From time to time I get general homeschooling questions…questions about scheduling, planning, etc. So, since I finally have a “lesson planning” system that works for us, I thought I’d share!!
I do not make lesson plans ahead of time. gasp! Now, I do plan, mind you. But, I don’t sit and write out every page from every book we will do for everyday of the school year. Nope, not me. 🙂
This is so easy I feel a bit silly sharing…but since you (or someone out there) asked…voila!
Once I knew what curriculum and choices we would be using for this school year, I simply made a list of each item I’d like to accomplish each day. I put them into an excel chart page thingy, copied it into 5 columns for the 5 days of the week and PRINTED. I printed enough copies, front and back, for each week of the year. I have punched 3 holes in them and they are already in my planning notebook with my calendar, ready to go!
Now, each school day, I simply CHECK OFF each item that we complete!! Yay! I left just a tiny bit of space with each day so that I could make notes or add in extras if need be.
I really like this, because when I add the date to each page, it becomes the “proof” (so to speak) that I need for school year, should anyone ever knock on my door and ask what we’ve been doing all day!
Now, before you look at this list and freak out, some of these items take literally MINUTES to complete. And, obviously, some of these items are only for the girls, not Caleb. So, no worries, I’m not over-educating my children or anything. {grin}
Â
I won’t boast too proudly that last year we used this same “lesson planning” method. Only, I wasn’t brilliant enough to type it all out. I just wrote down everything we did each day after we had completed our school day. ha! This takes care of that for me now, not nearly as much writing for me!
Do you have any simple planning tricks? I’d love to hear from you!
Candace – this is brilliant! Thank you! I tend to make everything so much more complicated than it needs to be. Sometimes it is hard for me to get out of classroom teacher mode and into homeschool mom mode. THANKS for this!
Very nice! This is similar to what I do to organize my girls’ workboxes…which is the tool that currently works well for us.
I think you just solved my planning dilemma. Brilliant ~ and thank you!! Are you emailing this upon request?? 🙂
I use something similar, but I give it to my boys (for independent work) and have one for me for “together” work. I like this idea even better! I’ll be “stealing” it for this year. THANKS for sharing!!!
CANDACE!!! Thank you! If you’ve been reading the boards…I’ve been pondering what to do this year to meet “Indiana Homeschool Laws”….and I have been trying to figure out something that would keep track of stuff…but not be soo time consuming…Thank you! Thank you! Thank You!!
I have been doing something similar for several years, but a little different. I have a seperate one for each child, but at the top I have the date in five columns for each day of the week with the subject on the left side. This way the block for each subject is blank and then I fill in the actualy assignment. I keep a copy and give each of my girls a copy. It helps them take ownership of their assignments, but then I have a copy to check off the work and keep for records.
This comment has been removed by the author.
Thank you! I think I figured it out!
Candace, thanks… I am working on a Mac and just opened up a Neo Office (similar to Word) document and created a 5×9 table and typed in our subjects. Perfect! I think sometimes we think planning has to be so exact, and I just like that I can write down what we did and we’re not locked into anything. Perfect. We are a semi FIAR family, too — using them more now as read-aloud book suggestions actually.
Thanks again!
I love this also! I am always looking for new ideas to make our school planning easier :). Could you possibly email it to me also? gouchsings@aol.com
I am intrigued by Made to Crave and think I might need to be picking it up. My summer book list is so long and now I have started the Bible in 90 Days program. BUT, Made to Crave might be something I really need to read right now ;).
This is so similar to what we do! I’m glad I’m not the only one. I thought I was ‘planning-challenged’ because the thought of planning out our entire year seems so daunting.
I do keep an Outlook calendar with general plans for the week for science/history stuff.
I actually wrote a big post today comparing planners. 🙂 I like your check it off method very much, and I use something similar but it’s on the computer, called the Homeschool Daybook. You can keep track of just your attendance, or go more in depth with lesson #s and subjects, but it’s designed to be used day by day too, after the face like a journal. (I’m not an affiliate so understand I’m not trying to sell you anything!) I’ve tried so many planners! Yours is great– Smart thinking!
~Dawn @ 5kidsandadog.com