It’s All Part of the Plan…TOS Blog Cruise

I’ve shared on my blog before what we do for planning but I get to share again as part of the TOS Blog Cruise.

The first year we homeschooled, we used Alpha Omega Publications LIFEPACS (AOP). The schedule for those was in each teacher’s manual. Pretty much it was set up the same as a traditional school. Also we did the same things every day. The planning that year was super simple.

The second year we switched to Ambleside Online (AO) and wow, that required much more planning on my part. I failed miserably at first (over planning, under planning, forget the planning!) but as we went on, I got the hang of it a little better.

This is our third year and thus far we have planned it well Towards the end of the second year I was given a chance to ‘test’ the TOS Homeschool Planner(not quite review but I checked to make sure all links worked, fields could be filled in, things worked as they were supposed to). That was the start of my planning..plan. The planner put out by The Old Schoolhouse is excellent, superb, amazing! The only problem was that I didn’t always have ink to print off the sheets when I needed. I chose to purchase a printed planner from The Well Planned Day.

You can see my ‘review’ of The Well Planned Day planner here. I’d not actually used it when I wrote that post. Here is another one that details more how I thought the planning would go from then on out.

I actually have a few subjects planned for the entire year. I don’t exactly recommend that but I have some things that I insist get done…if all else falls by the wayside, I really want these to be done. We also have a block schedule (I think that is what it’s called). We don’t do the same things every day (well, some are done every day, such as Bible reading, memory verses, math and writing).

Because we use AO the ‘lesson plans’ are somewhat done for us on the website. Of course we are free to modify it to fit our family and needs. At the end of each week, I write up the next week’s lesson plans based on what I want to have accomplished and what was accomplished. So if we are behind in one subject (as opposed to what I had planned- with all good intentions, you know lol), then I can adjust the plans.

It used to stress me out (the end of the first year and into the second) when we were not on schedule. Finally I realized that I have to make exceptions at times. A topic may be particularly difficult for one of the kids and require more time. I have to allow for that. Or (as it has happened this year) we have to make an unplanned trip or take time off of school; I have to be flexible.

Here’s a snapshot of the planners we use and somewhat what they look like each week (taken from this post):

So what do you do for lesson planning? Is it contained in the curriculum you use or do you have to get creative?

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Here’s My Plan…on Planning

So, I originally figured out the entire school year for both kids. But I did that the first year…and the second year. Not that those were bad years but they definitely didn’t go as planned. Well, I didn’t just ditch my plans altogether, I just altered how I implement. This year, in an effort to continue Lee’s independent learning and to start Fox more on that path, I purchased planners for all three of us. I posted about my planner already. I actually preordered both mine and Lee’s High School Planner (4 years) at the same time. I wanted to find a similar planner for Fox but at the time I ordered ours, I didn’t see a more ‘boy’ planner. Fortunately, not long later, I did find one from Home Educating Family Publishing. So here are the kids’ planners:

 

Lee’s is a full size (8.5x11) with 340 pages and Fox’s is 6x9 with 180 pages.

Lee’s has much more in it than does Fox’s but I think he would just be overwhelmed if he had one like that. Lee was quite overwhelmed when she first got hers. It has tips for college planning, keeping records, credit hours, subjects, requirements for college admission (basic, you’d need to check out the particular college of interest for more information) and quite a bit more. You can see more of her planner here. When the book is open flat, there are two weeks visible. She has chosen to use just one column for assignments and the second column for ‘other’ things (chores, expectations, paper route).

This is her first year of really planning her own weeks. She did attempt it last year (successfully, I might add). Here is what she will be going off of to plan. I will also be helping her until she gets it down on her own.

Fox is more basic with a weekly layout as well as a month at a glance. Have a look at the planner he has here. There is a full page layout for notes alone. So at the end (or they have it at the beginning, I would choose to use it after) of each month we can record what worked well and what needs an adjustment. The link will take you to a virtual planner, you can preview the entire 180 planner.

There are boxes to check off (or as he likes to do, fill them in- completely) as they are done. For the first week I actually wrote in all his work for each day on it’s own line. For the coming weeks, he will be filling in the days on his own (well, not on his own really, we will go over all that is to be done in the week). I have put together a very simple chart for him us to use when planning his weeks. I did learn from last year (or was it the first year?) to only plan out each week in detail (as in page numbers).

This is for the first 12 weeks plan. It will have to be altered a bit for the second 12 weeks and the third 12 weeks. And yes, I customize the font for each child- the one that they like more. Fox likes Chiller and Lee likes Papyrus.

And to keep one final bit of tracking (because sometimes one of us will miss something and then no one knows what was done), I have both of their daily assignments in my planner and then I check it off when I have made sure that is has been completed. This way it makes sure that if one forgets to mark a subject done (or if they happen to forget to do the assignment somehow) it won’t get over-looked. You can see a preview of the planner here.

And that’s my plan…on planning. We are all a bit of planners but not follow-through-ers so here’s to working extra hard to make sure it all works

Well Planned Day Homeschool Planner 2011-2012

Back in January I decided to preorder the 2011-2012 Homeschool Planner from Home Educating Family Publishing. 

I've been using The Old Schoolhouse Magazine's printable planner since last year some time and I really like it. I like that you can choose which forms to print, and that they can be typed into and then printed (and saved!). But there were so many times I was out of printer ink...

I would end up getting out a piece of paper and drawing the form, penciling in what I wanted typed. It works just fine that way but really, I don't want to take the time to do it!  No. No, I do not think it laziness. (LOL) I think it is simply a matter of budgeting my time better (yes, laugh with me on that one wink).

The Well Planned Day Planner is so...well, pretty. I finally received it the first of April. I wanted to mark it up immediately but that really didn't make much sense. It is only April...school is out for us in May....June is a break month... first of July we start back. Who knows what could happen between now and then. The best laid plans of mice and men... anyway. I did write a few things in it. I couldn't resist. 

Let me just get this in here really quick: I would so SO like it if there were an option at ordering to customize this. I have two kids. There are pages for up to four kids. Not too big of a deal. I can use the extras for when/if I mess up. Another feature that is really nice but unnecessary for myself is the Shopping Lists. I have my shopping list pads all over my house (unfortunately, they don't always end up telling me what I need to buy for the week/month- they sometimes make it to the hands of my children, who love paper, any kind of paper) and honestly, I do not use them. Fortunately, the shopping lists are just one page a month. And the Report Cards in the back. Don't need that either. I print them out (so they look more official, I think).

Plenty that I do like about this planner, though! The Class Plan is great. I try to keep the receipts for items (books, paper, textbooks, etc) that I purchase for school but I've only managed to really keep tabs of the textbooks or set curriculum that I purchase. I often forget about the other books that are great to have anyway but I would probably not have grabbed them if I weren't homeschooling.

The Class Plan has a spot for putting down the publisher/title/source along with the purchase price and date. That I am liking.

I enjoy the articles interspersed throughout the months of the year. I have gone through and read a few of them already. It will be nice to come to them on their set months as well. 

Each week has a catechism. 

There are also Progress Reports and Attendance Reports (sorry no photos of those pages...). There is a lot more to like about the Planner. I really love the colors. ;)

I'm hoping that having this already here and available whenever I need it will help with my planning next year. Lee will be a freshman- gasp- in high school and I need to make sure I keep good records and stay organized. 

Of course, I will still use many of the features of The Old Schoolhouse Magazine's Planner as well. It is so full of everything. Even though I am liking the Well Planned Day Planner, it doesn't have near as much as the TOS Planner.

You're Not Going to Want to Miss This!! Good thru 09/15 & 09/19

Awhile ago I wrote a couple of posts on my magazine subscriptions. Some might know that I am an affiliate for The Old Schoolhouse magazine as well as a TOS Crew member this year (yay!) but even if I were not I would want you to know about this great deal- because it is GREAT.

Until September 15:

Get a one-year print subscription—new, renewal, or a gift for a friend—for only $7.95 (U.S. and Canada)! New subscriptions start with Winter 2010.

But there are only 5,000 of these to give at this great discounted price. Oh, make that 4,999 (I'm getting in on this!!)!

Click the picture!
If you don't want the physical magazine sent to you (go green!) sign up for the digital one-year subscriptions for only $6.95—new and renewals.
If you Just Can't Wait for the Winter issue of TOS, then choose the 1-year subscription + the current issue for just $12.95! There are a lot of options here!

OH! and since I'm sharing this awesome deal I will let you in on a great new product put out by TOS: PLANNERS for students!

CLICK THE PICTURE!!!
Ah, and an added goodie that comes with any planner that you purchase until September 13: buy an E-Planner, Planner on CD, Planner E-Book, or Planner CD with Student Planner and get the 2008 and 2009 Planner modules and the WeE-book insect bundle free—that’s 27 free E-books!
**Disclaimer: I am a TOS affiliate. The links included in this post are affiliate links. I will receive some compensation (cash, if I'm lucky!) if you purchase from TOS Store after clicking my links. See more about my Disclosure/Policies.**