The beginning of a new school year often rears its head with the urgent need to have a plan. Some of us aren’t big planners while others among us need to have a good chunk of the school year planned in advance. No matter which camp you reside, I am here to tell that having an idea of the direction you want for your home school to flow is important.
Creating a Plan
Before each new school year, I jot down a list of subjects that I desire to teach the girls. This list includes subjects I believe they need to learn such as math and grammar, and it also includes the subjects that they want to learn such as French and gymnastics. By the time the list of subjects to learn is completed, there are usually about 13 to 15 topics listed.
As you probably can guess, there isn’t a way for me to include all 13 or so topics every day, and if I am honest I can’t include all of them every week. In order to make it work, I have to formulate a plan. There are three steps that I used to form my plan. In step one, I list the topics to be taught or learned. In step two, I categorize the topics by how often each subject will be taught. For instance, some topics are worked on 4-5 days a week while others are only focused on 3 days each week, and some may only be on the schedule for once a week. Lastly, I group the electives to be taught each quarter. This allows us to learn about all topics listed since not all subjects will be taught for the entire school year.
Writing It Down
Now that there’s a plan in place, it is important to have it written down somewhere. It’s important to see the way each week will flow. Some home educators plan the course for the entire school year while others take it week by week. I am a week by week planner myself when it comes to writing out each individual lesson.
Taking the time to write out your plan will give you a general idea of the amount of work your children will possibly accomplish each day, and it will also help you determine just how likely you will be to accomplishing your home educating goals for the year. I have found by providing our home school with a rough a sketch that we are actually able to accomplish more than I hoped for, and I have found that we are less likely to fill our time with things which aren’t of interest or valuable to our particular home schooling goals.
To keep everything in one place, I have found that having a planner dedicated to all things home school is imperative. Do you have a planner just for home educating?
There are several planners specifically for home schooling. I have found the ones which are predated like the Well Planned Day Planner to be on the top of my list because it is one less thing that I must do while others which aren’t predated like the Ultimate Homeschool Planner rank closely behind because of all of the awesome resources that are included.
No matter the type of planner you choose, you must make sure it is functional for your needs. Your planner of choice is where you will write down all of the weekly goals you have for your home school.
Do you have a special method for planning your home school year? Please share your tips in the comments.
Happy planning!
