Organizing guru's - I need your help in making lesson plans...

[KIN]

I like to be organized, but it does NOT come naturally for me. This year I want to be more organized in my lesson plans. Here is what is going on: I've made lesson plans for each subject for 9 weeks. So, I have one sheet of paper with the entire 9 weeks worth of lessons on it for each subject. I wanted to be able to keep track of where each subject is at, b/c sometimes we have a short day and miss a subject.

 

Are you with me? I feel that I need another sheet though, that is kind of a grand master of what subjects I do on what days. Some subjects are done daily, some 3x week, some 4x week, etc. Sooooo, what kind of form would you use for the grand master???? This organizing business is hard work! :tongue_smilie:

 

TIA for any help/advice you have!!!

[mom2hunangirls]

Have you looked at http://www.donnayoung.org?

I'm just doing mine for the first time too so I have no incredible words of wisdom.

Kim

[Jane]

FWIW, here's how I handle scheduling subjects...

 

~ I don't make out a "master lesson plan schedule," instead I tape simple schedules in the front of my textbooks for each subject. My oldest is in 7th grade, so for her I tape that schedule in her books too. (This seems less overwhelming to my pea size brain, especially when I already have large master plan sheets for how our days and chores and weekly commitments need to be scheduled.) :willy_nilly: <--that's me, trying to keep everything for everyone on one master spread sheet.

 

~ Some subjects don't require schedules, rather a game plan: two pages per day will get us through such and such subjects. I find this to be especially true of the curricula in the younger grades. :thumbup1:

 

~ I plan 4 day weeks because the reality is we have a couple of outside commitments that interrupt part of our school days (ie: co-op) and they average out to be about 1/2 day once per week. The remaining 1/2 day can be used on which ever subjects need additional focus that week.:driving:

 

~ I plan very lightly around the holidays. If we are caught up, we focus on lots of extra reading related to the holiday; otherwise, we use the time to catch up in any subject that fell a bit behind. :)

 

~ I plan agressive schedules for the fall so our spring schedule is lighter. Then at the end of the year I can concentrate more on subjects we wanted to dig deeper in for whatever reasons--area of struggle or area of great interest. This also helps w/motivation because we struggle more with motivation towards the end of the year. :blush:

 

I hope something here helps. I looked for some juggling smilies to end w/but couldn't find them. So intead, I'll give you a visual of the joyful chaos you're trying to juggle-- :party:

[Narrow Gate Academy]

Are you with me? I feel that I need another sheet though, that is kind of a grand master of what subjects I do on what days. Some subjects are done daily, some 3x week, some 4x week, etc. Sooooo, what kind of form would you use for the grand master???? This organizing business is hard work! :tongue_smilie:

 

TIA for any help/advice you have!!!

 

I would say that there are two options that you could use at this point depending on the age of your kids.

 

For younger kids, I would make a weekly checklist. Under each day list the subjects or curriculum that you want to cover with lines to check off each subject as it is completed.

 

For older kids, I would make a weekly assignment sheet. Put the days of the week across the top of a table and the subject or curriculum down the side. Then fill in the assignments weekly. This let's an older student keep working on items that can be done independently while you are working with another child.

 

HTH

[Jennefer@SSA]

I first make a Year-at-a-Glance chart that lists all subjects I want to cover for the entire year by weeks. That becomes my basic "road map" for the year. I love the having the big picture in mind before I even start so we don't get distracted. Then I plan in detail 10 weeks at a time.

 

Here is a link to the Year at a Glance on my blog!

 

Hope this gives you some ideas!

Blessings

[Trivium Academy]

Jennefer is the one who inspired me to do the Year at a Glance and it has been a life saver for me. I was struggling BIG time writing down individual days of lessons and then getting off track. Now we can be off track during the week but get it all done and still be on track and when something major happens I can just adjust the Year at a Glance quickly by moving the assignments down. It helps me see exactly what is happening when we take more time off than we should (i.e. it moves our finish date later..) and I feel like I'm on top of things more.

 

I love how it allows me to see what we'll be studying near Christmastime or Easter so that I can make adjustments if I want. I don't write weekly lesson plans, I just look on my Year at a Glance, okay we're on week 3 and should cover XYZ in ABC subjects. I took it a step further this year (inspired by KarenCiavo) and created quarterly notebooks which reflect the Year at a Glance lessons.

 

I'm sure you'll find your formula soon KIN! Don't be discouraged if it takes some time.

 

Oh, for the multiple times a week, just create a spreadsheet with the days of the week at top like this but make it work for you...

 

[WTMindy]

I first make a Year-at-a-Glance chart that lists all subjects I want to cover for the entire year by weeks. That becomes my basic "road map" for the year. I love the having the big picture in mind before I even start so we don't get distracted. Then I plan in detail 10 weeks at a time.

 

Here is a link to the Year at a Glance on my blog!

 

Hope this gives you some ideas!

Blessings

 

My "year-at-a-glance" is similar to Jennifer's. You can see it if you click on my Magnum Opus blog in my signature. If I get behind in a subject for a week, it isn't a big deal to me. The trick is to not be a slave to the plan, but to let the plan work for you. This just helps me to have a basic road map like Jennifer said.

[dhudson]

Have you looked at Edu-Trac? I enter my weekly lessons plans into that then I can print several different formats as needed. It is also a great record keeping program.

[KIN]

For younger kids, I would make a weekly checklist. Under each day list the subjects or curriculum that you want to cover with lines to check off each subject as it is completed.

 

I think this is what I want. It would be great if I could find just the right form over at DonnaYoung.org!! :)

[KIN]

Have you looked at Edu-Trac?

 

No, I haven't! I'm off to check it out. :)

[KIN]

Jessica (wow, that seems weird I want to call you Trivium!!) -

 

I like your form above. I think that is what I'm looking for - something with broad generalities so I can see what I should be doing next. Thanks!

[Sue G in PA]

Jessica, what program did you use to create your Year at a Glance? How about yours Jennifer? I'm curious as I'm hoping to be more organized than last year so we can stay on track better. Thanks!

[Trivium Academy]

Excel or any spreadsheet program will do Sue. :)

[Jane]

Here is a link to the Year at a Glance on my blog!

 

Fascinating. This is the same format I use for our weekly schedules and to help me make sure I'm never overlapping two phonics lessons or two children on the computer at the same time. I never thought to make individual grade-specific schedules using the same format. For some reason I found the mini-schedules posted in our textbooks easier. It would be handy to have an overview of each grade in my master 3-ring binder along with our other scheduling sheets though. Hmmmm. And I thought I was done making out schedules for the year...

 

Thanks for sharing.

[Jennefer@SSA]

You are welcome! Glad it helped. :)

[Jennefer@SSA]

I made mine using Microsoft Publisher. I am not comfortable enough yet with Excel to use it but I actually prefer the way Jessica's looks to mine! You could also use Word to make it as well!

[LaxMom]

I use Homeschool Tracker to do something like you described.

 

I created a "lesson plan schedule" reflecting our general week at a glance, added lesson plans for each subject, then submitted the lesson plans (using the schedule) to the assignment grid for each child. There's a nice preview feature that lets you look at the assignments it has generated before you commit, which can help alert you to any issues (like the realization that, at 5 days/week, we would finish third grade grammar in January) and make adjustments to the schedule. Then, I'll just print out the daily assignments for the next month or so, and stick it in a notebook.

 

I'm not sure if the lesson plan feature is available in the free "Basic" version.

[teamturner]

I made mine using Jessica at Trivium's as a guide and I love it. I just print each quarter at a time but can see the whole thing on the computer. Sorry I don't know how to include it in a post (I tried). I also made a weekly checkist (with page specific assignments, etc.) for each child and I'm also putting all their work in a weekly notebook. It has really simplified our school time this being our first week back from summer break!

[Aloha2U]

After I saw this thread yesterday, I thought this is exactly what I need to do... and so I did! I used everyone's tips with Jessica's and Jennefer's examples as outlines. Once I started I just couldn't stop until it was done... well, almost anyways and now I just want to shout it to the world! LOL! I'm so happy with it and feel even more organized than I already was!

 

:party: I'm so glad this thread was started because it's been helpful for me too. Thanks everyone for sharing!

 

BTW, even though I have only one dc and we have a really simple schedule... this is how I planned for our homeschool journey this year.

 

1. Course of Study

- Make a list of each subject being covered

- Under each subject, list curriculum and/or materials to be used

 

2. Curriculum/Materials Inventory

- Make a list of each subject being covered

- Under each subject, list curriculum and/or materials you have

 

3. NTB Curriculum

- Make a list of each subject being covered

- Under each subject, list curriculum and/or materials you still need to get

 

4. Year-at-a-Glance Spreadsheet

- Subjects listed across the top, weeks listed down the side

- Each subject broken down by what needs to be covered weekly for 40 weeks (37 weeks of lessons + 3 weeks of break time)

 

5. Week-at-a-Glance Spreadsheet

- Days listed across the top (M,T,W,Th for us), time/subject down the side (I will keep one week ahead of our current week).

- Each subject broken down by what will be covered daily for each week

 

I'm unable to attach or link these to this post, but I hope this info may be of use to someone.

 

Happy planning,

 

Melissa

[Trivium Academy]

:party: Yeah! It does feel good! :hurray:

[ljf]

I use Homeschool Tracker to do something like you described.

 

I created a "lesson plan schedule" reflecting our general week at a glance, added lesson plans for each subject, then submitted the lesson plans (using the schedule) to the assignment grid for each child. There's a nice preview feature that lets you look at the assignments it has generated before you commit, which can help alert you to any issues (like the realization that, at 5 days/week, we would finish third grade grammar in January) and make adjustments to the schedule. Then, I'll just print out the daily assignments for the next month or so, and stick it in a notebook.

 

I'm not sure if the lesson plan feature is available in the free "Basic" version.

 

No it is not on the basic version. I just bought HST+ because I wanted to be able to adjust my schedule during the year, without having to re-do everything. In the past we would get off schedule, and the have no schedule. I'm hoping to avoid that this year.

 

Linda

[Jennefer@SSA]

Congrats and doing the happy dance for you! Now if I can just get myself there!!! :D

[Hebrews3:13]

Homeschool tracker too. I really like it. I also like that I can "reschedule" with a click of the mouse when we get behind and of course edit as necessary. I can look at how many days we have attended, keep track of reading lists, etc.

 

It works well for us.

[Pster]

I found something that finally works for me~

 

I have copied the table of contents page of each subject. Sometimes I've typed up my own version to keep it simple but generally the page should have the lesson &/or page numbers listed. I have a page for each subject and they are broken up as follows:

 

For example...

-for Horizon I write out the lessons & pg numbers: Lesson 1 (p. 1, 2)

-for ETC I have their table of contents pg which has the Lesson #, what it is about, and then I wrote in the page numbers

-for Sequential Spelling (a 4 day wk) I typed up Day: 1, 2, 3, 4, ......

-for FLL3 I copied the the pg. where it is broken out into the 3 options & the weeks 1-36

-for WWE I typed up Week1: day 1- narr, day 2-copywork, day 3- dict, day 4-narr & dict....

 

I have a 3 ring binder with a section like that for each of my 3 students..... and then 1 section for the subjects that we do together (science, history).

 

Each day - I just cross off the lesson or page numbers we've covered.

 

I like that I can see how many lessons are left in a given subject at a glance and that it is quick and easy to ck off.

 

I also use a journal where I write down what we do in each subject but I like to keep personal notes on things we are doing too.

 

hth and I explained it well!

[dymphna57]

I have all my old lesson plans archived so I can pull them up and use as is or make changes.

It makes it easier to write lesson plans and keep track of work done. That means I don't have to spend time typing easy instructions for each child or pulling out lots of books and paper to see where we are.

I used it originally to make a high school transcript by writing in my ds high school work and grades. That was a huge project but I was able to use parts of it to write my high school lesson plans for the others.

I like to be flexible and use a lot of resources. HST keeps track of all my sidetracks .

:001_smile:

[Mosaicmind]

Homeschool Tracker here is what we use. I use the basic version and you can reschedule up to 50 days if need be, which is what I did just last week. You can reschedule just one child one subject or many subjects or all children it's up to you.

 

I just print out each child's lesson plan sheet for the week and put in their binder, then I go to teacher's planner and print out one for me for the whole week. Mine will have all of their lesson plans divided by days on my sheet. I have a binder with 36 numbered tabs in it and I just file my lesson plan sheets behind that weeks tabs. There is a box to put grades for each lesson and time completed too if you have to keep track of that.

 

I just finished lesson plans for 5 kids for the whole semester this last weekend. It was a daunting task, but I am so glad it's done.

[keptwoman]

I use Homeschool Tracker too.

I have my Year at a Glance which shows me the big picture, and the details are all in HST+

HST+ took me lots of work to start with loading everything in, but now it's set up it's super dooper quick to get everything ready for the next week.

[materursa]

If you are looking for a checklist sort of form, donnayoung.org has 2 different ones that she uses with her subject planners (sounds like what you did.) Here are links:

http://www.donnayoung.org/forms/planners/checklist.htm

http://www.donnayoung.org/forms/planners/checklist2.htm

 

HTH,

Amanda