"non-planners"???

[Mom2legomaniacs]

Are there others that just loosely plan? I mean you don't plan things out daily or in detail. You just move on to the next unit/chapter/page. Will there come a time when this will not be possible and I will really have to "plan"? Mine are 1st and 4th currently. I do have a general plan in that I know what texts we are using for most subjects for the next few years. And we finish each book we do. But I don't do "lesson plans".
Is this a bad thing? Will it turn around and bite me back soon? Or am I ok for now with this? Just thinking aloud here and wondering, you know!

[AmyinPA]

it's worked fine for us so far. The only place that I really see this as a weakness is in science since I'm often required to gather material at the last minute.

[chiguirre]

I think it depends on the curriculum you use. I plan FIAR (okay, so it's 20 minutes, but still) and I just do the next thing in SL. For math, phonics, reading, hwing I just do the next thing. As long as you like what you're using, that's all there is to it. Or at least, I hope that's all there is to it:eek:.

[lvbnhome]

when they arrived to the highschool years, it has forced me to PLAN, in order to keep my head above water. :) When they are younger, we just found it easier to "go with the flow", have a little routine, but not be stressed out when it didn't go the way we planned. Hope that helps...:)

[Suzanne in ABQ]

My kids are in 4th and 6th.

I don't plan. I just turn to the next lesson, and see what we're studying next. This works fine for almost everything. (Singapore math, R&S grammar, Natural Speller, Latina Christiana I, Reason for Handwriting.) Most of these subjects don't lend themselves well to planning because I have no idea how quickly or slowly the kids will get through the material. They may whiz through 4 math lessons in one day, then take 3 days to complete the next one. The same is true for grammar.

Latin takes more and more time the further we get in the book because there is so much more review, and because I'm learning it for the first time myself. This is one area that I may need to change. I've been reading the threads about staying ahead of the kids in Latin, and I think I would be a better Latin teacher if I had a clue what was coming. I'm going to work ahead in the book, and maybe work through another program as well. Planning would probably help us in this subject.

When we were doing science (Real Science 4 Kids - Chemistry), I did look ahead at the materials lists, but I didn't study the lesson ahead of time. When we were doing earth science/astronomy, though, I did plan out a whole year worth of material. I didn't plan ahead, though, on how much we'd cover in a day. We just plugged through my plan until we finished.

For history (SOTW), I get online with my Activity Guide book list and order books from the library system for the next few chapters. But, again, I don't read ahead. I don't plan which chapters we'll read, or which books we'll read. We just sit on the couch and start reading. Sometimes, we spend 3 hours just reading the library books. Other times, we just do one section from SOTW, and call it good for the day.

For reading, I just assign books related to our history or science and require them to read a minimum time each day. They do other free reading on their own (dd more than ds).

I keep a "Plan" book, but I only use it to write down what we/they did, *after* they finish it. I feel strong in the subject matter (except Latin), so I have no trouble just winging it every day. We've been doing it for over 7 years, now, and it's working fine.

Things may change next year. My 6th grade dd is becoming more and more independent. Plus, next year, she'll be doing different curricula that may lend itself better to pre-planning (Video Text Algebra, for instance). I'll probably plan out some subjects in advance and give her check lists to use.

[Amy in Orlando]

I usually have a loose plan of what I'd like to cover for a year and a little more of a plan for 6 months. Beyond that, I don't do a whole lot of planning.

[Ellie]

I did KONOS a couple of years, and that requires planning, but most of the time I just looked ahead in any Official School Stuff to see what was going to happen next so I'd be ready.

Some other things did require more planning when the dc were older, but we sort of grew into that together, lol. Also, we did Camp Fire and 4-H, and I had to plan ahead for projects and badges and whatnot. No biggie.

[Plaid Dad]

I generally just "do the next thing." My dd is young and I only have the one, so it's just not that hard (yet).

[Laura Corin]

it's worked fine for us so far. The only place that I really see this as a weakness is in science since I'm often required to gather material at the last minute.

I don't see it as a bad thing - like Amy, I do have to look at science the weekend before to gather materials for that though. In fact, as it's not always obvious where to find things here, I tend to gather most materials for science at the beginning of the book.

I do have at the back of my mind where I want to get to in the book by the end of the year, and whether it matters that much. At present, for Calvin, that looks like:

Bio: matters because we are heading for a public exam and I want him to have good review time. So I keep a sharp eye on how much we do and double up if necessary

History: doesn't matter, but don't want to short-change him as he loves history.

Maths: matters (one exercise each day) because of distant exams.

English: doesn't matter much so long as we keep moving forwards

Latin: doesn't matter, etc.

I've been home educating for 4 1/2 years and it hasn't bitten me yet.

Laura

[Diane]

I was doing lesson plans, but all I was writing down was "the next lesson" type thing. I ran out of ink and went one week without lesson plans, and I've been going without one for a couple months. I have all my books and do the next lesson, I stop and supplement when needed, I use different books, activities...sometimes when you are in the thick of it, you realize you need more practice, or you think of some great idea to help, and it would throw my lesson plans off...We are on track, and besides...the good thing with homeschooling is that you can finish when you please, or at least I can here in Florida. We'll finish when we finish. :) May even be ahead of time.

[Jenny in Atl]

This is me! I just have a rough idea of what we will cover over the year, month, week, day... But I have never been good about the details. Somehow we seem to get things done ahead of time, most times, and just move on the next on the list. I know this will have to change if we go through high school. So I have a couple more years to play it fast and loose before buckling down :eek:

[Karin]

We're a do the next thing family still and my eldest is in gr. 8. We are starting to plan for bigger projects. I do spend an inordinate amount of time choosing curricula, and have been devoting a great deal of time to our next math curricula recently and won't even be purchasing for a few months. Personally, I'm hoping we can do the next thing with at least some of our high school curricula, too, but we are going to have to do some more serious planning I think.

[Hillary in KS]

I've got one in 6th and 1 in first. I don't plan, and it's worked out fine.

The only "planning" I find that I need to do is in history and science. Every couple of weeks I check out library books I'll need, and make sure I have what I need onhand for science. That's really it.

So, through 6th grade at least, you're probably good. :)

[Tutor]

to make sure I have things like science supplies or copies made for the upcoming week, but that's it. If I don't do that, I find we don't move steadily through our work because when I stop to copy something, the kids scatter. LOL.

I tried doing lesson plans, and I found that they just made me depressed because I would be "off schedule" and then get mad at myself. We weren't necessarily behind, we just had to spend more time on something, followed a short rabbit trail or blew through something much faster than I expected, and it would throw me off completely.

[Friederike in Persia]

:eek:

So many on the forum seem to be "super duper planers" and they don't even life overseas (where it takes time to get stuff sent out).

So I got this big callendar sent and did what SWB recommends, at least for some subjects. That was one and a half months ago and we've digressed, aren't anywhere near the planned stuff anymore,... so I'm back to roughly planning the year as a whole and not more. I seem to be in good company with all the above replies.
Let me just get up and take that calendar down,....;)

[Shannon831]

We use SL, and we generally stick to their plan. We cover a lesson of MUS a week, unless something needs more practice. We do a lesson of Abeka Language a day. We do a chapter of science every other week, a lesson of spelling a week, ect. I don't really feel the need to plan out anything, because everything we use pretty much breaks down into the school year anyways.

If I was an uber-mom like some of the ladies here and I designed my own lessons and modified all of my curriculum, I could see how that would require planning. That's why I could never make my millions being like the people who designed TOG, or SL, or any of the other curriculums. I just hand over my money and kindly take their hard work : )

I do have to look ahead to get library books for my Ker, but that really takes almost no effort. So far, it's worked for us.

[Laura Corin]

So long as you know where you want to be going and you see yourself getting there, I don't think there's a problem.

Now I am a planner, but on a different scale: I have Calvin's courses planned up to the age of 16 (what exams to take when, etc.). I just don't do the day-to-day fine planning.

Laura

[Colleen]

We use Sonlight for history, and I do appreciate that schedule. Aside from that, I've never been compelled to make lesson plans, etc. Virtually everything my guys study is a matter of doing the next thing. Yes, as they get older, you need to look ahead more. You may need to bone up on a subject yourself, have a semi-clear picture of what you want to have accomplished by year's end, and so on. But lesson plans? Nope, not in my case.

[BizyPenguin]

I really admire moms who can do elaborate lesson plans, but it's not my style. We just do the next thing each day. I do recommend that you record/jot down what you've done so that you have a record of daily accomplishments. It doesn't have to be anything complicated at all. Just a spiral notebook or a check list will do. All the best!

[Susie in CA]

The only planning I do is getting library books and supplies for experiments or projects. I do this usually on Sunday. That's it.

Susie

[Mom2legomaniacs]

Ok a big WHEW! Much of what you all said is very much like how we operate here. I see all these elaborate daily plans and start to wonder. But I know that is not for us. I am mostly content with the way things go around here. I just wanted to see if others did things that way and if they seemed to continue working well.
Thanks! We'll muddle on in our own fashion then!:D

[CalicoKat]

I really admire moms who can do elaborate lesson plans, but it's not my style. We just do the next thing each day. I do recommend that you record/jot down what you've done so that you have a record of daily accomplishments. It doesn't have to be anything complicated at all. Just a spiral notebook or a check list will do. All the best!
This is us too. For record keeping I do write the date on the top of the lesson and go back every week (or month) and input it into my EduTrack program. That way I know how many days of school we've done (100 yesterday!) and also I can have proof if I should need it that looks spiffy. We have CPS in our home because of our foster kids so I feel like I need to be prepared in case.

History & Science are the challenges. I did try using a prepackaged curriculum but it's not going as smoothly. So we went back to STOW vol 3. and the kids are loving being in control of their own again. They tell me that history isn't school, it's fun.

Science - Magic School Bus is on at 8 a.m. --does that count? We do have science with our Co-Op but even that's been unreliable because of illness (me).

My plan is to use the summer to focus on Science once they've finished up with the basics for their grade level.

So far going with the flow and doing the next has been the best method. They're learning. But I do wonder if perhaps it's teaching them to be lazy. I'm not really pushing them. But they do love learning.

[BizyPenguin]

CalicoKat, LOL! I really didn't consider my method planning since I only record what ds does *after* he does it, but go ahead and call me a planner if you like. Hee Hee. :p

[nancypants]

Are there others that just loosely plan? I mean you don't plan things out daily or in detail. You just move on to the next unit/chapter/page. Will there come a time when this will not be possible and I will really have to "plan"? Mine are 1st and 4th currently. I do have a general plan in that I know what texts we are using for most subjects for the next few years. And we finish each book we do. But I don't do "lesson plans".
Is this a bad thing? Will it turn around and bite me back soon? Or am I ok for now with this? Just thinking aloud here and wondering, you know!

This is how we are right now... Well, I suppose I do plan but only on a weekly basis and I do it all on Pageflakes, not in a planning book of any kind.

[Robin Hood]

I used to just go to the next chapter but I have found that we move too slowly with this method. I don't really do lessons plans in detail yet, but I have started to plan what lesson we will do daily up to a month in advance and have found we cover more material and get done in less time than before. I am in the beginning stages of becoming a planner and it seems to need a lot of adjusting as we go forward.

Today is Friday AM and the girls have almost completed all I had planned for them this week so it is a light day and we will go ice skating tonight as a reward.

My 9yo math hater is even doing better in math this way. I let her have quite a bit of time off for math trying to have the courage to believe that she is developmentally slower in this department. I started her back up giving her a week a time work and she gets it done now with less prodding and anxiety.