I've been in full school planning mode the past few weeks. I have my own way of doing things when it comes to planning for our learning year. I don't know how my planning compares to that of other homeschoolers... I've often wanted to be a "fly on the wall" and see how others do it. This is what works for me:
Choosing What to Buy and Purchasing
Before I can do too much planning I have to decide what books we are going to use for each subject. We don't use a package curriculum so it's up to me to choose something for each subject.
(I like to use this form when planning.) There is plenty to consider. We usually discover some things we tried last year just don't work for us or sometimes we decide to try something new for a child who has a different learning style. So, basically, each year I reinvent the wheel; maybe not the whole wheel, but for sure a few spokes! This is a good thing though because it means each child is being given just what they need to learn!
Once I've decided what I want to order, I usually check the prices on several websites. In the past, we found some of our curriculum used from the homeschool group used book sale, but I didn't get to one this year. I also like to check to see if
Paperback Swap has any of the books I need. It's a long shot, but I have gotten several books that way in the past. While I'm there, I put books for next year on a wishlist which increases my chances of getting them before I need them. Once the research part is done, I get out the credit card and place my orders. I hate seeing the totals, but I love getting those packages!
Thankfully, I have such a huge supply of the usual school supplies (pencils, paper, rulers, crayons, etc.) that I didn't really need to buy anything except some dry erase markers. Although, I might take advantage of a few sales just for fun!
Binders and Boxes
I clean out last years binders and file their contents away. Neither AZ or WI requires you to keep any work, but I always do. Just in case I ever have to prove that we don't sit around and watch soap operas all day.
Then I prepare binders (each child has one) for next year. Each binder has tabs for every subject. These binders are where I store finished work I want to keep. I keep almost all writing, history, and science. I just keep examples of the other subjects. I print out new attendance sheets, reading logs, and extracurricular sheets. We use these to keep track of the days we do school, what each child has read, and any extras we do (4-H, field trips, classes).
I also got the boxes ready to go. The boxes are where we keep the things we are currently working on. Each child has a box and they know to return their books to this box when they are done.
I keep the teacher's manuals and other books we use frequently on the shelf below the boxes. Next to the boxes you see "Mom's Book". That has all my planning pages and record keeping items.
Calendars and Planners
I print off a new school year calendar and decide what days we are going to be doing school.
This is my favorite printable calendar.
I prepare a weekly assignment sheet for each child. I print off a bunch and fill one out each week. The child marks off the items as they are done. I use the last page from
this set of homeschool planning pages. I love that it is a typable pdf. I could laminate it and use a wet erase marker but I like to keep them so I know who did what when.
Here is an example:
I also use a monthly planner for myself. The weekly planners are for the kids. I created the monthly planner last year when I found I had too many students for my old one. I updated it a little bit for this year. This is what it looks like:
I plan out each month using my yearly planner (see below) on the monthly sheets and then just transfer the assignments to each child's weekly assignment sheet on Sunday evenings before each new school week.
The Yearly Plan
I plan out as much of the year as I can ahead of time. Sometimes we get off track as we go but overall I like to know how many lessons I have to teach in each subject to get through a book. For example, our history book has 42 chapters but we are only going to do 38 weeks of school, so I chose four chapters that we will skip.
Some kids will be continuing on in books they didn't finish last year, so I write down where they were so I know where they need to start. As we move through the year, if I come across a lesson that I think won't work for some reason, I skip it. For some reason it took me several years to figure out I don't have to do
every single lesson in a book. Now I have no problem skipping lessons! For example, Hayden doesn't need all the review that his Math book will start out with so I am going to have him take the first three tests and start around lesson 25.
For the yearly plan, I also choose what character qualities we will work on, what song/hymn we'll sing during Bible time, and what Bible verses we want to memorize. This year was are going to do one verse per week and a bigger memorization project a month.
I am still working on the yearly plan, but this is what it looks like right now:
One thing missing from this year's yearly plan is our "Letter of the Week". We have done that every year since we started homeschooling, but this year JD is a bit too old and Annabeth is a bit too young to use it. It left a gaping hole in my usual planning sheet so I had to make a new one!
[In case you are wondering, I make all these planning sheets on Google Drive. If you want copies of any of them let me know and I'll send them to you. Most of the images of the planning pages in this post are just screen shots not the actual files.]
Well, this is getting a bit long, and I have more to say, so I'm going to finish this up in another post...
