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How long does your yearly planning take?
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When you plan your year (using Sonya’s Planning Your CM Education book/DVD), approximatley how long does it take you? Last year I planned out our current school year in bits and pieces out of necessity. So I really have no idea how long it took me start to finish. We are in Term 3 right now and will finish in July. I can use one of our “off” weeks (since we school year-round) but would this be enough time?? I’ll also have a longer break at the end of Term 3, but I didn’t want to spend all of it on school stuff, I’ll need the break too
In my experience: the planning doesn’t take near as long as the researching…=) I can research for months if I am not careful…research doesn’t always translate to purchase, so it can take a while. Plus I enjoy it. lol I have to say that now that I have more experience behind me, my overall plan and goals are starting to take shape with an pretty clear idea of where we are headed with regards to purchasing materials and that is really cool, since that cuts down on the yearly planning and preparing part.
I’ve started a small notebook with pages titled Grammar, Reading Recommendations, History, Science, etc and jotting down those ideas and suggestions for when I am planning to do “serious” research. This saves me time in ramdom searches, hunting on the forum for a thread, and getting lost on the internet in unrelated searches.
First I purchased what I needed/wanted for the year and waited until I had it – like the Apologia science, Winston grammar, SCM history module, RightStart math, etc. Then it only took me a few days (complete with distractions of life) to plan for family, an 11 yo, 10yo, and two preschoolers, and get it entered in the computer. It really takes a bit of time for each plan and making sure that all is balanced out, but then the SCMO keeps it pretty smooth and flowing, which more than makes up for it later in the year. I tweak anything as needed through out the term/year.
I tend to think about things a lot before I sit down to “plan” so it flows a lot better when I plan it. It doesn’t sound like it from my post though. LOL
I spent a whole day putting it all together at the beginning of our year. I had also already made my decisions and had my books. I also spend an hour or so before each term during our off weeks tweaking and seeing how we are doing.
I also find that the researching and deciding are what take forever. The actual planning comes together fast. If you have a general idea of what you want to do then maybe you might take one day and finalize what you want and another to actually plan it out.
I also like to make my plan then walk away and a few days later look at it again for any glaring faults I may have missed.
Tara
I don’t use the CMO or the DVD/planner, but I do use her blog from awhile back on planning your CM Education. It takes me a week or so, if I don’t plan to switch books in and out, in which case I’d be researching, too. I do it an hour or 2 a day, and on Friday I sometimes get 3 hours.
Thanks ladies! This will make you laugh, but I’m going to ask anyway! So, how long to spend researching & deciding?? My dh once suggested I give myself a time limit and go with the best I come up with after my time is up 🙂 Which for me is a good idea; haven’t really had a reason to try it out, as I haven’t started looking for new materials yet. Anyway, the reason I ask is, I don’t want to get to the end of Term 3 realize I have no idea what we are doing next and spend hours researching. You’re all so right, it is the researching and decisions that take the most time! I’d not separated that from the actual planning part. (I think I’ll combine Tara & Sara’s methods for my actual time spent planning, and use sheraz’s ideas to streamline the researching part.) Thanks!
For researching it depends on what you are doing now. Are you going to continue in your math program? No researching necessary for that then. If so, then Concentrate on that until you make a decision. If you are simply going on to the next history module, decision done. The same for foreign language, etc. For literature, even if you do not use the CMO the book finder is so nice because it lists how many chapters a book has. Great planning tool!
What I do is read up on things I may want to use, and usually I can just feel when something is right for us. If I have hesitations I skip it. For example I researched Life of Fred and it felt so right for us! I did hesitate at the price but I simply kept it there in the back of my mind and when I had the money I pulled the trigger. I researched a few other Math programs and they didn’t connect. I try to trust my instinct, wait for the money, and not keep searching and second guessing myself. Doesn’t always work but I try.
Good luck!
Tara
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