I have a pretty good idea of what I will be going with at least for my younger two right now, but I had a question about lesson plans. I see some people saying they go with one, and others saying they kinda wing it as long as they cover the intended material through the year. So, do you all make a lesson plan? Does the age of your child/ren have anything to do with your choice to use on or not? And lastly, where are some good sites that explain or show good lesson plan examples. Thankfully the lady who is in charge of lesson planning for our district goes to my church, so I will be able to get some input from her too.
Personally I do not write out formal lesson plans just what I want to cover. Right now I just have sd who is going into 11th. I plan out the whole year so I make sure I have a dececent pace and do not get myself way off. I will probably do it similarly for dd but with her I will be more laid back because it will be elementary school.
You can go to Donnayoung.org and get some ideas of different lesson plans.. I have my own , I had done up 6 weeks to 2-3 months worth on dd last year for 10th grade, she started out following it , being older she has to know what she does as much as I do.. so it was helpful to me to check and see if she did the days lessons that way... I had a set up on the homeschool inc site too but the kids forgot about it.. I also set up a schedule for ds10 on HOmeschool trakker... I mostly ended up using my "Daily Lesson Plan" sheets that my dh made up for me like 10 years ago? I write in each subjects plan, daily or weekly ( I have made a variation of the same sheet and saved it under My weekly lesson" Often I wrote out a detailed "ds10's lessons for Jan 12, 2008" And added a spot to sign it or initial it and for ds to as well. THis was a good way to check off that he saw it and that he read it, and completed it and handed it in to me. I have even gone with timed lesson plans, where they signed in, read what to do and wrote the time they started and ended, then to the next lesson. This gave me a good idea of how much time ti took to do the work I had assigned and helped me to do a better job in the days after that. I change things, as needed as you can see and find if it does not work after a while I need to re do , re start or refind something I used in the past. This year dd will be doing Mostly SOS it will schedule the lessons as to my school dates entered, I am doing this for her highschool scheduling stuff. ds I plan to set up a 5,5 month lesson plan before the begining of the school year for us. I want to be able to look at it and see if we planned right or wrong before I go with he second half of the year. His curric will be a mix of stuff half AOP and BJU and SOTW as well! So I will need to put in the same dates but use a written or typed in format... I liked Donna Young cuase I could enter it in on my computer, save it there as well as print it up, and I could do many months ahead... weeks? Hope I was helpful in my ramblings!
Teachermom--Yes that was very helpful, and kinda confirms what I am thinking. My dd will be 6 in a few days, and she has NO problems wanting to do the work. Even now, before we have started hs, she is asking me daily for work to do. My 12 yr old is pretty much the same way. My 16 yr old otoh has to have structure in order to get things done. I think having a set lesson plan for him will definitely help me get him through the year, and I can be a little more flexible with the other two.
NOPE!!! I don't!!! When I was in the classroom, I would get so frustrated because I would have to write up all these great plans for the week, and by 9:30 Monday morning, nothing was according to plans and it was all out the window, and why did I even bother in the first place? So when I "came home", I decided I wasn't going to waste my time!!! (And to those of you organzed enough to do plans, MORE POWER TO YOU!!!)
Well a good share of the reason I decided to homeschool is because of my oldest. He has been on an IEP since 1st grade. It started out being for Speech, but in 4th grade, they noticed he was having attention issues, so they asked if I minded that he stay on an IEP for it. I said that was ok, because I knew that they would be able to get me farther with testing for learning disabilities. Well of course the next two years he ended up being on honor roll, lol. So when the time came to test him for the next year, I was hesitant to have them continue it. In 7th grade, he started to go back and forth again on his grades and they always attributed it to his attention. His IQ, his cognitive testing and all that all came up well above average, so he has been sort of an enigma, lol. His scores in testing show that he really shouldnt have the IEP in place, but his performance in a classroom says something entirely different. He has a tough time concentrating in a classroom, and with all the added distractions that come with high school, this last two years he has struggled big time. Homework wasnt an issue, as we always made sure it was done and that he understood it, but classwork was totally different. They have never classified him as ADD or anything like that, so we just were at a loss at the end of this year. He is basically at the point of having to make half of his tenth grade year up before he is considered an 11th grader. Homeschooling seemed to be the only logical option if he ever wants to graduate. I know from experience with him that if I sit down and explain things to him he gets it, so its not that he doesnt have the ability to comprehend it. He just can not stay focused in a classroom setting, and it ends up frustrating both of us. It looks like a lesson plan will be a must with him, but I am still torn on my other two.
The way I did it was on a word document. I made a table with 7 columns(week number, 6-days of week) and three rows (header one(days of week) smaller and one larger). Depending on wether it was a subject we would have to do a lot together with or not the smaller was homework and the larger was what we would go over each day. I then copied it so I would have 39 weeks in the document. It seems like a pain but now that I have the blank it is easy. I print it off and fill it in, one set for each subject. That is my "plan" for the year. Every week I then cross off what we finished and then write in a calendar what I am doing for the week (this way sd has access to the calendar too) I keep all the forms in a binder and a grade sheet in each section. This way I can see what she has done, her grades and what is next pretty easily. If you are interested in this you can pm me and I can email you a copy.
Tbog, check out www.HeadUpNow.com It's very helpful with special kids, especially those with attention problems. She had wonderful information, as well as all kinds of things you could buy if you want. (But her advice/expertise is free to ALL!)
Thanks a bunch. Lots of valuable info there. When he sits here with me one on one he is fine. Even in small groups. But put him in a classroom and hes lost. Add to that teachers that dont bother to follow the IEP, it spells disaster. One had the gall to look at him when I called a meeting of the teachers, and say his only problem was that he was lazy. That would be the day I looked at the guidance counselour and said I think HS will be an option next year.
I started out the year with lesson plans - and I actually followed them for a couple of weeks! I wanted to see if they would help me or if I'd find them to restrictive. As it turns out, I like having a plan so I know where I'm heading, but I don't want to look at it everyday. I set things up ahead of time, so when I get to lesson 6 and I need props they are all ready. But I don't go crazy if lesson 6 happens on a different day that I originally planned, or if I decide to do that lesson differently and I skip the props after all... Does that make sense? I have a structure (which I need!), but it's not my "to do" list so much as my "menu". LOL Ok, now I don't even make sense to me. Back to the laundry!
Lesson plans intimidate me! I think I will go with covering a certain number of pages per lesson instead. I might change my mind later, we will see. Tbog, your son sounds like my son and he has been diagnosed with ADHD. Even on meds he cannot focus in the classroom because ADD and ADHD kids cannot filter out unimportant information like the other kids making noise etc. He has absolutely no problem with homework and he still (fortunately) loves to learn. This is the main reason we will hs him, it is the only way he will ever get a good education.
Road Runner--I know we arent the only ones, but sometimes it feels that way. It has been SO frustrating to see him get labeled as lazy or dumb, when I know he has the ability.
I agree! And the teacher having a hissy fit if we forget to give him his meds doesn't make it better. She's got this idea in her head that we are bad parents because of his behaviour.
I tried formal lesson plans and after a couple of weeks they didn't work. What I do now is plan out the week on sun. Just an outline of pages per day. Then after lessons I write what we actually got done in a lesson journal. That way I have an acurate record and some guidelines. I have found a couple of forms from the Konos curriculum that I enjoy. My mom provided me with the copy book. You can check them out at www.konos.com
I think what Marylyn is saying that, while plans can be very helpful guidlines, we cannot feel bound by them. They need to be flexible. ("Blessed are the flexible, for they shall not be bent out of shape") And she's right in that it IS helpful to know in advance what is needed. I get so frustrated with Rachael when she goes to do a science experiment, and THEN tells me "Oh! I need...." And then science is put "on hold" for a few days until I can get to the store and buy whatever. That's one of the reasons she'll STILL doing science this summer :roll:. Since so many of the lessons simply follow along (such as Saxon or Horizon Math), there really isn't planning involved. One thing I "discovered" this year is to have a blank page in a notebook. This is what I did for Easy Grammar. I would go over the lesson, and give the girls their assignment. Sometimes this would vary, because I might have them do anywhere from one to four pages. So after giving the assignment, I would write that down on the page with the date. Then, when we graded it, I would check it off. Also, it helped me keep track of exactly what I DID assign. I'm going to try and do that for math next year, simply to help me have a written record.
I do a very basic lesson plan, filling in what I "want" to accomplish each day for each subject (some subjects are left blank because we don't intend to do them that day and we can use it for a catch up day for that subject), then if I have a specific project or assignment I pencil that in too but my Lesson Plans are ALWAYS in pencil because we never know what will come up. Example: This Tuesday's lesson plan looks like this Bible: Continue to study the story of Moses (When the Pharoh's daughter finds moses in the basket)/ Orderliness Day 6 Math: MUS Pgs 18d-18f Art: Draw/Paint/Color a space shuttle History: Identify parts of a space shuttle/Color each part a different color (this is also a following directions exercise) Music:None Scheduled Science: Quick facts about Mars, Mercury, Venus and do the planet rhyme Phys Ed: Swimming Health: Food Groups Phonics: Teach Your Child To Read in 100 Easy Lessons lesson 29 Handwriting: Capital G/ What starts with G/ cut G out of construction paper and past on "G" objects cut from magazines This is our Tuesday plan and it seems like a lot on paper but really it takes us about 2 hours to get through it all and some of it isn't really "work" as much as it is listening to stories. Also I should mention that my boys insist on at least 2 hours each day if I do less they know it and beg for more school (even though they can't tell time)
