One thing I have learned over the last few years of homeschooling is that in order to have a smooth year, I need to be very well prepared. I need to have a serious plan. I can’t do that the month before school starts. There is just not enough time to research curriculum, pray, plan and buy it all at a good price. It is just too overwhelming.
So what do I do? I plan all year long. Yes I do. But that is what makes it so easy. It is not a dread, knowing that I am on a deadline in July to get it all ready for my kids. I can actually enjoy my summer “break”. But, I also make sure our schedule is fluid enough to account for any unexpected missed days for school. Life happens, I have learned that in our 5+ years of homeschooling. Amazing field trips come up, and I don’t want to miss them because I am chained to my curriculum. I did that the first few years and it made for a lot of missed opportunities
One of the biggest time wasters I have noticed over the years is trying to prepare the morning of. Those are the days I am never up early enough, someone is sick, or we just get off track. Then, the next thing I know it’s lunchtime and we haven’t even started.
Please tell me I’m not the only one who has these days!
Here are 3 easy ways I plan your next homeschool year, all year long:
1. Plan using “weeks”. One of the best ways I have found to plan is to schedule our year out into weeks. So, instead of having a particular assignment per day, I plan out all our school within a week. First, I print out a year calendar from Donna Young (she has some great resources for FREE! I use her “light blue calendar with 12 months” and I start in July or August), then I go through and label each week by number until I have 36 weeks of school. Week 1 for us started on August 4th this year. I can see the whole year at a glance, marking off weeks for Christmas, Spring Break and it allows me to see our absolute last day of school!
Using this system of weeks, easily lets me coordinate subjects with activities. For instance, we are using Apologia Sea Creatures for our science curriculum this year. It has 13 lessons, but each lesson can take 2-3 weeks depending on what it is covering. I factored in 3 weeks for our Whales/Dolphins lesson and during that time I wanted to read Island of the Blue Dolphins, so I requested it from the library the week before.
—>> I keep this sheet in the very front of my homeschool planning binder in a page protector.
*Tip: I also use this year calendar to keep track of how many days we are in school. So when grades and attendance are due each semester with our umbrella school, I can very quickly just write down the days instead of having to go back and manually count!
2. Keep a notebook. This is a tool I use for the upcoming year. I have a spiral bound notebook, usually I get these almost free during Back to School sales. I keep a page for each child and write down all the different curriculum I am interested in or ideas about things I can use to incorporate into the next year. As I see curriculum sales, conventions and opportunities to connect, I keep these things in mind. I even write down ideas I find for centers, crafts or online resources. It just helps me to have it all in one place. You could also do this on your smartphone. I am old school, I like paper.
3. Curriculum catalogs. I have a folder where I keep each curriculum companies catalogs that I am interested in. I love to have something I can hold in my hand and circle and mark up. I love the Veritas Press literature recommendations, so I have marked off all the books we have read, then when I begin to plan for the next year, I don’t have to look in different places. It’s all marked in my catalog.
4. Get Curriculum Recommendations and Reviews. One of the best ways I have found good curriculum or learned how to use it best, is simply to talk to other homeschool moms. Learn how they are using it, what they do and don’t like about and how best to use it. There are TONS of homeschool curriculum reviews online, be sure to read them all. But also be sure to get your hands on it. A big part for me is looking at it, reviewing a few lessons and seeing if it works for us. Just because it works for your best friend, doesn’t mean it is a good fit for your family. I have learned the hard way, everyone else may be using it, but that doesn’t mean it’s a perfect fit for your kiddos, or you!
More Useful Tips and Comments from Homeschooling Friends:
I would definitely say Prepare, Prepare, Prepare!! Do everything you can to organize before your school year begins… Even down to your photocopying for the year. It makes the school year SO much more enjoyable if everything is ready! ~ Abby
Using an online planner keeps me focused, from Homeschool Buyers Co-Op.. ~ Katherine
Website edhelper.com I use this for literature. I can’t read every book my kids read so this site generates questions/vocab for me with answers. ~ Stephanie
For beginners using a tutorial is a great way to start and a huge pool of homeschooling families to get support and ideas from. Using a tutorial allows you see how others structure classes. ~ JulieAnne
I have to write out (simplified) my entire semester. I get a very basic teacher planner from Parent-teacher store and write down what lesson in each subject I teach on each day of homeschooling. It is only functional to keep me on task and if we have to skip a day for some reason it keep me accountable to get caught up on our lessons. I write out the whole year but in pencil to see where I can add fun “extras” at the end of the year. ~ Shannon
Be sure to checkout my other Homeschool Posts to help you out!
