Planning Ahead

[MissSJ]

Its me again!

How far ahead do you plan out your lessons?  What does your planning consist of?  How do you stay organized?

I have been pretty laid back this year and strive to get reading, writing and math done most days.  My oldest DS (6) is in a Cottage School program for homeschoolers that he attends three afternoons a week (MWF).  On those days we generally do not do lessons at home.  Last year (2010) I also attended college ranging from half to full time.  This year I will still be attending college and recognize I need all aspects of my life to be more organized to decrease stress!  I would like to keep things interesting for the boys and hope to rotate what we do for math, reading and writing while I plan on including science and history.  I'm thinking of keeping some type of binder where I have some type of weekly schedule as well as sections for each topic with printed materials ready, instructions for lessons and some type of list of things I need to do in advance (materials to gather, instructions to be familiar with, library books to order).

SJ

[inky leeuhhh]

maybe a teacher's planner would help you? the binder idea is good too, though. more flexible. is there a day each week you could sit down and do planning? i have always sort of winged things. we follow along our books (story of the world, handwriting without tears, and singapore math) and add things in as i think they're needed (library books, manipulatives for math, journaling..). i am in school as well, and i teach preschool, so its easy for me to get "schooled out". lol. i would actually  consider unschooling if i didn't think my dd (who has asd) needed the structure of a more traditional curriculum.

[PGTlatte]

Originally Posted by MissSJ 

Its me again!

How far ahead do you plan out your lessons?  What does your planning consist of?  How do you stay organized?

I don't write out lesson plans.  I like to use materials that don't require me to plan anything..."open and go" type stuff.  I have materials from different sources for each subject in  a pile of stuff on the end of the kitchen counter.  The things that are loose papers are in file folders by subject; everything else is a book, a workbook, or on the computer.  Each time we sit down to work I just go to the next page, or take the top paper in the folder, or pull up the next lesson on the computer. I have a binder for storing completed written work.  I use a planner notebook from the office store to write down each day's completed work.  I also have a spreadsheet at Google Docs where I record each activity or work item by date, and code it by subject area.

[kgianforti]

How far ahead do you plan out your lessons?  

I plan day to day. We use some Sonlight materials for science and history so that's scheduled for me. But math, I just go day by day and make sure I have enough for my big girl to do.

What does your planning consist of?  

Scanning the next few pages of the math book an deciding which lessons to go through. For science, I pull out the books/materials needed for the lesson that morning.

How do you stay organized?

I have an upright file folder holder (from Staples) with three dividers that I put our current curriculum in. For science, I kept the box that Sonlight sent and cut the top off and all the science books, supply boxes and binder fits nicely in it. For History, I have a red plastice basket that all the read aloud books are in and there are larger books next to the basket between the basket and our supply tower (which is a 2 foot high plastic shelf unit that goes on a desktop).

For recording what we do, right now, I just write down what subject we went through in a regular desktop calendar.

Probably clear as mud, huh??