How Do You Plan?

[Sobeknofret]

I'm trying to plan for the next school year and I'm running into problems. While I'm great with saying, "Ok, on Monday we're going to do math, copywork, Latin, and science. On Tuesday, we're going to do math, Latin, geography, and language arts..." Where I'm not comfortable is specifying specifics, "We're going to do pages 37 and 38, and do this worksheet..." I'd rather leave that flexible, spending more time on certain subjects and projects or moving on as we need to, and mark down what we *did* not what we're *going* to do, if that makes sense. Do other folks do this or am I just feeling guilty over nothing again :lol: I know there's a couple of science labs that we're going to want to continue over a couple of days, but I keep feeling like I should have every day planned down to the nth degree.

[Critterfixer]

When I plan to the nth, I usually get to see all my well laid plans wrecked and ruined by reality.

What works best for me is making sure I know what I need to do to get through the lessons in the time I want to spend on them. I need to know how many days I need to complete a curriculum with workbooks, for example. I need to know how many chapters our novels for this year have so that I can figure out just how many days a week I need to assign a chapter. I need to know how many weeks I want to do a certain science topic so that I can figure out when I'm going to get the books from the outside library.

That sort of thing.

 

As far as pages go--that's not happening on my schedule. That's like leaving your windows down. Sure thing it's going to rain. Put page numbers down and somebody is going to get sick, or you are going to have a day where it would be criminal NOT to go to the park.

 

[threedogfarm]

Check out www.donnayoung.org.  She talks about different planning methods.  I developed the way I plan based on her suggestions.  

 

I don't have a detailed plan of on "this day we do pages 38-9".  Instead I look at what I want to accomplish that particular year.  Last year I wanted to go through SOTW 2 and most of 3.  I knew we could easily read 1/2-1 chapter per day and do the comprehension questions from the study guide (my kids like history so this wasn't too much for them.  also, we're not really interested in doing the projects).  So I knew I had to do that daily and each day we would just pick up where I left off the day before.  There are 90 lessons in FLL with 10 additonal lessons.  Since we homeschool only 4 days per week for 32 weeks I knew that I couldn't just do it every other day and three days/week was just awkward.  So I knew that I would do a lesson daily and that left room for extra review, letter writing etc.  I didn't attach lessons to particular days.  We would just do the next one.  If there was an appropriate time to write letters (thank you notes, etc.) we would just do that.  WWE has more weeks than we do school.  So when I came across a particular passage I didn't really like I would skip that.  I gave myself 4 skips through the year.

 

So I had a sheet with my plans for the year:  one sheet per subject.

 

Then I had blank lesson plans that I filled out AS WE WENT THROUGH OUR DAY (this is where lesson numbers were put along with page numbers when appropriate).  There was a section for notes in case there were somethings I had to remember to do that week or something we needed but I never filled out the lesson plans ahead of time.

 

In this way we accomplished everything that I wanted to do actually ahead of time.  And it wasn't a total loss for me when I decided to change spelling programs after 1 month.  I didn't have a year's worth of lessons written out.  I just filled out a new "yearly" sheet (which essentially said:  "How To Teach Spelling, Workbook ______.  _______  # of lessons with frequent spelling "tests".).

 

While I think it would be wonderful to have it all planned out down to the page numbers, I don't think it would actually help me teach better or get through the year without being behind.  Knowing the amount of material I wanted to get through and the time frame I have to do it helped me the most.  

[regentrude]

I do not plan. Every single time I tried, we were off schedule by the 2nd week. Complete waste of my time.

 

I spend a lot of time researching and selecting the materials we are going to use for each subject.

I decide how much time for schoolwork I require of each child, depending on grade.

The time has to be filled with work using the materials I have chosen for the various subjects; the student chooses how much time to spend on what subject (with the exception of one hour of math daily which I require). It all averages out over time. I will remind them of neglected subjects.

[MinivanMom]

Well, we have a routine that we follow.  My kids are young so we start with the daily subjects that need the greatest attention (math, grammar, writing, French) and work our way down to the fun stuff that we may only do a few days a week (read-alouds, history, science, art).  I have a spreadsheet that I've made up that shows this structure: days of the week along the top and subjects down the side.  Then I leave the boxes blank.  I just fill in what we did as we go along.  It gives me the structure of knowing that math will happen daily (because I've got a box labeled math staring at me), but it gives me the flexibility to move at the child's pace (because I don't write down pages 17 and 18 in the box until they've actually completed them).  It works very well for us.

[TexasRachel]

I plan my individual classes specifically, but I leave the daily plan non-existent. I know I need to do in math page 83, then 84, then 85-86, etc. But I don't fill in the weekly plan until that week. That way when something comes up and we need to reschedule a class, it doesn't mess up everything else. This way I know how we are doing as far as getting the book done and if I need to skip or combine some lessons to finish.

[KrissiK]

I plan down to the nth degree, but only weekly. With the curriculum we use. It's easy. Everything is divided into daily lessons.

Bible: one lesson

Spelling: Monday pre-test, tues., wed., thurs. go over words, do one exercise per day, Friday test

Grammar:1 lesson per day

Math:1 lesson per day

History: when we do SOTW I do it the way it's recommended

Science:1 lesson per day

Latin: watch DVD on Monday, do lessons, etc. one per day, test on Friday.

 

I don't find planning to be difficult at all. If "life" gets in the way, then we just push it back a day. Aren't most curriculums divided into lessons?

[regentrude]

I absolutely do go down to the level of "We are doing pages 17-18 in math, 39 in handwriting, 83 in reading, and 32 in geography on Monday." It makes me twitchy not to! BUT my schedule is planned with room to flex--if we are in fact horribly sick on Monday, we can make up the math on Tuesday, handwriting on Wednesday, reading will be caught up by Thursday, and it's the same geography all week anyway. So there has to be room in the schedule to catch up for that to work.

 

For us it is not so much adjusting to getting behind and catching up, but dealing with kids wanting to forge ahead in a particular subject. Many times we had situations where the history chapter or math topic is exciting, or their essay writing is coming along very nicely and just flows, and they want to keep going. I hate killing their enthusiasm by saying "no, you may not do any more math/history/writing today because we need to fit in what I have scheduled". I find that they give me their best work if they are allowed to run with their enthusiasm and immerse themselves in a topic if they so wish.

 

(Not saying this to argue, merely explain)

[Holly]

We have a routine we follow...I can't handle it planned down to the hour.  We try to start with the important subjects first...in case something comes up or we have plans in the afternoon.  I save our afternoons for extras.

 

For planning, this year I made a "year at a glance" chart.  I went through all our subjects and filled out which lesson(s) I'd like to work on each week.  Each page takes up a quarter of a year, so it came out to 4 pages total.  For math and spelling, I left blank boxes to fill out as we go.  I'm hoping this will keep me on track...without worrying about exact page numbers.  I also like to write lesson plans after we complete our work...I usually record the specific pages we do each day after the lesson is finished...otherwise, I'm just erasing all my hard work!   :lol:

[FairProspects]

I have the work planned out down to the page number and specific book, but I don't have it assigned to a certain week or day. Then I go in and assign it all on Friday for the next week. So if someone is sick or something, we just don't move forward as fast, but I still know I need to check out x,y, & z books when we hit Lewis & Clark, for example.

[Farrar]

What you're describing is basically what I do.  Flexible routines, not rigid schedules.  General goals.  No specific page numbers or set in stone deadlines at all.

 

I know different things work for different people.  I'm pretty good at keeping the big picture in mind and adjusting as needed...  We haven't done enough copywork, let's do more for a couple of weeks.  Or, we are behind on science topics if we're going to finish them all this year, so let's increase that.  Or whatever.  I know some people can't do that.  But some of the efforts that people put into planning...  Well, I always say I got into this to spend more time with my kids and direct their education, not to do data entry.

[Embassy]

I start out by deciding the length of the school day and then I look at the subjects and decide how much time I want to devote to each subject in a week.  I then schedule out that time in a way that fits our schedule.  It isn't neat and tidy with M, W, F for one subject and T, Th for another subject, but it works.  I list all the assignments, work, projects, books that we will use for a subject in chronological order (if I'm not using a do-the-next-thing resource) and then we just work through the list when we come to the specified time for the subject.  In short, all I have to do during the school year is look at the list for the subject to know what we will do next.

[Murphy101]

For my young ones, I keep a list of all the materials, with numbers next to them indicating how often I want to use them each week. This is kept in a composition book. Each page is a 2 weeks spread. That checklist on the upper left, notes below that for things like feast days and crafts, and on the right page I list what I want to cover in our fair books or other books we are reading. I fill out a month at a time, and check off as we go. So it's relaxed, but I've got an idea and some structure.

 

4th grade and up get their own lesson planner book.

[TraceyS/FL]

So, "by thinking about how I want to plan" is probably NOT what you are looking for in an answer?!?!?! :lol:


I need a routine, and then I have subjects that need resources pulled together on the correct day/topic. I'm stuggling with that aspect and how I want it to look. Today it looks different than the other day, which certainly does not look like 2 weeks ago. The plus side of it is - when I do it mostly in my head like this, I will get it right on paper. But i'm struggling and running out of time....

 

But I can't do daily more than a week or two in advance - our lives just are crazy at times!

[Sobeknofret]

Thanks folks, I appreciate the feedback. I guess that I'm getting neurotic as the beginning of school closes in! :coolgleamA:  We just received some bad news last night that means we're going to be doing a lot of traveling in the next several months, and the idea of having to adjust to accommodate all of this makes me want to have some stability in our lives, but I don't think a rigid school schedule is one of those places that we're going to get it atm.

[abacus2]

I have tried to deliberately plan how much cushion I have in each subject. So I started with the premise that in 180 days of school it was reasonable to expect that we could complete 144 days of regular book lessons, allowing cushion for field trips, rabbit trails, sick days, etc. Then I looked at how many lessons were in my various academic choices. For math, at a pace of 1 lesson a day we have a cushion of about 3 days per chapter if we want to complete our math in 144 days of regular lessons. I've made a note in my math books of which regular day of school is the deadline for completing that chapter, so our goal is to complete the 13 lesson chapter 1 by day 16 of regular lessons. This gives me a realistic plan I believe we can follow. It also helps me prioritize daily lessons. Math, our history core, and my 4th grader's spelling have the least cushion to be completed in 144 regular lesson days. So when we have a rough day, I know we can still be on track overall as long as we prioritize the items with the least cushion. I don't generally write down page numbers, but look at the next lesson/section.

[jenrwheeler]

I tend to be a boxer-checker and ruler follower. I find that when I plan things too stringently too far in advance, I become more concerned about checking off the boxes then really allowing my kids to learn and explore at their pace and based on their needs. What works best for us is to have a routine and goals for the year. I sit down to plan out the details of our lessons on a weekly basis and, keeping the overall goals in mind, try to set reasonable weekly milestones during each planning session to help us make progress. For right now, it seems to be working, but every family needs are so different, so YMMV.

[Carrie12345]

How do I plan?

I surround myself with ridiculous amounts of books and papers and slowly and painfully beat them into submission over the course of a summer.

 

And then I start all over a few weeks into school.

[bobbeym]

We're in high school, so for some reason I feel like we have to have things planned out more.  Or maybe that's just me.  :laugh:

 

Most of my lesson plans give a week number, sometimes the unit/lesson number, and whatever assignments need to be done that week.  We work on a 4-day week, with all assignments due by sundown Friday. 

 

Geometry: 1-2 lessons a week, depending on # of workbook activities per lesson

Science: 1 lesson per week

History: 1 unit per week

ASL: 1-2 lessons per week

English: WWS - 1 week per week, grammar - 1 page per day, lit - chapters #s, stories, poets to be covered that week

 

DS still needs a daily expectation of what needs to get done and to have everything checked daily for completion. If you don't look at it, it'll get shoved aside and never finished.   Sunday evenings we'll sit down with my plans and his school planner so he can decide what he's going to work on each day until he gets the hang of it.

 

Logic and Bible will be more flexible though. Logic has to be done based on DD's work schedule and what evenings she's home, so that's a lesson or two a week, I think.  Bible will depend on whatever is catching DH's fancy that particular week.  Both those I think will just have blank lesson plans that I can fill in what was done afterward.