JudoMom Posted March 23, 2009 Share Posted March 23, 2009 I try to get in the habit of getting plans laid out and work ready for the week on Saturday or Sunday afternoon because our weeks go so much more smoothly. I figure out what everyone will be covering, and get all papers and worksheets ready for the week along with their checklists. However, it takes me 3.5-4 hours. Planning time is minimal (it's usually just do the next 5 lessons), and prepping takes most of it. I am prepping for 4 kids, but that seems like a long time. If I do it daily in the morning it takes 45 minutes or so and our week doesn't go as well. Am I normal? Or am I slow? How long does it take you guys? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frontier Mom Posted March 23, 2009 Share Posted March 23, 2009 I find my weekly time depends upon two things: The curriculum I am using How complete my lesson plans are before the year starts Some curriculums take me tons of time for copies, etc. I have steered away from them because I don't want to spend forever getting ready each week. I have tried to buy the student workbooks when they are available because my time is more valuable to me. I think you have to do a cost/benefit decision to determine what is best for you. I personally hate spending tons of time each Saturday copying something I can just buy premade. Also, during the summer I try to put books together with all the pages I need. I actually bought a binding machine and Levenger punch with rings just for this reason. Now, whether it is for the year or for the quarter, I print out everything at one time, which I usually do on a weekday and declare it a teacher work day, and bind them into books for the dc's. I can't tell you how much this has helped me and my dc's. Now they don't have to wait for me to print things out for them to complete and assignment. These are just two things that I have found that help me. Just my $.02. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swellmomma Posted March 23, 2009 Share Posted March 23, 2009 There is steps ans stages, I lan out a whole year during the summer and that likely takes me over 100 hours. Then On weekends I pull everything out I need, photocopy the pages I need, last night I started using the book "Litercy bags" that I bought at a used sale last week, which meant last night I was pulling things together for the letter A basket, including making and laminating games etc That took around 45 minutes on it's own then the planning/prep work for the rest of his work plus the older 2, so I think I spent 2 hours doing prep last night, If I am not making new games etc then I spend closer to 1 hour each Sunday night getting ready for the week, another 20 minutes each school night pulling things like needed art supplies etc out for the next day, and like I said all that time in the summer planning. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Closeacademy Posted March 23, 2009 Share Posted March 23, 2009 It takes me 3-4 hours as well to prep for 2 dc. I have activity pages from SOTW to copy, Lively Latin to print out, worksheets to coordinate and 2 sets of lapbook pieces to print out and a library trip to plan. I do do long range planning which can take days at a time when curriculum arrives and I do have to do updates every few months or during the weekly prep because we get ahead or behind in subjects.:001_smile: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jean in Wisc Posted March 23, 2009 Share Posted March 23, 2009 I make up schedules on Word/Excel or Homeschool Tracker Plus the summer ahead of the school year. I tweak them as needed, and sometimes I need to find science lab supplies, etc., but normally, I have no real lesson planning during the school year. FWIW, Jean Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KristineinKS Posted March 23, 2009 Share Posted March 23, 2009 I try to get in the habit of getting plans laid out and work ready for the week on Saturday or Sunday afternoon because our weeks go so much more smoothly. I figure out what everyone will be covering, and get all papers and worksheets ready for the week along with their checklists. However, it takes me 3.5-4 hours. Planning time is minimal (it's usually just do the next 5 lessons), and prepping takes most of it. I am prepping for 4 kids, but that seems like a long time. If I do it daily in the morning it takes 45 minutes or so and our week doesn't go as well. Am I normal? Or am I slow? How long does it take you guys? Not sure if you're "normal," but you're exactly like me! :) I've got 4 kids also & easily spend 3.5-4 hours (longer sometimes, it just depends) on weekends, going over my plans for the upcoming week, tweaking them, copying everything, etc. I, too, feel like I'm pretty slow at this, but at the same time, am not sure how to do it more quickly! I also spend an hour or so each morning going over the day's schedule & doing any last minute things not covered on the weekend...Mainly I'm trying to wake up & get motivated though, I'm so not a morning person. I agree that our week goes much smoother when everything is clearly laid out in my lesson book so I know exactly what we're doing! I hate it when I skip a weekend planning session & leave it all to plan day-by-day. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rafiki Posted March 23, 2009 Share Posted March 23, 2009 . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jenny in Florida Posted March 23, 2009 Share Posted March 23, 2009 I make up schedules on Word/Excel or Homeschool Tracker Plus the summer ahead of the school year. I tweak them as needed, and sometimes I need to find science lab supplies, etc., but normally, I have no real lesson planning during the school year. FWIW, Jean That's me, too, except I don't use Homeschool Tracker. I write up all the lesson plans for each week during the summer and spend no more than a few minutes getting ready for each week. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aubrey Posted March 23, 2009 Share Posted March 23, 2009 I try to do my copying in big chunks--this yr I sent all the pages I wanted from SOTW w/ dh to have copied at the copy center on campus. I do big printing jobs (Lively Latin) once a mo or once a quarter, depending on how fast we're working. (Not so fast this yr.) My weeks go better when I sit down & look at what we're doing for the week on Sundays (or Sat), too. Partly it's just familiarity & enthusiasm that needs to be generated. Last night I looked at: 1. This week's lessons in Singapore 2. Tried to print our Latin lessons but locked myself out because I couldn't remember the password. 3. SOTW ch 4. Sc ch (& I do mean literally *just* looked at these, to see where we are, if we need anything, etc. We didn't.) 5. Pulled ds's novel from piles on the floor, so he could find it. 6. Picked a nonfict book for the week. 7. Flipped thr the handwriting book to see how much I expected. 8. Wrote down which spelling lessons we're on. 9. Marked what writing he's working on (he & dd are writing a dinosaur movie, lol) 10. Made notes about memory work I'd say that took nearly an hr. For one kid. So...x4 someday? Jeepers. It might really take 3-4 hrs just to lay stuff out. :grouphug: :lol: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Katiebug_1976 Posted March 23, 2009 Share Posted March 23, 2009 I used to dread planning times! It took so long, and when it was all over, I really didn't think that much had been accomplished. I think a big part of it is what curriculum you are using. We are using My Father's World and it is all pretty much layed out for me. I take about 20 minutes (preferably on Saturdays) and look over the next couple weeks lessons, make a list of needed supplies (including a library list), and make the few copies that we will need for the upcoming week and put them in the appropriate childs folder. That's about it. As far as math and language arts go, I leave a bookmark in the books, and we just pick up where we left off last time. This year we are going to do our science over the summer, so I am going to try over the next several weeks to make a supplies list and have all the supplies gathered, organized and ready to go before we begin science, then it's pretty much the same concept. Bookmark, and pick up where you left off last time. Life is so much less stressful since I don't have actual planning to do. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tammyla Posted March 23, 2009 Share Posted March 23, 2009 :iagree: Pretty much preplanned the same here other than getting them done each day. I make up schedules on Word/Excel or Homeschool Tracker Plus the summer ahead of the school year. I tweak them as needed, and sometimes I need to find science lab supplies, etc., but normally, I have no real lesson planning during the school year. FWIW, Jean Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abreakfromlife Posted March 23, 2009 Share Posted March 23, 2009 I'm the same way, but I love planning, so it's an enjoyable few hours. I try to do the bulk of my planning/scheduling/copying before the year begins, but I still spend a few hours every couple of weeks copying and planning and everything.....I do have a weekly schedule planned out for the year, but we end up getting so far behind that I have to tweak it and re-lay it out every few weeks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Suzanne in ABQ Posted March 23, 2009 Share Posted March 23, 2009 Wow. I must be weird. I spend practically no time planning, or prepping, or anything. We just open up the books, and see what's next. If something needs prepped, I do it while dc are doing their previous lessons. I write down what we did after it's done. I've tried planning lessons in previous years, and the plan always fell by the wayside. There is no way to plan some subjects, or some curricula. For instance, some subjects in Singapore Math are super easy, and dc can easily do 3 or 4 lessons in a half hour. Others are very dense, and it may take two or three days to complete a single exercise. There is no way for me to plan for this. So, I've given it up. Perhaps, if I used different curricula, it would work for me to plan ahead. But, I apparently avoid those types of curricula. BTW, I spent untold hours last summer, planning, and entering lessons in Homeschool Tracker. I never used those lesson plans. Dd is almost finished with the Rod & Staff book, two months early. If I had followed my "plan", she would still have two months to go. So much for planning. Find what works for you. It may change as your dc get older. The worksheets and copying definitely seem to go away. I haven't done that in years. Hope something here is helpful. Suzanne (on her 8th year of homeschooling without planning) :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KDBask Posted March 23, 2009 Share Posted March 23, 2009 At the beginning of the school year I spent about 50 hours planning, printing and organizing our history, readers and read alouds into daily chunks similar to a Sonlight schedule. It takes me about 40 minutes on Sunday night and then about 10 minutes each night to organize the LA, math, music and spelling. I have two sets of kids so I want the "list" that the olders have to accomplish written out so I can work with the littles for the first half of the morning. I really don't have anything that I have to print out. It is a matter of finding where they are and what pages that they need to do. I really think that it depends on the curriculum that you choose. I hope that you find something that works for you! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oakblossoms Posted March 23, 2009 Share Posted March 23, 2009 No planning, no prep here either. We just do the next thing. Planning and prepping make me feel like an absolute failure. I've learned to enjoy our bunny trails. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mama Anna Posted March 23, 2009 Share Posted March 23, 2009 I do my library reserves on Monday night for about 15-30 minutes. Then, on Saturday night, I have about 45 min. - 1 hr. of looking over material to make sure I know what's coming up, which of the library reserves (which I've usually faithfully brought home the previous week, regardless) will actually be helpful, copying and printing, and tweaking art and discipleship. Next fall, I'll have a newborn. Teacher prep.-intensive curricula will have to go buh-bye for awhile. I did lay out all her subjects across the year in approx. 1 week increments last summer, but I really haven't been using that much. I also use the weekly planning time to tweak our schedule if we're going to be losing normal hs time - like ob appointments, etc. I've been carefully not thinking about what that will be like when my other dc get into the mix. :) Mama Anna Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tree House Academy Posted March 23, 2009 Share Posted March 23, 2009 I plan a whole week for 2 kids in about 45 minutes on Sunday night. A lot of our curriculum is just "next week, next lesson, next day" type stuff, except for math and I hand pick math each morning based on struggles I see the day before. Sometimes we slow down and do extra, sometimes we trudge on. Prep is minimal for what we are using, so usually I do it the night prior to the lesson that needed the preparations. i.e. We finish school today (papers everywhere, school room a mess). I straighten, put away papers that need to be filed, get books together for tomorrow based on the schedule for the week. As I put out the books, I look at the lessons to see if there is anything special needed. If so, I get those items at that time and all is ready for school tomorrow. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
battlemaiden Posted March 23, 2009 Share Posted March 23, 2009 I try to get in the habit of getting plans laid out and work ready for the week on Saturday or Sunday afternoon because our weeks go so much more smoothly. I figure out what everyone will be covering, and get all papers and worksheets ready for the week along with their checklists. However, it takes me 3.5-4 hours. Planning time is minimal (it's usually just do the next 5 lessons), and prepping takes most of it. I am prepping for 4 kids, but that seems like a long time. If I do it daily in the morning it takes 45 minutes or so and our week doesn't go as well. Am I normal? Or am I slow? How long does it take you guys? This is my reality too. My weeks go so much smoother if I do the planning, but it isn't always do-able depending on the weekend, ya' know? I was up at 5 am this morning getting my act together. :glare: Jo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MamaT Posted March 23, 2009 Share Posted March 23, 2009 I spend a ton of time in the summer preparing, copying, etc. for the next school year. I have everything ready to go, so it only takes me about 30 minutes on Sunday night to pull everything out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
battlemaiden Posted March 23, 2009 Share Posted March 23, 2009 More thoughts after reading the responses. What I call planning, might be called "tweaking" by someone else. I'm constantly course correcting. I plan in two week blocks, but sometimes I'll see one child needs an extra 30 minutes on a certain math lesson, or we can't move on to the next lesson in composition until a certain child grasps the concept of paragraphs etc. I don't have a plug and chug core curriculum either. Math, Spelling, Grammar are just do the next thing subjects, but our humantities curriculum requires a lot of my time. I need to grasp the topics first so I can more fluidly lead discussions as they come up. Having read the other posts, I realize this probably looks different in everyone's home. I don't have free time during the week (littles and no spouse break) so all my planning is done in one or two chunks on the weekend. I just want you to know that I am in the same boat with you. Jo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colleen Posted March 23, 2009 Share Posted March 23, 2009 I'm also schooling four children, but there's virtually nothing I have to do to plan/prep for the coming week. Like Suzanne in ABQ, I've been homeschooling 8+ years this way. (With the notable exception of the partial year when I set Sonlight's history aside in order to go for a WTM approach to the subject. Oh, my good grief, did I miss Sonlight!) I am never sure what people even mean when they talk about planning and prepping, but I can vouch for the fact that the do-the-next-thing approach does work.:) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jean in Newcastle Posted March 23, 2009 Share Posted March 23, 2009 I print out my schedule (I do it one week at a time on Microsoft Outlook). The kids look at the schedule, get out their own books and copy their own worksheets. I do try to look ahead to get any science materials and to order stuff from the library on time. Doing one week's schedule for 2 kids takes me perhaps an hour (less if I'm not distracted by constant interruptions). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MIch elle Posted March 23, 2009 Share Posted March 23, 2009 Wow. I must be weird. I spend practically no time planning, or prepping, or anything. We just open up the books, and see what's next. If something needs prepped, I do it while dc are doing their previous lessons. Find what works for you. It may change as your dc get older. The worksheets and copying definitely seem to go away. I haven't done that in years. Suzanne (on her 8th year of homeschooling without planning) :) I plan/pick what books/curricula we'll use for the school year (which can take lots of time) and then it's all open & go during the school year. I might look or read ahead but that's it. I photo copy very little and do it just before we need it. Maybe people have to plan so much because they have lots of dc?? :001_huh: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Woodland_Mom Posted March 24, 2009 Share Posted March 24, 2009 I spend a couple of hours getting ready for our week and then I usually spend a couple of hours a week at our library looking for books. I am using Veritas Press Scholars plans this year so my planning involves: printing off the lesson plans for my binder copying any necessary worksheets, maps, etc. for the week putting last weeks school work in binders looking through assignments that I may not have gotten to during the week Gathering supplies for projects/experiments Misc planning I'm thinking about moving away from VP Scholars next year. It doesn't sound too bad to add another hour or two to the mix! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Erica in PA Posted March 24, 2009 Share Posted March 24, 2009 I try to get in the habit of getting plans laid out and work ready for the week on Saturday or Sunday afternoon because our weeks go so much more smoothly. I figure out what everyone will be covering, and get all papers and worksheets ready for the week along with their checklists. However, it takes me 3.5-4 hours. Planning time is minimal (it's usually just do the next 5 lessons), and prepping takes most of it. I am prepping for 4 kids, but that seems like a long time. If I do it daily in the morning it takes 45 minutes or so and our week doesn't go as well. Am I normal? Or am I slow? How long does it take you guys? I think it really depends what materials you use. I use really straightforward materials that require little if any planning or prepping. We just do the next thing in each book, for the most part. If I plan all at once for the week, it would take me about an hour. But if the weekend is crazy and I have no time for thinking about school, I also can spend about 15 minutes per morning planning each day, which isn't as efficient, but works in a pinch. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jenny in Florida Posted March 24, 2009 Share Posted March 24, 2009 I'm also schooling four children, but there's virtually nothing I have to do to plan/prep for the coming week. Like Suzanne in ABQ, I've been homeschooling 8+ years this way. (With the notable exception of the partial year when I set Sonlight's history aside in order to go for a WTM approach to the subject. Oh, my good grief, did I miss Sonlight!) I am never sure what people even mean when they talk about planning and prepping, but I can vouch for the fact that the do-the-next-thing approach does work.:) Ah, but you see you're not planning because someone else does it for you (Sonlight). If you purchase prepared curricula that are already neatly broken out into the right number of chunks or lessons or whatever to get you through the year, then you can just "do-the-next-thing." But that's only because someone else already defined "the next thing." We started off with a much less structured approach, but my daughter found it unfulfilling. So, over the first few years of homeschooling, we slowly drifted to a more heavily "planned" style. And these days, if it becomes apparent I don't know what's coming next, my son gets this look of such disappointment . . . But I've just never found a history/literature curriculum that works for us. We're neither Christian nor aggressively secular. My kids are weird. And I'm too in love with the subject(s) to allow someone else to define what we're doing. So, I invest those hours over the summer to create my own "do the next thing" plan. That way, I have exactly the curriculum I want but still have the convenience of open-and-go once our school year begins. Oh, and it's significantly less expensive, too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mamagina7 Posted March 24, 2009 Share Posted March 24, 2009 We run a business and homeschool so the days fly by. For a while I had to go day by day and always felt like I was trying to play catch up, felt guilty for not doing more real schooling and not really know the lessons. For the past month or so, my husband has freed my sched. so i can spend 4-5 hours per week planning, reading ,photocopying, and getting books from the library. What a load of my mind! The best part is: I am enjoying homeschooling again!!!!! We are homeschooling 5 this yr., but I don't have to plan for the two oldest . They take care of themselves. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christine Posted March 24, 2009 Share Posted March 24, 2009 I'm a planner / prepper, and it takes me a fair amount of time. If I get the year planned out in advance, then I don't spend as much time as I do if I try to go weekly. (Honestly, I suspect this has something to do with feeling "overwhelmed" in trying to schedule a year's worth; whereas, if I'm just working weekly I tend to think it out more and get more detailed.) I try to do a year at a time, anymore. Prep time (making sure all the copies are done / all materials gathered) is just a time eater. Add grading to that. . . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colleen Posted March 24, 2009 Share Posted March 24, 2009 (edited) Ah, but you see you're not planning because someone else does it for you (Sonlight). Yes, that's the case for one subject: history. That's why I specifically mentioned Sonlight. When I set it aside and pursued history a la TWTM, I invested much more time ~ but the result wasn't more fulfilling. If you purchase prepared curricula that are already neatly broken out into the right number of chunks or lessons or whatever to get you through the year, then you can just "do-the-next-thing." But that's only because someone else already defined "the next thing." Isn't that the case for every skill subject? One grammar lesson follows the next; one math exercise comes after another. It's not a matter of having the subject broken out into the "right" number of lessons in order to get us through a year; we may or may not cover the material in that given time frame. By "doing the next thing" I'm referring to simply progressing through the text. (If indeed one uses a text. Teaching grammar (for example) via application without a text naturally requires more on the part of the teacher. Applied learning happens here, too, but I tend to "wing it" rather than plan it down to the detail.) (T)hese days, if it becomes apparent I don't know what's coming next, my son gets this look of such disappointment . . . Well, just to clarify, I do know what's coming next. Not investing hours planning doesn't necessarily mean not knowing what comes next. But I've just never found a history/literature curriculum that works for us. We're neither Christian nor aggressively secular. My kids are weird. And I'm too in love with the subject(s) to allow someone else to define what we're doing. I'm in love with the subject, too. History was my minor in undergrad, and it's the favorite subject of all my boys. So, I invest those hours over the summer to create my own "do the next thing" plan. That way, I have exactly the curriculum I want but still have the convenience of open-and-go once our school year begins. Sounds like you've found what works for you. Great! Oh, and it's significantly less expensive, too. Maybe. I have no idea what you spend on curriculum versus what I spend, but I didn't think that was the subject of discussion here.:) Edited March 24, 2009 by Colleen Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jenny in Florida Posted March 24, 2009 Share Posted March 24, 2009 Isn't that the case for every skill subject? One grammar lesson follows the next; one math exercise comes after another. It's not a matter of having the subject broken out into the "right" number of lessons in order to get us through a year; we may or may not cover the material in that given time frame. By "doing the next thing" I'm referring to simply progressing through the text. (If indeed one uses a text. Teaching grammar (for example) via application without a text naturally requires more on the part of the teacher. Applied learning happens here, too, but I tend to "wing it" rather than plan it down to the detail.) Again, I suppose it depends on what materials you're using and how you're using them. We don't use a straight-up, traditional text for any of what I consider "core" subjects. We do follow a fairly traditional academic year schedule around here. My kids like it that way. They like starting fresh at the beginning of each school year and closing up a completed book at the end. So, I plan it that way. They also thrive on having goals and knowing where they're going and when they'll get there. So, I define that stuff. I never really understood how important all of this was until the first year my daughter took an online class. I'd been homeschooling for a few years by then and was drifting toward a less structured/planned approach. She was taking that class, but most other subjects were looser. As the first couple of months of the school year progressed, she kept getting more and more miserable and uninterested. Finally, she came to me crying and saying she was hating school that year. We talked about what was working, what she did like, and the only thing she could think of was math, for which she was taking the online course. We talked about why, and she finally decided that she liked the structure and accountability. She even liked getting grades. So, we sat down together and figured out how to impose some kind of structure on her other work. It turned out to be a really good year. I'm also really big on having things work together. My son learns best with what we've come to call a kaleidoscopic approach. Basically, this means that we use lots of different materials to come at the same topic. He gains a lot from putting together the pieces and assembling his own picture. So, a large part of my planning is piling up all the different resources and figuring out how it all fits together. For example, this year for history/literature, he's reading portions of a history encyclopedia, about 40 stories from A Child's History of the World, four issues of Learning Through History, and about 40 fiction and non-fiction books. Most of my planning hours for this year went into breaking all of that into chunks for each week and making sure that we cover the same topics in each one each week. Then, I found worksheets or puzzles for each week that would help him review that material. I also browsed on Netflix and came up with a list of DVDs that would work well with history. Then, I figured out the right week in which to watch each one so that it would relate to his reading. Oh, and I did some research on field trip opportunities and figured out what would be the best times to do those. If I don't make a note of these things, I tend to forget about them until the moment has passed. Then, I piled up the nine books we're using for science and tried to align them with the history plan. After that, I went through the book we're using for experiments and projects and decided which one to do each week so that it would relate to his reading. We're using a text for "English," so all I had to do for that was figure out how many pages we needed to do each week to finish the book this year. However, we're trying a loosely adapted version of the Classical Writing approach for composition. And I wanted to tie that to history, too. So, I spent some hours searching out, copying and formatting models based on stories from the civilizations he'd be reading about in a given week. I didn't have to plan geography, because he's taking that online. And Spanish was easy, because it was just a matter of assigning a given number of pages each week. Math is an online course, too, but was designed for a longer school year than we're doing. So, I had to add up the number of lessons and figure out how many to do each week. Again, not terribly demanding. Oh, I did have to figure out where to place the extras, though. I'm having him work through Can You Count in Greek? to try and tie math to his history studies. So, I had to go through that and assign the pages in the weeks in which he was reading about that civilization. And he's doing some reading for math, too, but that was just adding up the pages and dividing by the number of weeks and then making sure I was having him stop in places that made sense (end of a chapter or section). For Greek, it was just a matter of trying to line up the two texts so that he was learning the same letters in both. That went pretty quickly, too. So, I suspect it's a combination of my kids' personalities and learning styles and the materials we tend to use. But just doing the next thing wouldn't work for us unless I first decided what the next thing was. Well, just to clarify, I do know what's coming next. Not investing hours planning doesn't necessarily mean not knowing what comes next. Understood. I'm just saying that, unless I figure it out in advance, I don't know what's next. Maybe. I have no idea what you spend on curriculum versus what I spend, but I didn't think that was the subject of discussion here.:) Nope, just as aside. Obviously, I don't know what you spend, but I do a comparison every year to see where I stand next to packaged curricula. I always come out ahead (if, of course, you don't count the hours I spend planning). For example, this year I noted that the Sonlight package roughly equivalent to what I was using added up to about $1100. I spent $470-ish to cover the same subjects. That assumes, of course, that one is purchasing a complete curriculum from one provider and not purchasing used. Sounds like you've found what works for you. Great! And you, too! For what it's worth, I always kind of envy people who can go with the flow. That's my natural tendency, but it just doesn't work for my kids. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
starwarsmomma Posted March 24, 2009 Share Posted March 24, 2009 Didn't have time to read all the posts, but I use HOD for 3rd grader, and supplement for 1st grader. I spend 0 time preparing in advance. Heart of Dakota is pretty much open and go. Talk about a sanity saver! LOL Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NancyNellen Posted March 25, 2009 Share Posted March 25, 2009 1.5 - 2 hours if I'm alone. 3-4 hours if the kids are around me :-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
heart'sjoy Posted March 25, 2009 Share Posted March 25, 2009 I've noticed the planning time changes based on how well the curriculum fits. For example when math is a good fit the kids sail along with "x" number of pages a day. Other times we hit a bump like fractions, or backwards "6's". Then I have to plan out the pages and extra worksheets to copy. Right now planning time at the end of the week is 2-3 hours, more if I'm tired and the kids are needing things. The planning time really increased with K for the third child. I aim for mastery of phonetic concepts before moving on. Sometimes the plan for the week has to be "tweaked." I never know how many worksheets of letter "a" it will take to gain mastery. The upside is that the 2nd and 4th grader each have their own schedule to check off. I'm off the hook to make sure they are on task. I just offer my teacher time in appropriate amounts and let them sink or swim in getting themselves motivated.:thumbup: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peela Posted March 25, 2009 Share Posted March 25, 2009 When I was a planning fanatic, I would happily spend hours on the weekend prepping. That phase seems to have (finally) passed and my system is such that on weekends I barely do anything any more. My planning is done during holidays. The kids have a schedule each- not a timetable- and at the top are their independent, do the next lesson subjects. Under that is their independent reading- which is usually a chapter or two from each of their assigned books, rather than specific pages. I keep it simple. Under that are our "together" subjects- where I read aloud, we discuss etc. The only weekend work I do nowadays is when I want to re-do our timetable because I have decided to add or drop a subject (e.g. we gave up on a book and started an alternative). I do photocopying and marking during the school day or sometimes the evenings. I have changed the way I do things so many times over the years. I used to love spending hours prepping, and I no longer do, so I organise things so I dont have to :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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