How to get started homeschooling in a structured way? - Page 2

[*Jessica*]

Originally Posted by jessicaSAR

I also use an e-planner. I use the Simply Charlotte Mason planner. Its pricey, but so far it's the only thing that has rescued me from millions of schedules written on random sheets of paper. We do copywork, phonics, writing or grammar, latin and math everyday (4 day a week schedule), and other subjects (history, geography, science, literature) 1 or 2 days a week. The planner is great because once I enter all the info, it lets me print a check-off list for each child each day. Then, in the evening, when I go over their work, I just check off what was completed in the planner and it automatically moves to the next assignment on the next day's sheet. If we don't complete something it just rolls the assignment over until the next day that subject is assigned. I love that feature because missing something for doctor's appts or unexpected visits doesn't mess up my schedule.

Originally Posted by Momma Aimee

It is my understanding that Homeschool Skedtrack does that also ... rolls the assingments over (not sure about printing check lists)

I don't use it yet, but tehre is a whole thread about it -- somewhere.

Aimee

Yes, Homeschool Skedtrack rolls the assignments over and you can print a checklist of the schedule for the day. And it's free.

[Momma Aimee]

bump

i need to re-read this and i can't right now as it is BOOK TIME

so i will come back later -- but i didn't want to forget.

Aimee

[AngelBee]

Originally Posted by Momma Aimee

bump

i need to re-read this and i can't right now as it is BOOK TIME

so i will come back later -- but i didn't want to forget.

Aimee

Thank you for bumping. Super timely for me!

[AngelBee]

Originally Posted by annettemarie

I second the planner. I actually have an overall planner and one for each kid. The overall planner has main lessons and the stuff we do together: art, science, Story of the World, field trips, etc. The individual planners detail the main lessons and list their independent work/workboxes.

I don't use a canned curriculum, I make up my own based on the recommended Waldorf main lesson blocks. So, I started out with a notebook. I wrote a month on the top of each page. Then I divided it into 4 quarters-- one for each kid, plus a section for what we do together. Then I figured out how many "learning weeks" we had in each month. Next, I went through and figured out what main lesson I wanted to do for each kid each month. Finally, for the last quarter, I wrote out the stuff we'd be doing together.

So, imagine a page labeled "OCTOBER: 4 weeks" and divided into 4 quarters.

It would read kind of like this:
NICHOLAS (Kindergarten):
D, E, F, review letters A through F
Continue with counting and sorting concepts
Small motor skills
Gnome crafts
Circle times: Apples, harvest and haying, gnomes

KATIE GRACE (third grade):
Native American stories
Continue with the 4 operations
Focus on drilling multiplication and division facts
Forms based on Native American motifs
Cursive

MICHAEL:
Tall Tales (Moving Beyond the Page and other resources)
Continue with fractions
Creative writing and editing
Pronouns

TOGETHER:
Story of the World chapters for the month
Art Masterpieces for the Month
Bach
Emergency preparedness/natural disasters/safety (Science and safety)
Pumpkin Patch trip
Read Alouds: Don Quixote

This, coupled with creating a routine that gives me time with each kid, is really the cornerstone of our structure.

Thank you for taking the time to write this out. It sounds like EXACTLY what I need to do.