Simple Lesson planning and schedules That fit

When I first started homeschooling not only did I think I had to use the same material as public schools I also thought I had to plan out our school year lesson by lesson subject by subject. I would spend weeks with all my curriculum books around me flipping through to divide the lessons by the number of days we do school. As I grew more comfortable homeschooling and realized how every little I actually used this type of lesson plan I devised my own system. It is simple not time consuming at all. For the most part curriculum wise I follow loosely Montessori/ Waldorf . Both have a good bit of flexibility and can be blended with many ages/levels. This allows me to have my kids working on the same topics at the same time in many areas. It also allows me to use my intuition when it comes to their own individual needs.  First off a make a list of topics I hope to cover in each subject. I also make a list of concepts or areas I feel each need more work in. Then I get 12 pieces of paper labeling each one with a month of the year. I add any special days like holidays or vacations that fall in that month. Then I start with the month we start our school year. This year that will be June. I list the topics to cover for each subject that month. I do not go into great detail. For ex. under science it may just say insects. Now we will dig deep into that topic but I do not write every single activity on my lesson plan. I then keep a daily log of what each child did in each area and amount of time spent.

This is an example of my weekly log

1st block(1Hr) Circle time Spiritual Reading Spelling/writing	Tuesday animal stories affirmation independent week 1	Wednesday  insect folk meditation independent week1	Thursday  insect folk white light or protection independent week1	Friday  insect folk meditation independent week 1
2nd  block lesson  (1.5 Hrs) Math Grammar	Multiplication review	A+ tutor soft  Triangles Workbook 1pg	Multiplication review	A+ Tutor soft  Triangles Workbook 1pg
3rd  block lesson  (2.5Hrs) History Science Geography Botany/ Geology	Story of the Universe    Insects/ants Gardening growth chart	Story of the Universe Insects/ants Gardening growth chart	Big Bang Movie Build an ant farm Parts of a flower cards	Research Big Band write paper on  label the  parts of an ant gardening growth chart
4th  block lesson  (1 Hr) Practical Life Art Music	Art food prep Big Bang art	Life cooking Finish Big Bang Art	Art/Life hand washing dishes Recorder lesson 1	Music laundry recorder lesson 1 review

Date:_6/17-14-6/214____Time 24_hrs  _Name__Alyssa Cater__

By writing a more general schedule and lesson plan it gives me room for all those things that come up in life that through off your week without having to rewrite my entire lesson book for the yr. BTW I do not recommending writing out more than 6-9 weeks at a time because you want to make sure your curriculum and your schedule really do work for your families needs and life. For us we only school 4 days a week and in the summer that is 3 days a week. I personally do not live in a state that requires more detailed records but if you do there are many different free homeschool record programs out there. I like A simple plan from My Mardel Homeschool  http://homeschool.mardel.com/Intro  There is also ones like Homeschooling records.com that you can input grades and attendance  http://www.homeschoolingrecords.com/  and http://www.homeschoolskedtrack.com/HomeSchool/displayLogin.do  I have found that extreme detailed lesson plans not only do not work for me and my personal needs but they need up being a complete waste of my time and effort. Blogs themselves are another easy yet fun way to record what your child/ren cover each day. You can even add in pictures of them doing it.  For those who follow more of a relaxed or unschooling style of learning blogs are great way to show the state what your children are learning.