Homeschool Planning Installment #4: Put it all down on paper, neatly

If you have read my previous homeschool planning articles, you will now have a lot of ideas for your children for the upcoming school year.

Now is the time to get it all down on paper in a very organized way.  I like to keep all of my homeschool planning sheets in a 3 ring binder.  I am in love with 3 ring binders.

What you should have in order to stay organized and focused throughout the year:

1. Goals sheet: 1 per child     This sheet will list the subjects you will teach each child and what is expected of them per subject.  List your very minimum goals.  If you were to do nothing else in a particular subject what would you insist that get done?

For example: 

Child 1:  9th grade, Biology complete 3/4 of textbook and get an A in the course.  Have all tests dated and signed for end of year portfolio.

Child 2: 5th grade, Physical Science - Do 1 science project either an experiment or observation. Do vocabulary. Have 20 dated and signed samples at end of year for portfolio.

Child 3: 3rd grade, General Science Do 1 science project either an experiment or observation.  Do vocabulary.  Have 20 dated and signed samples at end of year for portfolio.

Now these are the very minimum goals.    If I use these goals, I know that my children will be doing lots more science than this, I will just not have to worry about recording it unless I want to.  If it`s a good day and the birds are chirping I might get out the camera while the children make ice cream or look at bugs under the microscope or look flamingos up in the encyclopedia, but if not it will not matter because I will have the system in place that insures that I will have enough for our portfolios at the end of the year.  Most importantly though, I will have a system in place that insures that I am comfortable with what we are doing and my educational goals are being met.

2. Monthly schedule    How do you need to break the work up in order to have it all done by the end of the year? What will be done less often than daily and weekly?

Using the science goals as an example:

Child 1:  9th grade, Biology  This will not be scheduled monthly because it is something shell have to work on every day.  However, I may want to check over her work monthly to make sure she is keeping up and will be able to complete the course in time.

Child 2: 5th grade, Physical Science  Because I am requiring vocabulary work I will schedule this twice a month to make sure that we get our 20 portfolio samples by the end of the year.  If we have enough samples because of the science project or child-led work that is being done then we can either do vocabulary anyway or have some free time.  It will be my call based on whether or not they are learning what I want them to learn.

Child 3: 3rd grade, General Science  Ditto.  (Same as Child 2:  5th grade, Physical Science)

4. Weekly schedule      What will be done less often than daily but at least once per week?  This will depend on your goals for your child per subject.  Remember that this is your call.  If you think your children can do math 1 time per week and meet the goals you have set for them then do it.  You do not have to follow what the schools do, or what other homeschoolers do.  Set your goals and meet them however it works for you.

   

Using the science goals as an example:

Child 1:  9th grade, Biology   This will be something she`ll have to work on daily in order to complete the course at the end of the year, in my opinion.  However, if she wants to take one day per week to complete a weeks worth of work that will be fine with me.  I personally work best this way because I hate to drag things out and I love to see progress and get finished.  I will let this be her decision and schedule accordingly.

Child 2: 5th grade, Physical Science  Whether or not we schedule the science project to be worked on once per week or daily will depend on the project that is chosen.  To start the school year I will schedule about 30 minutes to one hour daily for this.  This will give him time to brainstorm and come up with a project that hed like to do.  The project will then be scheduled however it needs to be.  For example if he is observing his Sea Monkeys then he will need to do this daily, possibly several times per day but if he is building a large hermit crab habitat we may need to do this in larger chunks on a weekly basis.

Child 3: 3rd grade, General Science  Ditto.  (Same as Child 2:  5th grade, Physical Science)

5. Daily schedule  What will be done every day?  Now you may think this category will have some obvious subjects done on a daily basis.  However, please fit everything into YOUR lifestyle and your desires.  Yes, lots and lots and lots of people say that spelling and math should be done every.  single.  day.  But that is totally your call.  What if your child can do these things every other day or even just once per week and learn it just as well as another child who needs the daily reinforcement?  I don`t know your child but trust me, you do know your child.

Im going to drop the science example above because I`ve already covered everything in the weekly example. One thing I have to keep telling myself over and over again is that much of the work can be done independently.  When I think of all we have to do I seem to get a mind freeze because I`m thinking that I just don`t have the time to do it all.   Reality check!  I dont have to be involved in every detail of each childs school work.  They are perfectly capable of doing oodles of things without me right there by their sides.  Don`t know why it`s so hard for me to remember that.  LOL!

Here is my rough list of what my children will be required to do daily, no choice.

Spelling.  My kids need to study those words daily in order for them to sink in by Fridays spelling test.  I am only required to dictate the words to the on the first day, then I will help them as they ask but not more.  (My youngest will need me to help her on a daily basis, but the others will not.)

Phonograms study  We use SWR so it is important for them to memorize the phonograms.  If they know them they will not have to do this, but until then I want them to study them daily. Hopefully they can do this on their own next year.

Math I will required them to study their facts once per day, however if they want to do their math books once per week or even less often that is fine with me as long as they keep up with the goals I have set for them.

Bible. We will have a Bible study daily with me, as always.  Praise God that this is the one thing we do most consistently no matter what.  If things go awry we always come back to this right away.

Reading McGuffey to me  -  My 2 youngest girls read McGuffey to me daily.  This is one of my favorite parst of the day and it gives them a lot of practice reading and learning new words.

Family Read Aloud Another one of my favorite things.  We are currently reading the Little House Series and probably will read The Chronicles of Narnia next. 

When I see this list it seems like too much to me because of all the other things (school and housework related) that we`ll have each day.  BUT some of these things can be done at night, or at lunch time or worked in so that we can still breath and have margin.  I would love to start reading the Little House books at night right before bedtime but haven`t brought that up because change is often met with a lot of whining around here.  (Maybe I should add character training to my daily list, LOL!  Of course that will come with the Bible time :)   Look at that, I just forgot, AGAIN, that I don`t have to be involved in all of this. Ahhhhhh!

6. Remember, margin, margin, margin.  You can always add more if you feel you have time during the year. Or not. But make sure to start with very reachable goals.  Be silly about it if you want.  For example, for science maybe you require that they watch one science video.  Period.  Very, very little but also reachable.  Or no science at all?  It is completely and totally up to you, but do make sure you are following the law.  I couldn`t do this because we need portfolio samples, so regardless of what I want to do with science I must insist that we have paperwork.     

Are you wondering why I am planning so little for science for my younger children?  Or do you think I`m doing too much?  Ask away.  I love to hear from you.