Des asked in another thread if I plan for the whole year. I would love to hear everyone’s response because we are all so different!
My planning has gone through shifts over the years and the answer is yes and no. Some things I do plan for the year, while others are ‘do the next lesson’ (math), and then I even have areas I leave open (science).
For next year, for example, my 7th grader’s science is planned out because she’ll be doing Apologia’s General Science. It will be a full year of work for her. Her math is just do the next lesson. She will switch levels this April and we usually do math all summer so she’ll switch levels again sometime in 7th as she reaches the end of a book. History for her is different next year. It is only ‘half-planned’. We will be doing Early American History as a family (with family readings)and for the first 1/2 of the year I have assigned books she’ll read independently:
The Witch of Blackbird Pond
Amos Fortune: Free Man
Indian Captive: The Story of Mary Jemison
Johnny Tremain
Toliver’s Secret
Ben and Me
Sacagawea: The Girl of the Shining Mountains
The second half of the year I am opening history up and she can choose any persons and events in the time period to learn about, either ones that we didn’t cover (I’ll offer her a list) or ones she wants to go deeper into. The only requirement is reading daily.
My younger children’s history is actually a fully planned year. They will be 3rd, 2nd, K, two PreK, plus a toddler and newborn this fall. They have a list of books I’ll read to them all year, enough to fill both halves of the year.
My younger children’s science, however, is not planned AT All. We will follow interests as they arrive. All summer we have lots of science and nature study, especially with the gardening, and then the rest of the year we’ll just choose topics every other month or so and go at them. No stress, this is the age/stage where they’re learning about the world. All I have to do is offer things that go with their interests or surroundings.
Does that help any? I didn’t bother to go through every subject and list it all out for you, but those are highlights, especially where they differ for my age groups.