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Lesson Planning
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I am in the beginning planning for next year! I am evaluating my current lesson planning system to see if there is a better way for me to do it! We have 3 school aged kiddos! There are some things we do together and other things that are separate! Right now, I have a printed lesson planner that I put together myself! It is a printed planner that I had spiral bound! I designed some of the pages and others I found online! I keep up with the days I do school, my calendar, a notes section for anything school related I want to remember and a lesson planning section! I remain flexible and not bound to the plan, but it is a guide that I very much use and appreciate! So, I would love to know how all you mama’s plan your school??? I have never done any planning online! I need to explore the CM Organizer! I do like the idea of planning online and then printing something out! I devote time every week to planning. For example, when planning for Bible/Geography/History, I will write down what lesson we will do for the day, additional resources I need, living books that go along, etc….. If it is a day for Visits to Africa, I write down the visit#! I do this for every subject! I will plan 1 to 2 weeks ahead! I have found that planning too far in advance just requires more editing since we move at their pace and life happens! I am just interested in how you plan and specific pros and cons and comparing a handwritten planner to an online one! Thanks in advance!!!
I do something a bit in between those two. I have a word document that I type up kids assignments in (it is a 1 week chart with daily assignments). However my lesson planning is less detailed than yours seems to be. I’m currently teaching 5 official students (1st-9th grades) with 4 younger boys below that. Much of the kids work is simply of the do the next thing variety. Do the next math page, read the next chapter and narrate, copywork the week’s passage.
I also usually have a chart for myself that lists just the family subjects so I know what to do each day. Monday might say: read 1 chapter in history read aloud, picture study, hymn, read 1 science lesson and do narration or notebook page. Tuesday could say read 1 chapter in book club read aloud, composer study, hymn, nature study. I’m not too detailed because usually the materials are a do the next thing kind of plan. God’s Design for Science – read the next lesson. History – read the next chapter in our book. Math – do the next lesson (on Mondays) or do the next practice page (the other days of the week).
I’m similar to Tristan in that I’m a “do the next thing” type of planner.
That said, I do a general outline of each child/subject in Word, tweaking over several months if necessary. I also include family subjects like composer study, nature, religion, etc.
From there I create a book list for each child. That is, what literature and history books I want them to read to supplement what we do together as a family. I look for audio books, too, especially for my less enthusiastic readers.
If there are certain books/subjects I want them to finish in a certain time frame, I divide that out to make sure they are completing the work at a good pace.
Finally, a month or two before school starts, I enter my plans in Homeschool Planet. I’ve used this planner successfully for two years now. Each week I log on and transcribe the work into my kids individual planners. Homeschool Planet just keeps everything in one location for me and helps me see, at a glance, what readings we are doing each morning, what chapter a certain child should be on the book they are reading, and when we are scheduled to start new subjects throughout the year.
So, the “do the next thing” part sounds great! I am really giving this some thought! Flexibility is key while still having a plan and knowing roughly how long it will take to move through the material! So, I’m wondering if I created a chart for each subject and each lesson, I could just highlight things as they are done to keep up with where we are! I could also have a blank notes section for supplies, living books, that will be using! I dint know, now my wheels are turning! This is why I love this forum and getting feedback from you wonderful moms?, It causes me to look at things differently! Tristan, do you make the chart yourself? Jaeger, does the chart I described sound like what you do? I’ve never heard of homeschool planet! I’ll check that out as well! I have 6 kids but my school aged ones will be 6, 7, and 8 in the Fall so they aren’t quite to the independent phase yet! :). Thanks so much for the feedback 🙂
Yes, my chart is just a simple table in Word.
Have you seen Simply Charlotte Mason’s Planning Your Charlotte Mason Education book or book and dvd? It is great for helping you break things up into a plan (and the book comes with charts you can fill in). They share the basics of how to do this in a blog series for free. It really is a great series to read! http://www.simplycharlottemason.com/blog/series/planning/
Very helpful info! Thanks so much, Tristan!!! So, do you go through the Table of Contents in each curriculum book and enter it into the table? Do you also include living books or do you have a separate list for those? I’m trying to think through how I would organize it now! I am guessing I would set aside some times once all of the next years curriculum arrives!
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