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Running out of planning time for the new year – help!
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So I’m now over 3 weeks into our 6 week summer, with September looming around the corner. I’m struggling to find more than 1 hour on about 3 evenings/week to plan…and I’m way behind. It just isn’t possible to plan during the day – I have little ones and a baby. And by the time everyone is in bed, then there are chores to finish off…dishwasher to see to, laundry to put away…you know. Then I finally sit down. I stayed up till after midnight the other evening, then was so exhausted the next day I was horrible. So today I tried getting up extra early…but hardly got anywhere before it was time to start the day’s routine….
I know there’s no magic answer – just wondering how everyone else manages.
Thanks!
I hear you!
We had such a busy summer this year that all of my planning was left until August. You sound just like me – trying to squeeze in my planning in the midnight hours when all of my littles and baby are asleep, but then having trouble staying awake during the day!
When I’m planning curriculum, I have the tendency to wander all over the place – on the Internet, through catalogs, etc. – and I waste a lot of time doing so.
I’ve found that what helps me is to make a small goal for myself, such as “Today I will choose the composers and artists we will study this year and choose the books we will use for them.”
With small goals organized by subject, I find that I stay “on task” much better and my plans are actually starting to shape up.
Maybe this would help you, too?
~Anna 🙂
How old are the kids? My 8 yo son does the dishwasher and all my kids from age 3 on fold laundry and help put away… I have planning tme because the kids help with many chores. My dh generally get them to do things I would think the couldn’t… And he is right, they can…. And so they do.
I agree with pianogirl. Choose small goals and plan make decisions one subject at a time. Then once you’ve decided on your materials, you can do the planning bit by bit. I find the decision making the most challenging.
I hear ya! I am behind on planning, and we are moving next week on top of that! My children unload the dishwasher, fold clothes and do all sorts of chores, but there is still a lot to do when the day is done! One thing I have realized is that I have been trying to change too much too quickly. Our “official” school year will not start until November (our move is from TX to AK, so we will be on the road for a month and then have to find housing), and when it does, I am going to stick with what was working, even if it was just “okay”, and switch up one thing at a time. For instance, I really want to switch my daughter from FLL and WWE, but she isn’t quite finished with FLL3 and WWE2, so once we get there, IF I even do LA with her right away, she will pick up with those while I take my time making a decision. I was also trying to switch to Truthquest history, but the planning for that has overwhelmed me, so I am going to use SCM modules to give me some structure this year.
I guess what I am trying to say is, maybe step back and look at what HAS to be done, as well as what you can do to simplify your plannng. After that, I like the previous idea of setting a small goal for yourself each day. The kicker there is, you HAVE to make a decision! I often set a small goal for myself but end the evening more confused than I was when I started! I think sometimes it is worth it just to pick something and go with it, even if you aren’t completely sure it is “the one”! 🙂
What kind of planning are you trying to do? Do you mean you’ve not even chosen curriculum for each subject and ordered any materials you need? Or do you mean you have your things and just are trying to plan out what chapters/pages you’ll do each day for the whole year (or a single term)? Or something in between?? I love planning and would love to help but am not sure what comments will help without a bit more direction.
Thanks everyone – really good advice.
Pianogirl – I really identify with what you said. Becuase I’m still fairly new to this whole homeshool thing, and have dabbled in classical but have now decided to make a complete switch to CM, I feel I need to do a lot of reading and browsing simply to educate myself. Then there comes a time when I just have to make a decision. But then I’ve made one or two bad ones along the way and wasted money, and wished I’d spent more time learning…!
Suzukimom – they’re 18months, 4 and 6 years. The oldest two (esp the 6yr) unload the dishwasher, help with the laundry, the dusting, and keep their room clean, help clear the table after meals and sweep the floor, clean the blackboard and empty the bins, hang up their clothes and make their beds as far as they are able. Wow, that sounds like a lot now that I’ve listed it out! But there’s still so much left for me to do. Maybe I’m still getting something wrong though, as it sounds like you do pretty much the same but still find the time.
Tristan, that’s so kind of you – whatever you’re doing, you must be doing right, and want to know about it, because your time pressures must be so much more intense that mine are with your larger family and sick baby. In answer to your question, I’m working my way through Planning Your CM Education, and I’m on the Planning your Year section (choosing Curriculum and ordering). I’ve nearly completed this now (my goal is to try to complete it tonight!) and then move on to the next stage (planning your term).
I’d love to hear any advice! Thanks.
With kids as young as yours are, my advice would be to simply work into ‘school’ slowly. You have three weeks until you want to start, right? This week, start with the basics. What are you doing to teach reading and math? What supplies do you need to gather? Even if this is all you do for the first few weeks of school, you will be fine. In public school in first grade, most of the first month will be spent on transitioning kids from kindergarten to first grade, helping them get used to sitting for longer periods, reviewing basics, setting up classroom rules and standards, etc. You don’t have to have everything perfect.
Then, next week plan another subject, or two if you have time. Handwriting/printing/copywork and Literature would be my next big ones, but you can decide.
The third week, figure out science and nature study.
The 4th week, start school with what you have. Figure out history.
5th week, add in history to your school days, and plan the ‘extras’ (composers, artists, poetry, etc.)
6th week, add in the new areas, plan your scripture memory system,
etc.
Don’t panic, just ease your way into it.
I actually did this, except I started in March (when we decided we were going to homeschool and I settled on Charlotte Mason. I figured, why wait?) and then just introduced one new subject per month. I think it was about November of before we actually had everything going.
Since then we have been working year round, so I only do specific planning when we are close to finishing up a book or topic and need to move to something new. Much less stress!
Joanne
Joanne,
Thank you. I’ve thought about schooling year round, but so far have gone with the CM (and typical UK) 3 twelve-week terms, with a Christmas(1-2week), Easter(1-2week and Summer(6week) break, plus a 1 week half-term break in the middle of each term (this varies a little according to when Easter is.
Sometimes though I do wonder whether I’d be less stressed with year-round schooling…but I don’t really know how this works, and I’m nervous of my children feeling hard done by to be in school when others or on vacation. I’d love to know more. Thanks
Ok, my oldest is almost 9 so they can do a lot more. I agree to figure out the basics first and start with that. Your oldest is just 6… start with the basics. Reading… you need a how to read program, and a read-aloud. Writing… again a how to write the letters program or copywork if she can. Math… if you can’t decide, get dominoes and use the small numbered ones to add the dots. Do that for awhile, then add more things
Your kids are young…I can understand how it would be hard to find time to plan. Those are busy ages. I think others have given you good ideas about easing into the school year…no pressure to start everything on week one. I actually find it helpul to ease everyone back into the routine adding subjects over a couple weeks until we are running smoothly.
As far as planning goes…is there anyone that could give you a few hours to yourself to plan? You husband, a friend, a babysitter? Sometimes it helps to have an uniterupted chunk of time to pull your thoughts together.
Pink
Yes, pink is right… My first couple of years I would take the kids to the babysitting at the YMCA and then sit in the lobby to plan…
This year I had to just have a big plan (basically list of our books and/or resources). I made a page for each child with their resources listed (many of which overlap in history and science). It is one page front and back.
Then I planned 9 weeks for each of our three oldest. I also planned math goals for the year for our 1st graders. Other than that, I just have their resources for handwriting, reading, phonics, etc listed.
I also made a sheet to fill in as I go with our 1st graders b/c I often just decide the morning of what exactly we’ll read or what letter sounds/letter combinations we’ll be working on in phonics. I don’t have a program, just using a couple of books for reference.
I agree with others that you need to enlist some help on laundry and dishes.
Hang in there and remember the only way to eat an elephant is one bite at a time. You can do it!!!Oops, I missed your follow-up post somehow.
I love what jmac suggested too of easing in and adding in subjects. That is basically what I’m doing with our two 1st graders too, though I still don’t have a plan on paper.
Shhh!I love the section you’re coming to now in planning because it really gives you that picture of what you will be able to do. I don’t worry too much about to-do#1 in that chapter as we school year round (taking time off as needed, then usually a longer 3-4 weeks off during the summer sometime). To Do #2 in there is my favorite. If I’m planning 40 weeks of school (or 36 for a more traditional year) I open each curricula or book and see how many sections/pages/chapters there are and start recording. Then divide them up to fit the weeks I have.
One thing to do with history – are you using the SCM module guide? If so it’s ready for you, if not, add all the books chapters together for figuring your year. So if between 10 books there are 140 chapters and I’m planning 36 weeks, I know we need to read 4 chapters from some history book each week. This part is step 4. It trickles down, now I know we could do history 4 days per week (1 ch. per day) or choose to have two ‘history days’ where we read 2 chapters each time for history only twice a week. If I did that I would make sure science was not on those two days, so we could use two short lesson blocks of time for history. Then if you’re not using the SCM guide take a day to put your history books in order generally chronologically and write it down. You’ll start one book and read it however many chapters per week, then finish it and begin the next, still reading the exact same number of chapters per week, and so on. You don’t have to plan out actual lessons for that, just grab the current history book and read/narrate.
Can you tell I love planning?LOL! My sister thinks I’m nuts. We both homeschool but come at preparation totally differently.
One last thing – remember you don’t have to do history, science, or any other subject all year long. We did one school year where we did history for a month, then science for a month. A different school year we did all our history in the first half of the year (working on it daily in two short blocks or one long) and the second half of the year we ignored history and focused in on science. Make it work for you. At my house we tend to have art, composers, etc done in a portion of the year, with a month or two off as needed. We’ve never actually done 6 artists and 6 composers in a year, usually 3 of each. Make it fit your family.
Hang in there and remember the only way to eat an elephant is one bite at a time. You can do it!!!
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