Packaged vs. doing your own got me thinking - When, how and how much time do you plan

[Frontier Mom]

Specifically I am speaking of those who indicated they "tweak" curriculum all the time to meet each child and family's needs. Do you change it over the summer, during the year, as you plan each week's work, or something else?

 

Also, I would like to know how much time you spend making it work for you. I usually spend several hours each weekend looking at the week ahead and could easily spend more. I am interested in hearing feedback and by certain curriculum and/or subject would be helpful. For instance, math doesn't take me much time to "tweak", but history takes me more.

[Laura Corin]

Specifically I am speaking of those who indicated they "tweak" curriculum all the time to meet each child and family's needs. Do you change it over the summer, during the year, as you plan each week's work, or something else?

 

Also, I would like to know how much time you spend making it work for you. I usually spend several hours each weekend looking at the week ahead and could easily spend more. I am interested in hearing feedback and by certain curriculum and/or subject would be helpful. For instance, math doesn't take me much time to "tweak", but history takes me more.

 

I research books over the year (look at catalogues, etc.) then spreadsheet the year in one go. It takes me a few days. We just follow the spreadsheet through the year. Here's one, so you can have an idea:

 

SOTW2 with Our Island Story, etc.

 

With our other curricula, we mostly just do the next thing. On Sundays I just look ahead to see if there are any science supplies I need to gather, and also write out lists of English and maths for the boys to work through independently.

 

Best wishes

 

Laura

[prairiegirl]

I tweak things as each week goes by. I spend a few hours each weekend, going through my resources, deciding what I want to use for each lesson. I don't change every subject. History and science are usually the subjects that I go by the book. Math and, most recently, phonics are the subjects that I change radically.

 

I always take time on the weekend to gather what I want to use for copywork and dicatation so I don't get sidetracked with this during school time.

 

 

Julia

mom of 3 (8,7,5)

[Alana in Canada]

Well, I'm not exactly sure what you mean by "tweaking."

 

Like Laura, as we appraoch starting a new volume of SoTW I will make a spreadsheet correlating all the readings I have on hand...including chapters from on-line books like the "Famous Men of..." series.

 

But I sit down every so often and go through the AG to request books from the library on an up-coming chapter, and I look over the activities at the start of a week to see if there are any we want to do.

 

Same with SWR--our spelling program. I plan that every week--

 

Math--if I have to "tweak" then it's day by day. My daughter was really struggling with triple digit subtraction, so I went off on a mad flurry of finding things to help her and just put the singapore materials aside until we were ready to move on.

 

Same for copywork. I do that every evening as well. I've just recently been experimenting with different cursive fonts for my son to use. Today, instead of tracing, I had them write one line below. Oops. Not ready for that yet, so it's back to tracing over the dotted lines.

 

I have been trying to plan using Classical Writing and correlate it to my grammar program--I want to make sure I reenforce what's in our grammar text as my son is struggling a bit. But that'll get planned on the fly most likely--just like the copywork.

 

Is this what you meant?

[BizyPenguin]

I like to pick my own curriculum instead of using something packaged, but I'm not into tweaking at all. I choose things that aren't teacher intensive and that are more of a "do the next thing" approach. I admire those of you who have the time and patience to do so much planning, but it burns me out and leaves very little time for chores and my own creative pursuits. I also have a toddler at foot, so simple is best for me.

[8filltheheart]

I don't really "tweak" since I don't purchase boxed curricula. But I do spend the summer planning choices for individual children. Then I spend a weekend about every 6 weeks writing out detailed daily plans for each child (3rd grade up) for the next 6 week block.

[Closeacademy]

I adapt curriculum that I like to meet the needs of my children. Around this time of the year, I look at curriculum and resources and decided what I want to do. I buy the materials I want to have on hand (free, used, new when time for looking is done.) Then I take a few weeks and start to sketch out the year with these resources in mind and build units.

 

Each month I update the unit that is coming up next to make sure that it will work for us and where we are at. This is when I make my photocopies, gather my worksheets and make sure all my notes and resources are together.

 

Resources include texts, books, manipulatives, etc.

 

Math:

 

Singapore is our base and I schedule it in monthly units that is really do the next thing but I do try to do subjects like geometry and measurement together. To this I add Rhythmic drillwork (bascially rolling/tossing a ball back and forth while counting or doing tables outloud) and we take some time to explore math hands-on each day like in a science lab or I tell math stories.

 

Language Arts:

 

I use SWR as my base but with K and 2nd we just use the phonograms and spelling rules. For K she justs listens in. For 1st I introduce the letter and sound and read a fairy tale that has that sound in it. For 2nd we use Aesop's Fables.

 

For composition, I read the book Composition in the Classical Tradition by D'Angelo and took lots of notes to develop my own curriculum that meet the needs of my children.

 

For Grammar, we will be using Ruth Heller's books next year as a base to making a personalized grammar guide. But I will sneak KISS grammar worksheets into their review books.

 

For History:

 

We have used SOTW and TOG and did a lot of different things with them. For example one semester we only did Greek history from SOTW and filled in with Greek Myths and learned the Greek alphabet but we did history every other week. It went very well.

 

Currently, we are following rabbit trails and reading the American Girl books and other books about the period that these girls lived in. Mostly we are reading D'Aulaire biographies and Holling Geography books.

 

For Science:

 

We follow My Pals are Here Science books and I add in kits and non-fiction books as needed when we don't have a science curriculum.

 

For art/handcrafts:

 

We find books that are truly a pleasure to view and inspire us to create. This is where we are most inspired by Waldorf.

 

Reviewbooks:

 

These binders are filled with math, language arts, mazes, search a word, puzzles, coloring pages, etc. I tear up old workbooks, print off free worksheets and subscribe to Dover Samplers for things to use. I put all of my resources into file folders by type--Math has number values, dot to dots, large numbers/place value, addition, subtraction, mixed problems, etc. Language arts includes phonics w/o writing, phonics w/writing, penmanship, nouns, search a word, decode a word, mazes, coloring pages, etc.

 

Each week I go through my dc books and put in new pages that are mostly too easy (stuff we have already done), a few on things we are currently doing, and on or two that stretch their limits. I mix it up and add in lots of fun stuff.

 

I honestly just hand these books to my kids and they do reams of worksheets on their own and have fun doing them. (These are kids who would be in tears doing most of these worksheets during school time as seatwork.) Telling them do whatever you want with these seems to trigger it as something fun to do. My writing reluctant child is even doing cursive and loves spelling now.:)

 

I've probably given you too much information but I do tweak and rewrite a lot.

[Linda in NM]

I plan at hockey and baseball camps...so I get weeks during the spring/summer in which I can either (a) watch goalies moving around the ice until stupefied, or (b) play with curriculum. I love Simply Charlotte Mason's planner; we'll also be using the highschool planning forms from Clonlara this year. I'm pretty well decided on "courses" for 9th grade; now it's the fun stuff...planning out and reviewing the content of the curriculum.

[Canada_Mom]

I put together my own curriculum so I usually have to spend about 1-2 hours each weekend preparing for the week ahead. Sometimes, it's selecting our copywork, or topics to write about for creative writing. Others, I have to type up science quizzes or gather reading/art activities for History. I find that it's a lot of work for me, but I enjoy this kind of work... much better than laundry or dishes! :rolleyes:

[Frontier Mom]

As I am going to use TOG next fall, I want to start planning now. Also, I find for some unfortunate reason, my dc's don't learn the same!! (ha-ha). I find myself working up plans each weekend for the next week, just to make it more interesting, helpful, etc. Also, with my oldest doing Omnibus, I am reading the books I never read at his age.

 

Looks like I am on track. Maybe I can have a planning event for TOG with a spreadsheet type approach that will help me for next year. I'm hoping this will actually streamline our education in that all will be in the same time period.

[susie in tx]

Maybe I can have a planning event for TOG with a spreadsheet type approach that will help me for next year. I'm hoping this will actually streamline our education in that all will be in the same time period.

 

When I was using SL, I planned about 6 weeks in advance. It took me several hours on the weekend. I would spread all of the books I planned to use around me and pick and choose. Once I chose, I would create a spreadsheet. Then, each week, I would use another 1-2 hours to review what we had done and make minor adjustments. Sometimes, it wouldn't take as long. Other times, it took a bit longer.

 

With TOG, I am planning a little differently. I am looking ahead 2 - 3 weeks and ordering books from the library I don't have. Then, each week, I am making a plan for that week. It's taking about an hour or two. I do plan to start my 6 week planning again. I think that will just about eliminate my weekly planning. TOG seems much easier than combing Cores for SL.

[cin]

I don't have it in me to create my own. The most that I do is get library books out of our library that correlate to our current science and history topics. I spend about 2 hours every weekend reviewing the previous weeks work and writing out what we are doing the next week. I look ahead in science and history to order library books. I do NOT follow my own plans. I need something written in stone, so to speak. Math--do the next page. Science, do the next chapter. Otherwise, it doesn't get done. I barely get our daily oral reading done.

[Karen in CO]

The curriculum isn't working for me if I have to spend too much time tweaking. For a typical packaged program like a SL or even a year plan from AO, I will spend several hours before I start using it to get familiar with it. Once I start teaching, I will try for two to three weeks to use it as planned - that is what I paid for after all. After I use it a few weeks, I will sit down with it again for several hours and evaluate what isn't and isn't working about it and then begin to make changes. If I have to spend more than an hour a week tweaking a program after this, then it isn't working. Simple. that time doesn't inlcude time to pre-read the books which I do for any program.

 

And hour a week of tweaking is more time than I would allocate to a program that I had created myself. For self-created courses, I will spend several hours during the spring or summer researching what I want to teach, then several hours gathering and comparing material, then several hours writing up the plan.

 

As for what I tweak about packaged plans - pacing of material, connections between resources, maps, worksheets, writing prompts, discussion questions, vocabulary, and evaluations. Most often I find that the resources are not as in-depth as I would like or that part of the program seem disconnected to me. Discussion questions and writing prompts are usually too basic don't require enough thought, analysis, and synthesis from the student.

 

hth

[Jenny in Florida]

I use some texts, but no packaged "curriculum." What I do is make sure I have everything on hand by the beginning of the summer, and I use the time when my kids are in summer camps and classes to do most of the planning. Rather than driving home, I stake out a table at the bookstore cafe, treat myself to a good coffee and make all my notes, lists, charts, etc. When I get home that night, I type it all up.

 

I usually do one subject at a time, starting with the spine and layering on the extra resources until it all fits together.

 

I plan the whole year, although I usually print only a quarter or a semester at a time, since I do have to make occasional adjustments.

 

I'd say the whole process takes me a week or two, but then I don't have to think much about it for the rest of the year.

 

--Jenny