Those of you who use planners for your school schedule...

[praisefor3]

whether they are written out or on computer...What do you do when you take an unexpected day off? I would really like to map out the whole year for each subject this year but I don't quite know how to handle variances. I know some of you are great about not letting anything change your plans but we just aren't that way. I would definitely change plans if an unexpected relative or opportunity came our way so I'm not sure how to make these flexible. And what if we decide to focus that day on more math and don't do history? Then PART of the day is off schedule but the rest is on. Forgive my "stuck in a box" thinking and help me solve what is probably a minor issue but seems rather big to me at this moment.

[Karen in CO]

I make a check list with little boxes for each subject and the days of the week that I plan to do them. I schedule Friday to be lighter. Whatever we didn't do during the week, then gets done on Friday.

 

This year, I am planning to do closer to a full day of school on Friday , but am only scheduling the work for three weeks out of every four. The fourth week, we will catch up on the assignments that we missed during the previous three or spend extra time on something that we have been enjoying without getting off of the master schedule. I am afraid that this might encourage delinquency so I am cautious about it.

 

The thing that makes me feel better about missing assignments over all is that I plan out 40 weeks of school. That gives us three weeks above what is required. We also read and do math 4 days a week year-round except for vacations and holidays. It helps me to me more relaxed with the younger kids.

[MandJsMama]

well, I'm just starting out but here's what I'm doing/planning. I made a weekly chart in excel that has what I hope will be our schedule. It does not have times listed but subjects. So, Monday has Singapore, SOTW, Phonics, WWE, Reading and Read-Alouds. It also has laundry, clean bathroom, etc. as well as whatever regularly scheduled out-of-house activities we have. I will post that so I can refer to it and know what I want to get to that day but also allow my son flexibility in choosing. And I think I'll have it laminated so I can mark things off as we get them done and then erase for the new week. Then, I plan on having one month goals. For example, I want to complete 4 lessons in Singapore, 4 chapters in SOTW, 8 phonics lessons, etc. (BTW, those are just made up, I haven't done our goals yet). If we end up doing 6 chapters in SOTW but only 3 lessons in Singapore, I'll revise the next month's goals. I am hoping this plan allows me to not put my perfectionistic/must stick to the written schedule tendencies upon my children, who are enthusiastic learners and want to delve into topics of interest. I don't want to be a slave to our schedule because some days the beach is the best place for everyone.

[Pink Fairy]

Not minor at all!

 

I think that most, if not all, of the homeschool planning computer software allows you to change the schedule as needed. For example, I use Homeschool Easy Records. If we miss a day due to illness or another reason, I update the calendar and then it moves everything forward automatically. I can adjust it for all of the children, some of the children, or just one of the children (I'm hsing 4 right now).

 

I just finished planning my lessons for our 6th grade study of ancients, and it was A LOT of work. Another thing I love about planning on the computer is that I'll be able to use the lessons again for each child, tweaking as needed, but still way simpler than having to plan all over again.

 

HTH :001_smile:

[mamato4]

Or just scheduling what needs to be done for the day? I started off just scheduling what we needed to do for the day when dc were younger and I only had two to teach. I have a priority system where certain subjects get done everyday first. If something comes up, the "non-essential" get dropped. For example, spelling and handwriting does not get done if something comes up, and we have less school time.

 

Just this year, I started scheduling in time also because now I have 4 dc to teach. It's harder because once someone goes off time, it throws me off. I'm still trying to adjust to this so I can't be of too much help with this part.

 

I also spend time each weekend planning out what needs to be done next week. I don't do any school planning beyond that. This way, you can see your schedule for next week and plan the amount of work accordingly. I have a yearly plan of what I want to accomplish but I take it a week at a time. I can't plan everything out for the whole year in one shot. It would upset me too much if I get "behind" in anything.

 

As for focusing more on one subject and dropping another, you can use your usual history time as extra math time. What I do when that happens to me is I would just ignore what's scheduled for history that day and shift the history schedule down one day. Whatever was scheduled on Friday gets pushed to Monday.

 

This is not a minor issue for me since I am such a box checker. But God has been teaching me to be a bit more flexible without getting upset.

 

I hope this answers your question somewhat.......

 

God Bless,

Anna

[HFClassicalAcademy]

I find that planning out a quarter at a time really helps. Then I know what my goals are for that quarter. After that, I just take it one week at a time. I found that if I wrote in my plans for too far ahead, we would always have to adjust due to working a little slower or getting ahead. This plan allows me to be flexible, but focused.

 

HTH,

Liz in NC

[Karen in CO]

Here is a pic of a sample week from my detailed plan page.

 

Here is a pic of my more simple Do the next thing weekly checklist.

 

The Do the Next Thing list is probably what I will use this year. The detailed list is closer to what I used with my oldest when he was in highschool. For the upper grades, I treated those like he was in ps, if he missed a day, he was still responsible for the same work. You don't get to post-pone your paper or assignments in the upper grades if you find something more interesting to do or if you are sick. For the lower grades, I am much more relaxed, children should play and enjoy school and be free to explore what they are interested in.

[Academy of Jedi Arts]

Well, I am similar to Karen. We have a light day on Friday. That's when we do art and catch up or review. I do plan assignments for a couple subjects too. We also do a lighter week every 4th week.

 

Everything is written in pencil. It makes me feel better knowing I can erase and easily rearrange. I know that's kinda silly, but it is always good to remind myself that things aren't written in stone. My checklist is made with the days of the week on top and the subjects down the side. So it's no problem to change just math and not have to change the whole plan.

 

I don't map out the whole year at once. I generally plan 2-4 weeks ahead of where we are. That gives me the opportunity to evaluate and make changes as we need to.

[Karen in CO]

I like that better than my unscheduled fourth week. "Written in pencil instead of stone" is a good reminder.

[Chris in VA]

I schedule out certain subjects for my high schooler. Instead of using days of the week, I do Day 1, Day 2,...all year. If he skips a day, he just does the next one. Theoretically, he could be on Day 12 in one subject but Day 14 in another, if we've had an interruption of some sort and he didn't get to a subject. I build into the schedule certain catch up days, too.

[SkateLeft]

I have a Word document that I use. I keep one for each child. It's just a simple grid planner, with the days of the week across the top and the subjects down the left side.

 

On the weekend, I type up the projected assignments for each kid, put the date at the top and save it with the new date. Then during the week, as things get completed, I use the highlighter in Word to highlight stuff we've done. That lets me see at a glance what we haven't done yet.

 

At the end of the week, anything that isn't highlighted, didn't get done. When I sit down at the weekend to do the assignment sheets for the next week, I just cut and paste the stuff that we still need to do into the days I want to do them. I remove all the highlighted stuff, retype in a new set of assignments, change the date to the new week, and save the files again.

 

That way I'm not tied into getting everything done every week, but the box checker in me still gets satisfied. :D If something comes up, I can just cut and paste it, and bump it to the next week. My oldest really likes having a plan to work from, so this works for her too.

[camibami]

I do what CHris in VA does- Day 1, Day 2, Week 1, Week 2, no dates. SO we just move along, nothing gets skipped. I plan for 4 days, 5th day free, but if we're behind in something, we do it on Day 5 until caught up. SO maybe we'll have a whole day of science, if we've been slacking!

 

The records program where it moves it automatically sounds awesome, though- I'm gonna look into that!

[Tree House Academy]

I use Calvert which is already planned out and I ran upon this first thing. We are starting Aug 4 and my son't birthday is August 5th. What I did was skip their lesson 5 (to get us back on track) and combined most of it with lesson 6. I am having him do his weekly spelling test that Friday (after only 4 days of review) and if he makes 100%, he is done. If he does poorly, I will let him try again that following Monday. So I just combine, hit the highlights, and make one day a little longer. I won't be doing two math lessons with him, but to stay on track the way Calvert is created, that is what I had to do for the rest of the curriculum.

[sagira]

I'm going to use the Tanglewood Corebook, which includes squares for the major subjects and another page to check off unstructured play, nature walks and a place for habits. Also on the major subjects page there's a place to check off narration and flash cards. The corebook has many great features, including a 36-week year planning guide, 6-week reports to fill out.

 

The point of all this, responding to the OP's question, the Tanglewood's Corebook author suggests to plan the year and write everything in pencil. Then just to fill out week by week, and if anything changes, you can still schedule in a day the next week or another day. In addition, she suggests using the six-week reports to state goals, see how far you are away from attaining your goal, and how you are going to schedule it in to complete your goal by the end of the year.

 

Because, as the author says, "the best plans 'oft go awry!" :001_smile:

[elegantlion]

I didn't read all the replies but we do an undated planner. We outline the weeks 1-36, then the days are listed as .1 - .5. It doesn't matter what day of the week those days fall. So we start school on day 1.1 and end on 36.5.

 

Clear as mud? I make a yearly master schedule and then do daily lesson plans one to two weeks in advance, that allows room for tweaking. It has saved my sanity and ds doesn't get confused when we take a day off.

[Kim in SouthGa]

for the subjects that are not really planned, like logic workbooks, math (we do this year round, so there is no pressure to finish the book by a certain date), etc..we just skip it that day. If I have written in the page numbers, I just erase them--I generally just have a box to check saying they did math.

 

For subjects that are planned and really need all those days per week, or it would be too much trouble to change, I make them do double or work on the weekend. So if we missed Monday unexpectedly, I would have them do two grammar lessons on Tues., two spelling lessons on Wed., two Latin lessons on Fri, and finish the rest on the weekend.

[8filltheheart]

I only write out plans for 6 weeks at a time and I write in pencil. ;)

 

However, if we do have something unexpected come up, I try to stick to the same plans anyway. I might reduce the workload to accommodate (for example, I may change an essay to a paragraph) or eliminate a single assignment. But, usually we simply double-up to stay on schedule.

 

Life takes over family way too often that if all the "unexpecteds" were allowed a day, we would never finish a yr. :)

[Tami]

I plan my year out in history, geography, science, and fine arts, putting each subject on it's own page. Then, I simply work from the plan, checking off as I go. If we have days or weeks off, no big deal. We just pick up where we left off.

 

For skill subjects, we do 4-5 lessons a week, simply doing the next thing.

 

We have always finished our year early by following a weekly routine, so I don't fret about scheduling out every subject.