Purpose in the Little Things: Homeschool Planning

This post is part of a series of posts I'm doing about our journey in home management and homeschooling. You can find the first post and links to the rest of the posts here.  

 Since we just talked routine, I thought I would show you the nitty-gritty of how plan my homeschool day.

My first year of homeschooling I used a regular lesson book I got from Lakeshore Learning Store. It helped me get down what I wanted to do every day, but it didn't help me plan when I wanted to do it. It also didn't account for all the other things I have to balance: cleaning the house, making dinner, doing laundry, and the list goes on. It really didn't give me enough information for me to get everything done.

In the end, I made my own homeschool planning pages. They look like this:

There is a spread of pages that cover a week (last year we did a four day week because Ava had co-op on Thursdays). Each day has a column for Ava's work and Tim's.

Each row is a block of time (not a standard block of time--I'm not that good). One might be used for circle time, another for chores, another for free time, another for an academic subject. In the left most column for each day, I denote who I am working one-on-one with for each block of time. For instance, Ava might be doing her handwriting (which is independent work) while I do Tim's reading lesson (which is not). This helps me balance the demands of homeschooling younger kids, which is more hands-on that I assume it will be when they are a little older.

Usually on Saturday, I sit down and look at all my curriculum. Much of it is mapped out by week. Some of it has a nice 36-week schedule (literature and history), some of it shows me how much to accomplish in a week (spelling and handwriting) and some of it, I simply schedule the next thing (math). This process might change a bit this year, because we have a new co-op, and Ava will be coming home with work. But basically, I look at what work needs to be done, and I split up their weekly work throughout the days.

My curriculum schedule

I left places to mark down what we are having for dinner each day and any other unrelated tasks that might have to get done. It has helped me tremendously that all this information is in one place. I just leave my planning notebook open to the correct week, and all the things I need to get done in the day are staring up at me. And most of the time I don't feel like I'm losing my mind.

This system has allowed me to be proactive in a way I never have been before in my life, but also retains the flexibility I cherish (and need). If a child is having a hard day, a little one is up early from nap, we have a doctor's appointment, a friend drops by, it might have to change. That's ok. I simply erase and rewrite or draw an arrow to "reschedule" the work. If all else fails, I move it to the following week. We still almost always get everything done that I plan.

One of those days when we needed to slow down for math. And change what we were having for dinner. Yay for staying organized even though I'm super indecisive!

This may all seem organized, but in truth, I'm not an organized person. I couldn't do the amount of things I need to do in a day if I didn't have a plan. My brain is too disorganized. These planning sheets are like a map to navigate the chaos of my life. Using it, I'm able to make a plan, but I hold it loosely. Proactive and reactive. Both of these things are vital.

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 I'm providing a printable of these planning pages. It's blank (meaning I took my kids' names and all of our subjects off of it). I print these out front and back so that I can see the whole week. Feel free to adapt it for your own use. I hope it's helpful for you!

Blank Planning Pages