Change to Next Year’s Lesson Plans

Note to self:  When doing next year’s lesson plans, instead of writing all subjects out on a weekly sheet, make the plans for each subject on their own separate pages. I am getting really tired of page flipping because I’m one week behind in religion, three weeks behind in spelling, one week ahead in science, and right on track in the other subjects. I’d rather just grab the plan for that subject and child when it is time to teach.

We’ll see how that goes for a year and then re-evaluate. This “weekly plan” thing didn’t work well for us.

Homeschool Record-keeping

Depending on which state you live in, the requirements for record keeping for homeschooling differ. Even if your state doesn’t require records, it is a good idea, in my opinion, to keep some records and some examples of your students’ (children’s) work.

Let me give you an example. One of the women in my local homeschooling group was asked by her husband to send the children to the local public school this year instead of homeschooling them. (The details are not important to my point.) She was asked by the school principal for any records she had. Caught completely off guard by the request, she said she didn’t have any. Later, she was able to reconstruct a list of activities, curriculum, and level of achievement in language arts and mathematics. She candidly admits she gave a bad example of a homeschooling parent.

Everyone has a different method – including no method at all and no formal record-keeping. I am writing this post for two reasons – 1) to encourage you to keep some level of records, even if it is only a picture or two of science projects completed or an end-of-the-year math test; and 2) to explain my own record-keeping method.

Each year, I purchase a student calendar/notebook that is my child’s own to draw/write in, but which also serves as my record of what we did each day. If a day was particularly good or bad, I write a note to that effect on the side. If there is something that needs to be celebrated or worked on, I include that in the communication section of the notebook for that week. When my spouse and I don’t see each other much due to work schedules, he can pick up the notebook at any time and see what we’ve been working on as well as how things are going.

This year, I have two notebooks – one for each child that is “schooling.” There is some repeat information (religion, science, history, kindergarten electives) written in both, but each is updated daily. The lesson plans that I worked on over the summer for the different curriculum are very helpful both in knowing what to cover each day, but also when recording what we did. If we did exactly what the lesson plan called for, I can use the page numbers listed in the lesson plans rather than pulling the book back out to check to see how much we covered.

One thing I noticed while looking back over the past week worth of notebook notes – we do a LOT each day.

On a side note, it is a good thing we are running a week ahead of my original lesson plans in Language Arts (Spell to Write and Read, SWR). The consonant/vowel reference page that I thought should only take us three days to complete (while doing other things) has already taken four days. We will probably take two more days to complete it at the pace we are currently setting. While dictation is going well and Child #1 is doing great with phonogram review, she simply hates to write. She doesn’t mind using the white board, but I make her copy down the words in her Learning Log and it seems she takes more time to complain than to write. And, as in years past, I find I can get her to write them if I provide an incentive of some sort for getting done (e.g., an extra hug/kiss or a sip of a carbonated beverage). I try not to resort to that on a regular basis, though.

The Best Laid Plans . . .

I have my book of lesson plans that I refer to daily to see what I thought we would do each day. We have only had three full days of school and already I am glad I am so flexible.

For example, this summer, Child #1 went after the Singapore math books I purchased for her to keep her math skills fresh. It went so well that the built-in review of A Beka’s math program is almost boring for her. I pondered simply skipping the first 29-some lessons completely, but think a little review is good. Besides, I haven’t been doing the mental math with her that A Beka’s program encourages. My lesson plans had us finishing Lesson 5 at the end of this week. We finished Lesson 8 today.

In another example, I planned to ease into Spell to Write and Read. I figured it would take about two weeks to review the 26 (alphabet) single-letter phonograms while doing some other fun games and such. On Day 2, Child #2 remarked that she knew all these so could we go a bit faster? So, the next day, I tested her on her knowledge. When I held up the phonogram card, she was to say the sound(s) as quickly as she could. If she hesitated or got them wrong the first time through (even if she corrected herself), I counted them wrong. She got 25 of the 26 single-letter phonograms perfect. She also knew 24 of the remaining 44 phonograms immediately and perfectly. So, a week early, I gave her a new Learning Log and we started on the Consonant/Vowel reference page.

I have also learned that I might have been a bit optimistic in how many pages we can cover each day in Story of the World I and Apologia’s Astronomy. Child #2 is doing great with Learn to Read in 100 Easy Lessons and is completing, on average, three pages per day of Singapore Earlybird Math (1B).

Update on Fall Planning

Just an update on how lesson planning is going for the fall. I’ve picked my curriculum. I’ve received almost everything we are going to use. Here is how the actual planning is going:
Math – Easy & done. I just put down what lesson # I wanted to be on at the start of each week and made sure to leave myself some slush room.
Spelling – Done. I outlined what my daily plans would be in using Spell to Write and Read. We will be going fairly quickly once we reach mid-year, but I hope it is still realistic. I hope my pencil-phobic child rises to the challenge.
Reading – I don’t have much done on this right now. I haven’t figured out if I’m going to be assigning other-subject-related reading during this time or if I’ll just be checking out random books from the library to assign. There will also be “free reading” time – but I don’t have to plan that! Also, I want to pick out the literature I’ll be reading to the kids at night. I haven’t started that list yet, either. Anyone have any suggestions?
History – I have the year planned out for Story of the World I, but I am still filling in some of the extras. I need another hour at the library looking up books and some more time with my lists and activity books before this section is done.
Science – I have the Astronomy section planned out pretty well. I’m free-styling the Earth Science section, so I have a lot more work to do for that – second half of the school year. Need at least another hour at the library for this part plus a couple of hours (without too much interruption) to get this nailed down.
Religion- I’m in good shape on this one. I spent an hour or so today picking out saints to study and pulling out the books we’ll be using. I had already finished planning for the Baltimore Catechism work. We’ll be alternating each week between the Catechism and saints studying a la Laura Berquist.
Art- Still waiting for my ArtPacs to arrive so I can plan this.
Poetry – I have about four poems/selections picked out, but need another four to six to fill out the rest of the year. Call it half-done.
Latin- I’m not sure how much we’ll do in this, so I’m leaving it extremely loose. If we get to watching the Prima Latina DVDs, great. If we get to the workbook stuff, even better. Otherwise, I’ll start it next year.
Sewing- Waiting on some books for ideas. This is something my to-be-Kindergartner asked for and it is by no means a strong point for me.
Cooking- I have several projects already penciled in for this class. It is another that was requested for the Kindergartner, but I have plenty of cook books and lots of ways to incorporate our other subjects into this topic.

So, overall, I’m about 50% there. Good thing, too, because summer is halfway over!

A couple more comments:
I have decided to continue handwriting (cursive) instruction/practice next fall. I’m just not sure where it will come into the schedule.
I laid out my schedule for the day. I think I’m going to do things a bit differently this year in terms of times. I’m not going to start with math like I did last year. Also, I plan on going a certain time length for each subject with each kid and then moving on. If we don’t get done with that day’s plans, we’ll pick it up there the next day (with the child doing any work-alone stuff as “homework” during unscheduled time the rest of the day). We’ll see how that goes.

Planning Next Year and Interruptions

I’ve started planning my lessons for next fall.

So far, I have been able to fit 42 chapters of Story of the World I into 33 weeks. I made sure to include some slop for extra reading and activities, but we will be kept hopping in order to keep on schedule.

In religion, I am about half done. We are covering the No. 1 St. Joseph Baltimore Catechism Chapters 1-14 on a schedule suggested by Laura Berquist in Designing Your Own Classical Curriclum. Alternating with that, we will be studying the saints. That part of the lesson plans is blank at this time. I also included a two week cram of the ten commandments. We still haven’t decided if our second grader will be receiving the Sacrament of Penance or Holy Communion this year. There are a few weeks left after all these items are penciled in. If the second grader does receive the Sacraments, those weeks will be used quick review of the First Communion Catechism. They will be dropped in whenever it works to put them in.

Next, it is onto Science or Math. I can’t plan Spelling/Dictation yet as I lent out my copy of Spell to Write and Read/The Wise Guide to another homeschooler who is also knee-deep in planning. She is looking for a program to use with her kids and had never heard of SWR. We were discussing the planning process when she raised the biggest problem she has.

Was it too many curriculums to choose from?                                       Nope.
Was it curriculum that wasn’t right for her kids (too difficult/easy, not-the-right-style, boring, etc)?       Nope.
Was it that she is not a detail person?                                                    Nope.

What was it, then? The problem she has is INTERRUPTIONS! Whenever she tries to get some serious planning done, she has to take a break to deal with something.

I can relate. I am used to breaking up fights, keeping the crawler out of the flowerbed, helping the toddler get something or get out of something, assisting with some chalk drawing, or ferrying drinks outside. All while I’m trying to read something, take notes, or write up my lesson plans. I try not to simply give up. So far, my most productive time was the rainy afternoon this week when my kids had two neighbors over. I was able to have a huge (30-45 minutes) block of time to work on my history plans. I had almost finished them (three weeks left) when the rain stopped and the kids decided they wanted to move back outdoors. Cleanup ensued and chaos reigned supreme.

But, I soldier on. Math shouldn’t be that hard, but I think I’ll tackle Science. I’ve already started to work on my Apologia Astronomy rough plan to get the book done in 16 weeks. Another homeschooler wrote plans spreading it to 22 weeks, so I am paring it down to fit our school schedule.

Onward!

Curriculum / Lesson Plans

One of the things I have on my to-do list for the summer is to develop next school year’s lesson plans. In my two years of homeschooling, I have not yet had a master lesson plan made up in advance. However, #2 will start kindergarten in the fall so I think it is time to get a bit more organized. It will help me to have a general idea of what I need for the upcoming week if I have something written down for each subject.

In all my curriculum searches, I have seen many lesson plan books for teachers. Some are for public/private school teachers. Some are geared specifically for homeschooling families – even those with large families.

I’ve taken a look at all the ones I have run across. I wonder if I should purchase one or make my own format? Yes-yes, I know about the ones on the computer. But even though I blog, I really don’t have time to sit in front of the computer and enter all those plans in. My lesson plans are written in pencil while sitting in a lawn chair on our driveway supervising the kids playing. I have to be able to put down the pencil and notebook and referee a disagreement, change a diaper (or two), feed the baby, rescue a child who has gotten into a jam, kiss a boo-boo, or run next to a child who is learning to ride without training wheels. And when I come back from any of those activities, I need to know that even if one of the other kids has gotten to my pencil and notebook, all my work is still there. (Let me translate:  I don’t trust my kids and a laptop!)

I asked the veteran homeschoolers in my area what they do. Other than the ones who use Homeschool Tracker (on computer), almost all of them currently use something they have devised themselves. Several said they have tried the ones they bought, but they prefer to make their own as it is easier to customize for their own families. That is probably the route I will go. So, now I just have to decide what it will look like and start work on it.

What do you do for your lesson plans?