Where do you start with your planning? How finite do you go?

[mitzvahmommy]

What questions do you ask?  First do you ask "what do I want to teach next year" and then follow up with "why do I want to teach that particular subject"?  Then end with "how do I want to teach it" and choose curriculum to fit that?  Or do you grab a curriculum you like and teach from it, with no preconceived plan?  Do you set goals at the beginning of the year, and then reevaluate periodically to make sure you reach them?  If you use the filing system, do you plan the whole year at once as to what you will cover each week, or just a few months at a time - and why do you do it that way? Do you write lesson plans?  If so, how did you learn to write them, what do they look like?  I am trying to ask how top-down do you go - starting at what my husband calls the 30,000 foot view from the plane, and then how low do you go, down to a lesson plan for each day/activity?

 

I am trying to maximize my few planning weeks this summer, to have a much more organized year.  I know these questions will be answered totally differently based on your particular approach to homeschooling, i.e. the unschoolers definitely are not asking the same questions as very structured schoolers.  I have gifted, Aspie, ADHD boys, and I think they might need a really structured, organized system to succeed.  This isn't really my style, teaching is not my background, and I am a gifted, Aspie, ADHD person myself!  So I think maybe lesson plans would help me know what I am trying to teach and keep me on track.  When I have to remind myself constantly why I was including this or that project or material, or can't remember what my goals were, don't know how to evaluate periodically if we are on track to reach a goal by the end of the year, I feel like I am floating at sea.  Any suggestions?

[Snow]

:lurk5:

 

Great questions. Will be listening in!

[Reefgazer]

I ask myself, in this order:

 

1.  What subjects do I want to teach?

 

2.  What do I want to teach within each subject (this drives my curriculum choices.  For example, my DD is weak on spelling/grammar/punctuation, so I went with LoE for her for next year).

 

3.  Narrow curriculum down to 2-3 options and start investigating those options for cost, thoroughness, reading reviews for effectiveness, considering if I can teach it in my time allotment, and practicality.

 

4. Make a detailed overview-type schedule for the year, with what I want to accomplish and by when.  Again, with the understanding that things change.

 

5. Once I decide on the curriculum, I schuss out a weekly schedule for each child, with the understanding that the schedule can change. This is as narrow as I get - a weekly schedule. I don't do the weekly schedule for the entire year, just for the first month. Then near the end of the first month of school, I do the second month, and so on, making adjustments as needed.

 

This worked really well last year, with minor adjustments. We accomplished most of what we set out to do, but not all.

[Momof3littles]

We are entering our 6th yr of HSing, and I am still not sure about the best way to plan many times!  I find myself with different needs in different seasons of this journey.  Some years are more "do the next thing," and some require more advanced prep.  Juggling two students the last two years required more printing and prep.

 

I'll be honest and say I've never done a daily lesson plan.  I get anxious thinking about it, because if we get "off track," my personality would leave me feeling the need to get back on track right away, and that doesn't go well for me in terms of stress management. 

 

Last year I looked through my SOTW AG, picked a few activities that were must dos, knew we'd do the mapwork, had DS1 do writing several times a week related to topics studied.  I figured out what books we would want for supplemental reading, and I planned that out by topic, but still not a "daily" plan.  That's as detailed as I get.

We participate in a small HS co-op, and I plan in more detail for that. It is one time per week.  I don't plan our regular stuff out to the day, for better or for worse.

 

Following along, because I'm still learning.

[IsabelC]

I am a thwarted perfectionist, so no way would I ever even try to plan out an entire year in terms of "on this date, we will cover pages x, y and x of curriculum a". If I did that, the entire first term would likely be spent on me fiddling about with The Schedule and presenting it beautifully  :lol:  Likewise, I wouldn't dream of writing such a thing as a Lesson Plan, although I may well have one in my head for some things.

 

We work out what are the priorities for the child and what approach/resources we think might be helpful. I develop a rough idea of how far I would like to get within a time-frame (e.g. I'd like to be through MM4B by the end of 3rd term) but it's always adapted as we go (if we don't get there, no biggie, we'll just do a little bit of math during the break to finish whatever we didn't get through). I might even have a mental list of what I hope to cover over a week, although it's always up for adjustment in case of illness, family drama, and other random things that come up.

 

I do evaluate, of course, but since none of my kids is traveling along the 'normal/typical' developmental path (in fact, the more experience I have, the more convinced I am that there exist very few of these 'normal, typical' kids), it's not all that meaningful to assess them against grade level standards. Our main criteria are "Is she/he improving and learning?" and "Is she/he reasonably content?".

[Rebel Yell]

What questions do you ask?  First do you ask "what do I want to teach next year" and then follow up with "why do I want to teach that particular subject"?  Then end with "how do I want to teach it" and choose curriculum to fit that?  Or do you grab a curriculum you like and teach from it, with no preconceived plan?  Do you set goals at the beginning of the year, and then reevaluate periodically to make sure you reach them?  If you use the filing system, do you plan the whole year at once as to what you will cover each week, or just a few months at a time - and why do you do it that way? Do you write lesson plans?  If so, how did you learn to write them, what do they look like?  I am trying to ask how top-down do you go - starting at what my husband calls the 30,000 foot view from the plane, and then how low do you go, down to a lesson plan for each day/activity?

 

I am trying to maximize my few planning weeks this summer, to have a much more organized year.  I know these questions will be answered totally differently based on your particular approach to homeschooling, i.e. the unschoolers definitely are not asking the same questions as very structured schoolers.  I have gifted, Aspie, ADHD boys, and I think they might need a really structured, organized system to succeed.  This isn't really my style, teaching is not my background, and I am a gifted, Aspie, ADHD person myself!  So I think maybe lesson plans would help me know what I am trying to teach and keep me on track.  When I have to remind myself constantly why I was including this or that project or material, or can't remember what my goals were, don't know how to evaluate periodically if we are on track to reach a goal by the end of the year, I feel like I am floating at sea.  Any suggestions?

 

My kids are all older- college, and entering 10th & 8th grades in the fall. So my planning is geared more toward graduation and life after hmeschool, which for each of my girls includes college with a "Plan B"- a way to meet their goals without a degree should their choice or 'life' make that necessary.

 

First, I always start with my state's homeschool grauation requirements, which are minimal- but I want to make sure I meet them. Then I look into what their cosen career will require, and plan for that.  Our first-choice school for Diamond was Comunity College. SweetChild will either go to Cosmetology school or Community College. BabyBaby is the only one likely to choose/need/want something beyond an associate's degree, but unless there is a masive change in our finances OR the possibility of major scholarship money, she will still begin at Community.

 

Next I see which classes they will be taking at co-op. we're "off" the typical grade levels for Science, for example, Bio is offered every-other year, so they'll take it in 10th rather than 9th.

 

After co-op classes are settled, I fill in the rest. We're fairly eclectic- I always say I'm a RuthBeechick/UnSchooling Classical Educator- I use TWTM to roughly figure out what to cover each year, and Beechick/unschool methods to teach it.

 

Once I have my subjects for the year, I figure out which days are school days, and which subjects are on a monthly plan, and which are weekly/bi-weekly.

 

I never plan down to exact minutes or days. We always end up off-track and frustrated.

[Coco_Clark]

I ask "what subjects do I want to teach/ have time to teach?" Within that, "do I want this to be a daily subject (math, poetry, read aloud, bible), every-other day (science, history, spelling, writing) or weekly (art, music, nature study, geography, saints lives)."

 

Next I ask "What do I want to teach within that subject?" Some answers might be "2nd grade math, because that is next", others might be "anatomy because we are interested in that", still others will be "better handwriting because that is a weakness".

 

Next comes "what will I use to teach that?" This is where talent/time/interest (I design much of what we do), money, teaching/ learning style, and educational values (classical, unschooling) can really come into play.

 

After that it's a matter of dividing each curriculum or self designed lesson plan into however many weeks you have in a year. I split my curricula into 3 blocks of 10 weeks (and a few into 4 blocks because we go over the summer). My calendar gets planned, however, for 11 weeks, with the knowledge that I will want 5 days to "catch up" on anything that fell behind. I always do. I plan it all in vague terms over the summer and go into details every 5 or 6 weeks. Vague- Vikings. Details- this SOTW activity, that library book, ect.

[HS Mom in NC]

http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/topic/517577-planning-full-year-with-filing-system/

[Monica_in_Switzerland]

My kids are still young yet, but this is how I approached it for this coming year, which we are starting early due to the imminent arrival of a baby... 

 

- What WORKED this year?  And why did it work (compatible with my teaching style, compatible with child's learning style, compatible in terms of time commitment, etc. ?)

 

- What do I want to prioritize this coming year?  (both in terms of budget and time commitment)

 

- Do these goals match my long-term goals?  (these are things that I've already sketched out, though they are subject to adjustment from time to time)

 

- What materials and what sort of time commitments do we need to accomplish what I want for the year, and is this realistic? 

[Monica_in_Switzerland]

Once I've got my list of materials assembled (some are homemade, some are ready-made, some are a mix), then I read any introductions, how-to's, teacher's guides, etc to get a feel for how to best use the materials.  But I rarely plan beyond that.  I would be too frustrated to have to constantly change pre-made plans. 

 

I do regularly have a large-sized sticky note on the front of a book which might sketch out a plan for that particular material for the next two weeks or so- I do this with math, for example, so I don't forget to include things like extra word problem books, warm-ups to shore up a weakness, or reviews that are in the text and not the workbook.  But I never get further than about two weeks ahead. 

[Courtney_Ostaff]

What questions do you ask?  First do you ask "what do I want to teach next year" and then follow up with "why do I want to teach that particular subject"?  Then end with "how do I want to teach it" and choose curriculum to fit that?  Or do you grab a curriculum you like and teach from it, with no preconceived plan?  Do you set goals at the beginning of the year, and then reevaluate periodically to make sure you reach them?  If you use the filing system, do you plan the whole year at once as to what you will cover each week, or just a few months at a time - and why do you do it that way? Do you write lesson plans?  If so, how did you learn to write them, what do they look like?  I am trying to ask how top-down do you go - starting at what my husband calls the 30,000 foot view from the plane, and then how low do you go, down to a lesson plan for each day/activity?

 

I am trying to maximize my few planning weeks this summer, to have a much more organized year.  I know these questions will be answered totally differently based on your particular approach to homeschooling, i.e. the unschoolers definitely are not asking the same questions as very structured schoolers.  I have gifted, Aspie, ADHD boys, and I think they might need a really structured, organized system to succeed.  This isn't really my style, teaching is not my background, and I am a gifted, Aspie, ADHD person myself!  So I think maybe lesson plans would help me know what I am trying to teach and keep me on track.  When I have to remind myself constantly why I was including this or that project or material, or can't remember what my goals were, don't know how to evaluate periodically if we are on track to reach a goal by the end of the year, I feel like I am floating at sea.  Any suggestions?

 

I'm a little OCD, so I'll share what works for me.  First, I think of what I want to teach.  For me, I lurked on the thread for that grade, re-read relevant sections of WTM, reviewed the state's CSOs and meditated on it a bit until I decided what I wanted.  Then, I tried to choose the best curricula for that subject that I felt confident I could do. For example, I love BFSU, and I really wanted to do it, and did lots of research, but ultimately decided it wasn't practical with a newborn. So I went with Elemental Science Classical Grammar Stage Biology instead, because it's pretty much open-and-go, and that's what I need right now.  I don't think I need lesson plans, because I'm planning on just doing the next lesson, pretty much.  We'll go til we finish the book, and then we'll start the next book.

 

I thought I wanted to do a whole year's worth of planning, but I couldn't find any software I liked that I felt comfy with and didn't have an enormous learning curve.  So then I cogitated some more, and ended up with a daily checklist. I wanted to make sure I hit everything that I needed/wanted when I wanted it, and could keep some kind of record of what I did, without being too complicated.

 

Hope this helps!

Lesson 5.doc

g1 checklist.doc

[73349]

I plan each week far in advance--on a spreadsheet, not on paper, so it's not a big deal if I have to change things. First, I start with a calendar and put in the date of each Monday of the school year. We school year-round, and I under-plan so that in theory, I could easily catch up if needed. Every year, I decide which subjects and curricula, and how many times a week/which days for each.

 

I do not set separate yearly goals--they're implied in the materials I choose, I think--but I do write a quarterly narrative progress report. And I have a list of "big ideas" for each subject that relate to the overall impression and approach I'm going for. For next year, I've also generated a central question for each subject, which I intend to post and refer to with DS.

 

Each month, I ProClick together all the workbook/PDF stuff in order so I'm not digging for the right book at the right time. I can even bind things on the right for my left-handed DS.

 

We are a structure-hungry people :D and it works for us.

[Mrs Twain]

1.  I start with a list of content subjects and skills (see end of this post).

 

2.  I review the particular grade of the Core Knowledge K-8 Sequence (free download--http://www.coreknowledge.org/letter).  This gives me my minimum goals for each subject/skill set.

 

3,  I choose curriculum which will meet my goals in each subject.

 

4.  With each program, I figure out how many pages per day or week to do in order to complete it by the end of the school year.  I put bookmarks in each item. As long as we are consistent with our schedule, there is no need for weekly planners--Just do X pages per day or week, and it will get done.

 

 

List of Content/Core Subjects:

 

Math

English

Writing

Spelling

Reading/Literature

Literary Analysis

Vocabulary

Handwriting

Dictionary Practice/Editing Practice

Science

American History

World History

Geography

Civics/Government/Basic Economics

State info/history

Logic

Foreign Language

Memory Work

Art

Music

 

Skills List:

 

Public Speaking         

Leadership/Community Service

Test Prep/Test Taking Skills

Study Skills

Note-taking

Research Skills

Independent Project

Typing/Computer Skills

Library Skills

 

[Chelli]

I have found that planning and filing by subject saves my sanity every year. It also solves the problem of getting off track and messing up all of your hard work. I plan down to the day what we will do for the entire year.

 

You can see how in this blog post:

 

How I Plan Our Homeschool Subjects

 

As for what we will study, the skill subjects are pretty no-brainer. We just continue on to the next book or level. For our content subjects (science, history, geography, interest-led), I'm starting something new for the rest of our school year. It's basically a weekly rotation where I choose the topic for science (1 week study), history (1 week study), and geography (1 week study), and for the fourth week I let my dds choose what they want to learn for that week. I really don't plan the content weeks as in-depth as the skill subjects. More along the lines of we'll study the Greek empire this week and I then compile a list of resources to use for that study so I know what I want to purchase or use the library for. When we get to that week I can pull out my resource list and gather what I need. I might break down a spine book into so many pages a day or plan out a project of what needs to be completed each day, but I'm trying to be a little looser with the content subjects for the rest of the year.

[FO4UR]

I have a bird's-eye view for K-12.  (Kids need to be literate, and college ready.  Vague.)

 

 

I have a roof-top view for the next 3 years or so.  I look at k-2, 3-5, 6-8, 9-12 as cohesive chunks of time.  At this POV, I want to see specified goals.  By 2nd grade, we are reading well and doing copywork & narrations with ease.  By 5th grade, we can write up paragraphs like it's nobody's business.  By 8th grade, mechanics of writing are 2nd nature and our focus is on content.  By 12th grade, we are hopefully writing college-level papers.

 

 

I have a face-to-face view on the yearly level.  This is where I'm picking and writing curricula to meet my goals.  I consider my roof-top view when at this point, making sure this year takes us to the goals in place for this chunk of time.  This is the most fun part to plan, SHOPPING!!!   :driving:    But it's also the place where I get into the most trouble.  It's easy to lose yourself in the forest looking for the trees.  Is this curric a fit for the child?  Can I teach it?  Do I have the time?  Do I have the knowledge base?  Does it take us where we need to go?  Can I afford it through completion?  Does the series stop before I'd be ready for the next step?  

 

 

Once I have a year in place, THEN I break things up into terms.  I like to do 6 week terms.  I photocopy, gather supplies, and make sure I have every.single.paperclip.and.rubberband needed for EVERYTHING for the year.  I tuck it all away in a closet that NO ONE TOUCHES!!!!  

 

 

Then, I take a term and break it down into weeks and days.  I only do this a term at a time b/c things change.  I can't afford enough erasers to write out the entire year at the beginning.  :lol:   

 

 

Where the rubber meets the road...that's the weekly/daily grind.  I never detail those lessons out in a plan book.  ("Singapore, page 26." is detailed enough.)  I either teach off the cuff or purchase materials that spell it out for me, depending on the need at the time.  I shift things around the week all the time.  Life happens and Monday's history lesson gets done on Tuesday, etc...  On Friday, it's do or die.  Sometimes things get shifted.  Sometimes important things, like math, take longer than I thought.  Pencil!!!!  Erase, redo, carry on...and that's why I only write out 6 weeks at a time.

 

 

 

An aside, when we lose our daily rhythm, we lose everything.  There is much to be said for knowing that every school day we eat breakfast, do a chore, have morning time, do seatwork, play, eat lunch...  Vary what you do within the framework, but build a framework on which you build your days.  It's OK to knock it down when it stops working and build a new one....but don't try going without. 

 

 

 

 

 

[MerryAtHope]

I have a series of blog posts on this. I start with determining our priorities and passions for the next year. Then I think through what I want to teach and how much time I want to spend on it. Sometimes I need to determine that before I look at curriculum--that will make a difference in what I choose and how much work I may need to do to adapt something. I think through these questions as I work on creating a workable routine.

 

As far as specific planning goes--I don't write out lesson plans. I do come up with a rough daily plan, and a yearly plan.

 

For example, in math, once I know what I want to use, I see what it takes to finish it in a year. Can I do a lesson or test per day? Will I need to cut some lessons or double up some to finish it? Am I willing for it to take longer than a year?

 

Some subjects are "work at my child's pace" and I let time be my  "lesson plan." For example, when we were using All About Spelling, I spent 15-20 minutes on that subject and worked as long as we could. For reading, my kids would read for 30 minutes and see how far they got, and so on.

 

I come up with a "yearly" plan for things like reading, read-alouds, and history.

 

First I might do a rough plan--what books and how many do I want to do as read-alouds, readers, etc...? I choose those and put them in a rough order--sometimes I might have a few extras that we won't get to, but I'm pretty close.

Once I have the books, I go through and make a one-page list of books I want to use, listed in order of use with the approximate week I think we'll use them. I might have a history spine that drives some of the readers or biographies we'll use (often choosing from Sonlight or other literature-based curricula), and also mixing in other books depending on my interest in the, my child's interests and "bent" (my son and daughter will like many of the same books, but there will be some differences as well). At the bottom of my list, I also include some optional books that I can include if I have time. My list might be driven by dates if we're following history, or by subject--I might alternate a heavier book with something funny, or a harder read with an easier one, and so on.

 

Sometimes in my yearly plan, I put an asterisk by books I absolutely don't want to miss--that way if I end up having to cut something from my list, I won't cut one that's a top priority.

 

Making a yearly plan means I can pick up and go each day, but I don't have the stress of moving things from one day to the next if we don't get to something. I have a plan with flexibility.

 

If we have movies or activities or field trips I want to work in, again I line those up by week on my one-page history plan (or science plan etc...). I can easily see what's coming up in a couple of weeks if I need to get supplies--no last minute turning a page and "surprise! I need xyz tomorrow!" 

 

If there are lists of supplies, make those and put them in order of use so I can pull them a week or two ahead. These will go in my teacher binder (which has some examples of yearly plans etc...), according to subject. Each subject has a yearly plan on top, a grade record sheet if needed (my kids are highschool, so we do need it now), and any teacher guide or suppply list behind that. Sticky tabs work great for marking sections behind a subject tab.

 

Any larger teaching guides will go in my teacher box, along with any handouts I've made for the year.

 

I don't do a daily file system, as I find daily plans too constricting for what I do. Instead I file by subject, and pull out the next sheet to do each time we need it. (In fact, my kids learned the system early on, and often asked to just get the next sheet themselves!)  I don't have worksheets in every subject--last year I had them for Essentials in Writing (they have workbooks you can use instead too though--I had the printable version), and biology (for answering "on your own" questions in the book, lab reports & study guides--so they were stapled into packets rather than a page per day), and also for our foreign language studies (again, stapled into packets). 

 

If a program is new to us, I don't print out worksheets for a year. I print out the first month or first quarter at most, see how it goes, and print more later (or not, if we end up dumping something). But if we've done it before and I'm reasonably sure will continue to like it, I'll print out a year's worth and stick it in my teacher box. 

 

HTH some! Merry :-)

[Mandy in TN]

1. First, I try to keep in mind our educational lifestyle: my homeschool and childrearing philosophy and how our day pans out in reality-land. This encompasses how I view and raise my children with traditional education goals being a sliver of that whole.

 

This isn't as easy as it sounds. There is always the temptation to do one more thing, to include one more thing, because... <squirrel> isn't that something really important that we just must find time to do. I have my philosophy written out, and I try to remember to read it and keep it in mind.

 

2. I try to keep in mind how I teach.

 

I have gotten pretty good at this one. I just don't do well with products that have different components for different weeks. I am not going to remember to have some odd item on hand, or, if I happen to have it on hand I either forget to have it available. If it isn't mentioned right there in the student material, I forget to do it because 9 times out of ten I also don't do well with things that require a whole separate teacher guide/ instruction book thingy. I just stay away from this stuff. This many years in I just know better.

 

3. I try to keep in mind how my child learns. What aids in retention- videos, textbooks, workbooks, living books, projects, lapbooks/ notebooks? How much instruction, guidance, discussion is helpful and when is it too much? What, what kind, how much output is developmentally appropriate?

 

This can be tricky, because the little critters grow and their needs change. I try to keep up, but sometimes this one is just a crap shoot and things will need to be modified as I go.

 

4. With math and LA, I just try to keep moving- hopefully in a positive direction but sometimes there is running in place or two steps forward one step back. Anyway, I attempt to hold 1-3 in my brain and choose materials that meet my child's skill level and move him forward from there.

 

This sounds so easy, but amazingly there have been times that I have totally flubbed this one or had a child make some cognitive leap that rendered my pretty materials useless.

 

5. With science and social studies (history, geography, civics, and other social sciences), in lower elementary school I feel like it is good to do something, but I don't feel like there needs to be some master plan of topics. In the middle grades, I have a similar feeling, but I do think there should be a general ramping up of output especially in grades 7 and 8. In high school, I took and will take the approach of looking at what colleges expect to see. If my child is meeting high school graduation requirements and keeping the door to college open, I pretty much let him choose what he wants to do. I am basically fine with whatever topics are being studied, but I have enjoyed the social studies sequence I have used with my youngest and would likely use it again if I had another. So, I try to keep 1-3 in mind and then purchase materials for whatever we decide we want to do.

 

The problem with content subjects is going overboard. There are lots of shiny, flashy, tempting products with lots of shiny, flashy, tempting components. At my house, these things often just don't get done. Even worse, is when at some point you realize that a content subject has sucked up so much of the day that there is no time for the mastery subjects.

 

6. There are a number of things, subjects/ topics that I include because I want to or because my child wants to. I almost always include poetry, art history, and composer studies. Then, occasionally I get a bee in my bonnet to do some Waldorf-y type unit study on geometry or grab a bunch a bunch of stuff on/ by Rachel Carson, or pull together a Montessori botany study, or spend some time creating a lapbook on ancient Persia. Right now, we are doing the Montessori Great Lessons as a summer study. Doodle has things he does like orchestra, violin, mandolin, and German group, and tangents he explores like economics or astronomy.

 

The trick here is allowing enough time for these things after the four core subjects.

 

7. I like having a certain level of organization in place because frankly I like to plan. This way when I choose to skip or rearrange, I know what we are missing. It sounds crazy, but it makes sense in my mind.

 

For me, the form this organization takes doesn't matter much. Last year, we did and this next year we will use file folders as a means of organizing some stuff. For many years, I created spreadsheets scheduled to the day in every subject. Some years, I put together detailed weekly or daily lists.

 

Since some sort of organization is part of my #1 but the form doesn't really effect me #2, how I pull this off really is only impacted by #3.

 

Finding the right organization for the child is where I have totally been off target more often that hitting the bullseye. Some years I have had children who were derpy and would loose track of what they had completed and needed to do. They needed to have their work broken down into daily bits written out as a list so that they or I could check off things when they were completed. Some years I had children who liked have a grid with numbered columns and rows by book or subject so they could choose to do everything in column 1 or they could choose to do everything in row 1, but they needed to see the big picture week at a glance.

 

More, but not much more, than a few years, I have gotten this right. Some years, it has been plain ugly. Some years I have created brilliant worksheets that went in the trash. Some years the big picture schedule only happened because I spent the year dragging a boulder through mud... with a chain that was wrapped around my neck. Sometimes homeschooling isn't pretty.

 

Fortunately, my only son left at home likes his folders. I have figured out that right now he doesn't want to be bothered to read a list or check a spreadsheet and he doesn't want me telling him what to do when, so the basics for the week are in the folder. He decides what he does when. He can do all his geography on day one and all his reading comprehension on day two. The less input I offer, the better it goes. He actually requested folders again for next year.

 

That's pretty much it- philosophy, teaching preference and learning needs, mastery subjects, survey subjects, other stuff, and organization.

 

HTH-

Mandy