(Written 30 June 2014 and saved, not published. I’m smart like that)
We’re starting our 6th year of homeschooling in just a few weeks. I’m not sure if getting organized is becoming easier or more difficult. We are moving closer to having high school-age and all the careful tracking required for graduation.
This year I was able to attend the Teach Them Diligently conference in early April. Before moving here our homeschool conference was held in June and we start our year in mid-July. I wasn’t ready to think about the next year until the current one was over. This left me little time to read ahead of the kids.
Now that we have figured out what we like, what works for each child, etc, I can plan a little more in advance. What a relief! I hate starting the year without a solid plan. Now sticking to the plan, well, that’s a different story. But what is homeschooling if not flexible?
One of the first resources I bought 6 years ago was Planning Your Charlotte Mason Education. It helped me tremendously the first couple years to wade through how to plan. I was unsure how to take all the lessons and fit them into the day/week/term. I continue to use this, as I’m a very visual person & need to see it all written out.
Planning worksheets from Simply Charlotte Mason
I’ve also taken advantage of buying the lesson plans from Memoria Press. We use many of their literature and Latin programs, so it has helped to break down the lessons into manageable chunks–should I expect my 4th grader to read & answer questions the same day? Should she reflect on it for a day before? We don’t use them as the hard & fast rule, but a guide to how much work is enough. Far too often we cram as much in as possible and the retention flies out the window. Sometimes the plans feel like we’re dragging our feet, so we move faster & complete more in a week.
I’m required to keep a record of what we do each day for reporting purposes. (I’m more than a little annoyed by the reporting & approval requirements here vs. Texas). I use 2 resources, a paper planner and an online one. I use the Well-Planned Day paper planner, but it doesn’t have enough room for how I plan, so it’s more of our schedule keeper & required subject plan. It also is my back-up in case the internet decides to crash. I love, but don’t trust, modern technology.
Mom’s schedule of individual & group classes. Many of the kids’ lessons are individual work that just need a push start on Mondays & they run with it all week. Others require my daily input (math, languages).
The online planner I use is from Homeschool Planet. It’s easy to use, generates assignments for me based on days in the school year, or a range I put in. It allows me to have multiple segments to a lesson (Monday, Tuesday, etc). It’s a huge help. Each of the kids has his or her own login and they can only see their lessons. They can check off assignments as finished, which then generates a list of what needs graded. They are able to check off something worked on vs. finished as well. It lets me see what needs to be followed up.
That’s basically my planning system. I’d like a better paper planner, but haven’t the time or inclination to sit down and come up with something better for us.
Tall Pines 