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saintanneshs
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| Posted: Oct 08 2006 at 10:51pm | IP Logged
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Just a few questions here, having to do with how "set" your lesson plans are...
How far in advance do you plan your lessons?
How often do you stick to them? (all the usual considerations aside, like sick children, unplanned visitors, etc.)
Does anyone keep a "record" of their learning endeavors, as opposed to a "plan"?...(meaning a blank page to be filled up with learning activities as the day goes on, rather than a filled page with boxes to be checked off)
Are you a "checklist-maker" or a "box-checker"?
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I make a rough plan for the year (calendar in hand) sometime over the summer...It's that old kindergarten teacher in me. I just can't see the back-to-school sales and not have an idea of what we're doing written on paper before the end of August! 
I almost always stick to my plans AND I always plan more than humanly possible, due to my tendency to get excited about any given topic and then get carried away with it.  This Fall I'm a little burned-out with things though (tired of pushing us all when I have no need to), so I'm letting it go and trying a few new things (along with paring WAY down to give myself time to relax before the new baby arrives). I'm trying to focus more on the kids and less on the academic goals, if that makes any sense. Dh thinks I should try printing out the lesson plan page I've created and NOT write any plans in it, but fill it as the day goes by with the stuff we've done. A see-where-the-day-takes-you kind of thing. I'm not sure if I can go that unstructured. Maybe I'd be better to just make a list of ideas or options for each subject and then circle the ones we actually decide to do or write in the ones that just pop up. Maybe I'll wander over to the Unschooling board to listen in for a while... 
Unfortunately, I'm a compulsive checklist-maker and box-checker. It's so bad that if I can't check something off, I re-write a new list without that box on it and throw the old list away. Pitiful, huh? Oh, the sin of pride...  but I think God is working on it!
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Martha
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| Posted: Oct 09 2006 at 8:22am | IP Logged
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I do it all!
I have my plans put into Tracker for the year, but I only print off a week at a time.
I will add/modify them as neccessary. Either to accomodate what's on the calendar that week or to bring in an element that I feel they need to concentrate on stregthening.
I keep notes on how far they are in memorizing the balt. cat. and prayers. I also note fun activities we do, whether it be art projects, a bug they caught and observed, or a field trip we especially enjoyed.
I have just recently started to keep a portfolio of their writing assignments. There are several contests through the year for essays, short stories, and poems, but I usually don't find out about them until a week or 2 before the entry deadline. They can choose one to polish up and turn it in w/o all the pressure of a blank page and a near deadline or having to drop everything else to get it done in time.
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Martha
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Yes, they're all ours!
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rivendellmom
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| Posted: Oct 09 2006 at 8:24am | IP Logged
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I use the tracker and just record what we've finished. That way I never get behind!
It always look like a lot more than when we were doing it. You know?
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Jen in suburban Chicagoland Mom to Connor(91), Garrett(93), Reilly (95), Mary Katherine (98), Declan (05), Ronan in ^i^ 6/28/08
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sewcrazy
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| Posted: Oct 09 2006 at 11:10am | IP Logged
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I am a list maker also.
One thing different I did this year was to create daily lesson plans for each as opposed to a weekly list for everyone. this way I don't get stressed if we don't "finish" a week's worth of work by the end of the week. I only charted out the "basics" and left much room for whatever enrichment actiivties we explore.
LeeAnn
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Rachel May
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| Posted: Oct 09 2006 at 1:00pm | IP Logged
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I used to fill the blanks after, but now each Sunday, I plan the week. Mostly I check off what we've done; sometimes I scratch out what I had planned and write in the rabbit trail we followed instead.
I use our MODG syllabus as a spine for what we want to accomplish over the year, but I'm not a slave to it because in some areas I've picked other books and in others the kids are ahead of the syllabus. MODG gives lots of opportunities for recording observations, poems, art, narrations, etc into little blank books, and sometimes with a real unit study we've done a flapbook.
From time to time I sit back and think about what we've done and ask myself:
1. are we progressing?
2. do they love learning?
3. do I need to buckle down or loosen up?
That keeps us in a sort of structured chaos. We don't go in circles indefinitely, and we do take time to smell the crisp Fall air!
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Thomas and Anthony (10), Maria (8), Charles (6), Cecilia (5), James (3), and Joseph (1)
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momwats8
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For me I need a set plan. With the number of children I have and need to teach and outside activities I need them done and set. also in Florida you enroll with the county you live in and have your children either take a standardized test adn submit the results or put together a portfolio which is reveiwed at the end of the year by a Florida certfied teacher. I have found that having the lesson plans already done means my required daily log is already done for me. It saved tons of time and they loved my potfolio  We enroll in Kolbe academy and follow their daily course plans. I modify them as neccessary and it works wonderfully.
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Alcat
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| Posted: Oct 09 2006 at 3:21pm | IP Logged
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This year I am trying MODG 3grd for my 8yrold. I LOVE checking off those boxes !
We are at week 8 and it is going very well. Last year I would plan weekly and would ask way too much or way too little depending on my mood 
I sub in or delete as I need too- like we aren't doing the science or map skills this semester- maybe for the spring? But we are doing loose nature study and map work from our read alouds- I just note what we do in the lesson plan book.
I like haveing the basics laid out in front of me, ds likes it because he knows what MUST get done, consistanly.
I'm having real trouble planning my dd6, so I'm unschooling her. I am writing down notes of what we accomplish together each day so I can better evaluate what she needs and how she learns.
God Bless,
Alison
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ALmom
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| Posted: Oct 09 2006 at 6:48pm | IP Logged
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Mary:
Sounds so much like what I do - and I do freely substitute as I see my children's needs - or something else I really think we'd benefit from (like a non-text history). Just having the plans somehow frees me to do what my children need. If I don't have daily plans, then I feel lost, the children feel lost, I become a controller and we don't have any flexibility (sounds almost opposite of what you'd expect) but for some reason in our house, just because I have those daily plans, I'm suddenly freed to be creative with how we do things.  I'm not sure I could explain it.
I do hand each child a handwritten sheet each day with assignments (put together as we discuss previous days stuff/ work together).
Now my 9 yo, even though I have those Kolbe lesson plans, we are doing grammar with the CHC workbook - interspersed with "real" things to reinforce the lesson. We use Kolbe 2nd grade handwriting to teach cursive - but since the space even in that is too small, I have him write the letters in the air and then put them on a seperate sheet of lined paper that is wider. We'll go back through at the end of the year and see if he is ready for the smaller spaces yet. We do Kolbe vocab. and use that as spelling right now - mostly because I just haven't had time to do what I want with the Writing Road /Spelling. In History, we're sort of using RCHistory but loosely following an Ancient History thread. He is a budding scientist so we are following the 6th grade plans for Kolbe and he is adding all kinds of experiments from whatever books are around - and the co-op. We also basically follow the religion plans, though we add in games, projects, liturgical year as we go and some CHC projects.
I'm not sure we've done much Kolbe - but the older they get, the more they/we tend to follow the plan as set. I guess they just eventually mature to the reading/writing level or whatever - but as long as I have the plans, I feel so free to do my own thing/ substitute, do whatever we need to do to get the concept learned.
Janet
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momwats8
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| Posted: Oct 09 2006 at 8:31pm | IP Logged
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Janet - That is what I LOVE about Kolbe. They tell you do just that - make it your own. I have found it sooo freeing. We do not do their spelling - we use CHC spelling books. We do more Ancient History but are moving into their American History books. I also do Saxon Math for all ages and they do not use it until they are older.
I do feel the freedom you are talking about with Kolbe and I love those daily course plans
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Mary- Wife to Mike and Mother to Austin(92), Mikey(95), R.J.(97), Benedict(98), Kolbe(00), Ignatius(02), Christian(03), Margaret(05),&4 angels in heaven
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marianne
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| Posted: Oct 09 2006 at 8:40pm | IP Logged
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I spend the summer scheduling out most of my year for each child. I schedule all the workbook type stuff - math, Language of God, spelling - and then I plan unit studies, Bible readings, and literature to go on throughout the year. Sometimes I use Sonlight or other curricula, and then, I plug that schedule into our master planner as well. (Can you tell I'm a planner?)
And then, I'm not kidding - we follow it pretty much as written all year. If something doesn't get done on the day it is scheduled, that's OK, but it will be done by Friday of that week, or ELSE! I think I've figured out what the kids and I can handle each day and I'm careful not to overschedule. Usually, the only things left for me to add in as the weeks go by are dictations, copywork, lapbooks, and art projects - and I just wait for a time that I'm sure we can get it done. This week, I'm going to add in a book report for my oldest. For whatever reason, life doesn't stop us. I think we must have boring lives, because nothing out of the ordinary really ever comes up. It's just business as usual for months on end around here!
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4Real Forums : Living Learning
Topic: How "set " are your lesson plans?
