Subject planners

[Momma4]

Hi, we've just started homeschooling our boys (5yrs, 3.5yrs and a baby). I'm looking for a planner/diary. I don't want daily lesson plans as I think we need to be prepared to be flexible with our schedule. I saw on the Donna young website the idea of subject planners then transferring that to a weekly planning page. I don't mind printing it and keeping it in a folder but ideally it would be nice to have a preset planner.

 

Any recommendations?

 

 

Xx

[happypamama]

I use OneNote on my computer, and then I print as needed. It's nice because I can have a list for each day that says something like:

 

Math

Literature

Writing

History

 

Often it's obvious that they need to do the next lesson (math) but if not (history), they can look at that subject's tab to see what the exact directions are.

[MerryAtHope]

I've looked at numerous ones over the years, but always ended up making my own so I could customize as I wanted. I use a simple form I made up on Word, using the table function, and write in what we do each day. I have subjects planned (usually one one page for the year, but sometimes a few pages) and organized behind tabs in my Teacher Binder (which also has a link to the form I use). That might give you some ideas on how you want to organize things for you.

[desertflower]

This is what I use. http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0978541308/ref=mp_s_a_1_12?qid=1446204909&sr=8-12&pi=SL75_QL70&keywords=homeschool+journal

 

It has big blocks with 4 weeks on a 2 page spread. A place for notes on the 2 pg spread as well. I put the subject on top and dates on the left. Of course, it has extra pages in the front for other things such as field trip.

 

I like the big block lay out.

 

I hope you find one you like.

[FO4UR]

For what you want, I'd stick with the Donna Young pages.  

 

You are smart to make a basic year plan, and then make the weekly plans every week.  At those young ages, they change so fast.

[sweetpea3829]

I'm with Merry.  I have looked at Planner after Planner after Planner.  But I always come back to my own creations.  

 

I keep two 3-ring binders...one for my "Bigs" and one for my "Littles."  The Bigs have some shared subjects, as do the Littles.  I keep a third "planner" for science, just to help me see, at-a-glance, what materials I will need for a given week, what books, what lapbooks pieces, etc.  

 

I have a planning page for Language Arts for the Bigs and then each of them has their own Math planning page.  I print out enough "weeks" for an entire semester (15 weeks), 3-hole punch them and put them in the binder.  Then I sit down and plan out the semester.  The entire semester, if I can.  

 

I also keep a daily schedule, where I write down everything that requires MY attention for a given day.  This is a new addition, now that we have all four in full-time school.  Making sure I did everything was difficult, and I needed something that I could quickly look at to make sure I was getting everything (without having to flip through both planning binders).  

 

And I have a weekly schedule that I keep for me...lol.  It is clipped together with my daily schedule.  It contains all of the "other" things that I need to remember in a given week. Doc appointments, kid events, extracurricular activities, list of things to do, etc.  

 

Might seem like overkill, but without it, I forget very easily.  Too much for me to remember on my own.  

[Momma4]

Thank you everyone. I think a binder and customising my own print outs is the way to go.

 

On a separate note, can I just ask how much time did or do you spend on 'school' in a day? My sons are still very young, I have 3 boys, the eldest is only 5yrs then 3.5yrs and the youngest is 19 months.

 

We've just started OPGTTR and level A Right Start Maths. Each one takes about 15mins. We read a lot during the day and we do 1-2 books a month from the Five In A Row curriculum. Is this enough? I let them play a lot as that's whay I feel they need at such young ages but my eldest is always left wanting more once we've finished a lesson or activity. The trouble is I have to squeeze everything into a 1 hour time slot when the youngest sleeps. Once he's awake it's very difficult to get anything done as he's so noisy bless him!

 

Do you have any suggestions as to how I can keep the youngest and middle boys busy whilst I work with the eldest?

 

Thanks in advance. Xx

[Slache]

Thank you everyone. I think a binder and customising my own print outs is the way to go.

 

On a separate note, can I just ask how much time did or do you spend on 'school' in a day? My sons are still very young, I have 3 boys, the eldest is only 5yrs then 3.5yrs and the youngest is 19 months.

 

We've just started OPGTTR and level A Right Start Maths. Each one takes about 15mins. We read a lot during the day and we do 1-2 books a month from the Five In A Row curriculum. Is this enough? I let them play a lot as that's whay I feel they need at such young ages but my eldest is always left wanting more once we've finished a lesson or activity. The trouble is I have to squeeze everything into a 1 hour time slot when the youngest sleeps. Once he's awake it's very difficult to get anything done as he's so noisy bless him!

 

Do you have any suggestions as to how I can keep the youngest and middle boys busy whilst I work with the eldest?

 

Thanks in advance. Xx

That's plenty. You can add handwriting if you want, but it's not necessary.

 

I have my older one watch The Magic School Bus and Salsa with the younger one, even though the older one gets so much more out of it. My younger one often gets assigned worksheets (Frozen coloring pages) to keep her busy. We do piano and Bible in the evenings to break up school time.

 

I advise starting a new thread with these questions because you'll get more answers.

[sweetpea3829]

Thank you everyone. I think a binder and customising my own print outs is the way to go.

 

On a separate note, can I just ask how much time did or do you spend on 'school' in a day? My sons are still very young, I have 3 boys, the eldest is only 5yrs then 3.5yrs and the youngest is 19 months.

 

We've just started OPGTTR and level A Right Start Maths. Each one takes about 15mins. We read a lot during the day and we do 1-2 books a month from the Five In A Row curriculum. Is this enough? I let them play a lot as that's whay I feel they need at such young ages but my eldest is always left wanting more once we've finished a lesson or activity. The trouble is I have to squeeze everything into a 1 hour time slot when the youngest sleeps. Once he's awake it's very difficult to get anything done as he's so noisy bless him!

 

Do you have any suggestions as to how I can keep the youngest and middle boys busy whilst I work with the eldest?

 

Thanks in advance. Xx

 

You are doing plenty with the 5 yr old.  PP mentioned adding in handwriting, and I think 5 is a pretty good age to start that.  I spend most of age 5 teaching them how to form the letters.  My 6 yr old is working on penmanship at this point (he is a lefty and his penmanship is terrible...lol).  

 

Do your younger boys nap?  If so, that is the best time to get school done with your oldest boy.  If they do not nap, you can set them up with some busy toys.  Coloring pages, Play Doh, etc.  In our classroom, we have certain toys that the kids can't just take out on their own..they have to have supervision.  Nice stuff that I would hate to see ending up at the bottom of the toy box.  There are Toob toys (countless), Zip Bins, magnetic faces, Moon Sand, sticker books, maze balls, etc.  All kinds of stuff.  Most of it I bought at Rainbow Resource.  

 

Obviously with your youngest, you would want to make sure that you had toys that were safe for his age.  But the point is, make sure its stuff they don't get to play with every day.  That keeps it new and exciting and holds their attention.  

 

I mean...I don't let them take out Play Doh very often but when I do, all four kids will sit and play with it for HOURS!  Seriously...hours.  And not only will they play with it for that long, but they GET ALONG!  It's amazing.