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Mary G
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| Posted: Sept 27 2007 at 10:14pm | IP Logged
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My dh is a high school theology/math teacher (now there's a combo, huh?  ).... anyway....
he plans out the whole year -- when tests will be, project dues, etc -- with a bit of lee-way in case something comes up (and it always does)! But basically, on any given day he knows EXACTLY what he's going to teach.
I on the other hand, know BASICALLY what I want to get accomplished through the year with each child and then I plan/record in my calendar as we go. This takes advantage of field trips, museum shows, etc as they occur. As well as sick days, just play days or whatever. But it is very much an ad hoc, unschooly kind of system. And, I think we don't get EVERYTHING accomplished that we should.
How do you plan? Do you have EVERYTHING laid out for the year as my dh or do you "fly by the seat of your pants" as I tend? And, of course, WHY?
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MaryG
3 boys (22, 12, 8)2 girls (20, 11)
my website that combines my schooling, hand-knits work, writing and everything else in one spot!
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lapazfarm
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| Posted: Sept 27 2007 at 10:21pm | IP Logged
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I think you already know my vote!LOL!
Why? It's just in my nature to be haphazard!LOL!
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teachingmom
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| Posted: Sept 27 2007 at 11:01pm | IP Logged
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Well, although I have some things in common with your husband (I used to teach Catholic high school and have both a theology degree and a math degree  ), I have to go with your method and not your husband's. Back in the day when I taught in a school, I used a method more like your husband's - mostly because it was loosely required by the administration.
Now I make general plans at the beginning of the year and sort of fly by the seat of my pants on a day to day basis. For all the subjects in which the children have books or workbooks (religion, math, grammar, spelling, etc.) the girls know to just "do the next thing" each day. "The next thing" being the next section or two, couple of pages, or whatever we set up at the beginning of the year. If we have too many interruptions and get behind, we just start increasing the amount done each day towards the end of the year.
For areas in which there are no texts, like history for the younger ones or writing, I use a more serendipitous approach. I often make writing assignments off the cuff, or the girls choose their own writing topics as the inspiration hits them. For history, we have a huge assortment of books on our current topic from both our own collection and the library. I have a general idea of the order in which I'd like us to hit topics, but we choose the next book to read as we go. There is no master list written down of books we must complete and dates we must complete them by. We do activities that tie in with our history topics whenever the though occurs to me. Again, nothing is planned out ahead in detail.
Why do I do it this way? I suppose I like the freedom. As you mentioned, Mary, this method is great to allow for field trips and other activities. No major rescheduling of lessons if we lose a day due to a field trip, visitors from out of town, or sickness.
Honestly, the idea of planning everything in detail and feeling obligated to stick to it stresses me just thinking about it. But I wouldn't call myself an unschooler at all either. We accomplish an entire academic year's worth of work in all subject areas by June. But there's much more freedom in doing it this way, I think.
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Erin
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Well I 'plan' term by term (10 weeks). Like yourself I look at what skills need to be targeted ie M needs intense support in reading. Dc need spelling skills and go from there. We do use a maths text so no planning is needed there, I just need to be aware if a child is not understanding the concept and step in.
I 'plan' for history, geography, science. We follow a literature based approach here. So from term to term I decide what area we will cover and gather whatever resources I can. I look at my own shelves and my irl friends and may buy a little. Once I have what books we are reading we dive in.
The Why? Ah I've decided I would never be happy with anything I like to fix a little here and there. I don't like to be hemmed in my a set curriculum and I even don't like being hemmed in by my own plans I like the freedom to be spontaneous and perhaps the real real honest reason.... I am not an organised enough person to plan so far in advance 
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mariB
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| Posted: Sept 28 2007 at 5:29am | IP Logged
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I love this question Mary. I am a very regimented person. But guess what? I have a basic idea of what I want everyone to accomplish in a day too and
I write it down in lesson plan books as we go.
I feel very comfortable with this and notice that we accomplish a lot in a day. I think I love that the kids can get excited about something and we can go with it.
We do have books on a shelf which I want the kids to finish by the end of the year, math programs, science books, religion books, etc. BUT it is no big deal if I substitute a "living book" for a few chapters. Actually, it is everyone's preference at this point.
I never thought I'd ever love this way of planning school. When we started homeschooling eleven years ago everything was by the book.(Poor oldest child.)
But thankfully God has given me a husband who is a "fly by the seat of my pants" sort of guy and his ways have calmed my ways.
I think the key is lots of prayer. I don't feel we've had a really successful day unless we gather in prayer, listen to the mass readings, have a bit of a read aloud, and discuss whatever comes to mind with the children. A good school day for me constitutes putting God first.
Mary, thanks for reminding me what is really important in a school day. Sometimes putting it down in words clarifies for me the path we are taking as a homeschooling family.
Blessings,
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marib-Mother to 22ds,21ds,18ds,15dd,11dd and wife to an amazing man for 23 years
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At_His_Feet
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I dream about the perfectly planned year, where I have all feast days planned, history topics written in week by week etc.
But I'm starting to realise that the vision I have for myself as the well planned homeschool mum, and the reality of who I am, are very far emoved from each other!
So for now I content myself with a set number of pages form each workbook, and then all going well we'll throw in some history, literature, lapbooks etc.
I'll keep dreaming.
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Tricia
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CKwasniewski
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Mary,
It's funny. I was talking about this last weekend with the latin teacher here. She said she views her syllabus as a sort of "contract" and she feels she HAS to get through it. Though, of course, she wrote at the bottom--subject to revision. I think that's one of the differences between homeschool and "regular" school
I have tried both ways of doing things (list to check off and write it down as we go, with a list in the back of my head) and I can see there needs to be some of both. With one, I feel pressured and with the other, I get "lazy" or just plain forgetful. 
I find if I make a list of our "seat work" (reading, copywork, latin, memory work) then it's more likely to get done. For the rest, we are pretty free-floating.
I also found it helpful to write goals for the quarter (9weeks or so) and then plan again at the end of each quarter, making adjustments as necessary.
God bless,
ck
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Meredith
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I plan loosely for the year, but break in down into small monthly chunks so I can tweak along the way, and this may adding or taking away ideas we want to incorporate, but I DO have a general plan. It's very "Tidal" for us though, we like to go with the flow, I just have my own underlying structure 
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~Rachel~
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Lets see... I am more like you Mary... whereas your DH can plan for the year because he doesn't have to wait for certain children to get well when sick (their parents have to make them catch up), I think we have to work around OUR kids because we are both parent AND teacher.
So here we have a 'curriculum' if you like for a subject for the year, although I reserve the right to follow rabbit paths in ALL of them 
For every three months I made up a schedule to incorporate the feasts during that time, and those have activities I like to do. I plan just one a week for these so I can maintain it 
Weekly I have a loose plan either written or in my head of what I wish to accomplish. This is subject to change according to the whim of DS and DD
I like to stay flexible to be able to go on trips, or go out with Dh if he gets a day off... that kind of thing
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vmalott
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I LOVE to plan, it's the follow-through that always gets me!
Seriously, depending on what's going on with our family life (e.g. expecting a new baby, moving, etc.), I can be more of one or the other. Currently, I have a plan, essentially so I can get back on track when something throws us (like I'm sure this new baby in Jan. will). BUT, I have finally given myself permission to stray from said plans.
What was revolutionary for me this year was setting up a general scope of what I thought we'd be capable of getting through for the family-based studies (history, science, music, art, nature). Then I detailed (somewhat) a plan for the quarter, mainly so I would have a heads up to gather resources from the library, craft store, grocery store, etc. It's not fun to run into a science experiment and NOT have the supplies on hand, and it's just not in the budget to do a great big bulk shopping thing for supplies, especially if they may wind up NOT getting used.
Then, on a weekly basis, I look at the language arts and math that's being worked on and assess where we'll go for that week. This is working out really well. For example, I initially thought the two oldest would need a week per MUS lesson, but we've all realized this week that the pace can be sped up for a while until they reach a concept that is more difficult. So, I need the flexibility of a weekly plan for certain things.
Again, another revolutionary thing for me is that my plans are done up on the computer. I have had a real issue with lesson planners in the past...the sort you write in. I like having a "hard copy" to put my hands on, but it's visually disturbing to me to see things undone, or to have to erase and rewrite. This way, my plans are neat and tidy, and if I need to make a change, I just edit and reprint...no big deal! And, yeah, I'm anal enough that I actual re-type the assignment portions of Connecting With History, so I have neat and tidy pages with my substitutions in place!
Valerie
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Valerie
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marihalojen
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| Posted: Sept 29 2007 at 9:27am | IP Logged
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My vote goes in the ad hoc, unschooly kind of system column, Mary. I do much, much better planning at the last minute. I think it is because when I present the topic I am super enthused and excited, but let the plan sit in a binder for a week or a month and it bores me when we get around to it.
Yeah, and in college I was the one sitting in the car between classes putting the finishing touches on whatever project was due the next hour.
Though I don't mind having a back-up plan pile of ideas that I can sort through and select something. For instance, ideas for the Nature Notebook on days when the blank page is too overwhelming. My favorite cool idea for that right now is Color Theme Walks, there are so many purple things out there right now - beach morning glories, wispy grasses, the inside of a shell, a lisianthus look alike flower - that was the inspiration. So we may squeeze a few color walks in even though the "official plan" for Nature Study is Joseph Cornell's Journey to the Heart of Nature.
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Veronica's Veil
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I used to plan for the whole year and that never worked because I am just not good at anticipating "things" coming up and making time for them.
Then I tried to plan out unit Studies for their estimated duration (usually 6 weeks or so) and that worked ok, but still required quite a bit of tweaking.
Now, thanks to Dawn and her lovely blog, I am this year planning each week. I take a couple of hours on Saturday each week and plan out the coming week. I can't thank Dawn enough! Thanks Dawn! We just finished week 4 and today planning for week 5 and everything is flowing SO much more smoothly this year! I really think it's easier this way because I can look at what we have coming up and schedule around that or add in a resource for a feast day or rabbit trail that I wouldn't have thought of or maybe even had access to previously. I really do believe this is the way I will continue to plan each year! It does take some self discipline to sit down on a saturday and spend that time when I'd rather be doing other things...but it is what's best for our Home Learning!
I have enjoyed seeing other methods of planning! You ladies are wonderful! 
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SallyT
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I'm in the unschooly ad hoc camp, too. I always have a general scope for the year -- we use the Mater Amabilis levels as a backbone, though usually, with a given child, we're doing a combination of levels to fit strengths and "needs-works" for that child. How much I formally plan depends on the child. With my oldest, if I planned something, it was sure to bomb. I don't give her writing assignments, for example (or I didn't, until I became her formal English teacher in a co-op class), ever, because she makes up her own assignments -- like, to research and write a novel set during the Vietnam War. So, okay, that's history and English pretty much covered in one self-generated project. If I had said, "Honey, you like to write, so how about you pick an historical period and write a novel set in that period -- fun, huh?" she would have said, "Fun, no." With her, heretofore, all I did was order the key books and say, "Have at it."
My second is a sitdown-work kind of guy -- he likes to have workbooks to work through and is happy to do whatever I give him. So I essentially just line up what seatwork books he's going to do, chiefly in math and handwriting, and he works his way through them methodically. The rest of the time he reads and does his own thing.
My third, now a kindergartener, is temperamentally very like my oldest. If I say, "Look, I got you this fun reading/writing/math book," he wants nothing to do with it. On the other hand, he reads street signs as we drive along, and amused himself in a restaurant tonight reading words off the posters on the walls. And he likes to make up stories and have me write them down. Again, as with my oldest, if I said, "Why don't we make up a story and write it down," he would balk. But I KNOW he's going to be thinking up stories, because that's what he likes to do, so occasionally I'll catch him to "write" one with me. Essentially I just have to be alert enough to turn whatever's going on into some kind of lesson, or simply to see the lesson in it, happening independently of me. I just reserve the right to choose the read-alouds, and that seems to shape a lot of what he thinks about. Actually, today he told me a wild story about a battle between the Romans on one side and the "Unions and Confederates" on the other, in which the "Unions and Confederates" won, seized Rome, and renamed it "Union and Confederate City" -- helped by Andy Griffith and Barney, from the old "Andy Griffith Show." I'll have to get him to try to remember it, so I can put it on my blog. He likes that -- he knows other people read what's on the blogs, and he likes having his stories be "real."
On the other hand, having been reading Serendipity, I am planning to start the Alphabet Path with my 3yo, who likes having things planned for her, and will adore the fairies. I almost never work from lesson plans, but I think that this would work with this child, and that she would appreciate having a lesson just for her.
So, um, I guess I would call my lesson planning method the "Multiple Personality Approach."
Sally
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Maryan
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vmalott wrote:
| I LOVE to plan, it's the follow-through that always gets me! |
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That's me!! And as another former teacher - I like the idea of a big picture... but I like the daily freedom to work towards that big picture as we see fit.
So I like Meredith's monthly planning -- but I need a smaller scope. So I make 33 weeks of plans. That way I can move around the days (doing more on days that we can, less on days when we're sick!) and decide which week we're doing "school."
And... I'm a computer gal and have all my lesson plans there, but I've found that I also need a hardcopy -- so I'm printing mine and taking it to an office store to spiral-bind it. Checking off lessons accomplished on the computer isn't nearly as satisfying as using a red pen!!
And WHY do I do lessons this way Mary -- I think this method gives this newbie accountability to myself. We have a lot of other stuff going on -- I don't want learning to get lost in the shuffle. I might get more flexible with more experience.
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Maryan
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4Real Forums : Planning and Ordering our Days
Topic: Lesson planning
