If I had to describe the way I organize and plan our day/week/year, I would have to use these words: organized winging-it. They seem to contradict each other don’t they? I’ll try to explain what I mean— and maybe, just maybe one of you might be a kindred organized winging-it person too!
1. At the beginning of the year I sit down and plan a daily schedule. This is the ultimate ideal schedule— you know the one where kids–err I get up on time, no disruptions, everyone is working on-task etc. Even though I don’t follow this to a T (or even at all on some most days), I make it so that I know what to do with my time and know how to arrange teaching subjects. With 6 kids, juggling subjects can be tricky at times!
2. Next I plug in places we have to be/online class times into my On the Go planner. That way when I have to make appointments etc. I can easily schedule around possible conflicts.
My teaching tote holds lesson plans divided by the week and all my teaching manuals.
3. This year I am trying something new. I am typing up weekly schedules for each of my kids and filing them in folders by week. I have use The Homeschool Planner by Jolanthe for this. Since I tend to have a bit of the winging-it attribute in my blood, I find that I easily forget to finish things and I move onto new things too soon. Each lesson just has a week on it, not dates. That way if we do a whole “winging-it” week, I can just move the unused lesson plan to the next folder. Also included in the folder are any hand-outs, worksheets etc. they will need for that week.
My daughter is using the 4-year planner for high school by Home Educating Family.
On Sunday evenings/Monday mornings I meet with each of my older children to go over past assignments and to give them the new week’s assignments. They have their own student planners this year to help them stay organized. So far it is working out very well for my high schooler. The other two need to get in the habit of actually using their planners. This is “training” month for them.
So once I get everything planned, here’s how it all plays out:
Time to Get Started:
Ideal schedule says 7:30 am — reality is 9:00am. Honestly, mornings are not my strong-suit. I am trying to get started earlier, but our family tends to be a late-night family. Plus, right now I’m not sleeping well at night. Everyone eats breakfast together. Older kids move on to independent subjects.
Founder’s Academy Gov’t 101 online class from CurrClick
While the older kids are working, I try to do a couple of activities with my younger 3. We might all work on a chore, read a book, or do a lesson. It really depends on the day. A couple years ago I wrote in more detail how I plan for the younger children: The Art of Winging It: The Preschool Edition.
The toddler and preschooler working on color matching and fine motor skills.
I also spend some 1 on 1 time with my kindergartener during the day. We’ll usually do one or two more academic activities together. Right now she is loving math and has just started her new writing curriculum.
WriteShop Primary Book A writing curriculum
In the afternoons I usually do group teaching or family read-alouds. If I can, I try to pair more than one kid in the same curriculum. That’s one reason why Mystery of History and Illuminations is a perfect fit for our family— all ages can use it.
My middle schooler and high schooler are both using WriteShop I.
I’m often asked what do my toddlers and preschoolers do while I am working with my older children. I do have specific activities for them to do on their own, plus they now have a playroom. Honestly though, they tend to make messes. I’ve just learned to readjust my thinking and not stress out about it. My goal is to minimize the mess-making opportunities. So in order to do that, I limit the amount of toys/manipulatives they have access to for that day and I try to teach in the same room where they are playing. After I am done, I have them clean up anything they have messed up during that time.
She looks like this often.
I look like I have everything scheduled and planned dont’ I? Well, the truth is,I stink at sticking to schedules.
If we get caught up in a book and read 2 extra chapters, I’ll just skip something else for the day. Or if it is nice out and it seems like we’d do better on a outdoor excursion, we’ll do that instead. If I find out it’s International Ice-Cream day and I had no idea, we might work on ice-cream related projects for the day. My schedule is a flexible frame-work. It keeps me pointed in the right direction while giving me room to change course when needed.
Related Posts:
Not Back-To-School 2012-2013 Curriculum Plans
A Homeschool Room In-Progress
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I love your style. I’m especially fond of “organized winging-it.” I was that sort of homeschooler myself! 🙂
You have your hands full! Love all the photos. I would agree that I’m an organized person, but tend to wing it depending on our moods for the day. Why stress, right?
Yes! No need to stress! 🙂
Your babies are so precious! I’m about as organized as you are, I guess. It looks good on paper, and sometimes we even get it all done, but it’s mostly just a seat-of-the-pants operation around here. Don’t tell anybody.
Thanks for sharing your day. We’re unschoolers in Australia and love hearing about other homeschoolers’ lives and meeting them as we travel!
Thanks for sharing. Love your photos.
Cathie from toddlersthroughpreschool.com. Come over and visit.
We have a general idea of what need to be accomplished in a given day, but we wing it too, especially if the weather’s good. Or bad. Or kind of middling. 🙂
I do the same thing of planning the lesson, but not putting a date on it. Except for Sunday School, that one is with dates, and then I do A LOT of rewriting as we rearrange.
Yay for organized wing-it-ers! 😉 I decided a while ago that I am not a schedule keeper. And it freed me to be me and order our homeschool how it worked for us. Great post! 🙂
My oldest is in Kindergarten now and this is our first year of homeschooling. I was extremely winging it until today because I finally decided what curriculums I’m going to use when. I made a schedule and printed out the pages we’ll need for next week. I’m thinking about just doing language arts, math, and social studies in the morning. Then do the fun science and art projects in the afternoon. Not even tell her their schoolwork. Buahhh ha ha! We’ll see how it goes.
That sounds like a plan! 🙂