I do only one main subject a day that requires more than "open the book to page...". Friday I sit down and request all the books I will need from the library so I will have them by Tuesday. Sunday night I print out their Math (Math is our Monday subject). Monday night I print out the lapbook pages, pull out supplies and set out books for history. (Tuesday's subject) Tuesday night I print out lapbooking stuff for Wednesday's Science. Wednesday is Coffee Night out so Thursday we do not have a main subject. We have co-op that day. Thursday night I set out everything for Friday's Geography. Everything else we do is in a workbook or on the computer so all I have to do is refer to my lesson plan to tell me what pages. AM
I'm lucky. At 12 I get some 'independant learning' out of my Ditzy. She starts with her bible reading, then either moves to 2 pages of math or 2 chapters of whichever book we're reading by which time I have enough caffine in my system to do her dictation & grammar. Depending on which day it is we move onto either history or science, which I organize along with my coffee. She fits in 2 hours of music practise if I need more time to schedule. lol. Organization is NOT my strong point.
I cannot plan out lesson plans far in advance for several reasons. by this I mean lesson plans in the since of planning daily lessons and activities. 1. I have a service based business and never know when my clients will call, and work tends to come in clusters and intermittantly. 2. My spouses schedule changes from one day to another and we do not know if he works the next day or not and do not know at what time he will work. 3. As soon as I plan more than a few days ahead, I will find something that needs reviewing/remediation or a skill will take longer to teach than I expected. I just recently settled on what we would use in terms of curriculum so I have not done my big picture planning. I will sit down with the curriculum I have for a few subjects and divide in half and put that lesson number on a calendar, then do the quarters, and possibly break it down further depending on the subject and what materials we are using. I use this as a guideline that has mini goals to reach by a certain date. I will occasionally evaluate where we are and decide if we need to press on harder, remove some less critical lessons etc. Otherwise, I just look over the lesson for the next few days, and make a not of what books,manipulatives, materials and other items I need on hand. I also make notes on suggested methods or ideas on presentation I notice in the TM, TE etc.
I would encourage you to plan some. Look over their work before hand. Do you get the teacher's guides? There are so many good ideas to use to enjoy the learning process they are going through. I know with the LifePacs that concepts are built upon in each book. What was learned in book #2 will be added onto in book #5 for example. I can't help but think if I just open up a cookbook and say, "Hey I will make this tonight", but then don't have the ingredients that would make it tough to get started. I would frustrate myself as I have to take more time to search for the right meal to make. And it just doesn't effect me. Now folks that I am responsible for are hungry... And one doesn't want to start in the middle of a recipe to make the cookies. Some recipes I can just throw things together and mix, but others it is important to read the whole recipe first and be prepared. Just some thoughts and ramblings... :angel:
In the past with Life Paks I just set out the days book with "My Daily Lesson Plan" work sheet form I had with a list and made check mark lines for them to do each subjects work, I had three things required work, a little more if time allowed work and extra credit work. they would over lap to the next day anywork that did not get completed in the time I had for schooling. It worked for the most part , This year its going to be different though, I may still implement the MDLP for ds 5th grade, I wanted to add this-- if you want a copy to see of the me daily lesson plan pm me it is my own.
Okay I'm cross eyed now! You guys got me going on my planning. We schooled until mid-july... August has been crazy busy, Gymnastics Camp, Grandmom Grandpop camp...and they're back on Friday - but we're only home a week before going vacation and hubby has off on Labor Day...SO... Hubby and I talked about it, I'm starting Sept 17th! I've got my oldest scheduled out 2 weeks...I'll schedule 2 more before we actually start. Her's was easy - A/O makes it so easy. My sons is not so easy since I'm piecemealing it. It's proving rather tough. Plus most Tues & Thurs we're going to be out of hte house, and he is only good in the a.m. SO...I'm thinking htat MWF be his core subject days and T/Th be like game days with games that reinforce what he's learning the other days. He's already reading - but I think I'm going to go back and teach him the mechanics of reading...AND reading too. I gave up trying to do his schedule! I'll have to revisit tomorrow or over the weekend maybe! I'm too tired! AHHHH!!!!
I plan 6-8 weeks in advance but not by dats. SO I don't say monday we do this tuesday that etc. I simply have laid out what lessons to get done in what order and we do them. SO for example day one is lessons xyz, day 2 same etc. That way if we take a day off like we did today we are not actually behind, I know on the next day these are the things we need to finish. clear as mud?
yeah Brandy that is why I said number of school day not day of week....so now we're not behind according to the lesson plan LOL saved me a lot of stress when i got this tidbit at a homeschool support group conference not that long ago lol
We have most tuesdays out ams and partial after noons so dd and I decided we will have a lunch out after LBS, they will work quietly on some projects during our study they have done that for years, take part in recess when thier work is done. Then after class we go to lunch at the local Mall that we never get to go to! They have the cheap places like Taco bell and more expensive diners, a salad place and everythiing in between so we should be able to vary our meals to match our studies if we wish even! It will be good to have some just plane fun time for us all. And it will be IF they do their job while I do mine! Works for me, if it works for mine, this year will be good with a 5th and 9/10th grader I should be able to breath a bit more? And I agree with those who do the tenative plan, and then adapt each day. Like Dds lessons say Day 1, 2, 3 .. etc, in one class, lessn 1 2 3 etc in another, so I adapt that way.
I am a week by week planner. I do this for many reasons. My kids work at their pace. If they are doing well in Math but having a hard time with Spelling we take more time for Spelling so on. I did the whole plan out my year before and found myself getting frustrated because I didn't think they were "keeping up". Well I learned the hard way with that one. We always cover at least one core subject a day and by core subject I mean the three r's. Then we do the fun stuff!
One thing that I started doing last year which worked real well for us is I put anything that can be torn out of the workbook out and put it in a pocket inside a 3 ring binder. So...in my 3 ring binder I have tabbed pockets (they are plastic and sold at Walmart, etc...) for the subject. Spelling...I tear apart the whole Spelling workout book and it goes in the binder. I then put blank lined paper in the spelling section for writing words. Math - I write the pages and topic at the top of the lined paper (we are in textbook) for like 20-40 lessons at a time and then put those in the notebook pocket for math. Same concept with our English - we use Rod & Staff. So...anything that I can "plan ahead" like that I do. Then when it comes time to lesson planning I know what is next in line for each subject and can take my notebook with me if needed for planning during hockey practice or whatever. So...then... Now this year I found these neat notebooks at Sam's club that have two 1" ring binders inside a zippered carrying case. So...one side is for one kid - the other side is for the other kid. HA! I just have to worry about what we consider the fun stuff. The history, geography, latin, writing, crafts, etc... I only plan one week at a time but...know where I'm heading for all subjects - if that makes sense. I write my lessons in pencil so I can erase if needed. I also use colors for when things are done or not done. Done gets a check mark to the right - not done gets an arrow pointing right on the left side of the assignment. The new Crayola Twistables are really cool. It is a colored pencil that you twist up for more lead. Anyway...HTH
Hubby says that Math,and language arts need to be done every day. My kids are already groaning over the Language part of it. How can I make it fun for them?? We are using the Lifepacs for Language. Also, we are using spelling power for the kids. According to the placement test my 2nd grader should not be doing formal spelling but rather a phonics based program instead. Do any of you agree with this?? I am having a hard time convincing myself that she shouldn't do spelling right now. What do I use instead? I have the scaredy cat reading program. That should be fine along with a phonics workbook that I can tailor to what we are doing with S.C. What do you think? I'm telling you, I am feeling so out of my element right now. UGH!! Angela
Alpha Omega Teacher's guides have many suggestions for making the learning more than just 'writing in the book' work. Do spelling...the LA program from Alpha Omega hes spelling in it. Right before each section's self test is the week's spelling. ((((hugs to you))) for feeling badly...I'm rooting for you to ge through this, and so are others that are here...
I really don't do much planning. At the start of every year I look over the new curriculum and estimate how long each piece will take to complete. If I feel like it will take the entire year to get through it, then I mentally make a note that we have to do that particular subject almost every day. Other than that, I make a general weekly schedule for each kid on what gets done on what day, when to expect a test, etc. My goal is to just get through all the curriculum before I buy anything for the next year. This summer we did math about 3 days a week in order to finish up for the new grade level. So I'm pretty easy going...as long as it gets done by the end of the school year (whenever that may be)- we're good.
We started using Spelling Power this year and both my son and I love it. He is a terible speller for being 10 and this year he has made spelling his favorite subject. And by the way, I started him on level A and never took that placement test. A lot of it is too easy for him, but it is building confidence. If you feel your daughter can get a few words correct and you stop testing after she gets 5 misspellings, then I think the program would still work for you.
i figured out why I started looking at a year this year, so I could figure how many lessons a day in each class I need to do to complete the taske of teaching,
