prairiewindmomma Posted June 11, 2015 Share Posted June 11, 2015 I've learned that if I don't print off every worksheet and order all of my supplies in advance of the school year, I am doomed. I just can't do stuff week-to-week or even month-to-month. Anyone else in the same boat? 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Butter Posted June 11, 2015 Share Posted June 11, 2015 Yes. Everything is printed, in binders, and labeled for next school year. Lesson plans are done. It just works best for me to do it that way. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
regentrude Posted June 11, 2015 Share Posted June 11, 2015 I get all my books in advance. Beyond that, I don't prep, and I don't use work sheets or make lesson plans. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mamaraby Posted June 11, 2015 Share Posted June 11, 2015 Ditto what Butter said. It's all planned out in One Note, photocopied, printed, filed, bindered, etc. I can handle buying incidental supplies on a weekly basis, but I need the rest of it planned out in advance. I like me better when I've got all that work in on the front end. I also do better on the self-care front when it's planned out in advance. 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EKT Posted June 11, 2015 Share Posted June 11, 2015 I think I am going to try doing things this way (the super-prepped way) for the coming year. (My oldest is going into 3rd grade.) I have been more casual thus far in our homeschooling (mostly planning weekly), thinking that doing so would allow me lots of flexibility, but in reality, I just haven't gotten as much done as I hoped. (Especially for things like art projects that require gathering of specific materials.) So, I'm going to take most of June to do all my planning, prepping, and printing and see if things go better. (I suspect they will!) 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AmyontheFarm Posted June 11, 2015 Share Posted June 11, 2015 Everything is bought ahead of time, right now I'm writing out daily schedules in Homeschool Skedtrack. Hopefully, by the end of June, everything will be on the right shelves, science equipment and supplies will either be bought and bagged by experiment # or a list of items I must by fresh is duct taped to the calendar. I over plan so I can be lazy the rest of the year. :) 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G5052 Posted June 11, 2015 Share Posted June 11, 2015 I've always started planning and buying in January for the next year. A mentor encouraged me to do that 15 years ago, and I've never done it differently. Then over the summer I go back through and finalize. Last week I decided to do something different for chemistry, so that came Tuesday. I need to go through it now and get it organized because of all of the supplies. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
73349 Posted June 11, 2015 Share Posted June 11, 2015 Yes, it's bought and scheduled. I Proclick things together about a month at a time a couple of months in advance. If I wait until the weekend before or something, I wind up not keeping up with it well at all. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
8filltheheart Posted June 11, 2015 Share Posted June 11, 2015 I don't use worksheets or canned activities, so no to those. I create our general themes and go through and select our main books and create our main sequence. Beyond that, I plan about 6 weeks at a time. That allows for altering pace, exploring new paths, adding in extra materials, etc. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sbgrace Posted June 11, 2015 Share Posted June 11, 2015 Yes. I learned that if something is going to get done regularly here, it has to be open and go for me. So I create open and go curriculum out of anything that isn't that way "out of the box" by planning and preparing the whole course/year/etc, at once. 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HS Mom in NC Posted June 11, 2015 Share Posted June 11, 2015 Yes. I'm a big advocate of the 36 week hanging file folder system. I'm in the process of planning right now. I hate losing my evenings and weekends to school prep. I'd rather do that in the summer when there's no school going on. 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PamJBA Posted June 11, 2015 Share Posted June 11, 2015 I have everything ready and scheduled for the first semester. This is our first year homeschooling, so I want some roomm to adust a bit after Christmas. My preference would have been preparing for the entire year, though. I haven't purchased all the extra supplies because we are moving over the summer, but I did as much as I could. The first week is already in a binder ready to go at the beginning of August. Everything is together in a plastic tub ready for the move. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zoo Keeper Posted June 11, 2015 Share Posted June 11, 2015 I plan out the "big picture" for content subjects (history, science, etc.) for the whole year, then plug it in to the schedule a few weeks at a time throughout the year. This allows for life to happen and not mess up the lovely plans I've made. I also print/copy any maps, worksheets, etc. and have them ready to go in the order I'll need them. Skill subjects (math, phonics, etc.) I can't schedule out too far in advance. No way I can predict how my child's brain will work all year... :biggrinjester: 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coco_Clark Posted June 11, 2015 Share Posted June 11, 2015 I don't use worksheets either, but I do plan an entire year in advance. This was my third year doing so. For me its a giant spreadsheet with weeks going down the page and subjects across, with books (chapters for longer books), activities, ect all added in. Each week I look two weeks ahead and put those books on my library list or anything special I need for a project on my errands list. I start my planning in January and try to have it finished and printed out by May so I can have a true summer break. 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
imagine.more Posted June 11, 2015 Share Posted June 11, 2015 I plan out the "big picture" for content subjects (history, science, etc.) for the whole year, then plug it in to the schedule a few weeks at a time throughout the year. This allows for life to happen and not mess up the lovely plans I've made. I also print/copy any maps, worksheets, etc. and have them ready to go in the order I'll need them. Skill subjects (math, phonics, etc.) I can't schedule out too far in advance. No way I can predict how my child's brain will work all year... :biggrinjester: This is kind of what I'm trying to implement this year. I want a whole year planned in advance because clearly planning week by week failed me this past year, lol! But, i need to take into account interruptions and my advanced learner and my struggling learner like to throw me for loops regularly so I can never predict how their brains will work more than a week at a time. I think I'm going to do the Donna Young Subject Planner for each subject this summer, have it all planned out into daily lessons and then cross them off and quickly plug the next few lessons into the next week's schedule over the weekend. That way if we need to take a week off or a day is a bust I don't have to ruin my whole planner or my own mood by re-writing everything or dealing with crazy white-out all over the page. I *think* that should work even for the skill-based subjects like math and phonics. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SparrowsNest Posted June 12, 2015 Share Posted June 12, 2015 This is only my 3rd year, but I have the year planned out in the Big Picture sense, basically that we'll use CLE LA or Mosdos Reading or whatever, but come Monday morning, we just open the books and do the next thing. I write down what we complete each day so I have a completed, retrospective plan. My brain just doesn't work in such a way that I could plan in detail very far ahead. Wish it did, though! I'm envious of you all who have the whole year at your fingertips! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Butter Posted June 12, 2015 Share Posted June 12, 2015 Skill subjects (math, phonics, etc.) I can't schedule out too far in advance. No way I can predict how my child's brain will work all year... :biggrinjester: Well, yeah. I do put "Math" or "OPG" in my lesson plans since they go at their own pace on those. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Garga Posted June 12, 2015 Share Posted June 12, 2015 Hmmm. I plan which chapters we'll do each day and I know what activities we'll do, but I haven't preprinted for a whole year. I never considered printing out the entire year before. Hmmm. Feeling inspired. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
happypamama Posted June 12, 2015 Share Posted June 12, 2015 Kind of? I have all the books and materials (with the exception being a few independent novels or readalouds -- I may end up buying them, or I may get them from the library) purchased ahead of time. I get everything to "do the next thing" one way or the other. Math comes that way. Other stuff needs more effort. I don't use many worksheets or workbooks, but History Odyssey has some. I print out all the maps and sheets ahead of time, the notebook pages I want the children to use for picture and composer study, pages with half writing spaces and half blank spaces for drawing for my early learners if they want, cut and paste activities for my preschooler, some science lab sheets, etc., etc. ahead of the year beginning. This year, they are all ProClicked into nice little booklets. Do I know what I'm doing on any specific day? Nope. I can't tell you if we'll be doing a specific math lesson on March 14 or March 15. That'll depend on where we get to by then. Maybe we'll love a book so much that we'll read it quickly, or maybe Life Will Happen, and history won't happen for a few days, or maybe we'll hit a few easy Latin lessons and fly through them, or maybe I'll have DD skip an essay because she's already had a lot of writing across the curriculum that week, or any one of a number of other things. So I have a rough idea of where we'll be when, but specifics for each week? I can't do that at the beginning. I don't have specific lesson plans. I have a list of subjects we should attend to each day, but if one or more of them don't happen, they happen a different day (or they get skipped if they're not important). I do try to look at what's coming up in the next few lessons each week, so I can decide if a particular day is a good one to do a larger project or lab, or if, ugh, we have so much on our plate that week that we'd better focus on independent work or the very basics. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
foxbridgeacademy Posted June 12, 2015 Share Posted June 12, 2015 No, but I'm considering it. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SeaConquest Posted June 12, 2015 Share Posted June 12, 2015 I have an Excel spreadsheet where I have the weeks and subjects laid out over the course of the school year. I don't plan daily, but I do try to have an idea of where we should be on a weekly basis -- mostly to keep me accountable. It's not a rigid schedule, but it helps me to visualize, request library books, plan documentaries and field trips, etc. I leave enough time in the yearly schedule to account for illness, unexpected stuff, and rabbit trails. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SilverMoon Posted June 12, 2015 Share Posted June 12, 2015 (edited) . Edited May 23, 2023 by SilverMoon 9 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HS Mom in NC Posted June 12, 2015 Share Posted June 12, 2015 To clarify, I don't do this with math. That's one subject where kids can vary from concept to concept and year to year how quickly they master skills. Depending on how your grammar program works and how your kids take to grammar, you may not want to plan it out either. Generally speaking, planning it all out can be good for content subjects, skills subjects your child has taken to, you know your curriculum works well for you and your kid, there's a way to break it up by section or lessons, and you know you want to be done with it by the end of the year. Other individual factors can come into play of course, but when addressing a big diverse group you sort of have to stick with generalities. I over plan and I know it. I consider it the price of admission to know I won't get everything done and that's OK. I have a strong sense of what exactly my priorities are, so I feel not even the slightest twinge of negative emotion about letting the less important planned things go. I have a file for things I didn't get to that I either fold into the next history rotation or some other future use or I make it available to other homeschoolers who are interested in giving it a try.The file folder system (or some other system for planning and preparing a whole week) is particularly useful in teaching some independent studies or juggling kids of various abilities and ages. With an entire week's worth of work right there in a neat folder/binder/workbox, the other kids can be kept occupied while mom or dad works one on one with whoever needs it. Having helped take care of elder dependents, it's really handy to tell the kids to grab their file folders and get in the van because mom is needed by Grandad or Greatgrandmother for a few hours right away. My kids have vanschooled and hospiceschooled and such here and there along the way so we never fell behind or we fell behind much less than if we didn't have it ready to go. Those were times when I desperately needed to not be planning and prepping on evenings or weekends. Granted, with all its benefits, it isn't for everyone. There are plenty of people thriving without it. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PamJBA Posted June 12, 2015 Share Posted June 12, 2015 I had to schedule it out (even math) to be certain we get through the curriculum. The weeks DD is with her dad (my mother will provide childcare while he works) I want to only send minimal school work. I needed to be certain we could still get through things with that plan. For example, I was able see that 3 math lessons a week will allow us to spread a lesson over 2 days when needed and still yet through 1/2 the program by Christmas break. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StartingOver Posted June 12, 2015 Share Posted June 12, 2015 I am research, adding to my carts as soon as I push the purchase buttons. I may have everything organized about 6 months ahead. I am late this year, but life got in the way. Just finished last week. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nobeatenpath Posted June 12, 2015 Share Posted June 12, 2015 I have the rest of the 'school year' planned out (for us, through to mid-December) and am starting on next year. I put everything in Homeschool Planet, so if we have to slow down, skip stuff or change our holidays it is doable. Because of our postage situation I can't really order in books through the mail so I am having to think very carefully about resources and try and find ebooks etc., and plan well in advance if there are hardcopy books I need to go in to the city to find a shop who can order them in (or ask our friend with an AFPO box if they could please accept a parcel for us). The main hold-up with year ahead planning for us is not knowing what my husband is going to do leave/holidays wise - he is just not in a position to tell me when he is going to be able to take time off work at this stage, and it makes it hard for me to plan when we have breaks. Previously I was a bit 'keep it loose, schedule as we go along' for the day to day stuff, and our life was in flux so that kind of made sense. But it is much easier for me to have it all written down on the planner - subject, topic, what resources, what books, etc. - because I can just put in a period of concentrated effort organising it and spend less time day by day sorting out what we are doing. Also my son is the type of kid who wants a list, wants to me to be able to tell him 'today we are doing x,y,z' and doesn't cope so well with something less definite. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AdventuresinHomeschooling Posted June 12, 2015 Share Posted June 12, 2015 I plan out the big picture for the whole year. Then I plan in six week chunks by subject so I have flexibility throughout the year. Then I record what we do in my weekly planner. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
quietchapel Posted June 12, 2015 Share Posted June 12, 2015 Yes, down to page number. I've learned I have to do this to school successfully. I don't a assign page numbers for math or beginning reading. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mom22ns Posted June 12, 2015 Share Posted June 12, 2015 I do detailed prep for fall semester in the summer. Then I gradually prep spring semester when opportunities arise during the fall and finish it up over Christmas break. I started off prepping a week at a time. It had good points, but I do much better with having everything done and ready. It keeps me on track! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LatteMama Posted June 12, 2015 Share Posted June 12, 2015 I over plan so I can be lazy the rest of the year. :) Exactly! I have a daily planner that lists everything we need to do that day. I like having all that information in one place so I can easily see what we are going to do. And there is no thought involved! All I have to do is follow the plan and everything will get done. I admit, it does take some time to get that all planned out. But once it is done I don't have to think about anything!! I have all of our books collected on one shelf. I have science supplies in a box and the planner tells me if I need anything perishable for demonstrations that week. Art supplies are already assembled and ready for us. I have a document telling me what library books I need and on what day so I can easily request them ahead of time. I even have some lapbooks planned for the next year and I added into the planner what components need to be done on what day. My daily planner is just a word document that I created that lists subjects in order they should be done that day and what needs to be done for each one. Each day gets it own page and I check off things as we complete them. But my daily planner has no dates so we can easily take off a day if something unexpected comes up. It is such a relief to have everything printed, assembled, organized and planned! :hurray: 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marisolstice Posted June 12, 2015 Share Posted June 12, 2015 Yep! I am not big picture person at all, so I really need the whole year planned; otherwise, I don't know where we are headed, can't remember why I picked that certain book, etc. I like to reassess every 12 weeks, and half-way through the year--that's when I change things if we need to. All our handwriting, math, and phonics/reading aloud are just paced at whatever works well for the kid for that day (but I have a general idea of how to break up the lessons into manageable chunks. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ausmumof3 Posted June 12, 2015 Share Posted June 12, 2015 No... Only time I had the year planned out was with Sonlight. I knew what topics we wanted to get to with science and history but even those got set aside for some interest based stuff. Part of it is that we use the library for a lot so work around what's available. Partly I just don't have the attention span to plan on that scale and follow through. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MotherGoose Posted June 12, 2015 Share Posted June 12, 2015 I'm trying to do the whole year with Scholaric. I'm putting in all the math, CLE, and other things. With Scholaric, if we get behind or the math takes us longer than I thought I can just bump the subject ahead. We will see how it goes. I did the 36 week file folder thing last year which did well except when I changed things mid stream and had to go through all the papers and rearrange. I'm trying to get all the papers organized too but putting them in binders, not folders. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HS Mom in NC Posted June 12, 2015 Share Posted June 12, 2015 When I plan, I use SOTW and the activity books. I look up all the recommended reading in the activity book on my local library's online catalog. I list the books they have and the call numbers and which branch has them according to which week I'll need them. That's all done by the first day of school. I check out 3 weeks worth of them (the ones that are available that is) at a time. I can renew online for 3 more weeks and return them to any branch regardless of which branch I checked them out of. One is a 6 minute drive down the street and another is across the street from my daughter's Tae Kwon Do school where she takes classes 3 days a week. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chelli Posted June 12, 2015 Share Posted June 12, 2015 I plan EVERYTHING! It took me a while to find a system that worked, but now I can plan all subjects down to the page number and not need to worry if we need to speed up or slow down because the way I plan (by subject) isn't dated and only gets crossed off once it's completed. If we need to dwell on one topic it just stays as the current lesson until we finish. Here's my blog post about it: http://www.theplantedtrees.com/2013/08/how-i-plan-our-homeschool-subjects-part.html 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Farrar Posted June 12, 2015 Share Posted June 12, 2015 No way. I would feel trapped and stressed trying to be at a certain point. I would miss the flexibility of homeschooling and the rabbit trails time. I would stress if we slowed down in math, which we inevitably would at some point. But the beauty of homeschooling is that if it works for you, you can do it that way. And should too. 8 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SparklyUnicorn Posted June 12, 2015 Share Posted June 12, 2015 I just get books. That far ahead is just too stressful. I'm not always sure how long stuff will take. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beckster Posted June 13, 2015 Share Posted June 13, 2015 I also use the 36 file folder system. During the summer, I try to get as many lit books pre-read as I can. I go through each curriculum and divide it into 33 or 34 weeks to leave some wiggle room for the year. All tests get printed and filed into the right week. Once week one starts, we can hit the ground running! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CatholicMom Posted June 13, 2015 Share Posted June 13, 2015 I'm considering planning my entire year ahead. I've never done that. I've only created a general schedule (1 chapter of this per day, 2 sections of that...). But actually going through every single lesson and "planning" it out for an entire year, I have never done (and sounds incredibly daunting). But as much as I want to be a "plan a month at a time" person, it isn't happening. I end up just doing the next thing and always missing the activities I would have thrown in if I had seen stuff coming. What do you use to plan that far ahead? I'm thinking about ordering one of the popular paper planners. BUT I foresee a TON of erasing if i realize my plan for one subject is all wrong (say we are moving too slow or too fast through it and I need to adjust). Ugh. Not sure what the magic answer is for me. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TracyP Posted June 13, 2015 Share Posted June 13, 2015 I plan EVERYTHING! It took me a while to find a system that worked, but now I can plan all subjects down to the page number and not need to worry if we need to speed up or slow down because the way I plan (by subject) isn't dated and only gets crossed off once it's completed. If we need to dwell on one topic it just stays as the current lesson until we finish. Here's my blog post about it: http://www.theplantedtrees.com/2013/08/how-i-plan-our-homeschool-subjects-part.html THIS. This is exactly what I have done the last couple years. It allows me to get the planning done during the summer, but doesn't leave me tied down to a schedule. On Sunday evenings I put the lessons from the subject planner into a daily planner for the following week. It is incredibly easy to adjust as needed. CatholicMom, I recommend reading Chelli's link to her blog if you haven't. I use word docs, but otherwise do the same thing she does. I think it will answer your questions. And yes, it is a bit daunting and time consuming, but it is so worth it, for me. :) 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
happypamama Posted June 13, 2015 Share Posted June 13, 2015 I'm considering planning my entire year ahead. I've never done that. I've only created a general schedule (1 chapter of this per day, 2 sections of that...). But actually going through every single lesson and "planning" it out for an entire year, I have never done (and sounds incredibly daunting). But as much as I want to be a "plan a month at a time" person, it isn't happening. I end up just doing the next thing and always missing the activities I would have thrown in if I had seen stuff coming. What do you use to plan that far ahead? I'm thinking about ordering one of the popular paper planners. BUT I foresee a TON of erasing if i realize my plan for one subject is all wrong (say we are moving too slow or too fast through it and I need to adjust). Ugh. Not sure what the magic answer is for me. I use OneNote which makes it easy to change. One subject at a time. For my son's math, which is Singapore, I did go through the entire set of books to mark the pages that I thought would make a good day's worth of work. I noted which lessons looked like they might take longer than one day, but as a PP said, if we need to slow down for a bit, we will just keep that lesson on the plan for more than one day. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
73349 Posted June 13, 2015 Share Posted June 13, 2015 What do you use to plan that far ahead? I'm thinking about ordering one of the popular paper planners. BUT I foresee a TON of erasing if i realize my plan for one subject is all wrong (say we are moving too slow or too fast through it and I need to adjust). Ugh. Not sure what the magic answer is for me. A Google spreadsheet (so I can get to it from any computer). It's very easy to change colors to mark things that have been completed, cut and paste, merge cells to show that something should take more than one week, etc. I would not plan that far ahead on paper. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PamJBA Posted June 13, 2015 Share Posted June 13, 2015 I used the free version of planbookedu.com. I'll have to see how easy it really is to shift plans to the next day. I may decide to do it differently for the Spring semester. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SilverMoon Posted June 13, 2015 Share Posted June 13, 2015 I'm considering planning my entire year ahead. I've never done that. I've only created a general schedule (1 chapter of this per day, 2 sections of that...). But actually going through every single lesson and "planning" it out for an entire year, I have never done (and sounds incredibly daunting). But as much as I want to be a "plan a month at a time" person, it isn't happening. I end up just doing the next thing and always missing the activities I would have thrown in if I had seen stuff coming. What do you use to plan that far ahead? I'm thinking about ordering one of the popular paper planners. BUT I foresee a TON of erasing if i realize my plan for one subject is all wrong (say we are moving too slow or too fast through it and I need to adjust). Ugh. Not sure what the magic answer is for me. DonnaYoung.org has several free options for various planning pages. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Minerva Posted June 13, 2015 Share Posted June 13, 2015 I wish I could do this, but I just don't understand how I know where we are going to be in a week from now, a month from now, and definitely not in a year from now. Our learning is so-not-linear. We have rabbit trails, things I thought that would so hard and turned out to be so easy, things I thought would be easy and take forever. Sometimes I realize we aren't at all ready for the next thing. Sometimes we decide to take the day off and go to the beach. Sometimes we are sick of a curriculum and ditch it. I often feel like it would be great to be more organized, but it just doesn't match our lifestyle. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Holly Posted June 13, 2015 Share Posted June 13, 2015 I'm currently printing out the first 12 week term (we do 3 terms). You all are making me consider printing an entire year! I always seem to be printing things last minute (and wasting precious school time). This year I'm trying something new...their pages will be pre-printed and organized into binders with tabs separating subjects. I used to keep the pages myself ahead of time and hand them out as we got to it. I'm hoping this will not only save us time, but keep them organized (so there aren't loose pages all over the schoolroom waiting to be filed in binders)! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wintermom Posted June 13, 2015 Share Posted June 13, 2015 Nope. Learned that this is the formula for me changing my mind or the dc not enjoying anything I planned for and photocopied. Also, I'm never sure exactly how long it will take to get through the material. There are so many things that pop up in the year that slow things down, or the dc rip through the material too quickly. I go semester by semester now with the planning and preparation. I may have the books and material 'on the shelf' and ready to continue, but there is room for flexibility. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
imagine.more Posted June 13, 2015 Share Posted June 13, 2015 I plan EVERYTHING! It took me a while to find a system that worked, but now I can plan all subjects down to the page number and not need to worry if we need to speed up or slow down because the way I plan (by subject) isn't dated and only gets crossed off once it's completed. If we need to dwell on one topic it just stays as the current lesson until we finish. Here's my blog post about it: http://www.theplantedtrees.com/2013/08/how-i-plan-our-homeschool-subjects-part.html Yes, this is exactly what I'm doing this year! Thanks for posting about it on the blog, I'm a visual learner and it really helps me to see what others are doing with specifics. I'm in the process of filling out my subject planners now and my weekly planner is on its way in the mail thankfully. Btw for any planner geeks Plum Paper Planners just created a large sized teacher planner option and it is excellent! It's pretty generic so easy to customize for homeschooling and you can tell them what to label the 7 subjects....could label them by subject or kid or whatever works for you. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PagesandFields Posted June 13, 2015 Share Posted June 13, 2015 My kids are still tiny, and we're really just doing a sort of K/1st year... AND I'm pretty unschooly... but my life is so insane I spent a day making an entire year's worth of daily checklists and printed it off... I can't tell you the relief that it gives me. It's set up to still be flexible... it will just say "1 lesson ____" and not give lesson numbers... but it is set up so that if we follow it we end up where we want to be with everything. It makes everything so clear and easy and every day I don't even have to think about it... I am SOO surprised at how much it has helped us. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hollyhock Posted June 13, 2015 Share Posted June 13, 2015 I don't even know what kind of a planner I am. First, I plan out how many lessons or pages we need to do per week to finish all of my planned subjects/courses in 36 weeks. From that, I make a weekly schedule. Then, I only actually write down what we're going to do in my planner a week ahead of time. And then I write down some of what we do as we do it. So I'm a combination yearly planner, weekly planner and logger. :) I think. I do, however, print stuff a week at a time. I use a lot of digital curricula and it would take ages and ages to print it all ahead of time. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.