it down from there.

 

:bigear:

 

:)

[mamaraby]

The only one that ever made sense to me was Homeschol Skedtrack. It's basically just a glorified spreadsheet. You set-up your courses and then enter the activities for each course. If you don't get to a particular activity, then It shows up the next time the course is scheduled.

 

Since my dh works on a non-traditional, rotating schedule I also manually enter in our weekends, tell it that we school every day, and then use a simple spreadsheet to keep track of hors so I have an idea of when we'll be finished for the year. I like that I can enter field trips in as well. I tried a paper planner, but the erasing drove me nuts as we wouldn't always get to what I thought we would. Skedtrack fixed that issue for me.

 

I start researching the next year's curriculum once I have all of this year's bought. By January I pretty much finalize it and start pricing things out. I pick up the spines first (HO, RSO, etc) or Teacher's Guides if I'm buying them used, and from that point yes, I do enter in my plans, track down secondary resources, and pick out any movies, documentaries, etc.

 

I also maintain book lists using my library's online catalog that match up with the subject so that it makes requesting them easier. If I need to buy additional books (or get them on something like PaperBack Swap), then I also keep a spreadsheet with author, title, ISBN, source, and price so that I have an idea of what it might cost. It makes it easier for me to compare prices between sources as well as keep track of price fluctuations as I usually buy my books/curric over a period of several months. I have another spreadsheet to figure out costs with Amazon's 4for3 and whether it's cheaper there or RR. When I buy it, then I move it to the "purchased" spreadsheet for future reference. Oh, and I also keep a similar spreadsheet for things like manipulatives, science supplies, art supplies, etc.

 

I'd say we follow my plans true to as their written about 80-85% of the time. I do make adjustments along the way. 2011-2012 we had a couple of weeks worth of stuff for a handful of subjects that we didn't get to so I just copied them over to the 2012-2013 school year. Skedtrack makes that very easy.

 

At the end of the year I export it from Skedtrack and keep it all in a spreadsheet just so that I have a copy on my hard drive. I appreciate that Skedtrack is online which means I have access to my plans no matter where we might be.

 

Should you do it? I'll be the first to admit that what I do isn't for everyone. I have spreadsheets for everything (and plan out what bills to pay when a year in advance) so I suppose it just makes sense for me. I couldn't imagine doing it any other way, though, and it helps my stress levels considerably by having it planned out well in advance.

 

What can I say? I'm geeky that way.

[LunaLee]

This will be the third or fourth out of 7 years that I've pre planned the whole year. I use a file system by subject/chapters, instead of weeks.

 

For history and science I create lesson guides. Essentially these are word documents with the title of the chapter and what kinds of things I want done for that chapter, i.e. assignments, additional reading, fiction or non, Netflix movies, BrainPop, experiments, labs, drawings, diagrams, projects, wrting activities etc... I can usually do one subject per 1-2 days.

 

Then I create files with chapter titles and this is where I put any books, worksheets, and other things. I don't do by weeks because this way I can plan the week on where we are in the book, and not feel "behind" because my weeks are all off.

 

Then I enter EVERYTHING for all subjects into HST+ using the lesson plan option. By everything I mean books and basic assignments (page #, questions, things like that).

 

Once school starts, I spend a couple hours on Sunday assigning the week and adding any of that extra stuff I put on the lesson guides. For the record, I don't always get to everything on the lesson guide, but it gives me a guideline when I'm ready for it.

 

For the most part we stay on track, and if we don't it's because I've switched programs in the middle of the year, which is my bad, and not because of the way I plan.

 

I'ts up to you to decide if it's something you want to do. I know for me, it's been a huge lifesaver. My busy time at work is back to school season so if I don't get this done during summer my whole year is off. I would love to do a planner like AbbeyJ does where she prints up the whole year at once, but I'm afraid of commitment. This year, I'm going to try and plan and print up 4 weeks at a time and make a planner for ds with my Circa so we'll see how that goes.

[nov05mama]

I plan everything out (the entire year) in the Lesson Plan feature on HST+. I only assign things (at the moment) on a weekly basis and I do all my gathering, link collecting, etc each week as I am assigning things. My goal is to eventually (maybe?) get to a point where I schedule 3-6 weeks out and gather all my extras ahead of time. I also only have ONE DS right now, so that makes a huge difference planning-wise...I am not sure how well it would work doing things weekly if I had more than one since I would have much less down time! ;)

[AnnaM]

What's your method?

I do what I like to call my "ideal" planning. Planning that far in advance you have to be willing to be able to deviate for unexpected things like sickness, field trips and so on.

 

Do you stay on track?

I do my best to. If we get off, it is usually in history or science. When this happens we just do a few days of doubles.

 

Should I do it?

I like doing it :)

 

Or should I do my old approach: Basically figure out how many pages I need to do per day and take it one day at a time.:tongue_smilie:

 

For those who plan all your days over the summer, do you literally look up the extra activities and movies to go with THAT particular lesson on THAT day... months ahead of time? How detailed do you get??

No, oh no, I could not do that. If we have something that happens to coincide, well that is wonderful. I just cannot even begin to guess where and what we might be doing that day a year in advance so I don't even try to plan activities. I do tend to get the enrichment books with our curriculum (ie the journal that goes with Apologia, or maybe even a lapbook), but I don't put a lot of works into it.

 

Do you use a paper planner? Homeschool tracker?

The Ultimate Homeschool Planner. Love it.

 

Tips or suggestions?

Be flexible. Don't make your schedule so rigid that you end up stressed if you get off.

 

:bigear:

 

 

Hope that helps!

[Carrie12345]

I've been thinking about doing this for the coming year. If I do, I intend to make it a 32 week schedule, leaving 20 days for all of the catch-up I'm bound to need! :tongue_smilie:

[KarenNC]

I set up a simple table in Word for each subject. I have columns for lesson numbers, a check-off box, the main lesson and for extras that go with it. So I will list all the lessons from the main history spine, for instance, then the Netflix videos, books, extra readings, websites, etc that might go with it. This turns all subjects into "do the next thing" format.

 

At the beginning of the week, I transfer that week's worth of lessons to a paper planner (I like The Homeschooler's Journal), along with anything we're doing outside the house that week (park days, outside classes, field trips, appointments, etc). This means I don't have to get out of whack because we get off in one subject for some reason (like having extra time out of the house that day so we stick to the basics of bookwork). I check off the lessons in the master list for each subject as we do it.

[*Lulu*]

What's your method?

The individualized skill subjects are planned in very broad strokes. (For example listing that we will follow Beast Academy 3A with 3B.) Content areas are planned in more detail. I have a planner sheet where I break down what I want to cover each quarter.

 

Do you stay on track?

Since I do not plan out to the last detail it is fairly hard to get off track. We school 42 weeks a year, so I have some wiggle room built in when we start.

 

Should I do it?

I think it depends on your family dynamic and your personal organizational style. I need to plan the whole year so I can see where I am going during my crazy months where we are slammed with activities or during the frustrating season around February when I just want to call it quits for the year.

 

Or should I do my old approach: Basically figure out how many pages I need to do per day and take it one day at a time.:tongue_smilie:

If it is really working for you then re-inventing the wheel will just be a waste of your time.

 

For those who plan all your days over the summer, do you literally look up the extra activities and movies to go with THAT particular lesson on THAT day... months ahead of time? How detailed do you get??

I do not get that detailed! I will make a list of extra activities, supplemental videos, books, etc and correlate them to certain topics but I leave the nitty gritty decisions on what day to cover what items for my short term planning. Every six weeks I create a short term plan that is much more detailed. The more prep work I have done on my supplemental lists, the faster that planning session goes. I also can add a source anytime I run across something that will fit well.

 

Do you use a paper planner? Homeschool tracker?

Donna Young planner sheets are my go to planning tool. That and my note pad. (I am a tech hold out when I am doing my big planning, but I keep my short term stuff on the iPad.

 

Tips or suggestions?

Just like you should use the curriculum instead of letting the curriculum use you, you should make your planning work for you, not become a slave to your planning. I hope this helps and I hope you find your planning happy place this year!

 

:bigear:

 

:001_smile:

[HeidiKC]

I've been thinking about doing this for the coming year. If I do, I intend to make it a 32 week schedule, leaving 20 days for all of the catch-up I'm bound to need! :tongue_smilie:

 

I think this is a great idea!!! I'm going to do something similar (but probably 34 weeks). I plan everything out ahead of time, including activities and documentaries, etc. But as you say - I always end up needing some catch-up days due to sickness, unexpected activities that come up, snow days, etc.

[Ecclecticmum]

What's your method?

Plan for next year during the current year.

 

Do you stay on track?

I leave my planners undated. I don't date anything (week 1 day 1 etc), I have rough times of when school starts, and when I would like formal school to end. We take time off as we need to, we basically school year round.

 

Should I do it?

Depends on how organised you are. Planning is kind of a meditation to me. I like planning, so I roll with my brain on that ;)

 

Or should I do my old approach: Basically figure out how many pages I need to do per day and take it one day at a time.:tongue_smilie:

Thats a fine way of doing it. I know I can't do that as I just get restless and annoyed, I need stuff planned.

 

For those who plan all your days over the summer, do you literally look up the extra activities and movies to go with THAT particular lesson on THAT day... months ahead of time? How detailed do you get??

Yep. I pretty much follow the same lines as sonlight. Schedules with notations of activities & extras

 

Do you use a paper planner? Homeschool tracker?

Made my own Sonlight-inspired planner this year (week to a page, 3 pages a week -1 Core -1 Language Arts -1 Electives, plus a 2 coloum Microsoft word page with notes and info for the week, ordered by day) Next year, I'm hoping to move over to HST+ and print that out to be a pre-filled paper planner.

 

Tips or suggestions?

Work with who you are, if your naturally better at go with the flow, do that.

[Mystie]

This is the third year I've planned the entire year out before beginning, and I think I have my system worked out now. I blogged about the specifics of how I do it in a series last month; it's very detailed:

 

* Homeschool Planning a Year at a Time

 

* This one has pictures of my not-so-pretty in-progress piles

 

* How I lay out our daily operations.

 

I go into way more specifics and details in those posts than I could in a forum. I hope it helps!

 

The main thing I do to make it work is not worry about pre-planning connections. The work of learning and connection-making (which is learning) is the student's work; the more the teacher does, the less compelling it is for the life of the child's mind. So I don't coordinate materials to line up. We read a lot, and when the kids want more or have questions, they ask and we look. An ipad and a library half a mile away helps.

 

Also, as much as I can, I make a majority of our studies a "do the next thing" approach. In some things I've stumbled upon a rather unconventional approach (detailed in the daily operations series), but it works for us and has kept my elementary boys interested and engaged. I find they need some sense of autonomy, even at 7 & 9 -- giving them some (guided) autonomy has cut back a lot on bad attitudes we had the first half of last year.

[BugsMama]

I'm working on this right now- I am also planning a spreadsheet by subject, and I include materials needed, books to check out from the library, and schedule books I own. I am also filing all the copies and things that will fit in the file box. I am planning on plugging in the next things from my spreadsheets into the well planned day online to keep track of the day to day stuff.

[....]

What's your method?

 

Do you stay on track?

 

This is the 2nd year that I've planned all the way through. So, I used to do things much differently. Yes, we stay on track. But, I make plans that would only take us half a school year to complete, so we have time for interest-led learning, my kids to take a break, burn-out weeks where we just read, etc. I've also been burned-out before and just turned my older kids loose with a syllabus.

 

 

 

Or should I do my old approach: Basically figure out how many pages I need to do per day and take it one day at a time.:tongue_smilie:

 

Well, that works, too. I create booklists for history, science and literature. If I plan ahead, it's easier for me to know what I can check out from the library versus what I need to buy. I don't plan specific pages for each day, though. I just know that we have 3 weeks to read through Wanderings of Odysseus (for example).

 

those who plan all your days over the summer, do you literally look up the extra activities and movies to go with THAT particular lesson on THAT day... months ahead of time? How detailed do you get??

 

Do you use a paper planner? Homeschool tracker?

 

Sometimes, I keep stuff like that planned in my head. I know when we finish a certain book that I want to do a certain activity.

 

For planning, I have a 3-ring binder. I made a 2-page Excel spreadsheet with all of subjects and days of the week. If you google "Donna Young", there is a huge website with lots of printable planners, etc. I've used those before, too.

 

Good luck! This is my 4th year homeschooling (?) and I finally feel like I know what I'm doing. It takes awhile to get into a groove, I guess.

[Parrothead]

This is the only way I've ever done it. Day one starts Page 1. I schedule as many pages per lesson as need doing to finish the book. Some books have 30 weeks worth of work. Others have 36. Still others have 42. For the books that have more work than we have time scheduled (I only schedule 36 weeks of school) I'll double up some of the easiest lessons.

 

If a book has only 30 weeks of work I'll sometimes assign the time slot for those last six weeks to do the extra work in a 42 week book. If, as I'm finding since we've gone past SOTW, the books don't have more than 30 weeks of work I just use the extra time as make up days. Life gets in the way and we may only have half days for school or school is dealing with life issues. I think dd learns a lot watching me deal with insurance companies or whatever.

[CatholicMom]

Wow. A lot to think about! I'm becoming more convinced that though I'm not the type to find this giant planning task... er, "meditation" ;) per se, I should really try it. I can't say that my loose plans are really doing the trick as I feel we are always missing out on the links, the movies, crafts, or readers that would go perfect with our lessons. And it's because I didn't really look closely at the lesson until we do it!

 

I also wonder if since I'm very much a big-picture person, if it would really help me visualize throughout the year where we are and where we're going and how this makes sense. I found that to be a huge problem with using SL IG's. I just wasn't getting it and felt like I was in the passenger seat blindfolded. So I'm thinking if I lay ALL my stuff out (yikes - that's a scary image to think about), and really have an idea of the flow & material... especially for content subjects, I will gain confidence when teaching time comes.

 

Now the question is to pull papers out or not pull papers out of our workbooks? I'm torn. hardy har har :lol:

 

Cons:

1) I don't have much room for a file box, though I could possibly rearrange and squeeze it in.

2) I have a 1 year old. If she got into the forbidden papers it could be real. bad.

 

Pros:

1) We would have any workbook papers at our fingertips in one spot rather than tracking down each book.

2) Visual reminder of where we are / how many weeks we have accomplished.

 

Keep on with sharing how you plan in advance! :bigear:

 

And do you file / pull out pages, or not?

[....]

This is the only way I've ever done it.

 

I wish I could say the same. Our first couple years of homeschooling were a MESS! :lol:

[....]

Wow. A lot to think about! I'm becoming more convinced that though I'm not the type to find this giant planning task... er, "meditation" ;) per se, I should really try it. I can't say that my loose plans are really doing the trick as I feel we are always missing out on the links, the movies, crafts, or readers that would go perfect with our lessons. And it's because I didn't really look closely at the lesson until we do it!

 

Maybe instead of planning the entire school year, just planning month to month would be better?

[CatholicMom]

I just had another weird planning idea.

 

Does it make any sense to schedule months for certain content areas?

 

e.g. Aug, Sept, & Oct are History

Nov, Dec, Jan, are Geography

Feb, March, April are Science

 

Maybe I'm getting carried away? :lol:

 

I just have trouble switching gears. I need to attend a planning seminar.

[....]

I just had another weird planning idea.

 

Does it make any sense to schedule months for certain content areas?

 

e.g. Aug, Sept, & Oct are History

Nov, Dec, Jan, are Geography

Feb, March, April are Science

 

Maybe I'm getting carried away? :lol:

 

I just have trouble switching gears. I need to attend a planning seminar.

 

;) Funny you should mention that, too. I'm trying that this year for the first time. I have no idea if it's going to work. I could let you know next summer. he he he

 

My plan is:

 

Quarter 1: Religion and Art

Quarter 2: Astronomy with Lab

Quarter 3: History and Geography

 

Edited to say: this idea came from another poster on this forum and it sounded worth a try. I have a son who can't STAND changing gears. Personality thing, maybe?

[KarenNC]

Wow. A lot to think about! I'm becoming more convinced that though I'm not the type to find this giant planning task... er, "meditation" ;) per se, I should really try it. I can't say that my loose plans are really doing the trick as I feel we are always missing out on the links, the movies, crafts, or readers that would go perfect with our lessons. And it's because I didn't really look closely at the lesson until we do it!

 

I also wonder if since I'm very much a big-picture person, if it would really help me visualize throughout the year where we are and where we're going and how this makes sense. I found that to be a huge problem with using SL IG's. I just wasn't getting it and felt like I was in the passenger seat blindfolded. So I'm thinking if I lay ALL my stuff out (yikes - that's a scary image to think about), and really have an idea of the flow & material... especially for content subjects, I will gain confidence when teaching time comes.

 

 

This is what having an overall plan for each subject did for me. We were missing all sorts of things because I forgot we had it when we got to that lesson. BTW, I don't put dates on my schedule, just lesson order, so that I don't get worked up if we aren't on lesson 10 on Sept. 20 or whatever.

 

I also have started putting all those books, etc in order for the year (by subject) on the bookshelves. I'll pull out the ones we are using that week onto the bookshelf in the living room, but the rest stay in order in the bedroom bookcase.

[BugsMama]

 

I also wonder if since I'm very much a big-picture person, if it would really help me visualize throughout the year where we are and where we're going and how this makes sense.... and really have an idea of the flow & material... especially for content subjects, I will gain confidence when teaching time comes.

 

 

:iagree: This a million times.

 

That sense of where I am going and feeling in control is really what I am aiming for. I want to KNOW what I am covering and when and how. I feel so much more comfortable knowing I am doing this RIGHT.... and I'll know it's right when I plan it out myself. Or so I am hoping :-P

[babysparkler]

I just had another weird planning idea.

 

Does it make any sense to schedule months for certain content areas?

 

e.g. Aug, Sept, & Oct are History

Nov, Dec, Jan, are Geography

Feb, March, April are Science

 

Maybe I'm getting carried away? :lol:

 

I just have trouble switching gears. I need to attend a planning seminar.

 

I was thinking of doing something like this with my non-core subjects... mostly because I was thinking of doing October as Election Month with the November election as the pinnacle :) We did it last presidential election and my ds loved it!

[Zoo Keeper]

I set up a simple table in Word for each subject. I have columns for lesson numbers, a check-off box, the main lesson and for extras that go with it. So I will list all the lessons from the main history spine, for instance, then the Netflix videos, books, extra readings, websites, etc that might go with it. This turns all subjects into "do the next thing" format.

 

At the beginning of the week, I transfer that week's worth of lessons to a paper planner (I like The Homeschooler's Journal), along with anything we're doing outside the house that week (park days, outside classes, field trips, appointments, etc). This means I don't have to get out of whack because we get off in one subject for some reason (like having extra time out of the house that day so we stick to the basics of bookwork). I check off the lessons in the master list for each subject as we do it.

 

This is pretty much what I do; I use paper and pencil, though. No fancy planner program, just forms I print from Donna Young. I think better with pencil (or pen). :001_smile:

 

Some subjects are very simply planned (think one side of one page for the whole year); others take mulitple pages.

 

I DO NOT plan out skill subjects (such as math and phonics) for the whole year; each child has their own pace with that, and it is hard to nail someone down for the whole year.

[Ecclecticmum]

With regards to tearing, it depends on how your "school" works.

 

I already have bible worksheets, the 3 page weekly planner, science labs, history lapbook pieces, another science lab, history activities, letter of the week stuff etc. So, without "tearing" apart workbooks (like singapore, growing with grammar, social studies etc) 1 weeks worth of all those loose papers for one 1st grader and 2 pre-k's equal a fair chunk.

 

I have a weekly planner (just one weeks worth of stuff in it at a time), the rest of the paperwork/worksheets etc are in the large binders (the fattest ones they usually have in store) I think about 70mm??? I have SIX of these folders, all jam packed with 6 weeks of materials.

 

So before you start "tearing" think about what all these loose sheets are going to be put in.

 

I have a shelf on the back of my teachers desk. I just put all the books from my home library I need for the entire week (so right now it has stuff like atlas', workbooks, readers, stories, etc. That way everything I need for the week is right there.

 

I go over everything of a Saturday, and check if theres any "perishable" items I need to purchase for the next week, and get all books needed, file the previous weeks work, we also pick up library books. On sunday I go online and order the library books needed next. I use the "my list" function on my local online library site. I have weeks 1-36, so all I have to do is select the items and press hold. By the next Saturday most of the items are there (I'm rural, so some come from closer to the city and take a little longer, so I usually hold it 2 weeks ahead of when I need it, since we only "keep/read" it for 1 week anyway)

 

A note to anyone with youngsters. I have a 4 drawer filing cabinet, everything in it was super organised and some even ziplocked as well. All it took was 120 seconds, the moment from when I heard the cabinet open (I had to put down the baby I was feeding) to put bub down and run across the house, by the time I got in there......disaster. The then 2 year old just blitzed every single piece of paper. My paperwork is still recovering from that 3 moves, and 2 years later! I never leave loose or important papers where anyone but myself can reach them :tongue_smilie: Although I still make the odd mistake now and again (like my now 3yo with the happy phonics box :svengo: )

 

Perhaps a wandering across Donna Youngs site might help. Everybody usually has some area that is their main focus in planning, for some it might be as simple as needing to keep a reading log, a content overview or simply to quickly type out a list of activities to have on hand.

[MerryAtHope]

I sort of do a mix of what you described. One year I DID plan out everything perfectly, I hated my plan that year!

 

Here's what I like to do:

 

Some years I use Sonlight for history/lit/readers. Those years I use their one-page guide rather than their daily guide. The one page guide lists out books in the order they are introduced, with the week that you start the book. I check off the books as we get to them. If we are off, I might add or delete a book as needed.

 

The years I don't use SL, I make my own one page guide for those subjects. I also list out a few optional books & resources if we need to add something or want to change out something. This gives me a very workable plan for the year, and also options if I don't love how things are going or if we get tired of a certain sub-category in the subject. The optional resources might also include a few movies or activities, depending on the year.

 

I like my plan to be flexible enough that if one of my kids wants to do a project, I can move or delete things to accommodate that. And yet I need a plan to go to, or we just wouldn't get much done.

 

I consider other subjects somewhat similarly. For science, some years we have just picked out a bunch of books (from SL or NOEO or Apologia etc...), I've given some general guidelines (work for 30-45 minutes, draw or write in your notebook at least once per week, read or do experiments) but let my kids structure their time within that.

 

Writing I usually set for 30 minutes per day, but I like the flexibility to swap out our writing curric. for a science report or history paper sometimes. I don't worry about finishing a curriculum in one year--we can continue the next or try something new.

 

Math I do usually try to finish in a year, so I do break that down by assignments.

 

I make up a binder with a page for each subject with my plan, however long or short it is. Then I keep a one-page weekly schedule to track what we do (I mostly write on it as we go) and to track attendance, and to make sure I don't forget something!

 

HTH some! Merry :-)

[Zoo Keeper]

Just another thought to throw out there:

 

This year I am planning some subjects a little more detailed than I have in the past. My oldest boy took off in his independence level towards the end of this past school year; I call him my GPS boy, he WANTS a neat and tidy little plan for his day for everything. I want him off my back... ("What am I doing next, Mom? "When am I starting this, Mom?")

 

I am planning out his stuff for his sake, not mine... (okay, it helps me too.:tongue_smilie:)

 

I am also showing him all his books,etc. ahead of time, while I plan, and talking him through HOW I plan. "You'll be doing this book in history; if you want to finish it by the end of the year, you'll have to do a chapter a week..." "How many things should I put on Tuesday afternoon? You do have Karate that night..."

 

Yes, I'm still filling in most of the blanks, but I want to pass the buck someday, and he's got to have a clue on how to do it. :001_smile:

[CatholicMom]

:iagree: This a million times.

 

That sense of where I am going and feeling in control is really what I am aiming for. I want to KNOW what I am covering and when and how. I feel so much more comfortable knowing I am doing this RIGHT.... and I'll know it's right when I plan it out myself. Or so I am hoping :-P

 

Glad you said this. The more I think about it the more I think this will be the biggest factor that will help me. I despise not understanding where I'm going.

 

I'm glad my monthly content subjects idea isn't crazy. Maybe I saw the other thread and forgot about it.

 

And to whoever got their papers blitzed by the 2 yo, you just brought me to my senses about tearing out. I think I'll go ahead and leave my papers attached to the book. :lol:

 

Soooo Does anyone have a picture or screenshot of their plan? :D Pictures are worth a thousand words, you know.

[mom31257]

What's your method?

I posted about my planning here on this recent thread.

 

Do you stay on track?

I've stayed on track the last 2 years better than I ever have. Filing has made the biggest difference for me. I already planned on paper before adding in the filing 2 years ago.

 

Should I do it?

That's a loaded question, because there are so many factors I couldn't possbily know. I will tell you that my best friend hates to plan, but her kids begged her last summer to have me show her how to plan so they could be finished like we were. I spent a whole day at her house teaching her my method. About half way in to it, she looked at me and said, "I see why you do this. This is awesome!". She has thanked me over and over all year long. She also actually finished her school year earlier than she planned.

 

Or should I do my old approach: Basically figure out how many pages I need to do per day and take it one day at a time

If it isn't accomplishing what you want it to now, why would it work any differently in the future? You are here asking, so that says you are open to a change. I say give it a shot, and if you don't like it, scrap it.

 

For those who plan all your days over the summer, do you literally look up the extra activities and movies to go with THAT particular lesson on THAT day... months ahead of time? How detailed do you get??

I do what as much as I have time for, but I always look ahead again each month and each weekend. I try to at least put post its or flags on the things that look interesting to me in TMs and such.

Edited June 21, 2012 by mom31257

[PeacefulChaos]

What's your method?

I just do it. I have a 'daily schedule' that is actually each of our 36 weeks and I put everything in there in advance (it's done for next year- we start school mid July). Usually, I start with either a notebook (for things involving more 'extras') or just a pages document. I put down what we're doing each of the weeks for each of the subjects, and then put them in the daily schedule when I've got it all straightened out.

Do you stay on track?

Yes. Unlike what many people think, this doesn't make it more difficult to stay on track - we take off when we need to or want to, etc, but we at least know what we missed and what to come back to the next day.

For example, this year I'm not even putting dates on the weeks - It's just Week 1, Week 2, etc. Our school year runs from mid-July to the beginning of June, and it's easy-peasy to keep track of how many weeks off that means we can take during the year, and just write down/keep track of when we do.

Should I do it?

I recommend it. I think it makes things easier.

I had a mom tell me that she likes the flexibility of homeschooling, so she doesn't think she would like planning a year in advance. The two have no effect on each other. I can be as flexible as I want, and I would MUCH rather know that we are missing a day or whatever and can come back and keep it up. I don't like the idea of just winging it constantly, and ending up in June with no summer break, or being behind/not getting enough done because I didn't have a goal or plan laid out.

Or should I do my old approach: Basically figure out how many pages I need to do per day and take it one day at a time.:tongue_smilie:

I mean, as long as you are keeping on track, I think it is to each their own. Some people can do ok with just keeping track after the fact - I would never do that. I'm not one to ever really look back at what we've done - I'm always looking forward.

For those who plan all your days over the summer, do you literally look up the extra activities and movies to go with THAT particular lesson on THAT day... months ahead of time? How detailed do you get??

Well... I don't do any movies. :tongue_smilie: And I'm not 100% sure of what you are talking about - like science projects/activities and SOTW stuff? I do all copies and material getting the morning of. I have it all in the schedule, but I don't have the space to have all the stuff sitting out for however long.

Do you use a paper planner? Homeschool tracker?

All on my computer, I do it myself. I do print it out when it's done (after I buy new ink!) and put it in a binder that I use throughout the year. I just check everything off as we do it.

Tips or suggestions?

Just find what works for you and go for it. Like I said, I find this way to be the least stressful way imaginable.

:bigear:

 

...and I actually just wrote a blog post on my scheduling/planning last week. It's here if you are interested. It might make more sense than my response here...

[babysparkler]

Just another thought to throw out there:

 

This year I am planning some subjects a little more detailed than I have in the past. My oldest boy took off in his independence level towards the end of this past school year; I call him my GPS boy, he WANTS a neat and tidy little plan for his day for everything. I want him off my back... ("What am I doing next, Mom? "When am I starting this, Mom?")

 

I am planning out his stuff for his sake, not mine... (okay, it helps me too.:tongue_smilie:)

 

I am also showing him all his books,etc. ahead of time, while I plan, and talking him through HOW I plan. "You'll be doing this book in history; if you want to finish it by the end of the year, you'll have to do a chapter a week..." "How many things should I put on Tuesday afternoon? You do have Karate that night..."

 

Yes, I'm still filling in most of the blanks, but I want to pass the buck someday, and he's got to have a clue on how to do it. :001_smile:

 

I could have written this word-for-word... my 12 year old has been like this for a few years now, so I have a VERY detailed plan for him and he follows it exactly as it is... checks off the boxes and all ;) He is what keeps me on task and on schedule throughout the school year.

 

He does work ahead sometimes so that he can have a free day here and there to go to work with his Dad, do a soccer lesson with his trainer, or veg-out (you know, reading books, calculating random-but-oh-so-important sports stats, etc.) He likes to have a say in his curriculum and schedule, and I appreciate that.

[Teachermom2007]

I began HST because I wanted to be proficient when I needed it for high school transcripts. It is wonderful to print up daily assignments for older students, to print up reading logs, to keep track of any hourly activity (pe, music, art, etc) and to also print up a weekly or daily schedule--including chores. (Beware: there is a learning curve at first, next it will try to be your master, lastly it becomes a wonderful tool--this all happened to me within a period of a few weeks.)

 

I DO plan everything out for the year. USing HST, I either use other's lesson plans found in their yahoo group (I found Apologia, MUS, SOTW, BJU, Rosetta Stone--really there must be thousands of lesson plans already made up) or I make my own (and I post those on the yahoo group for others to use.) I DO add movies, field trip ideas and project all before the year begins.

 

That being said, I DO also allow for much flexibility--I pray for God to use the work I have done to His greatest advantage. For us, having things planned out allows me to be more flexible. For example, in our history, one project after the lesson on the crash of '29 was to follow and graph a stock. Well, I moved to that lesson when FB went public--what perfect timing--we all learned a lot. Also, the Russian revolution came before the anniversary Peter Carl Faberge--also relevant and timed perfectly. If I had not planned these ahead of time, I would not have made the connection readily. That is what works best for us. Every family and teacher-mom is so different.

 

I honestly think prayer asking GOd to lead you to the method that works best for your family is most important.....

 

blessings:001_smile:

[happycc]

It looks to me that those who are planning for the whole year ahead are MOSTLY those with just one or two kids. Perhaps I am wrong. I dont think I could personally plan that far in advance for more than two kids in the house. Any extra kids in the house throw in all kinds of loops and I don;t think I have all the printer paper and printer ink and money to print out all those worksheets I want all at once...BUMMER

 

Besides I don;t have all my books and curriculum here yet.

Wish I did...then I can plan for next year..I am just in the process of just getting my order list to my education specialist through our charter school. Always feel behind.....