Lesson planning

We are supposed to be doing prek/k this year but I have been so overwhelmed with the house and raising the twins that it's been set aside but one thing thats always on my mind is the lesson planning. More specific, do you use a lesson plan book? Or do you just print off a calender and write in what you are going to do? I am finding I need to have everything written down so I can see what we are doing and I can plan in advance. I would like to plan a month in advance and get everything put together so I am not scrambling a few hours before we start lessons.

 

I start every year gungho on lesson planning for the oldest. It usually lasts about 2 weeks maybe a month tops, then something happens and I don't get to it and I just tell her to do what she usually does. End of lesson plans. For the most part my kids do the same work daily so it is pretty easy for me to tell them to do their work. They know that means X amount of each subject.

One suggestion I do have is to plan in smaller amounts. Weekly or maybe 2 weeks at a time. You will find things that he does better and want to move through faster and things that might get skipped a day and throw said "schedule" off. At his age (I'm assuming you are talking about a 4/5yo older brother) you might even just set up something as vague as something that says Monday/Wed/Fri Science, M-F Math, etc. so you can check off each subject as you accomplish them.

 

He is 5 1/2 yrs old. We are trying to do kindergarten on some levels but preschool on other levels. He knows his numbers to 100 (count and recognize), reading at 1st grade level, but his writing really needs to be worked on. I am not stressing too much but to do work, he needs to be able to write.

I agree with planning 2 weeks worth instead of a month worth. Less stress on me. Thankfully, we don't have to record anything till he's 7.

 

I'm super lax about K. I don't ever do lesson plans for it. Well, I should say that I did for about 4 weeks for my oldest. But then I had a big change of heart about what I wanted Kindergarten to look like for my children. So we do some reading activities, some math activities and play games. No lesson plans needed.

For my older children, I'm using Ambleside Online, which has a plan by week for the literature based subjects. I use an excel spreadsheet that I got here: http://donnayoung.org/forms/planners/exweekly.htm for my other kids. It has 6 weeks worth of schedules. I do a different one for each of my kids, and print out the new week on Monday. So about every 6 weeks, I go through and do the next 6 weeks worth of schedule, but I can change it for an upcoming week before printing, if things have come up that require changes, or if we want to take a day off for something, etc. I just add in the subjects that I'm using from AO, then which math, handwriting, etc I want my kids to do, too. I also add piano lessons, and other mid day activities we might have.

 

I dont home school as im not a mum but i am studying education and i am a qualified teachers aide and home tutor. And i would second writing up lesson plans weekly or even fortnightly, i find they work alot better 4 many reasons, one is that u become more aware and in touch with their progress. i have had lots exprience with writing plans, so if u need some help or guidance. Dont be afraid to ask me good luck.

 

For PK/K I use an all in one curriculum that already includes teachers manuals. I follow that in a modified version. I only use the suggested "teachings" if needed. With my oldest I started following it to a "T" and found it unnecessary. So with my middle DS I allowed him to work at his own pace. I have never needed lesson plans since. I will probably need somethin in the high school years, but who knows...maybe not.

 

I'm with the other's who do very little planning for K. For us, one of the best parts of HSing is that the kids can move at their own pace. So, while I have an idea of what we are going to do next, I don't do strict plans for each day. My goal is to keep things loose and fun for K. In the process, they have actually moved along at a pretty good pace and are ahead of where they would be if they were in PS.

If we continue with HSing next year, I will do a little more planning simply because we are going to use Five in a Row which will require some forethought. I'll probably do all my planning online or on my iPad, not in a book, though.

 

Well, I went to a homeschool expo tonight. I picked up a few things that will help us with penmanship and math. I have a few theme books that a friend let me borrow and I need to get back in 2 weeks so I will do some copying of those in the next 2 weeks. I hope to do some of those things too.

As for lesson planning, I found a few companies tonight that sold lesson planning books and I found a few that I liked, but not totally what I need. I may just need to design my own!!