What do you use to create your lesson plans?

[MommyInTraining]

Do you have a special system? Please share!

 

Thanks~

 

Terri in WA

[Closeacademy]

Notebook paper! When I am doing an individual subject/text I use loose leaf paper and write out on it in pencil (it erases) and then type it up in wordperfect.

 

When I do up lesson plans for the year, I use a spiral notebook and each page is 1 week of scheduling. :)

[ELaurie]

forms when I began HSing a couple of years ago and Kris kindly posted them on her website. Scrol down to Laurie's Planner Pages.

[Pster]

Maybe I over plan but I have tried pre-made ones and they never fit what I wanted.

 

I wanted something I could use quickly - here I just have to circle the bk we used and I write in the pg and the topic we covered that day. I used to have just a notebook that I wrote in and took notes but I think this is faster. I use half a sheet of paper like this for each child.

 

I tried to upload an example of it but it keeps saying "invalid file" (urrr....) - anyway - I took 1 sheet of computer paper - divided it in half - then on each side I wrote in bold the subject and then in smaller print what I use to teach that so...I have: (it cut & pasted and so you can kinda see it)

 

hth!

 

 

Word-a-day: pg. __________

 

 

Memorization: (recite 3x)

 

 

Math: Horizons1(bk1) – other

 

 

Time/$ wkbk

 

 

Phonics: ETC bk3 - other

 

 

 

Spelling:

Spell&Write(gr2) - other

 

 

Grammar: FLL – other – FLL cd

 

 

Writing / Handwriting:

dict/narr – journal – story - copy work - other - DrWr(gr2)

 

 

 

Reading: ind – to someone – read aloud - audio bk - other

 

 

History: SOTW1 / act bk – lib bks – audioCD – other

TOPIC/ch: map?

Coloring pg?

 

 

Science: LLB2 – lib bks – us vid's - other

 

 

 

===========================================

Typing/Cursive: practice - homework

 

 

Art/Music: art/music – bks – CD – computer - other

 

 

 

Language: spanish – latin – computer – CD – other

 

 

 

Faith: Exp Bible Study – LLOTG – God&Me Devotions- Egermeier's Bible Book

 

 

Outside Act: PE – AG club – Nursing Center – other

 

 

SCHOOL BEHAVIOR:

 

 

 

[Plaid Dad]

I don't do formal lesson plans for our homeschool at this stage - we're very much in "do the next thing" mode - but for my tutoring I use a plain, old black-and-white speckle-covered composition book. I number each point or activity, note down page numbers as needed, and include anything I plan to write on the white board. Homework assignments go in a box to make them easy to find on the page. It's a very simple, low-tech system, but it works, and I have a ready record of everything I've covered during a given period of time.

[mamato3 all-boy boys]

I use Homeschool Tracker software for my 3rd grader. I've been using it for 2.5 years, and just love it. I would have a hard time homeschooling without it.

 

For my new-ker, I'm using a piece of paper with all the pages in his math &critical thinking workbook broken down into lessons; I just cross off what he's done. I'm still setting up his K program (just doing skill subjects right now) and do not want to spend time plugging it into HST. Plus, I'm still trying to learn what programs will work for him and how to integrate his program with is big brother's.

[angela in ohio]

Frst, I sit down and write a syllabus for each subject, deciding what I want to cover for the year. Then I decide what materials I will use. Then I write out a year's worth of lessons, one subject area at a time. Finally, I plug them into day-by-day lesson plans.

[Chris in SC]

I have one for each boy. I list the subjects down the left and the dates across the top. Type in page numbers, book names, chapter names... that they are to complete each day. I can print one week on a sheet of paper and put it on a clipboard. We check things off as they are completed or make notes on any changes in plans. The next weekend I make changes on the computer and print out the plan for the following week. It has worked very well.

[rafiki]

nt

[Pata]

I make a template in Excel and then make 36 copies and fill it in in pencil for the year. Then make changes as we go through, always in pencil!

[elegantlion]

I utilize different forms from http://www.donnayoung.org/ . I make a master schedule for each subject. I also make a 36 week schedule, which we never follow perfectly, but is great to make sure we are on track.

 

My day-to-day schedule is planned two to three weeks in advance and is very tweakable.

[mcconnellboys]

I write my plans directly into my planner, in pencil. I first decide what subjects I will teach, for how long, and on which days. I fill that into the planner.

 

Then I take my book or outline for each class and break it down into how much I think we can do per day, for the time period allotted. So, for instance, we used Spelling Workout for spelling. We will be covering only one level in that for next year, "G". It is already set up to cover a page a day for a weekly lesson, with testing on Friday, so that is what we will do. Because this will take so little time (which I know from past experience), I am also adding in some odds and ends of practice pages from various word study, dictionary skills, and other such books that I already have on hand. I'm not trying to coordinate the topics with SWO for next year, but I have done that in past when I thought it would be useful.

 

When I get ready to schedule Singapore math, I also know from having done it numerous times that generally we can cover one lesson in the text per day (which I consider the textual explanation from one workbook assignment to the next). So I will probably schedule that at a lesson per day, along with whatever workbook assignment(s) is/are listed at the end of that lesson. I generally leave all the workbook "revisions", which I use as tests, until the end, when we've finished all the work in the book. So he has a round of testing at the end of each semester. Because he has always been able to complete this work in much less than the allotted time, I feel I will also still be okay next year to continue scheduling MUS, which I use to supplement, at a page per day. I simply make these page/workbook assignment number notations into my planner. With that program, we watch the short video explanation on the day we start a new lesson and he does the "A" workpage. The following days, he completes the "B" through "F" workpages and on that last day, he also takes the test for that lesson. This completes the text for him in the course of a school year.

 

Now, with things such as this, I could just "do the next thing" and not think about it or plan it out, but we are often running, in the car, out of the house, juggling who will take which child where, etc. So having everything laid out helps us all to very quickly find precisely which page number, assignment number, etc. was meant to be done for this day in every subject we're doing and keep the general flow going, so no subjects get missed. It's sort of like setting up an assembly line, I guess.

 

And with some subjects, I do actually coordinate work from different books to go together, so it makes it effortless to find all that in a hurry and put it together for the day.

 

With my history and science plans, I've begun just working them out on the computer so that I have a typed document when I'm finished planning. I do then plug the basics into my planner, because sometimes when I'm going over them that closely I find something I've missed or think of something else I want to add, etc., but I keep a copy of the typed outline in my planner for closer reference on a daily basis so that I don't have to rewrite all that into my planner.

 

That's sort of a brief synopsis of how I do my planning; don't know if you have more specific questions in mind than that, so hope it's somewhat helpful to you,

 

Regena

[Beth in Central TX]

I use Edu-Track software. Before our school year begins, I input all of the lessons for all of the boys for each subject. Every Sunday I print off the weekly lesson plan for each boy. If something doesn't get done during the week, the software has a "bump" function so that I can move it to a future date.

 

The software also keeps track of the literature that my boys read, their achievements, standardized test scores, etc. I can run reports for just about anything that I want. Of course, I can only get out what I put in.

[fishnoises]

For the actual schedule, I used The Latin Centered Curriculum by Andrew Campell. He has schedule samples, similar to those in WTM. I really like how they stress more quality and less quantity. (Multum non multa)

Not all my subjects are evenly spaced into 36 weeks, so I have to go through them and figure out how to space them out evenly. This is the first year I have used the clipboards rather than a student planner. I file the finished weekly assigment sheets in my planner to keep a record. (The kids love to cross off when done!)

I love to make schedules! I don't know why. I hate going off of them. Makes me nervous. But life happens. (Vet trips, Secretary of State, meals to people twice this week, visiting grandparents, family crisis.........all this week!)

 

I have to tell you that I started to drool at all your ideas and planner pages! I had to retrain myself!

[ChicoryChick]

WHen I am planning my lessons for the year....I use the table function in Microsoft Word...to get a general plan of the year! Then during school I use Homeschool Tracker to type in the work that we have done and print it of fon a weekly or bi-weekly basis.

[Basketmaker Amy]

I enter mine in Homeschool Tracker Plus. I love it! Then I just print out the week's assignments and give them to my kids.

 

It has been one of my favorite purchases. It has more than I need...or have time to figure out!

[OneRoomHomeSchool]

My Lesson Planner is a downloadable link in my left hand side bar: http://oneroomhomeschool.blogspot.com

 

;)

[Linda in NM]

Simply Charlotte Mason's planner...

[godpoetry]

I put mine in a student assignment book by the week so my son can use it to check it off as he does his work. I do have a master plan that I put on the computer for me also. My younger son has an assignment book, but he is still learning to use it.:rolleyes:

[LisaNY]

I just found this one at homeschoolclassifieds.com:

http://www.homeschoolclassifieds.com/planner/form.asp

 

I created it there, and then tweaked it in Word for my own use.

[freethinkermom]

I write out my lesson plans in a composition book then enter what we will do one week at a time in my moleskine planner on Sunday night. Each night I write the kids assignments for the next day on their dry erase boards. We like to keep it simple and easy to change.

 

I used to use homeschool tracker but I like the analog method better :)

[Karen in CO]

For daily or weekly what to do next, I use Word. It is simple. The real work goes on before that. For classes that I design, like science, history, a special unit study, a class for co-op, or a class for my high school son, I can spend weeks preparing. Those are made with frequent trips to the library, lesson plans from places like Core Knowledge, outlines from "spine" books and such. I start those on paper just taking notes as I do background research. Then I start typing with an outline and fill-in details of books, special materials, projects, tie-ins with other subjects, assessments, key information to teach, and summaries of the each lesson's information, questions to ask, and such. It is the bi-product of a sick mind, a fast reader, and chronic insomnia. Once I have the subject planned, I break it up into manageable lessons, cut out half of the work because I always plan too much, and then schedule it.