Step 4: Daily Lesson Plans

This is the first year I feel a duty daunting enough that I must create my own "school in a box" by writing out the daily lesson plans for all four grades for the entire year: my summer project!

Having a daily lesson plan (down to the page numbers) doesn't mean I think we will never go off the rails. In fact, it is because I know we will be knocked off of routine by illnesses, husband's business travel, and field trips that weren't in the original schedule that I want a precise map of how to get through our days.

• When we get sick, I'll know exactly how to reschedule our make-up lessons, and without having to walk all over the house to various desks and work stations to check, "now which lesson did he leave off at?"
• If I am considering taking a morning off of school for a new field trip opportunity, I can open up our daily lesson plan books and evaluate what the effect would be of rescheduling that day's work. (This should be an especially useful tool for growth for my middle schooler because, now that he is old enough to be left home alone, I can offer him to decide whether it is worth doing the extra work ahead of time in order to join us on the field trip or stay home and do his normal workload. Time management skills!)
• For the field trips I've already scheduled, I draw a line through that day so I know not to schedule any lessons (or a reduced number of lessons).

There are so many valid ways 

a homeschooling parent 

could create lesson plans!

One could schedule out at a macro level, such as notes about what goals in the text one wants to reach by each quarter mark. Then, when the quarter division is reached, Mom evaluates how near or far the child is from reaching the goal in each subject, and any changes to the routine that need to be made going forward for the next quarter.

• Example: By the end of the first quarter, we should be at lesson 45 in the math text.

One could schedule half a year at a time, then do the second half of the year over Christmas break.

One could schedule week by week . . . and this is what I did last year. It did work very well, but it had downsides.

• I had to carve time out of every week to do lesson planning for three grades, and I don't have babysitting for that process, so I was doing it wit six children swirling around me. Not necessarily easy; however, I did become so adept at it that it took me 10-15 minutes per child, and then once monthly I planned our next History unit, and that would take two to three hours.
• Without goal posts, I did not notice till about two months before my target end-of-year date that we were going to have to play catch up, or simply not finish our text books, or continue doing school into the summer. For example, my third grader ended up doing two math lessons six days per week for the last two months in order to finish her text. Not necessarily easy either.

One could schedule out one day at a time, writing out assignment lists the night before. This method really does have some merit, especially for those teaching a smaller number of grades.

• When I am in survival mode (e.g., very sick with pregnancy, have a newborn, or if we're very sick) and during the summer break, I move back to the Spiral Notebook Method, which is absolutely wonderful for this purpose.

One could schedule out the entire year in advance . . . and this is what I'm attempting this academic year for the first time. It has the downside of risking getting majorly off track and having to erase and rewrite lesson plans significantly.

• Note that one could buy an online lesson planner for homeschooling. They seem wonderful, but I seem to lack the technological skills to scale that learning curve. Two years in a row, I purchased trial versions of various online planners, and, many hours later, admitted defeat that I could not figure out how to use those tools. They do seem to have much to offer, though!

As far as paper planners go, there are myriad to choose from! I happen to be using the Seton planners because I had great success with them last year. I anticipate numerous changes in my upcoming school year, so it's not a year to change my planner as well.

So, here I am, trying to write out all our lesson plans. I'm opening each text book, calculating how many lessons per week the child would need to do in order to finish in 36 weeks, how many days per week the child would need to do lesson work, and how long a duration each lesson should likely last, and then writing the details into the child's planner. One book at a time.

Like the Little Engine That Could, I am trying!

I am having big spikes in frustration, as I do this in fifteen-minute spurts with six children needing my attention, but what's a DIY homeschooler supposed to do? I'm not ready or at a season where I feel compelled to buy an entire curriculum in a box.

So, please pray for me, thanks!