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Kathryn
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| Posted: Sept 08 2011 at 2:21pm | IP Logged
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We already had a trip planned to the local Civil War Museum for Oct. and they're discussing it in their homeschool class. Then the new Mater et magistra mgz came out with a unit on it and I keep going from link to link and book to book and idea to idea. I tend to do this in alllll my planning and it's swallowing my time. I think I tend to overplan and I'm wondering how you get focus esp. if you're trying to do something for various ages?
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Kathryn in TX
(dd 16, ds 15, dd 8, dd 5)
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Mackfam
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| Posted: Sept 09 2011 at 9:12am | IP Logged
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Wow! There are 47 views to this topic...and no replies! 
I guess you aren't the only one with this question, Kathryn!!!
I can certainly identify with your question, I suppose we all probably can! We are very fortunate and blessed to be homeschooling at a time when resources and sharing are plentiful! Thanks be to God for all the amazing home educating moms that share their time and their work and resources, making it easier to plan and consider!! 
Kathryn wrote:
| I think I tend to overplan and I'm wondering how you get focus esp. if you're trying to do something for various ages? |
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There are a few tools I use to help me moderate and manage both the time spent in planning and the actual execution of the plans.
** Be faithful to your daily duties. I could stop right here, couldn't I? Because if I/we all did this one thing, all our time management issues would probably evaporate! So, I don't say this lightly, or in a casual, "I'm so beyond this" kind of way. This is something I must always keep in mind and is my own best guide for not letting myself get drawn into a research project in an unhealthy way. Being obedient to the small duties of my day provides balance and the guide for stewarding time. There are great blessings, peace and freedom when we are obedient to the little daily things. If it's time to get up and do laundry - go do it. If it's time to prep dinner - go do it. If you've been putting off the clothes switcheroo - go do it. If a little person is asking you to read to them - read to them. When I have kept up with the daily duties, then I can consider other duties of research and planning. Sometimes, it's easiest for me to plan in the evening, during the remains of the day. I know I've worked hard for the day and can enjoy some time planning and researching. I do sometimes plan and research in snippets during the day, but here is where I must exercise SELF-DISCIPLINE! Research and planning time CANNOT trump the daily duty. That means I have to be prepared to work in little chunks of time and then walk away. It helps me to identify tasks that can be completed in a little chunk....like....find out contact information for "x".....check to see if there is a website for "y" and bookmark it....open as many tabs as humanly possible on the topic and keep them open until later that night when I can read through them.  ** Know your own limits in terms of information overload! I really enjoy the researching part of planning because I learn so much!!!. All that research doesn't have to translate into the executable part of the plan, but boy does it really add depth to the plans you may put in place. You'll find yourself drawing on some of that information!
** Know your family's needs and limits and set healthy boundaries. Family dynamics are going to be different from family to family and these can and SHOULD greatly influence your consideration of plans and their execution. Things like family size, having older children to help mom out, budget, mom's health/other family member's health, other family stressors....ALL FACTOR IN. Don't be afraid to sit down and identify where your family is in terms of needs and limits. Your husband can be a fantastic sounding board for helping determine this! This tool helps me set my outside the home plans when I am planning something like the Civil War unit you're talking about above. I can choose a full schedule by keeping the children involved and inviting their cooperation so that the family can enjoy special events. This thread, Living the Slow Life, is in my favorites because of the sharing and brainstorming about BUSY VS. FULL! It could be a great tool as you discern the best level of activity for your family!
** Keeping focused can be as simple as identifying a family goal with a project at the beginning. So, you might try sitting down and considering your Civil War plans in light of a goal....is it to simply read and learn more about it? Visit a few local battlefields? Get big kids involved in a re-enactment? If you have a goal guiding you, and you realize you're on the verge of spending hours researching the history of fashion during the Civil War because you have 34 tabs open on this topic, you can redirect yourself and make a note on your planner to ask if someone in the family has an interest in Civil War fashion, and if so, if they'd like to tackle it as an independent research project with you providing a couple of tools. But, chances are, your 3 yo and your son aren't going to give a whit what the ladies were wearing at that time! So if your oldest dd has an interest, you re-focus yourself, spend $4.00 on a Dover coloring book that has all the fashions of the Civil War meticulously detailed, and move ahead. Having a few basic goals (and sometimes you might set these on your own) in mind helps me re-focus when I head down a rabbit trail researching. I don't keep my eyes closed to those neat rabbit trails as possibilities though!!! Communicating with the family helps us find an interest we didn't know we had, too! I just  rabbit trails!!
** Some projects naturally lend themselves to a finite amount of time which can set the amount of planning. The Civil War sesquicentennial goes on for four years, so perhaps as part of your goal identification, you can identify 4 key areas you'd like to study, one for every year. Or, another option could be to hit one battlefield re-enactment, one museum, one historical marker, and accomplish one Civil War read aloud for each year.
** In planning for any project or unit, if outside the home activities are an obstacle for your family, invest some of your time in internet supported demonstrations and exhibits. This is one of those areas that the internet can really shine! Perhaps you can research a great deal with some internet based field trips and then plan for one really fun day out to one battlefield?
** Give big kids the responsibility of planning their own projects or special activities if it supports their personal passion. Our 10 yo just spent a month researching and calling about a WWII air show he wants to attend. He was responsible for tracking down the route, info on the airshow, costs involved, etc. He presented all the details to dad and with dad's permission pursued and secured other details. I did not plan a single thing!
** Sometimes, writing out plans in ical (or google calendar would probably do the same thing!) lets me see very quickly that I've got WAY TOO MUCH GOING ON....and I'm prompted to scale back to a reasonable level. For this reason, I like looking at plans on paper and then printing and crossing out, and making notes on it. Those calendar programs let you layer different activities (and these can just be general blocks of time)....like the school day, dad's schedule, choir practice, errands, ballet, field trip, dental appt, extra read aloud time, etc....in a way that lets you see quickly that three things on top of each other without dad's help are NOT going to be accomplished in any sane manner without heroic help! Adjust plans!
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Does any of this help, Kathryn? I'm not sure I'm on the right track at all with regard to your question/challenge, but I thought I'd take a stab at it and we can go from here!
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Jen Mackintosh
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Angie Mc
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| Posted: Sept 09 2011 at 12:33pm | IP Logged
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Great question, Kathryn! I totally get where you are at with the ages and needs of your children. I've learned through lots of trial and error some principles that help me to keep planning streamlined and proportionate (the principle that time spent on planning is time not spent on other things - principles of happy moms who home educate.
I plan according to our priorities. I put more planning time into reading, writing, and math before other subjects.
I plan according to skills needed immediately. Right now I'm working on plans for improving English and Spanish vocabulary, five paragraph essay format, and math computation computation.
I plan according to broad knowledge needed immediately. Right now I'm planning movies for Literature, History, and Science.
If I can't find what I need quickly (via a google search) I come here and ask for help. This step alone saves me an enormous amount of planning time. (See my current "20 Great Science Labs" post.)
If I have too much material, I streamline by forcing myself to choose the top material. Currently I need to weed through my Religion books.
I plan with building baskets, units, and routines in mind. We revisit materials over the years with little planning needed. Material stays fresh by combining differently and meeting child's changing developmental stages and interests.
I avoid reading the plans of others, unless I specifically ask for help or decide upon a specific material that includes plans.
I have breaks in the morning for ongoing planning. I really try not to plan at any other time of the day. I schedule in a bigger planning time quarterly, but I count mostly on my planning daily. It is amazing how my quarterly plans tend to get squashed (illness, dh travel, unforeseen emergencies of all sorts  .)
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Thinking about this in reverse, when I was a new homeschooler I loved, loved, loved planning, especially finding new materials and ways to approach learning. I loved, loved, loved engaging in discussions about the latest, newest, most interesting content and processes. It was like an adrenaline rush! Left to my own devices, I would still like to wander in this fashion (and sometimes I reward myself with just such an engagement) but now I know that time was a season of investigation and for laying a foundation...but I wasn't meant to stay there. I actually needed to lay the foundation, trust it, and prepare for a life full of the needs of growing children and young adults.
Jen, I look forward to reading your reply and hope others chime in.
Love,
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Kathryn
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| Posted: Sept 12 2011 at 11:13pm | IP Logged
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Now 192 views and still only 2 replies so you're right that hopefully I'm not the only one with this issue! Also, sorry it's taken me so long to reply but I've been planning! Thanks ladies for your ideas.
I finally asked oldest DD and DS what they wanted to learn about Civil War and after getting beyond specific questions decided DD's interest was on how life was for kids with slaves and without and for DS it's of course...BATTLES! So, at least that does help me narrow down and may be I'll choose a couple books on each and try to focus on those things at the visit and have them do a little notebooking when we get back just to cement what we learned. I may have to throw in some vocabulary and sentence writing b/c that is an area of weakness for DS right now.
Also, I do tend to think this will be the ONLY TIME we EVER cover this particular subject (on any subject) which is why I so overplan. It makes me want to get it all in and I need to take a breather and realize we WILL cover these subjects again and their interest will change and grow as they do.
I've got a basket marked "Civil War" and when it's full I'm DONE planning!
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Kathryn in TX
(dd 16, ds 15, dd 8, dd 5)
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TxTrish
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| Posted: Sept 14 2011 at 9:30pm | IP Logged
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I have been keeping an eye on this topic...
Seems a more common problem than I ever imagined. I have a tendency to over-plan, over-research, and generally over-everything if truth be told. I love to plan, research, read, organize and learn. I LOVE forms! I love to fill in the spaces, pick the 'perfect' activities and print out giant stacks of 'information', worksheets, mazes, puzzles, you name it. Organize our subjects to compliment each other, research new curriculum and options. Read blogs and see what other gals plans are. Plan, plan, plan, plan.
I can actually spend more time researching and planning our homeschooling than doing it.
Now, I have to admit that I do have the advantage of coming at this from a round 2 perspective. That means I have repeatedly made every mistake imaginable.  I'm trying not to keep doing it, I've been told that doing the same thing over and over again expecting different results is the definition of crazy
The key for me - simplify.
Because, what good is my planning if I never do it or if I plan so much that there is not enough time in the day to possibly accomplish it all?
Stop planning, researching, and so on and start doing!
I have certain key resources I use for certain things. For instance, Apologia for science, Saxon for math, Spelling Power - stuff like that. This has been a huge help to me. A few less areas to wander off in.
I also have a collection of books I use for basic planning information for other subjects - books of booklists, History Links-(Catholic Unit study), all the Konos volumes and things like this.
I start with my topic - say Ancient History this year.
This is my third (or forth?) time through Ancient History in my homeschool. Finally, I have learned that my elementary aged children really are not interested in my college level explanations (or the notes from my classes) but they are totally into hearing me read aloud and books on tape, making duct tape weapons and armor and other such activities(and having a war), and even reading historical fiction (carefully chosen and accessible) and playing games (I have educational games that we only play when we are studying the subject - Aristoplay makes: By Jove-Greek Mythology, Made for Trade-Colonial America, The Plays the Thing-Shakespeare, Great Composers, also the card games - Authors, Artists, Composers and stuff.)
Our writing assignments (and narrations) are about what we are studying.
We do lapbooks, notebooks or other activities. Not all of them, about everything, all at the same time. I pick and choose. Sometimes the kids pick.
I actually don't get all that stressed out about it anymore. I plan what we are doing, and then we go for it.
Like my homeschooling mantra "We homeschool, that means we have to stay home, and do school." It is too easy for me loose my focus - it isn't the planning of the perfect homeschool day/year/whatever that is my goal, it is the living learning we do together. And if we are always running around doing this or that enrichment activity, field trip, "class", and the like - we aren't doing school. School isn't something we fit in if we have time between activities. This is a mistake I have generally avoided, but only by sheer luck. I was never good at schlepping around town while pregnant, nursing, potty training, herding cranky toddlers who need a nap, and trying to make sure my bigger kids are getting whatever it was we came for!
So, overplanning is always a temptation, but generally speaking this is what I do - gather the resources, tie on my Nike's and JUST DO IT!
Sorry for my long ramling - hope something made some sense.
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MamaFence
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| Posted: Sept 15 2011 at 12:11am | IP Logged
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(posting so I can remember to come back and read when I have more time)
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4Real Forums : Planning and Ordering our Days
Topic: How do you keep from OVER planning?
