Does every homeschooling mamma struggle with the whole lesson planning thing? Here I am smack in the middle of my fifth year homeschooling, and I'm still struggling with how to get my mind around how to keep up with what everyone needs to do, when they need to do it, and what they have done (don't even mentions grades). Ugh! What a pain in the neck. I have tried so many different ideas, plans, websites, formats. It is really ridiculous!
This was the year I enrolled with Mother of Diving Grace (a huge blessing, no regrets there). All the planning was going to be done for me. I wanted to give the Girlies their syllabi for each class and let them go to town...yea right...not! After floundering for weeks (at the beginning of the school year), I realized that I did not know where they were in the syllabus or if they were where they needed to be. It was just to cumbersome to flip through all the various syllabi and keep up with it all. So, I went back to my plan of making the weekly schedule. It has taken me months to flesh out exactly what it needs to look like for it to work best for me and them. By George, I think I have it.
Since I have two groups of students (the Girlies in high school and the Littles just starting out in 1st and 2nd), I am going to walk you through what I'm doing for both groups. [Part II (about the Littles) to come.]
The Girlies each have a 1.5 inch binder that holds the current week's work. There are two sets of dividers for each subject, a "to do" section (with syllabi, worksheets, tests, etc) and a "done" section. They also have two super large 3-inch binders, again one to store work to be done and one to store completed work. Even though I make a weekly schedule for them to follow, they are responsible for checking their syllabi and making sure they have read any notes pertaining to their assignments and that they have completed everything. The weekly schedule is a grid with the days along the top and the subjects going down the side. (Nothing earth shattering there...LOL.) In each box, I put the main assignment (often in a kind of shorthand). I also have a place for calendar notes, liturgical year notes, and a reading log. Then, we check off the assignments as they are completed. We each have a copy of the weekly schedule. Here is Katie's and Missy's schedule for 01.03.11.
To make the planning manageable, so I'm not having to do hours and hours of work (in theory, anyway) through the year, I have a master file (a Lesson Grid). with the all the weeks of work organized by subject. I take these weeks and copy-and-paste them into the weekly schedule grid. If we get off track , it is easy enough to manipulate the grids within each subject to get the correct assignments for the weekly schedule. Then, I have a master file (a Grade Grid) that I use to note when assignments were completed and any grades assigned. These Lesson and Grade Grids for the Girlies are not current yet. When I get to the Part II, I'll link a Grade Grid and a Lesson Grid for DJ or Janie, so you can see what I mean here.
I have only just stumbled upon this way of organizing the assignments to be done and completed. I had been using an excel spreadsheet. One day I realized that I'm doing double the work because the spreadsheet was not set up in a format that I could easily transfer the assignments into the weekly schedule. It was definitely a "light-bulb" moment. Now, I feel excited about planning for the rest of the year and even thinking ahead for the lesson planning for next year.
[I know I probably have an unhealthy (and somewhat OCD) need to know forever and ever that Katie did such-and-such assignment on x day and received y grade. In the back of my mind, I always worry that the authorities will come knocking and want to know what my kids have been doing for school. I will be able to show them detailed records and proof of learning happening.]
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