Deuteronomy 6:5-8
* Prince T - Class of 2013 * Princess C - Class of 2015 * Sir C - Class of 2020 * Lady M - Class of 2021*
Jul. 8, 2006 - finalizing 2006/2007 curriculum & schedule
Schooling Adventures
Here is how I go about planning my year. And I mean even down to the days I teach. I know this will be WAY too anal for you unschoolers, but for those who thrive on schedules or for those trying to figure out why they can't seem to get all of their work complete before the end of their school year then here is a possible solution.
1) print out blank calendars for school months (for me it is Aug- May)
2) know how many days/weeks you need to complete your curriculum (I know that we need 36 weeks to complete our curriculum since we use Sonlight)
3) pick the week you want to start school and write school across it and do the same for the week you would like to finish for each semester (we do 18 weeks each semester)
4) then write school across all the weeks that you know you will not be taking any breaks (for us that is August, October, February, & March)
5) I automatically block the week of Thanksgiving, CHRISTmas and New Years as vacation.
6) At this point start looking at all the blank places on your calendar and fill in weeks of school in the remaining months (I do this until I have 18 weeks for each semester. I usually end up with the week of thanksgiving and 3 weeks for CHRISTmas/New Years, 1 week in March off)
7) Now I do have to interject at this point that we only do school 4 days/week so each Friday is used for field trips, make up days or sick days (yes, I DO ALLOW MY CHILDREN TO BE SICK, and sometimes we take a day off to go do something FUN!- had to put that in there for all you unschoolers- he-he!!!)
Now that you have your school calendar set you can begin scheduling your curriculum. I always start with the easy things first
1) on each week I write down the following "SL 1", "SL 2", etc. This way I know what week of Sonlight I should be on - you could do the same thing if you use a scheduled core curriculum (Ambleside Online, MFW, TOG, etc.) For us Sonlight schedules the following- Bible, History, Geography, Read-Alouds, Grammar, reading, spelling
2) Next schedule your math. (We use Horizon's math so we schedule 1 lesson/day with 1 lesson for "homework*" on the weekend(expect for holiday weekends)
3) schedule handwriting/copy work lessons
4) Now schedule your science (we do science 2 days/week- Tuesday and Thursday). Science may not take 36 weeks so you could leave extra time at the end of each semester.
5) Now schedule arts (we do art 2 days/week- Monday & Wednesday) You could use this time to schedule any types of arts music, music appreciation, art, art appreciation, crafts, sewing, etc.
6) Next schedule remaining extra curricular subject (For us it includes- Spanish, Typing and this year Blogging/Journaling)
Once you have your rough draft done you can either transfer your schedule into a record book or you can type it into Homeschool Tracker
After that is done I give copies of the schedule to each of kids so they can see where we are at in the year, mark of days complete, check off completed work, etc
In my next few blogs I will talk about all the curriculum I am using for the 2006/2007 school year
*The reason I give my kids "homework"- I have two options with some of my curriculum since we do a 4 day schedule. I can either double up on one day (the easiest option) or I can hand the kids their "homework" on Thursday and tell them it needs to be handed in complete on the next school day (Monday). If they turn it in on time and complete they get a prize out of the treasure test. If it is LATE then they get 5 points marked off their paper for each day it is late. I have opted for the second option as a lesson in responsibility.
© Brandi M Webster Lone Star Academy 2006
Related Tags: Home School, Schedule, Lesson Plans, Sonlight, Homeschool Tracker
Comments
Jul. 9, 2006 - Untitled Comment
Posted by eyecorn
I'm so glad I came to visit you. I spent time while we were on vacation doing a full year calendar. This is a BIG thing for me, as I haven't done one in 3 years! It was helpful to see how often you do the "electives".
Do you also write down what lesson they do each day on this yearly schedule? Or, do you write out the lessons they do as you go through the year? Or, do your children just know what lesson comes next? And, AM I MAKING SENSE?
I think I'm wanting to overplan! I also like your idea of using Friday as a field trip, catch up day.
Jul. 9, 2006 - answers to eyecorn's questions
Posted by lonestaracademy
"Do you also write down what lesson they do each day on this yearly schedule? "
Yes, I actually do write out the lesson # or page numbers (anal, but I just can't help it)
"Or, do you write out the lessons they do as you go through the year?"
I have found greater success for me just doing it all at once.
"Or, do your children just know what lesson comes next? "
Although I wish I could claim that my children knows what is going on at all times and are completely on top of their lessons, I can't. Especially if they don't say lesson 1,2,3, etc. If they know the lesson they don't have a problem keeping up. And with things like science we break in places that seem natural while I am planning but I have to look at the lesson schedule so I can have an idea of where to stop. Sometimes we just keep going, but we can't always do that because it ends up being to the detriment of another subject getting behind.
"AM I MAKING SENSE?"
You are making total sense. If you have anymore questions or ideas of your own please feel free to post them.
"I think I'm wanting to overplan!"
I may be crazy but I just don't think there is any such thing. The better I have planned the smoother our school day seems to go.
"I also like your idea of using Friday as a field trip, catch up day."
Thank you, I have always taken one day off each week for various reasons. I can't imagine ever going back to a five day school schedule. But I certainly won't say never
Jul. 9, 2006 - Untitled Comment
Posted by eyecorn
Thank you for posting responses!
Jul. 11, 2006 - Thank you!! Thank you!! Thank you!!!
Posted by Littlebitofeverythingmama
b, as you know I have struggled with this for years!! This is such a blessing. I'm going to print it off and stick it somewhere (I'm reorganizing right now) so that I can reference it in a week or so. I'm getting ready to sit down and plan our year and this is exactly what I needed - a step by step plan!!
As you know, our MFW is lost in the mail. I pray that we will be able to receive the reimbursement from the post office in the next month so that we can purchase again. What a drag!! In the meantime, I can plan our BJU stuff out!!
Jul. 15, 2006 - Thanks for sharing your planning.
Posted by tbrowne
I spend the entire summer trying to plan and I use Sonlight too. But I like to add a lot of extras. :-)
I love your homework idea- we are going to do four days a week this year and that will work great.
Thanks.
Jul. 25, 2006 - School year schedule
Thank you for the great ideas! I have enrolled my son in a "Homeschool Academy" for the first year. The supervising teacher laid out the curriculum plan for me, but I think I will use your idea of printing out blank calendars, so I have a more clear visual plan. I like the casting crowns music, too! (how do you do that?)
Edited by mommyofboyz on Jul. 25, 2006 at 10:18 AM
Jul. 27, 2006 - Untitled Comment
Posted by KarenW
Thanks for sharing your schedule. I try to be a bit structured Mon thru Thurs and more relaxed on Fridays.
Jun. 11, 2007 - Untitled Comment
Posted by Anonymous
School adventure is really fun. Lots of crazy things done and funny moments to treasure. I miss school and also our terror <a href=http://www.teacher-appreciation.info>teacher</a>. :D
