For those of you who plan, where do you begin?

[Tarheel Heather]

I have homeschooled for six years and have never really planned or set long range goals. I am feeling the need to do that with two going at it and a preschooler not far behind. What do you use as guides? As far as where your child should be. Or do you just say "we need to get such and such done in this amount of time"? I have never really worried about it but I will have a sixth grader and I don't want to flub up the next six years with him. I need some structure and not sure where to begin. Does that make any sense?

Thanks!

[Myrtle]

Or do you just say "we need to get such and such done in this amount of time"?

Sometimes the kids are on their own schedule and I can't impose my ideal schedule on them. If I did that I'd either have to dumb down the material or skip material when the kid isn't getting it, or switch to a watered down book. Better to do part of the skill in depth than to skim across it and get all of it done superficially.

I doubt I'm going to finish algebra this academic year, for example. I've got another kid with serious spelling issues. He'll just have to keep working on it before he gets to the next stage/grade.

[WABeth]

When I first read WTM, I sat down and laid out a list of what subjects I wanted to cover in each grade, all the way through 12th grade. Then I penciled in what resources I might use for each subject. This was very tentative as I had only WTM recommendations to go by at first. As I have learned about new products over time I have made changes to the tentative 12 year plan. Each year as I am planning for the next year, I research further and make final decisions. I expect the overall plan to change as we go along (now in 4th grade and K) but the long-range plan is very helpful in allowing me to stay focused in the moment.

HTH

[Closeacademy]

First, I figure out what I want to teach and what I am going to use for a particular year. Right now I am planning first and third grade.

Then I sit down with my calendar, a notebook and a box of sharp pencils (they erase). I figure out what weeks will be short week or around holidays so that we will want to do a fun week and what weeks we will not have school. In the notebook I write down all the dates for the year.

When I recieve materials such as latin, singapore math and such, I write down the page numbers and see how far they will stretch. I keep a list in the back of the planning notebook of when materials will be running out so I know when to reorder.

I then basically, make plans for each month and review my plans on a 4 to 8 week basis to align them with where we currently are. That is why I do it in pencil so I can change things.

Currently, I am doing monthly units. January is place value, Colonial days, clay, double letter phonograms, fables, rewriting fables as precipts, Franklin science, and addition drill.

This summer we will have a month where we will do money math, learn about the history of money, do money science projects and dollar origami.

Good luck in your planning. Be sure to use a pencil because planning is great but it works best when you are flexible and ready to erase and change the whole thing when life happens.:rolleyes:

[Jenny in Atl]

I have never been good at the detailed type of planning (like weekly schedules). For the most part of I used what came with the bks or curriculum and made adjustments for how well my kids were doing, to go slower or faster.

But what I did start a few years ago was to plan out the big picture. What did I see for them, what did I feel they needed to have under their belt - so to speak. I still try and keep it open to change, this is the best part of homeschooling, freedom! Take baby steps, go slow and just take one subject at a time. I know many use the Hirsch bks. You could also look though a SL, or any other boxed curriculum's catalogues for ideas. If you are in the States, most offer list of their curriculum and standards on their web sites.

[St. Theophan Academy]

A few years ago someone posted a wonderful step by step plan for scheduling and planning, and it has been very useful for me. Here are the steps I go through:

Determine long term goals - why am I homeschooling, what do I want to accomplish with my kids?

What topics to cover for the year - based on LCC, What your ... grader needs to know, Ambleside online and WTM

Basic idea of start and finish date, vacations, time I know we will need off (ex: we started school early this year so I could take 3 weeks off in October when I had a baby)

Begin looking for books/curriculum to cover the topics chosen, using the above mentioned books as my guides.

Order major resources - look them over and make sure they will cover what I want.

Then I plan my teacher book - which includes a one page overview of all subjects and the books to teach them - and then breaks each subject down with one page per subject. Example: for math, I just have a table with the math lessons listed, and topics the lessons cover - created basically from the table of contents. For our classical studies, I have the books we will read, with each chapter listed and a box next to it to check it off after it is completed.

Then, I create a schedule 4 weeks at a time. I decide how much we need to accomplish in the four weeks, and fill in a weekly planning page for that. On sunday before each school week, I try to fill in roughly what we will do each day, just to make sure I don't forget things. We do not stick to this rigidly, and sometimes the whole plan goes out the window, but it gives me a starting point, and makes me feel confident that we are getting things done.
My son is in 3rd grade this year and when my dh asked him how school was going (about 2 weeks into the year) he said, actually, pretty good, mom is a lot more organized this year :) That convinced me more than anything that my planning was worth it! I also have a master plan for our school day - which is a rough guide so that I know on Mondays we should read greek Myths, Tuesday we do Aesop's fables, Wednesday is picture study etc. That gives my kids the predictability they appreciate, and helps me to actually do some of the things that otherwise used to get skipped.

This way, I don't plan out that we have to be at page X by Dec X, I move at their pace, but still can look at my teacher's book and see where and if I need to reevaluate. For 7th grade and up, I think a long term plan is important when it comes to subjects like math - since if they are going to college certain courses have to be accomplished, and in a certain order. I plan to use college admission requirements to help me in determining a lot of the upper level schooling, (if I am still homeschooling then :) along with LCC and WTM.

Anyway, sorry this is so long, and much of it may not be what you were asking for - but I hope something helps ! Anne Marie

[Trivium Academy]

When I first read WTM, I sat down and laid out a list of what subjects I wanted to cover in each grade, all the way through 12th grade. Then I penciled in what resources I might use for each subject. This was very tentative as I had only WTM recommendations to go by at first. As I have learned about new products over time I have made changes to the tentative 12 year plan. Each year as I am planning for the next year, I research further and make final decisions.

I have the same thing but most of it is sequential- Horizons 1, Horizons 2, etc. and it was more inspired by Wisdom and Eloquence than WTM, although we are based some of our subjects on WTM's suggestions. We're in 2nd grade now and I have chosen up to 5th grade material already based on what I know about my oldest child and academic goals. But the nitty-gritty planning of each year, that's different and it IS scheduling it all out in a manageable way for the year.

First, I get familiar with the curriculum, figure out how many weeks it will take to finish it and look for areas that may need to be spread out or condensed. Then I make a Year at a Glance

http://i58.photobucket.com/albums/g270/triviumacademy/Jan_Aug2008.jpg


This is done on the computer because it is MUCH easier to change it, I put dates on it for the rest of this year b/c I do want to stick to the dates as much as possible. I did have it as Week 1, Week 2, Week 3, etc. At a glance I can see where we should be and how ahead or far behind we are from our goal of being done on a particular date.

I've toyed with a weekly schedule with books & page #s but in reality, it's busywork for me only hsling one child, when my son joins us with curriculum that needs to be put on the yearly overview- it'll change. With multiple children, having a weekly schedule would be best. Okay, now I have my overview for the year, I have 4 quarters (using TOG's Unit #) which last 9 weeks long- and b/c I like to plan and prepare, I'll tackle one quarter a year.

Pretty much, I'll do anything I CAN do to make the quarter a "do the next thing" which can involve collecting items for projects, figuring which books should be read-alouds, prepare memory items, etc. Then for that quarter, we just DO it. We take a week off in-between quarters, this is to allow me to prepare the next quarter but in reality, I do a little at a time beforehand.

What needs to be planned and coordinated is completely dependent on the curriculum and resources you have but you know that. :)

I hope some of this helps, I've streamlined planning as much as I can without taking the fun out of it for myself.

[Tarheel Heather]

I have always followed whatever the lesson book or what not has stated. I feel I need to have more specific, tailored goals for *our* family. And I am not a planner so this is all new territory and overwhelming!

Thanks for the great ideas! This should be fun!

[Rebecca]

After all the planning posts on a prior board(before these new forums)
I started planning six weeks at a time. We had our most intentional school week ever and I will continue to plan!
It did seem like busy work to me but it helps me be mentally "there" and "prepared." I found I will do what I write down. Also, it helped me include some things in our school that are very important to me but that I always seemed to push aside- like reading to the two year old and playing that certain christian children's cd.

Also, I really enjoy it. I love looking through the books and choosing (for my younger ones) what we are reading and making notes on connections.

I appreciate the step by step post above. I am saving that one for me!

Rebecca
-don't have signature yet.
Homeschooling 2nd, first, k, pre-k, and almost 2.

[mcconnellboys]

I think E.D. Hirsch's books, What Your _______ Grader Needs to Know, are good guidelines for a complete, well-rounded education (although I don't think you have to do the things he says in the years in which he places them).....

Regena

[Trivium Academy]

It's only available the the Core Knowledge store new, but another good source is the Core Knowledge Sequence K-8 book. Core Knowledge is the only place to get it new, you might want to check your library for it. I use it mostly for LA but it has all the subjects.

[8FillTheHeart]

For a 6th grader, the first thing I would do would be to form a basic long term subject plan, yr by yr. This doesn't have to be cast in stone, simply an overview that lists subjects you want to plan for each yr. Based on the lists that many posters on this board have posted in the past, I would encourage you to limit subject matter to ~7 per yr for 8th up.

One way to generate your plan is to look at your state's college bound grad requirements and treat them as the minimum. Another plan is to look at universities and see what the require for admission.

Once you have a reasonable plan for high school, I would work my way backward for middle school planning. What do you need to do to solidly prepare them for the courses you have listed in grades 9-12. Middle school in our household is very strongly focused on expanding writing skills, learning to distinguish important from the unimportant in books they are reading, and solidifying math skills.

Does that help? Yearly goals and objectives for specific grade levels are a beast of a different nature. ;)

[Lucy in Australia]

Working backwards was helpful for me, too. When my DS was about to start 6th grade I had a mild panic attack (you know, the "I've done this all wrong and he'll have to drive a rubbish truck for the rest of his life" type of crisis) so I thought about what we wanted him to be able to achieve in grade 12, and gradually worked back from there. This gave me a broad overview of where we were heading.

Then, at the beginning of each school year, I use Excel to make a spreadsheet showing what we need to do each year. I include every subject, although for some, like Maths, it's a bit redundant because we know he just has to do the next lesson every day. For subjects like history, literature, French, music appreciation and so on, it's invaluable. I honestly don't know how I muddled through the first few years without knowing what was coming next or if we were on track.

This spreadsheet also enables me to look ahead each fortnight and get the relevant library books out, print off anything I need from the computer, get any DVDs that we watch in conjunction with books and so on. It did take a long time to create the spreadsheet the first time (mainly because I kept fiddling with it unnecessarily) but now it's great: I just change it year by year, for both boys.

[tess in the burbs]

Well, I am a planner in real life. So I started making lists for school as well. First I made an excel sheet with our year to year goals. So as I find books for the next grade(or older) I put it in that grade year so I don't go researching a thousand things...I usually have one or two listed so when the time comes it's easier to research and I already eliminated ones that we wouldn't use.

Then I have our current year goals. I pretty much have one book per subject to work through. some subjects have more than one book(like ETC).

Then I do another sheet with week by week lesson plans so I can make sure I get it all done by end of the year. We are 'behind' this year in that we started in July and won't be done until June at the rate we are moving. but it's ok. Since it's on the computer, I just adjust our weekly dates and I am no longer behind, LOL!!!

This also helps when come Monday(like today) when I did not pull anything out yesterday to write down in my planner what we plan to actually do. My pencil planner is done each week to record what we did each day and keeps track of school days done. this is my curiosity and not for the system. I like to do this before we start the week but sometimes it happens during school ;-)

It's all type A planning, but I like my excel sheets and they do keep me on track. Like today when I don't wanna do school but I know if I don't then we will be schooling through July, lol, and we really want to take a LONG camping trip so I HAVE to get done before July, lol.

but the short story is I look at the year, then break up the book into 36-40 weeks of lessons, then break it down by days in the week.

hope this helps,

[angela in ohio]

Short version:

I started by researching college requirements and the curriculum of good Classical Christian schools. I listened to CDs of speakers whose opinions I values. Then we planned out a "probably" course, complete with goals for the long-term.

Each year, I determine what we will use to move us toward our goals in each area. Then I take each subject area I want to cover and write a syllabus for it. I choose materials that will accomplish those goals, usually a main textbook and supplements, but sometims just pieces of many things. I write out the list of assignements for each subject.

When I am done with every subject, I accumulate them, determine our school year schedule and divide everything up. The I write lesson plans for a few weeks at a time.

[Narrow Gate Academy]

I took several Advanced Placement tests before entering college and began with a full semester of credits. I would like to do something similar with my children. So for math for instance, I would like to make it through a minimum of one year of high school calculus or possibly 2 (which would be 1 year at college level) for those exams. I work my way back from there to determine what grade we would need to start Algebra. I did something similar with science.

Some subjects, I have made it a goal to finish by a certain grade. Spelling/vocabulary, for instance, I want to finish before high school so I set down a tentative plan to accomplish this. I did the same thing with the Classical Writing program that we use.

Some subjects like history, I just have down a basic outline following the WTM sequence.

Together it gives me a rough long time outline to use as a base for more detailed plans as we get closer to that particular year.

I agree with one of the other replys that you should check the college entrance requirements for the schools around you. I'll most likely reevaluate my plan when my oldest reaches 5th grade to make sure my goals are still in line with what other college bound students are doing.

HTH

[Jenny in Florida]

In some subjects, there is a clear progression: History means covering the next chunk in the roation; math, Latin, Spanish, grammar, etc., mean going on to the next grade level. I don't really have specific long-term goals, other than making sure my kids will have covered all the traditional bases for high school graduation, plus whatever seems appropriate for their probable future academic careers. I look at TWTM and other scope-and-sequence resources and sketch out a list of subjects for the year. I think about the child's specific interests and abilities and decide whether there might be other subjects we should cover formally. I ask the child if there is anything he/she would like to add. And, eventually, we arrive at a list of subjects or "clases."

I start with a general idea of what I want to cover in each subject. So, for example, for next year, I know we'll be cycling back around to the ancients for history. And I know we'll want to coordinate literature with that time, too, and that our current, no-single-spine, read-lots-of-books, watch-lots-of-DVDs approach is working well.

Then I go to TWTM and make a list of significant people and subjects from the era. I spend some time pondering and researching to see if there are big holes in that list--civilizations or concepts not adequately represented--and I add in those topics.

Next, I go to our own bookshelves and make a list of anything we've already got that covers any of those themes. Whatever is left over goes on a general shopping list. (By the way, in the name of shopping cheaply, I generally start this process at least a year in advance, to give myself plenty of time to accumulate things from bargain tables and used book sales and close-out stores, etc.)

As I said in some other post, I like to have everything on-hand for the following year by no later than the beginning of our summer break. That gives me time to pre-read or at least preview all the materials and get a sense of what I've really got before I sit down to the nuts-and-bolts planning. So, if I get to that point and still have gaping holes I've been unable to fill, I go ahead and order whatever I need to finish up.

Then, once I have everything on hand, I take time over the summer to write weekly lessons plans for the whole year.

I do this in layers, beginning with the base for each subject and then adding in each additional resource until it's all accounted for.

I usually start with history/literature. I take my list of everything I'm planning to use and put it all in order. Usually, this means chronological, but occasionally we've done things regionally or by civilization. I count up how many pages of all the various resources and divide that total by the number of weeks in our school year. I pick something to use as a base. This year, for example, it was the reading list, itself. I put all the books I wanted my son to read in chronological order and figured out how many pages he needed to read each week to get through the whole list during the academic year. Then I went through all the supplementary materials and figured out what books they went with and slotted them into the appropriate weeks.

Then I move on to the next subject. So, for science this year, my son used three primary resources: a PH Science Explorer text, a book about the human body and two workbooks from Dandy Lion. We decided he would work through all three concurrently, rather than doing one at a time start to finish. So, I divided the number of pages in each resource by the number of weeks in our academic year and assigned that many pages of each one per week. When possible, I tried to line up subjects from one resource with another. For example, if there was a chapter in the text about glaciers, I assigned the lesson about ice in the Marine Science workbook during the same week.

And so it goes, subject by subject, resource by resource. And, sometime before the first day of the new school year, I print out all those weekly lesson plans and stick them in a three-ring binder.

And we're on our way.

--Jenny

[Mamabegood]

I use Homeschool Easy Records (HER). I love it because it is very flexible. I can change dates and it automatically resets the dates of future assignments. Because the lesson plans are imported from the Lesson Plan Manager, I can use the same ones over and over for different children.

The only drawback I experienced with this program is that it took me a while to figure out how to do everything I needed to. There is a pdf file with instructions, but it's still sort of confusing in the beginning.

Good luck with your planning! :)