If you missed my earlier planning post, I explained how I choose and prepare subjects for our school years. In this post, I will explain how I do my planning for each of those subjects. Please keep in mind that I have 3 high school students, so my school day might not look like your school day, and my subjects may be less or more time-intensive as well. I am sharing what tactics I have developed over the past 13 years that we have been homeschooling to make planning easier and to be more efficient and successful with our time.
Teacher's Manuals are wonderful tools. I love that most curriculum has some sort of TM component that helps with scheduling and teaching. Sometimes I am able to take the plan and plug it into our year as-is without having to change much at all. Other times, I have to take it apart and restructure it with my specific children and family in mind. A curriculum is a tool, it isn't in charge! You know your family best, and crafting something that stretches, challenges, and intrigues your child(ren) will allow for less struggle and more retention in the long run.
Usually, one of the first things I do is go through each unit or week of a curriculum and make an index card list of items needed. It may be a book list for the library or a list of items needed for a science lab. I like having the index cards because they make it easier to bring with me when I need to run to the store or put items on hold. The next step is making a daily list. I figure out what needs to be done each day, what extra items may be required, and if any of my children need to have the assignment altered (We do family style science and history, but the work they do on their own is more grade-level focused). In previous years, I have filled composition notebooks with daily assignments in list form. This year, I am fortunate to have a section in my AnnaVancePaperCo planner.
Teacher's Manuals are wonderful tools. I love that most curriculum has some sort of TM component that helps with scheduling and teaching. Sometimes I am able to take the plan and plug it into our year as-is without having to change much at all. Other times, I have to take it apart and restructure it with my specific children and family in mind. A curriculum is a tool, it isn't in charge! You know your family best, and crafting something that stretches, challenges, and intrigues your child(ren) will allow for less struggle and more retention in the long run.
Usually, one of the first things I do is go through each unit or week of a curriculum and make an index card list of items needed. It may be a book list for the library or a list of items needed for a science lab. I like having the index cards because they make it easier to bring with me when I need to run to the store or put items on hold. The next step is making a daily list. I figure out what needs to be done each day, what extra items may be required, and if any of my children need to have the assignment altered (We do family style science and history, but the work they do on their own is more grade-level focused). In previous years, I have filled composition notebooks with daily assignments in list form. This year, I am fortunate to have a section in my AnnaVancePaperCo planner.
I like having the whole year planned this way so that when I go to fill in my weekly plans, I just move to the next day's assignment on the list and stick it on the schedule. I realize this may seem like a lot of steps, and there have been years that I just used the dozen teacher's manuals to help me do my weekly or monthly planning in my planner. For the last few years, having everything easy to access for planning (which I usually prepare during our break before the school year) has made my weekly planning and schooling go much more smoothly.
Blessings,
Blu
Planning Series
Day 1: Planning Courses
Day 2: Planning Each Subject
Blessings,
Blu
Planning Series
Day 1: Planning Courses
Day 2: Planning Each Subject
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