Homeschool planning

In my five years of homeschooling, I'm still constantly modifying my methods. That's one of the things I love about homeschool: you stick with what works for you, and if something doesn't work, you can change it! I love not having to be married to one specific method of teaching or planning or organizing.

That being said, I thought I'd share my current planning method. It's a conglomeration of several years' worth of different ideas, keeping what worked and ditching what didn't or what was too time-consuming. I'm quite happy with where I've ended up.  

Before the school year begins, I start by going through all our  subjects and text books and working out how many lessons we need to complete each week in order to finish in 36 weeks. I write everything out on a sheet of notebook paper, and it hangs above my desk for the whole year. That way I can consult it if I need to alter our weekly lessons in any way. You can see our current and past curricula here.

 I also post a calendar beside this list, highlighting days and weeks we plan to take off from school. This year we are trying a six-week-on, one-week-off schedule.

That's my "big planning" done. It's important to know what you want to accomplish in a school year, then breaking it down into weeks or months. I normally begin this planning in late spring and finalize it no later than a month before the new school year starts.

Then, I look at our weekly activities like sports or music lessons and plan our weeks accordingly. For instance, I may make our days with activities a little lighter on the school work. Days we have no out-of-the-house commitments will have a heftier load of school. We don't always stick to a set schedule like this every single week, but I like having it as a guide.

Throughout the school year, I make my lesson plans weekly. I have tried planning a month at a time, but I found it difficult the times we got off schedule a bit. Having the entire month planned out, it was tricky to alter subjects here and there without messing up the month-long schedule I had just carefully planned out. So, I went back to planning a week at a time.

I normally do my weekly planning on the weekend before.

After writing out our week's schedule, I pull out all the worksheets that Asher will need that week. They go into their corresponding daily file folders so I can easily get what I need each day.

Then, every night I write out the following day's work in a spiral notebook so Asher can see exactly what needs to get done. I highlight everything that he can do without my help. That way, if I am busy with something else or out of the house, he is able to do what he can until I'm able to teach.

I draw boxes next to each task, and he adds a check mark after the work is completed. I like the spiral notebook method because we can take it with us on days we're doing school in the car. I used to write things like this on our white board in the school room, but obviously that's not so portable. 

Here's how a notebook page looks at the end of a school day:

 (It also doubles as scrap paper for math sometimes!)

Lastly, I gather all the necessary books and tools he'll need to complete the following day's work and put them into our homeschool bag. 

On top of day-specific books he'll need, I always keep this bag stocked with a clipboard, notebook paper, ruler, math supplies (i.e. compass, etc.), a timer (to keep track of Asher's daily reading time) and a pencil case with pencils, erasers, and a pencil sharpener. By having the school bag ready to go the night before, I can grab it quickly on our way out of the house, or Asher can bring everything he needs into a different room if he prefers (otherwise he's constantly going back and forth to the school room for various books or supplies). 

I realize it sounds like a lot of work, but honestly after getting through the major planning at the beginning of the school year, the daily stuff is a breeze. It takes me maybe ten minutes max to write out the daily work in Asher's notebook and gather up his supplies the night before. Weekly planning takes longer, but it still rarely takes me more than half an hour.