I thought they would be on the "slow boat" forever, but our books finally got here!!!! YAY! I'm now having a blast looking over everything, planning our schedule, starting my lesson plans, wooo-eee, I love this! DS got very dramatic about the whole thing, of course. :roll: "Summer's not over yet, we can't start school yet!" I told him he's got another week or so of vacation and then we hit the books. He then got dramatic about how hard everything looked (this was without cracking open a book!). :roll: He's a real character. So we spent some time thumbing through the cool science book (he loves to know why and how things work), the cool reading books, etc. Math is also a hit. He spotted some file folder games and decided maybe school isn't too hard in first grade. :lol: I don't know where he gets these ideas, maybe from kids who go to ps? School is cool in our house! Okay, I've yammered on. Can you tell this is one of my favorite times of year??? Both ds and dh were kind of rolling their eyes at me today. (Dh is super supportive and active in our hs, so he didn't let ds see him laughing at me.) I guess it's a girl thing, but I love "back to school" time. Fun, fun, fun. I'm going back to drooling over my lesson planning. Anne
Just got the last of mine, too!!!!! Dd already messed up my first weeks lesson plans by asking to do some work yesterday....just got a crash course in why most ppl do lesson plans in pencil :? . I've been checking out our schedule, too, and letting the kids have some input (do favorite subject first or get the least favorite out of the way???). Happy drooling!!!!!
HE-HE-HE!!! I always hated doing them when I was in the PS, because they'd always be off within the first half-hour and it was a waste of time!
(wiping the drool off my face) :lol: I'm using Bob Jones U. Press again this year. I skipped their music, though. I'd rather put together my own. So far, I like what I see for this year's Bible, English (phonics, vocabulary, reading, handwriting, spelling), math, science and social studies. Just looks like a LOT of material to cover! Take a deep breath. We've got a whole year. Whew! I've written two weeks' worth of lesson plans (in pencil! Brooke, here's a little trick that worked for me: don't worry about changing the plans, just change the dates. I had to do that a couple of times last year when we had sick days or an unexpected trip.). The first week we will start off slowly and by the end of the second week, we'll have our full schedule. I learned last year not to get too far ahead on my planning (started off the year with nearly two months planned), or it would all be "off" in no time. One friend writes her whole year's plans (!) at the start and just checks off things as they do them, regardless of what day the material was covered. It works great for her, but that would drive me crazy. I like to at least stay close to my lesson plans/dates as possible. Sometimes we get ahead, or sometimes we get a bit behind, but at least for the most part, I can look back and say, "the week of ...... we accomplished such and such"! I told dh I'm probably making my work harder for myself, writing in my objectives, etc. The aforementioned friend just writes "Math lesson 1", etc. Old habits die hard, I guess. I'm even writing dh's objectives for his Bible lessons! (Not that he always sticks to what I plan for him! Ha! But I'm thrilled he's involved. He wants to teach history and science eventually, too. Might have to fight over the science, although he can have history!) How do you ladies write your lesson plans? Detailed or not? The job I'm tackling today is not as much fun. I got too busy this summer and didn't complete ds' K5 portfolio. No big deal, I've got everything on hand, just have to organize it. And decide what to keep and what to throw away. That's the tough one. I have scanned almost all his artwork and saved it on CD, but it's still hard to part with the beautiful fingerpainting, spongepainting, etc. Blessings, Anne
I did go through and make up lesson plans for each girl for the whole school year. I didn't include "detailed plans" but just books, page numbers, etc.- the suggested requirements for each day. I didn't like the format, so I made up a new one. Now, I'm just taking it one day at a time. I reference my original list each day and write down what we did for each day. I like it this way. I have general guidelines to follow, but if we don't accomplish everything, we can catch up the next day. So far, so good! Heidi
Heidi, did I understand correctly? You have a year long "goal" type plan and then as you go along, you write down what lessons you covered? That sounds like a great way to plan ahead and not get the regular lesson plans messed up when we get off schedule! I'll have to give this a try this year! Thanks! Anne
Anne, What I first did was made up a form on my computer. Each page held 5 days and listed each subject. I wrote down the "suggested" things to be covered each day for each subject. I had the days numbered 1-180. But, like I said, after it was done, I didn't care for the format. So, I decided to make up a new one. This one also is good for 5 days, but is more of a "chart style"- I listed each subject down the left hand side, and left blanks across the top. So, each day (Monday - Friday) that we do schoolwork, I mark the numbered day (1-180) and the specific date. Then, I use my original form as a guideline as to what we should be working on/ accomplishing and I just rewrite it each day as we do it. In other words, say we only do schoolwork on Monday - Wednesday of a given week, then the last 2 columns of that chart are left blank. Hope this makes sense. Heidi
My lesson plans are being made a week at a time. I, too, hated lesson plans in college so all I write is the concept being learned and the pages we should complete. I've also included words like "Activity" or "Notebook" on the days we are to do additional work beyond pages in our books. I like the idea of numbering the days rather than the dates. I'll waste less space in my planner (yes, I purchased one...nobody form a lynch mob....I'm new to structure :roll: .... :lol: ). I don't have a set number of days to complete in my state so I was gonna just wing it and go into the summer if we need to with some things and if we finish something else early I'll just be done with it or purchase the next level.
The Donna Young web site has a check list you can do that I've found helpful. (Which reminds me I need to get one and get it going!) It's for a whole quarter. You fill the subjects/activities on the left, put dates across the top, and then check off what it done each day. I find it helpful when all off a sudden you notice they've not written in their journal for three weeks, but by golly we got Science done every day! I feel it helps keep things balanced, especially as sometimes there are things I'd like to do once a week, or twice a month, or something like that. The site is: www.donnayoung.org
I recently sat and read two books from the college on writing lesson plans. Absolutely nothing stuck!! I tried so hard to remember everything, but my brain no sponge.
If I tried to do "real" lesson plans, I might as well get a rubber stamper to use on each days Objective: Make it through today.....
I'm more for tracking what we do each day vs. setting up lesson plans. We were under an umbrella school for a couple of years and I often felt the need to "catch up or check off everything." I'm the kind of person who hates to be behind so this system works better for us. Each day we do LA and Math first then I rotate the other subjects. I also use the homeschool tracker, love it. :wink: Tammy
Brooke, I use a purchased planner, too! I already had it last year when I stumbled onto the abcteach forums and read all the wonderful ideas everyone had for making up one's own planner... But I really did like the planner I had, so I bought two more for this year and next! :wink: It's a homeschooler's plan book and can be used to record lessons/grades for up to six children. It does not have seating charts and classroom things I don't need. And I like the color: the pages are in shades of lavender. Silly, I know. Plus it has a Scripture verse on each page, which I like - helps remind me why I'm doing this! So I decided to stick with it for now. I did download a couple of pages from Donna Young's site to add to my planner. A 180 day page (my home state requires 1000 hours, not 180 days, but I figured I could log my hours in the 180 squares). Also a "course of study" form and a "reading log". That pretty much rounded off my planner for me. I do like to plan ahead. I "live in tomorrow", and like to always have a goal. I do try to "live in today" and have a balance, but it's hard for me to relax and go with the flow. This applies to everything in my life. I have lists everywhere! Long term goals, short term goals, daily lists, etc. Doesn't mean I'm exceptionally organized! Just a "want-a-be"! :lol: Thanks for the input, Heidi. I think I may plan out my whole year in general terms and then just record what we actually do in my planner. I think this will save me some frustration because I have this thing about planning ahead, but know better than to put too much in the planner because life does not stick to my plans!!!! Blessings, Anne
Anne, which planner did you purchase? I would love to only have the needed stuff; however, seating charts make great book list charts! And BTW, lavendar would be a worthy quality in my book as well. Sounds great!
:shock: Ok ... I must be the lesson "planning" SLOB here LOL :lol: I have NEVER stuck to any plan that I've created, which has proven why I hate them to begin with. I don't know what else to call my method but "fly by the seat of my pants." I just look at the stacks of curriculum I've chosen for my clan and know we need to complete them. Somehow I know it'll get done and that seems to work for us. In an email from HSLDA, I was greatly appreciative of their assessment of my Province's reporting requirements. Here in New Brunswick the Minister of Education must be able to determine that a child is under "effective instruction elsewhere" to exempt them from public school. In their reports there is a column you're supposed to fill in for how many minutes per day you'll spend on a given subject, and another column for outcomes. What HSLDA said is that the entire report is based on an institutional educator's perspective and the questions asked show little understanding of home schooling methodology, which is a tutorial method. They render the majority of the reporting requirements to be irrelevant to the finding of effective instruction, and suggest parents don't fill in the majority of it. Woohoo ... did THAT ever take a weight off my shoulders. I was spending up to a week before each year filling in about 10 pages of reports for each child ... 50 in total. Talk about grouchy !!! :evil: I really hate scheduling and feel boxed in by it. Also, with five on the go at once, scheduling doesn't work, at least not for me. There are just too many variables. Having said that, it's an oxymoron that in everything else I'm organized to the point where it drives everyone else nuts. I did, however, perk right up :shock: at the mention of the lavendar pages in that planner. You don't have to twist my arm much if something is purple ... my favorite color. I'm VERY anxious to get started ... but my classroom renovation project is crawling at worse than a snail's pace. Just a gentle reminder ... don't get friends to work on your house ... HIRE SOMEONE :roll: That's what I SHOULD have done !!! Kathe
I use McGraw-Hill's "Homeschool Teacher's Plan Book". ISBN # 0-7647-0607-1 I purchased the first one at a Christian book store, but found out CBD carries it, too! (I think I paid CBD about $6.50 for it, the store charged more.) The cover is eye-pleasing to purple lovers: purple and magenta with lots of other bright colors! It's got a year-at-a-glance calendar, long-range monthly planners, pages to record test scores, 41 week calendar (you put the dates on the page, so it's very flexible), and a section for addresses and phone numbers. I hadn't thought of using seating charts for book lists, Brooke! What a great idea. I'm sorry your renovation project is taking forever, Kathe. That can be so frustrating. I wish I could be more laid back about planning... maybe as I go along, the lesson planning won't seem as important to me. Of course, I'm only homeschooling one child and don't have to fill out tons of forms, so I'm not under a burden of paperwork to begin with. My home state requires "x" number of hours and I wondered at first how to fulfill that requirement when actual school work doesn't take anywhere near that long each day. I got a lot of good ideas from this forum: count everything! Gardening, shopping, cooking, etc. Life is one "teachable moment" after another. Made me feel better, I think I could double the required hours if I count everything we do that teaches ds!!! LOL :lol: Blessings, Anne
Anne ... That planner does sound great for recording stuff ... and who couldn't use THAT !!! Can you possibly link me to a site where I could see it? I've done a text search using the title you posted, and also have searched by ISBN # and have turned up nothing. Thanks in advance, Kathe
I am with Heidi I have a years planned. Sometimes they change but thats just minor adjustments. We have to keep lesson plans soooo I do it a year ahead and fill in if there are any changes. Like today we are doing a video that was not planned so I will pencil in. I have some sheets I saved in a file if any one wants I can email them and there are lesson plan pages in it. Let me know VIA email Ok!!
Hey Kathe!......you can go to www.cbd.com and use the title or the number and it should bring up a picture and description as well as sample pages to click on.
