Homeschool Planning
We just finished our second year of homeschooling, and are currently on break, but we are only take a breather long enough to give me a chance to get my planning going. We are already bored. I wanted to share with you how I plan for the new school year, and hopefully, give you a few ideas.
Decide on a budget.
How much are you able and willing to spend? Try to find your biggest budget buster first. Maybe it is you or your child’s most weak subject. Maybe it is the subject you most enjoy, and want to invest in growing that passion for learning. For us, we spend the most on our weakness, Math.
Allow time to find the best prices, and search out used curriculum from other homeschoolers. I have often found a bargain, or shared a bargain with other families, and you usually find the items in excellent condition.
Evaluate all of your curriculum you just used.
Is it working? If it is, you can just buy the next level. Can you save it for another student? If it worked well, you can set it aside for your next child.
If it isn’t working, and you don’t think you can reuse it, consider selling it to off-set the cost of its replacement. Try to decide what it is about the curriculum you don’t like, and make sure you don’t buy a similar curriculum for next year.
Keep a wish-list.
Most of my homeschooling finds come to me throughout each year, you can learn a lot from reading what your fellow homeschoolers are using, and what does and does not work for them. Grab ideas from the homeschoolers who seem to most resemble your families style of learning. There is no sense in reading all about a Charlotte Mason curriculum if you have already decided you are a workbook kind of family.
Decide your school terms.
Some of you follow more of a traditional school schedule, similar to public schools. We have tried that, and find that several months of break just don’t work. We currently work on a year-round schedule, taking just a few weeks off a year. We officially school four days a week, giving us much needed time off, without taking longer breaks.
Map out your breaks and make sure you get the amount of required days of instruction in, as required by your state.
Plan!
You need to have some sort of long-term goals and plans to have a smooth year. They can be generalized goals, like “I want my Kindergarten student to learn to read”, or more concrete goals, such as how many lessons you want to complete in each subject this year.
Print off all of the papers you will need for important records. Make sure to do this for each child, and don’t forget your letter of intent! I always print several copies, mail the school board copy via certified mail, and file the remaining.
Organization is key, and in the next few weeks I will be sharing on my blog some of the new ways I am keeping all of my papers straight.
Take planning breaks.
I am one of those “go-getter” types. You know, the mom that has a great idea and wants to make it all happen TODAY. My brain gets frazzled, my contacts dry out, and I sit until the computer screen becomes blurry. All in the name of curriculum research. My husband had to drag me from my chair. To be honest with you, I am wasting time at that point. When I am forced to take a break, my brain has a chance to refresh and I am much more productive when I return.
Don’t forget to pencil in FUN.
This is my weakness. I get so caught up in the curriculum, that I often overlook the fun stuff. While you are doing your planning, make you sure you plug in as many field trips, nature walks, and out of the classroom time as possible.
Sam is very happily married to her high school sweetheart, who became a preacher. She was reluctant to homeschool her six blessings, but now can’t imagine choosing another path. You can find her at her blog, The Kelley Ei8ht, Facebook, or Twitter– where she likes to gab about homeschooling, weight loss success, Bible reading, taking pictures, and organization.
Thanks for this post. I am brand new at homeschooling and am choosing to start homeschooling this coming Sept. I’m a little nervous about scheduling because I want to get my 875 hrs in for the year. Can you give me some simple ideas on how to schedule? When is the best time to start scheduling? And I was planning on getting a calendar notebook to schedule. I’ve already ordered my curriculum (its sitting on my homeschooling shelf) and I guess I just needed some ideas on what things are good to have along with the curriculum? Can you give me some simple ideas for a new home schooler like me? I’m not a very complicated person and I want to start off simple first.. thanks! You can email me if you like 🙂
It seems to me that your most important issue is getting all of your hours in. Start there. I plan using 180 days, and so I sit down with a calendar, look at the days I know I want off, start counting, and build my schedule like that. Keep in mind that time away from the desk counts as well. {chores, cooking with mom, math at the grocery store, educational videos…}
I too am new to homeschooling and will be starting in August once all our summer company has come and gone. I too am worried about how to schedule our days but I’m also looking for tips and trick and ideas on how to homeschool both a PreK and a 4th grade student at the same time. Thank in advance for your help and this post
My first year homeschooling two years ago I started with K, 1, 5 and 7!! I had no idea what I was doing, but I decided history and science would be the same for everyone. That helped a lot. I just make rounds and help as we work. Sometimes a child has to wait, or read while I work with another, but it all gets done!
Really enjoyed this article. We homeschool year around so that we can take more “mental” breaks. With two kids with special needs, it makes it hard to want to take breaks when we get on a roll. The nice thing about homeschooling though is the flexibility in our scheduling! I am able to adjust our schedule to our needs and adjust projects lengths and fun days to what we need.
Thanks for all the information though….I sometimes forget about budgets and then wonder where all of our money went! LOL….very grateful for the hardworking hubby!
We school year round as well. We do 4 days every week.
Newbie here too!Starting kindergarten and prek in Aug/Sep. I’d like to know what you use to plan? Software or paper? This my weakness. I have most of our materials. Know I want Friday to be out of the house/field trip day. Know we need 180 days. But what is best resource for planning????? HELP.
Hey other newbies if your on any of the following feel free to follow or add me as a friend. Id love to have more newbie homeschooling friends- twitter @kbalman- facebook Kathy Ulrich Balman – blog http://www.kathysclutteredmind.com? Oh I live in GA.
Kathy,
We use Homeschool Tracker Plus to track and plan. They have a free version which I started out using and then a full version which is what I use now. It is a fantastic computer data base program that you can use as much or as little of as you want. It seems overwhelming at first, and me, lover of paper and pen was not thrilled, but my husband pushed and I tried. Now, I love!
Heidi (StartsAtEight)
http://www.startsateight.com
I use The Well-Planned Day. I do not like any of the online sites, I am a total paper girl!
One thing I don’t need to worry about is submitting anything to the state. Our state is very easy to homeschool in – of course, they are trying to rectify that.
Planning is easy for me…it’s follow through that I struggle with!!!! I mean, I follow through with the necessities, but I’d like to accomplish more than that.
We don’t have the state issue either, and for that I am grateful. 🙂
I often forget the fun too!!
This was our first year and I wasn’t sure if we would take the summer off. I planned lessons, but we ended up following God’s plan for us and were done six weeks before I had thought we would be!! So we took a few weeks off, now my girls are bored and we are starting up again. I am trying to be more laid-back (since it is summer, that helps) and I am hopeful that this new laid-back attitude will transfer to all year!
Have fun!
Thanks Sam, for this post! I am trying to plan our first year of hs. The cover school we are under doesn’t require anything, not even attendance. I want to keep attendance and even some grades, just as accountability for myself (and in case anyone from the state needs to know anything). Do you have any suggestions on how to do this? Like is there a computer program, or would keeping a notebook work? From what I have read on your blog, you seem very organized so I would appreciate any tips you may have for this newbie! Thanks!
I have a sheet for attendance and grades for every child. I keep them as well as my planner, that way each child has their own proof, if needed. KY doesn’t require much, but I want to have it.
Great post. Thanks for the helpful information. I am thinking of homeschooling my daughter and your blog is very helpful!
Good luck to you!!!
Thank you for the great info! I’ve been homeschooling for several years now, but this post helped me to see the importance of planning. It’s not my strong point! You have a beautiful family. God bless!
Thank you Rachel. Let me know how it goes!
I too get bleary eyed looking at curriculum etc. online… its easy to get sucked in from one site to another… and I’ve learned to schedule in the fun… and am so glad I do! Every year the kiddos want to have themed meals that go along with what we are studying- we make notes, look up recipes and then I forget… but not this past year- I finally decided we were going to do it and put it on the calendar. The kiddos all said that our theme meals were some of their favorite memories of this past school year- even if they didn’t like all the food we ate… reminds me to make this happen more often!
That is a fabulous idea Amy!
Wonderful post full of great and usable tips! Thanks for sharing.
Blessings,
Amanda B.
PS – LOVE the cake! 🙂
Great post! I also have trouble “penciling in the fun” but it is so important.
Great Post!! 🙂
Great post, and great tips!