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Summer break around our house is all about relaxing, catching up on projects around the house, and tying up loose ends from the prior school year. It is also the time that I really go into hardcore planning mode for the upcoming school year.
I want to start off by telling you that everyone does this differently. Some moms like to plan every detail for the entire school year while some like to roll with the punches each day. Some moms buy pre-made lesson plans and scripted curriculum while others piece together everything on their own and develop amazing custom plans for their tribe. Many homeschoolers plan differently each year. Just like there is not a single "right" way to homeschool, there is not a single right way to plan.
This is how I prepared for the 2021-2022 school year with my 3rd grader, Kindergartener, and a tag-a-long three year old.
Step 1: Create a Course of Study
Year's ago, I read a blog post by Kristi Clover on how to create a homeschool course of study and I have continued the practice each year.
Basically, I use an excel spreadsheet for each child and list out every subject that I would like to cover with that child for the upcoming year. Next to each subject, I write down what curriculum, books, or resources I will use to fulfill that subject. It is okay (and in fact encouraged) to write down the same resource for multiple subjects or multiple children. For example, your vocabulary workbook could also be used for spelling or your Bible study might include copywork that could be used for handwriting.
Step 2: Order Curriculum
Once you have your course of study, make a list of curriculum, books, and resources that you need to purchase and start shopping for them.
This school year, our family will be using My Father's World Exploring Countries and Cultures. After looking at my course of study, I only needed to add on language arts and math for both boys and a foreign language for Big E. I chose our core curriculum back in the Spring and ordered it while it was on sale. I then placed an order with Rainbow Resources for the remaining items that I needed. As my books came in, I sorted them onto three shelves: Big E's shelf, Middle C's shelf, and the family studies shelf.
Step 3: Get a Big Picture of Your School Year
I like to sit down with an academic year-at-a-glance calendar and mark out holidays, vacations, and other days that I know we do not want to do school. Then I highlight a start date and next to each month I write a goal for the number of days I would like to complete each month. We usually begin towards the beginning of July and plan on 100 days by Christmas break and complete our year by the end of April.
After I am finished with my calendar, I place it in my teacher's clipboard so that I can consult it each week.
This calendar is very flexible. If my goal is to hit 15 days in July and I hit 20, I might take a few extra days off in September. If I am short on days, we might work longer into December than I originally planned.
Step 4: Create a Daily Flow
Looking at my course of study, I highlighted subjects that our family could do together in yellow, subjects that Big E could do independently in blue, Middle C's one-on-one subjects in green, and Big E's one-on-one subjects in red.
Looking at each subject, I then create a Daily Flow. This is simply a schedule for how I want our homeschool days to look.
This year our Daily Flow is as follows:
Bible at Breakfast
Morning Time
Geography and Latin
Brother-Brother Time (Big E works independently while I work with Middle C)
Sports and Snacks
Morning Read Aloud
Science and the Arts
Big E's Time with Mom
Lunch
Naptime Read Aloud
Afternoon Pursuits
Notice that I do not put any times on our Daily Flow. It is simply an order of activities for the day.
Step 5: Lesson Plan for Term 1 (the first 12 weeks of school)
My Father's World Exploring Countries and Cultures has 34 weeks of lesson plans already arranged in a grid format. Last year, I just made copies of the lesson plan grids and wrote in the specific math lessons and made a few notes in the margins about additional subjects and resources. That was the extent of my lesson planning for the year outside of my morning time plans.
This year I realized that I did not have enough room to write in notes for each boy and I really wanted my morning time subjects all on one sheet of paper.
I spent an afternoon creating an excel spreadsheet for each week of Term 1. I started by creating a row for each subject as listed in my Daily Flow. Then I went subject by subject filling in notes for each day's lesson.
This might sound intimidating, but it really only took me 5-6 hours. For the subjects that we used MFW, I just retyped the lesson plans from my Teacher's Manual. Many subjects (math, read aloud, handwriting, etc.), I just went through the text and listed the page numbers or lesson numbers in the order they appear in the book. There were also a few subjects that I listed the same thing each day and just copied it over to each week (ex: morning meeting, 15 minutes spelling, or 15 minutes of phonics).
Step 6: Make a Supply List
After looking at my lesson plans, I went through each of my curriucula that require additional supplies (My Father's World Teacher's Manual, Science, and art) and I created a supply list for Term 1.
When I am making my list, I divide it into two sheets of paper. On one sheet of paper I list out weeks 1-12 and under each week I write down any items that need to be purchased for that particular week. Once I am done making this list I place it inside my teacher's clipboard.
On the second sheet I list out any items that can be purchased in advance and placed in a cabinet until we are ready for them. I try to sort this list by category of item: art supplies, toiletries, "trash" (plastic bottles, egg cartons, toilet paper tubes). Once I am done making this list I make sure that I don't already have any items on my list at home and then I go shopping for the items. I make a point to go to the dollar store, craft store, and Walmart in that order to purchase the items on my list. If there are items that I did not find or need more time to source, I add them to the list in my clipboard.
Step 7: Make Copies and Sort Student Worksheets
I like to label folders for all 34 weeks and sort the student sheets into the folder fro the week they are assigned. I also go ahead and make copies that I need for the first twelve weeks (making sure to follow any copyright laws) and I file them into the folders.
Step 8: Put On the Final Touches
If I need to create any worksheets, cut or prepare manipulatives, or laminate anything I go about that now. For ECC, I cut out all of the country currency and placed them in ziploc bags. I also cut out the geography game pieces and placed them in ziploc bags. I used an expanding file to sort my ziplocs by continent so that they are easy to grab and go throughout the year.
Step 9: Library Lists
I spent an afternoon with my book basket list. I checked my local library's catalog to see if they have the books that I want to use this year. My library allows you to create lists and I created one for each country plus an introduction list. I added books for the first 5 countries and the introduction weeks to the appropriate lists. Each week throughout the year, I can pull up a list and quickly reserve the books I need for that week.
Step 10: Enjoy the Rest of Summer Break
At this point I have finished making my curriculum as open and go as possible for the rest of the school year.