Lesson Planning

Since I had some quiet time to myself this evening I thought I would share my lesson planning process.

I try to keep about a month or six-weeks ahead with a pencil version of my lesson plan. This is kind of a general guideline of how/where I see us progressing. I like to try to plan so that math and spelling tests fall on either Thursday or Friday. I'm able to plan ahead for books to pull out and prepare and collect art or science supplies. Like I said this is pencil and I really like to be flexible.

The real planning is done nightly. Five nights a week I sit down and review the day and figure out what needs to be done the next day. This might sound time consuming, but it really never takes that long. What I like about it is that I can rearrange quickly if a special trip comes up or interest takes off in a particular direction. I can also review as many days as necessary and not feel at all pressured by some larger schedule.

Mary and Katie each get a personalized schedule that is hole-punched and added to their three-ring binders. I keep a copy on the computer also. This is my 'journal'.

Here is a copy of Mary's lesson plan:

As you can see we don't do everything everyday, and right now we are actually not doing history at all. Instead we are spending a lot more time on our star/astronomy study.

Here is Katie's. It is much shorter and concentrates mainly on the basics.

At this age I like to leave a lot of time for independent play and interests. Generally Katie likes to play with the shape tiles or the collection of various 'flashcards' we have. Of course she and Emily might team up and build a railroad track and village for their little people.

When we re-started I also made the decision that we needed to go back and review before the point we stopped in this Spring. So, both Mary and Katie are recovering material in their HOP series. Latin, we are starting totally over since we only were at Lesson 5 when Robbie was born and that subject came to a screeching halt.

The girls like their checklists and are upset if I don't have them ready first thing in the morning. I really never thought that they would go over as well as they did. But, they keep us organized and focused, while also having some flexibility.

Peace,

Amy