A fresh calendar year and a new semester means work for a homeschool mom. It’s time to regroup and make plans. To be honest, I enjoy the planning part.
I evaluate what has worked so far in the school year, how far we have gotten compared to my original year-long plans, and what is left to cover for the year. Then I sit down with pencil in hand and craft an updated plan.
As the years have passed, we have used fewer and fewer curriculum sets. Instead we are using a hodgepodge of living books, workbooks, and homemade lessons. Although I don’t use a prepackaged curriculum, that doesn’t mean that I don’t plan. (I always have a plan!) As I was making my semester plans last week, I thought it might be helpful for other homeschool moms to get a glimpse of how to make semester plans when you use an eclectic mix of curriculums and resources.
I have some overarching goals for Emma’s middle school years which I periodically review. It’s important to keep those in the forefront of my mind as I plan.
Then I list the academic areas I want to cover. Under each heading, I list the materials I have on hand to use for that subject. They may be workbooks, living books, PDFs, or curriculum sets. Or if I need something. I make a note of that too, and later search my local library system or Amazon.
I take the material I have, and give it an overview, trying to determine realistically how long it will take us to cover. Sometimes a book is conveniently divided into lessons, so it’s just a matter of counting it up. Other times, I have to mentally divide it and use previous experience as a guide.
I factor four days a week for homeschool so we have time for extra-curricular activities (drawing lessons, 4H, and the occasional field trip). When estimating how long something will actually take, I always round up. I like having slack built into my schedule so that we have time for tangents or time to catch up when we get off track. After all, flexibility is a primary benefit of homeschooling. Why not plan for that flexibility?
At this point, my list looks roughly like this. (Except it’s very messy, of course. And these are just a few examples of items from the list.)
History
Ancient Rome unit (Beautiful Feet) 6 weeks worth
math history biographies (livingmath.net) 8 weeks, 1 mathematician each week
Poetry
4 poets — 6 weeks each
Vocabulary
Wordly Wise 11 weeks left
Grammar
Editor in Chief 16 weeks left
Language Arts
Figuratively Speaking 40 lessons, 2 per week = 20 weeks
Then I print out some pretty pages from my homeschool planner and transfer my notes. I am a visual person, and the little boxes really help me to see where I have gaps or where I’ve planned too much. In the photo I am using the quarterly pages (from The Schoolhouse Planner) to outline the two nine week periods of the semester.
Of course, it’s not a neat eighteen weeks in reality, but it gives me a foundation for my plan. I write over the boxes to indicate how long I estimate different units to take. Now I can see that I have a nice 3 week gap on my history line. I decide to leave that there to allow for overflow or for some new idea. These pages go into my homeschool notebook where I refer to them as I make my weekly plans.
Note that my plans are in pencil. They are merely plans. Things change, and I always reserve the right to modify mid-stream. My plans are my tool not my master.
I am definitely a paper and pencil gal. I just got done planning our week a little while ago (we are starting back tomorrow). I had our books all spread out and penciled in our lessons, with a 3-week general plan. We also plan four days a week of book school. That way we have co-op day and field trips. We don’t use box curriculum either. Wow, we are pretty similar in our schooling! Here’s to an excellent second semester!
Great post. I like that you do your planning in pencil and that you plan for flexibility.
Love this, Jimmie! Great timing! This is basically what I do, except I tend toward long running lists in Microsoft Word, where I can do a lot of cutting/pasting/inserting/pushing back. 🙂 It’s not as pretty, but it’s working for now!
Excellent. So helpful to see how you do it. I’m getting a tad bit better each year with planning and organization, especially as the little ones are starting to become school age and join us. This year I’m really enjoying doing a review about every 6-8 weeks for each child. It really helps me see if we are accomplishing our goals or not and where we should go next. Each day often seems so chaotic that’s it’s helpful to step back and see what has happened and where we are heading.
Pencilled notes, scribbles, arrows, blank spaces … my plans look a lot like yours! I become quite excited when I transfer my year plan onto my week planner and fill in and explore all the details. And I totally agree to plan flexibility into the schedule – even with a “out-of-the-box” full curriculum. If you’ve paid for it – enjoy it all … and then some!
I love to plan as well! I tend to do my planning on a computer – it is easier for me to make changes or additions that way since I have a ‘thing’ for neat plans. 🙂 Also, it is easier to go back to lesson plans I’ve created for one child to use or modify for another that way, as my pencil and paper plans tend to get stashed after the year is over.
Thanks for your post, Jimmie.
I have a very similar system. :o) Thanks for sharing.
Oh wow, what a fantastic post! We are strongly considering homeschool and I’ve always been drawn to the eclectic approach, so this definitely helps! I am also a big fan of lapbooks, which I see you have a lot of information on. I love your site! I’m your newest follower. Thank you for sharing your planning process.
I appreciate you sharing your plan. Probably what I like best is that you plan with flexibility in mind. That is one of the most important things to me about homeschooling, in general, and eclectic homeschooling, in particular. You seem to have your finger on the pulse of what your daughter needs. Have a great homeschooling year!
Thanks for this post. I am new to homeschooling. My dd is only 5. I am struggling with how to plan and how to fit the state curriculum standards into our lessons. I really want to create my own curriculum, but sometimes the out of the box variety sounds like a luxury. I guess I am feeling nervous about getting it right…Any advice would be appreciated.
This is great! Just want I needed. I am such a planner and I am trying to work on planning for flexibility as well 🙂
The link to The Schoolhouse Planner is broken, and I’m having trouble googling up a replacement. Help?
I changed the link. 🙂