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year round schooling- when do you plan?
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Maybe this is a dumb question…it relates to homeschooling year round. (I plan on homeschooling year-round and won’t be starting until next year.) Even though I have a good idea about what a year-round schedule can look like (3 months on, 1 off; one week off a month, etc.) I am feeling lost in one area – when do I sit down and plan the next year if we’re doing school all the time? i mean, literally when is the planning time for moms who homeschool the whole year? Am I completely missing the obvious? Do you do it during the scheduled breaks? (Maybe I’m stuck in the mindset that planning happens during the summer) Thanks in advance for clarifiying!
I start planning for the next year near the end of my 2nd term, which is now for me. We’ll probably start our new school year late July. I love Sonya’s Planning DVD and Book. It makes it so simple and step by step. I’m almost finished with my planning for next school year and will need to simply enter everything into the organizer.
HTH,
Christie
I mentally plan on some things when it hits me, like it hit me earlier this new year about my son’s middle/high school math, so I researched on that and made a decision and made notes in my homeschool notebook to refer to when the time comes to follow through and I also decided on his (my 9 yr. old son) Latin curriculum for next year and the years after that, through the middle/early high school grades; I made notes to that effect as well. I have an area for long-term goals, which is part of Sonya’s method.
Now, as far as hard-core planning, we take off the entire month of Sept., and that’s when I do it, using Sonya’s method; but I’ve already made notes and ordered materials to use for the year before then. But it’s about 2 weeks of intensive planning during that period, including entering into the organizer.
I don’t know if that’s very clear or not. I go through phases when I can’t think about planning at all and I feel overwhelmed with the whole process. That usually hits me in the mid-Winter and summer; then during other times my mind is consummed with materials, researching and planning. But I’m finished by October with everything.
Rachel
Our school year officially starts August 1, mainly just because we have to report attendance. So, about this time of year I start “planning” for next year. I love Sonya’s Planning Your CM Education.
We’ve done three-weeks-on, one-week-off for many years. And I always have had a few weeks of margin that I can tuck in wherever I need to for extra planning time. For example, in our state we’re required to do 180 school days. (Warning: Math ahead!) 180 days = 36 school weeks. 52 weeks in a year – 36 weeks = 16 weeks off. If i’m counting on one “off” week about every month (= 12 or 13 “off” weeks), that still leaves me an extra 3 or 4 “off” weeks in my year that I can put wherever I need to.
Don’t worry, you’ll have margin.
I plan when I think about it. Of course, not everything gets planned in advance. For example, I know my general goals for math, but if I tried to schedule it daily in advance, it wouldn’t work. What if he got stuck and we spent 3 weeks on skip counting, for example? The same with history, which will be a new subject for us (he’ll be going into first grade). I know the topics I want to cover, and I have a general idea of the books I’ll need, but if I can’t get all of them at the library when I need them, that would throw a monkey wrench into the whole thing.
So basically, here’s what I have planned:
Bible-one reading per day from Penny Gardner’s list (we’ll finish it probably 1st term, then start over).
Reading-still a little “iffy” on this one. I have a list of books such as Frog and Toad and Little Bear that I want to cover, but I’m not sure how much time to spend on each.
Language-I’m not going the CM route on this, since I found some resources I could use that weren’t CM. We’ll see how it goes. I have a list of topics to cover and will use the textbook I found (he can do the exercises orally or I can write them on the marker board) as well as file folder games and silly sentences. For spelling, if he needs it, we’ll use Spelling City (http://www.spellingcity.com).
Math-a combination of workbooks and games. I have the topics I want to cover and will plan specifics weekly. For the most part I hope it’s something like: play a game for place value; let him measure things around the house 1 day; work 2-3 pp. from the workbook.
History-plan the week based on the books from the library or my personal collection on the topic.
Science-same as history. I don’t have the topics planned out for this one. I haven’t decided if I’m going to start that right away or wait a term or two. When I do start, we’ll pull a topic out of a jar (got that idea from a mom on this site; sorry, can’t remember who).
Poetry/Composer Study/Picture Study/Hymn Study/Aesop/Book of Virtues–have the topics/subjects planned, but again, resources depend on what I can find (for composer and picture study). Poetry–finish Poems and Prayers for the Very Young; begin A Child’s Garden of Verses. Hymn Study–burn a CD for the car from what I’ve downloaded from songsandhymn.org. Aesop–most of them are planned; need a few more that I can probably find at the library (but that’s Term 3). Book of Virtues–one story per week. Go in order; skip only if the story looks as if it’s over his head. Composer Study-spend one term getting used to classical music and the orchestra, then use Classics for Kids podcasts for SCM Module 1 composers (two per term). Picture study–spend one term with general art books, then one term each on Audubon, Monet, and Cassatt. (Couldn’t find much on the other three artists from Module 1).
HTH,
Karen
I’ll start the new year mid-June or the week after VBS. I don’t know when that is yet.
We are also required to have 180 days of school. Our “new school year” begins immediately after we’ve reached 180 days. We school year round and just go straight from one “grade” into the next. With my 19yo, we never worried about what “grade” he was in. He never really knew until he reached high school and it really mattered. My next child, the 6 1/2yo seems all caught up in what grade he’s in but I’m trying to get him out of it. I’ve always just had a plan in my head of what we would do when. Sometimes it worked that way…often it did not. So, for example, next school year I plan to do Bible/Catachism, math (we’ll start the next book when they finish this one,) TruthQuest American History for Young Students, 106 Days of Creation, reading/narration, copywork, other science/nature study things that suit our fancy, picture study, composer study, Suzuki violin (our 4th year,) reading lots of books…is that it? But I never, ever sit down and make out a daily plan, or weekly for that matter. After 14 years of doing this, I’ve found out it doesn’t work that way for us. I’m pretty good at keeping on task, but I also never pass up an opportunity for teachable moments as they arise, even it it’s going to put us “behind” in something else. We may have school for several weeks in a row, then life starts happening and we’re off for a couple of weeks. Some would go crazy doing it this way, but it’s just the way we are.
Thank you everyone – i feel that I have a much clearer picture of year round homeschooling now. And I am quite relieved to know there are many ways to plan and I will have the time to do it, even when we’re doing school the whole year. I am profoundly grateful for this website and group! It’s among the best resources I’ve found and I learn things every time I’m here! Thanks again!
Hahahahaha…I’m glad there are others out there like me!
I have a dear friend who spends weeks every summer making out a detailed syllabus for every single subject on colorful charts she designs on her computer. She asks every summer if I want to come over so she can teach me how. I’ve been homeschooling longer than her children have been alive…(ooh…that sounded uppity…I don’t mean it that way…just that I know what works for us and that would NOT.) And then she’s stressed two weeks into the year because she’s behind in everything. I believe planning is beneficial but I also believe we set ourselves up for failure if we plan so close to the edge and leave us no room for life. As in everything, we need balance.
I have a dear friend who spends weeks every summer making out a detailed syllabus for every single subject on colorful charts she designs on her computer. She asks every summer if I want to come over so she can teach me how. I’ve been homeschooling longer than her children have been alive…(ooh…that sounded uppity…I don’t mean it that way…just that I know what works for us and that would NOT.) And then she’s stressed two weeks into the year because she’s behind in everything. I believe planning is beneficial but I also believe we set ourselves up for failure if we plan so close to the edge and leave us no room for life. As in everything, we need balance.Viewing 11 posts - 1 through 11 (of 11 total)
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