About Lesson Plans

This is my software program (Homeschool Planner) that I purchased to keep records of our homeschool. Which you can click on to check out the software for yourself, it's linked.

This is just Monday, the Homeschool Planner shows up to 5 days of daily plans.

This is a snapspot of a monthly printout, I cropped it to just one week.

For the last two weeks I have been going between this program and an Elan Weekly Lesson Plan book that I found at a school supply store.

It's features include:
Seating plan sheets (don't need)
Supplementary data sheets for student information or special tests
For 8 classes per day (needed this!)
Overview planning sheets (Place for materials list)
Schedule of school events calendar (nifty for year planning)
Planning sheets for 40 weeks (really needed this)

So, I am writing in pencil in my "lesson book" and then transferring it to my computer. I feel a little nuts doing it this way but I really like the lesson plan book because IT'S IN MY HANDS, AND THE HUGE ERASER I HAVE IS COOL. Plus I am mobile with my books and lesson book vs. stuck at the computer.

But the software can print out my weekly lesson plan too, with all the info on it!
Including keeping track of attendance. I'm also scared of overplanning, who knows how DD is going to progress and if we need to redo a lesson...

1. How do you keep records?
2. Do you keep lesson plans?
3. How far in advance do you create them?
4. Do you plan out each subject?
5. Am I going overboard?


Please advise a newbie!


Comments copied over from previous blog.


Friday, July 7, 2006
Posted by Anne
1. How do you keep records? I use Homeschool Easy Records. I feel like there is probably something better, but I haven't found it yet. I like it because I can print out each student's assignments for the week, with a copy for me, too.

2. Do you keep lesson plans? Yep, in my computer.

3. How far in advance do you create them? I try to have them planned at least 2 to 3 weeks in advance. Some subjects are tough to do that with. I never know when we'll have to take it slow in algebra, for instance. I really hate having to go back and change them when that happens!

4. Do you plan out each subject? Not for the whole year at a time. I have a general idea of how many lessons/chapters/etc. that we need to do a week in order to finish, but I haven't planned out more than about 6 weeks in advance.

5. Am I going overboard? LOL. I'm the wrong person to answer that! I LOVE the planning part. Last year I used a lesson plan book, too, and I really prefer writing things down. Like you, I like holding it in my hand. But with my son starting high school this year, I really feel the need to have it all in the computer and easily available for transcripts. I have my doubts that I'll ever find the perfect organizing tool for this task, and I'm not nearly computer savvy enough to make my own.

Can answer a question about Homeschool Planner for me? I emailed them a few weeks ago with a question, and they never replied. You said you can print out the weekly lesson plans. What does this look like? Is it essentially a printed assignment sheet for each child for the week? Is it set up so they can check off what they've completed, and where I can fill in their grade for each assignment? I couldn't find that info on their website.

Happy planning!
Anne
http://palmtreepundit.blogspot.com



A piler who wants to be a filer (0; - Friday, July 7, 2006
Posted by Canadagirl
1. How do you keep records? The childrens folders is my proof (0:
2. Do you keep lesson plans? Yes, rough ones . Sometimes in my head. But I am getting it down better.lol
3. How far in advance do you create them? Over all plan, a year ahead but mainly weekly
4. Do you plan out each subject? Some of my subjects are all planned out. When I did the History of Science , it was planned out for me. I just ticked as I went. Our I will split books up by how many weeks to chapters .
5. Am I going overboard? From someone who is "a piler who wants to be a filer " the extent you are going I don't see myself doing.lol But that is because I am not a detailed planner I am a dreamer. (0:

I could probably help in other areas of planning for you. (0:

But at the same note I am a planner and I start deciding what books and things I want to do for the Fall in January.( 9 months of planning LOL ) I pobably need to be more detailed and I am getting more and more every year. My oldest is 13 and I am going to have him Make a Portfollio in 9th grade.

I wish I could have been more help but I can cheer you on. (0;

In Him,
-Canadagirl


Permanent Link
trust yourself - Friday, July 7, 2006
Posted by jenmcintyre
I stumbled across you from lonestarmama. My kids are about 3 years older but the same age span. I remember worrying so much going into 2nd grade with my Dd who is 9 now. I planned that year out to the 10th degree. lol Well to some degree that worked but it left no room for adding things in as we went along that we found interesting. Each year since I have gotten a little more I won't say exactly lax, but I don't write down a projection page for each day for the next year anymore. It was hard to loosen up, I still wanted to know where I was going. If you read through donnayoung.org website she has some good tips on how to break down the material you have picked out to figure out how to spread it out for the school year. Some things you do every day.... like math other things you might only cover twice a week. The idea is to cover all your material, but not get burned out on the way. Trust yourself. Your kids are young enough, you have plenty of time to figure out what is going to work for your family. And it will possibly change when your son gets older. I am adding a second one to "serious" teaching this year and it is a whole new ball game.
jen

Friday, July 7, 2006
Posted by TRINITYPREPSCHOOL

1. How do you keep records?
Homeschool Tracker: I wrote about it on my blog awhile back. http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/TRINITYPREPSCHOOL/76920/

The feature I use most is moving/editing assignments and printing out daily assignment lists for the kids. Messier to do in a planning book if you want to move everything forward a day because of an unexpected day off.

2. Do you keep lesson plans?
Yes...within this program. Some plans I adopt from the publisher. For example Apologia Science and Saxon Math provides a schedule to complete the curriculum in a year.

Some I write myself....mostly in the history/literature realm.

3. How far in advance do you create them?
I usually spend the summer planning for the following year. Because the kids are in junior high, the pace is fairly predictable.

And the program allows me to make adjustments as we go. I do use a blank composition notebook to create my own plans. I make each page a week so I can plot out what sections of history we are on and which works of literature dovetail into that topic, assigning story pages for our Book of Centuries and audio tapes as needed. Then it's a big picture I can transfer into Homeschool Tracker. I use the $.79 notebook vs the $7.99 teacher planner at this point...it took me a few years to realize it was overkill to use both for me (for my purposes).

4. Do you plan out each subject?
For the most part, yes. I give my reasoning on planning the year out during the summer in my blog entry noted in Question #1.

But my kids are older than yours. When they were younger, I plotted out the themes only for certain subjects and we were more child directed. But for phonics and more black and white subjects which I wanted to complete a certain level of work, I'd plan out ~ 32 weeks of work with a week for review after each quarter.

5. Am I going overboard?
Using both until you "find your groove" sounds logical to me. It took me about two full years to fully transition away from the planning book. Having three students also helped me go automated. But I can print calendars, schedules, assignment lists, reading lists, etc. which I stick in my Franklin if we are van schooling or going to the library....so it is a portable system when away from the PC.

Great topic to survey others on....lots of ways to do it. I think trying several ways while the kids are young is a great opportunity to develop your own personal system.

Maureen


rambles on your blog - Friday, July 7, 2006
Posted by javamamma

Yes, absolute HOPE and PEACE knowing God and His holiness and me and my wretchedness. There is forgiveness and LIFE in connecting the two and falling at the Cross!
...Obviously these are thoughts from your comment on my blog. :o)

As for your question about lessons plans. We did text books so things were all laid out as to WHAT we were going to do. I usually did a one-year plan but then "ultra-planned" monthly. Like you, I ALWAYS used PENCIL! I didn't have a "program" but just made my own sheets - in Microsoft Publisher. I printed their blank monthly calenders for my yearly plan and then made up weekly sheets with each subject and what we were doing each day. I'm sure that others using the same method as you will have much better ideas on this and that your planning program is much more efficient than my crude method. :o)

Oh, your comments about how small your town is cracked me up. Not in a bad way but what you described is like the bigger town 15-20 min. away - only it DOES have a Super Wal-Mart. Where WE live is only about 450-ish and we have a bank (no ATM), a Post Office, an auto service station with a gas pump that doesn't accept credit cards, a bar, a nice pool and park and a hardware store...oh, we do have a library of sorts. It's open for 2 hours, 2 days a week and I honestly doubt it has anything I would want to read, though my kids get kids books there. In the fall we will be blessed with a "convience store" opening - atleast then I can get milk and bread if I happen to run out at midnight some day. :o) This is rural Nebraska - land of "what's internet?" and "you gotta laptop what?" Well, maybe it's not THAT bad but I guarentee you the MAJORITY of people here do not own a computer and obviously don't have internet. But, guess what, I LOVE it here! OK, I'll shut up now!

Friday, July 7, 2006
Posted byJavaMama

Jessica, thanks for the advice you left in my comment. I needed to hear it. I do have a tendency to take on to much when it comes to trying to change, I just don't know how to focus on one at a time because I feel that they all need to be worked on right now! Last month I really tried to focus on being a godly wife, this month I am going to focus on being a parent and teacher.
About the planning I am in the process of finding a good system as well so I will be checking back to read more comments from other bloggers on this!

JOYfully in Him,
Kelli


A few comments! - Friday, July 7, 2006
Posted byKyMentor


I love the cute pictures of the cake and sleeping IN the bed :)
I enjoyed and admire your post about your faith and choice of denomination. I have considered doing one similar a few times, but since I am an Episcopalian I hesitated. I know my denomination has been quite 'noteworthy' recently :) I didn't want my blog to be a controversial place.

About you planning and record keeping questions, because I am going to go into some detail I am going to put the answers on my blog to save your comment space.

And about your new lay out, WOW. It is really nice and much easier to find things. You have wonderful resource links and very interesting tidbits! It looks wonderful.

Sandie\


Hello! - Friday, July 7, 2006
Posted byTestimony

I am so ancient. I handwrite my lessons. I just do it. If I have a curriculum, like math, the lessons are planned out in the book. You just have to figure out how much time per day you want to spend on each subject, page or concept. New Concepts, I try to plan them for the beginning of the week. Saturday nights, you have to do some tweeking of your lessons. If a child is stuck on a concept, you may want to take more time. So your plans get pushed back.

If the child is struggling with the subject altogether, then you must stop the lesson for a while and do something else. You will know if the child is struggling, by tears or your frustration level is too high.
Overall, plans come and plans get changed based on your year.

Take care!



Seems like I'm not the only one writing about this! - Friday, July 7, 2006
Posted by
Mamma1420

Check out: http://mothercroneshomeschool.blogspot.com/2006/07/homeschool-planninga-different-twist.html

I am so thankful for all of your comments and suggestions! I hope you keep them coming...
Jessica


Lesson Plans? What are those? - Friday, July 7, 2006
Posted by
lindafay

I don’t use lesson plans. I despise them and I don’t make out a weekly schedule either. Being a lover of efficiency, I just can’t bring myself to write them out every week. Instead, I make a general weekly schedule and change it out every 12 weeks. My children check it off daily. Now I know that doesn’t help you much and I know that you are just beginning your HS journey and want things done right and orderly, so you can just ignore my way of doing things until you get burned out making lesson plans every week. I’ll be around the corner waitin for ya when ya holler. He he..


Hi Jessica! - Friday, July 7, 2006
Posted by
LaMereAcademy

Yes I've been buying too much lately...I need to stop. Buying curriculum can become an easy addiction, let me tell you! I think it's awesome you bought that software!! You're more organized that I am. I don't really have a ver good set schedule. In the AM, the older 2 have to do their self work: math, language arts, handwriting etc...while I work with the little two on their basics and read alouds. After lunch then I read aloud to the older 2 (little 2 sometimes listen in, sometimes go and play) and we do Latin and Bible together.

My goal for this summer break is to reread Managers of Their Homes and make a workable schedule for our family. You look like you have an AWESOME start, you're going to be an excellent mommy/teacher!!


Homeschool planning - Friday, July 7, 2006
Posted by
mamasmurf

This is a bit of a difficult one for me - when I first started homeschooling Ds, I was a planning junkie!! I suppose I was still caught up in the way I used to have to plan when I was a full-time teacher. I used to plan the whole year in great detail during the summer, then I'd break that down into "termly" plans, the a weekly plan and finally a daily plan - all written out by hand to start with but then started using wordprocessor instead. Anyway, it began to get ridiculous as I seemd to be planning all the time instead of just getting on with enjoying seeing my boy learn! Now, I let the scheme we use dictate the overall plan of what we need to cover and just write out a list of what is expected each day (along with comments as to how Ds has done in each subject. Funnily enough, I am now more relaxed and so is Ds!! I suppose that just having the one child makes the planning thing a bit easier (a software programme would be an unnecessary expense for us in my book).

Anyway, that's just my tuppence worth - we don't get regulated so much over here. We've had two visits in three years from the Education Advisor for this area - she cannot tell us what we have to do, and is happy so long as the child is being taught to his/her age and ability level. She knows she cannot win an argument with me because she has not taught children younger than 14!! (Ds is 11 and I used to teach children aged from 4 to 12).

Just a different perspective from over the pond!

~Chrissy



Friday, July 7, 2006
Posted by
Tinakay
1. How do you keep records? I keep everything on paper.

2. Do you keep lesson plans? Yes in my lesson plan book I am thinking of getting a computer program for it

3. How far in advance do you create them? I like to do them 2 to 3 weeks ahead. Sometimes I have to change things around. I do not like doing that.

4. Do you plan out each subject? Yes and no. I plan out everyday, but sometimes we do more or less depending on the day, the subject and my dd attitude

5. Am I going overboard? I do not think so. I keep debating on wether or not to put everything on the computer. That is (to me) putting to much trust in the computer. We have it crash before. Not good. Back up, back up,!!!


Friday, July 7, 2006
Posted by
Julia

1. How do you keep records?

I have a grid. Five days of the week across. 9 columns down:The date, Bible, history, science, math, LA (language arts), read alouds, IR (independent reading), other. As we complete something I write it down. If I want to write more than I can fit in a block, I continue on the back. It's easy, quick, and more than fulfills my obligation to the state. It's enough to please my need to look back and see what we did. I haven' t looked into computer programs much, so I dont know if this is an issue or not. I wouldn't want to feel stuck writing something in a certain format. For example, for math I could write pg. 45-47 or I could say worked on place value concepts with 100 number chart and blocks or I could say orally reviewed unit 8. I'm not sure if a preset computer program would allow that.



2. Do you keep lesson plans? I do lesson plans for history, science and read alouds, but they are flexible and can be changed as necessary. I want to be able to cover certain books and check them out from the library on time, so it helps to have it all planned out. My plans for other subjects are often to just do the next thing. Sometimes I may have the idea to do a certain amount of work, but it takes longer or quicker than I expected so I don't see the point of over planning.



3. How far in advance do you create them? I made the history, science, read aloud plans a year in advance.



4. Do you plan out each subject? No.



5. Am I going overboard? Everyone is different and has different needs. Your way would be overboard for me, but it might be fine for you. You can always back off later if it's too much.



Julia


www.juliapadg.blogspot.com

Answers to your questions - Friday, July 7, 2006

Posted by
seekingHim

1.How do you keep records? I use Homeschool tracker which looks pretty similar to what you have.

2. Do you keep lesson plans? I do keep them on HT on my computer. I lesson plan every weekend for the coming week and print off an assignment sheet and put it on a clipboard that I can carry around with me wherever I go. I also keep in the clipboard any worksheets, coloring pages, etc that the kids will be working on so that I'm not searching. Another handy tool is a file size rubbermaid container where I place all the books, craft supplies, pencils, etc we will be using for the coming week so I'm not wasting time searching for them every day. The container has a handle on the top so if we go outside to do school I can take it with me(wish I could say I did this more often).

3. How far in advance do you create them? I've found going much past a week leaves me feeling pretty stressed if we don't achieve all of it. It's easy w/a computer system to carry it over to the following week if we don't get to it.

4. Do you plan out each subject? I have a general idea at the beginning of the school year then go week by week.

5. Am I going overboard? Probably not. I'm a planner too. Just make sure you give yourself and your children some flexibility. Know that things will come up and just the fact that they are home with you is giving them an amazing experience that they could never match in ps.



HTH!




Forgive Me! - Friday, July 7, 2006

Posted by
5atkins

I should have gone to your site before I answered via email! Sorry! I did want to add that I also have to have a hard copy! I make my table on the computer empty and then fill it in by hand. That way I can write "see next week" or just cross something off completely if things change!

My cooperative teacher when I was student teaching in college, used to write her daily objectives on the board every day. She said that she felt the kids did better when they knew the plan and where they were headed. I picked that up from her and used in Public school. Last year I did it for myself as I taught 1st grade. By the middle of the year the girls were starting to read it when we would start class and I would mark it off as we finished. This year we are just putting up a general schedule because I am also teaching Mary PreK.

I have a friend who copies the table of contents for each of her books and writes the date they do it on the margin! Just a thought!

May God lead you to do what is best for your family! In Him, Eva



Plan for easy days - Saturday, July 8, 2006

Posted by
Bahamahomeschooler

Hi I love to see how others plan their days. I use to be pretty lazy because I used Sonlight and they do all the planning for you. After a few years and a lot of research I am now putting my own stuff together.



Managers of their Home has helped more then anything for day to day. I have just purchased Homeschool tracker and love it. It allows me to plan all the years lesson and then post them week to week as we complete them. It is very easy to use and I will be able to reuse everythnig for my younger ones.



I always like to get the year in focus and will plan everything (all lessons) for the year. This is after I have selected what text or book I am using for a subject. I then go through the text and note how to divide it so that it can be covered in the year. Then I decide how much time is need for each subject and take out my managers of their home worksheet and work it all in.



By doing it this way (planning out everything) your come to relise how much time you do have extra if you keep to the schedual!!! It is amazing what can be done in 30 mins.



Good luck. Visit sometime. we will chat some more.




Lesson Planning 101 - Wednesday, July 12, 2006
Posted by
Bahamahomeschooler
I just listed all of my subject and texts that I am useing this year on my site. This is the first step to make and then on to the planning. Please stop by again. Can I add you to my friends list???


planning, planning, planning... - Saturday, July 22, 2006
Posted by
mtbriere

I'm only going into my 3rd year, so I guess I'm a bit of a Newbie too. I update my system every year. But for this year:

1. How do you keep records? My kids have weekly agenda pages with their lesson plans printed from Excel. Each day is a column and all the assignments are listed down the column for that day. These pages are printed off of Excel. When they are finished with a week, we put them into their portfolio behind the attendance record. (Which also comes from Excel, btw.)

2. Do you keep lesson plans? Yes. I build them in Excel. Sometimes I write them out & put them into the computer, say while the kids have an activity. Sometimes I sit with the materials at the computer and create them. Sometimes I create them, sometimes I just time when we do them if they are already planned for us in a teachers guide.

3. How far in advance do you create them? I plan them out for the year. In Excel, I build 1 worksheet for each subject. I have one column number the days of the school year (180). Next to that, I have the assignment that will need to be completed. Yet another column is special notes for me & another is where I can log grades. These cells feed directly into the weekly agenda pages that I print for the kids each week. It also allows for flexibility if I need to repeat a lesson with one of the kids by cutting/pasting/inserting/etc. or if I need to take a day off here or there when life happens.



4. Do you plan out each subject? Pretty much. I use some guides that are planned out already. Then I just put a "Complete L1", for Lesson 1. etc. For things such as music or pe, I have a time tracking sheet that they need to turn in weekly. (My kids are middle school & high school)



5. Am I going overboard? Obviously I would say no. :D

Have fun planning!
Trish


If you are reading this for lesson plan ideas/help... - Tuesday, October 3, 2006
Posted by Mamma1420
I have modified my lesson plans after driving myself batty! Check out the checklists on the rightside column

Enjoy Your Blessings
Jessica

The Planning is Done.

Okay, I'm ready for 2nd grade! This past week wore me out, trying to homeschool, plan, chase a 3 yr. old around and the daily stuff just was too much. (Ducking from the tomatoes being thrown by moms with more than two!) I don't think I can post the teacher's guide I created for myself as a pdf file because it contains copyrighted information such as book lists and other curriculum based information but I can give you the outline.

My Teacher/Memorization Guide

1. Personal Information
a. Full name
b. Birthday
c. Telephone number
d. Address
e. Names of extended family
f. Directions to house from landmark in town

2. General Time (French/English)
a. Days of the Week
b. Months of the Year
c. Seasons of the Year

3. Bible
a. 34 scriptures from Beginnings II, Jesus My Shepherd
b. Creation (what happened each day)
c. 12 Disciples - I have to share this:

"This is the way the disciples run
Peter, Andrew, James and John
Phillip and Bartholemew
Thomas next and Matthew, too.
James the less and Judas the greater
Simon the zealot and Judas the traitor."

d. 66 Books of the Bible, memorized 5 at a time and using song from My First Hymnal
e. Review The Apostles' Creed, The Lord's Prayer

4. Poetry
a. Review first grade poems
b. learn new poems from FLL, The Harp and Laurel Wreath
c. learn three RLStevenson poems in French
d. character education readings for the year from The Book of Virtues

5. World and US Geography
a. Continents by land area size
b. Oceans by size
c. Points on compass
d. Informal state study: organize by regions, memorize state capitals as we learn about the state

6. Earth Science
a. Colors of the rainbow
b. Planets

7. Grammar
a. Eight parts of Speech poem
b. Definitions of terms in FLL
c. Memorized lists in FLL

8. Math (a cheat sheet for review)
a. concepts learned from Horizons 1
b. concepts to be memorized in Horizons 2
c. 0-100 Number Chart
d. Addition Number chart
e. Addition, Subtraction, Multiplication and Division drill charts
f. Math literature chart- book list with math concepts covered in children's literature

9. French
a. outline of our studies (still being worked on)
b. French spiritual songs to learn (Teach Me French Spiritual Songs)
c. Prayers in French (still checking the accuracy of these)

10. Lesson Plans
a. Customized SOTW 2 with the year's read aloud list
b. Church history schedule
c. Classical Magic Year 1 schedule
d. Earth Science/Geography/Astronomy lessons

11. Still to add
a. Goals for the year in each subject
b. Overall homeschooling goals, encouragements for me to read
c. Possible field trips
d. Our 4 day daily routine with an alternative
e. Household/Chores routine
f. Meal Planning
g. Yearly calendar with proposed weeks off marked

One notebook for me to keep everything in it to navigate our year, no more planning, worrying, etc. We can just DO the NEXT THING! I have left room to write anything I wish in during the year and I feel good about this. #11 is going to be a work in progress as I pray about these matters and talk to dh.

UPDATE 2/2008: We have not followed this to a T but it has been very helpful, I am moving towards planning quarters of the year out instead of a whole year at a time so that I can address our journey much efficiently. This has been an excellent tool for me.

Getting It Together: Meal Planning

I know you may think I'm super-duper organized and I have it all together. Well, I've struggled for the last year while homeschooling. I didn't have the foresight or the discipline to "schedule" our lives, I felt that if I did that I would be choking any joy out of our lives or I would feel like a slave to the schedule. Come to find out, I like being scheduled and disciplined! I like getting the work done and feeling satisfied instead of guilty and depressed because, "I should have, I could have.." and procrastination!

I've put together a cleaning schedule in a post prior and this week has been great. Our house is picked up, the kids are learning responsibility, dh is even pitching in more! I think part of our problem was not knowing what to do and when, and I was thinking, "don't they know to do this?!?" Lol.

Okay, meal planning. First, let me say something about websites and programs out there- you do not need them. They are selling a product and they want you to buy it, or it's a free website- get what you can out of it and leave the rest! Don't bog yourself down if you decide to take this project on. As mothers, we already do a lot of the leg work that the free websites want you to rethink. We have meals we make, groceries we shop for, the only questions is how efficiently are we doing this?

I made a list of all the (dinner) meals I currently make, organized by what meat is used in the meal because meat is the most expensive ingredient and an area where money is wasted from month to month.

Then we decided how many dinners we want to eat out each month, which for us is 3-4. Next, I figured out how many nights dh might be home alone for dinner, which is about 3 nights a month and how many nights I would like to try a new recipe, which is two nights. I setup a spreadsheet for 7 days across and 5 weeks down.


Then I put the meals on the spreadsheet trying keep the meats different, dh really dislikes having chicken back-to-back. I left vegetables to be determined on the night because it will depend on what is available in our fridge and what produce we buy for the week. We are once a month grocery shoppers because we get paid once a month but produce, milk and eggs are what we buy from our local overpriced grocery store. The produce selection isn't great either, I buy the bulk of our produce at the beginning of the month.

From the meal plan, which is only dinner because we have limited options (predictable options) for breakfast and dinner which don't require any planning, I wrote out a grocery list. I took this very basic grocery list and went around my house and added to it. Once I had everything that we purchase for our house, I typed it into a spreadsheet too. This is where I get annoying.

I listed items under headings. Household: Bath Items, Laundry Items, General Items, A/C Filters (put their sizes), Batteries (put type), Pet Items, Storage bags (by type), OTC Meds, Outside Items. Meats is another major heading. Dairy, Other Grocery: Baking Items, Spices, Fruit/Vegetables, Frozen, and finally Breads. I put the list in a useable way for when I am actually walking through our grocery store, grouping like items together. Sickening, huh?

The idea is to take stock of what I need each month. I will walk through the house, crossing out items we don't need and put the quantity of what we do need. From this, I will create a grocery list and include any extra ingredients I need for trying those 2 new recipes each month.

The goal is to save time and money and teach my children about home management in the process. We won't buy ketchup because will know that we have 2 bottles in the pantry and we'll buy exactly what we need, nothing more. On the meal plan you may see I have only 3 nights designated for Eating Out, that's because there is one night that we may want to. We're not going to choke ourselves with this, if we have functions and what-not that provide dinner, then we'll have a dinner for the next month.

I have spent no money putting this together, I don't have a "program" that I'm following, this is 100% prayer and just getting it together. I hope sharing this helps in some way, I know it would have encouraged me to read it at another's blog.

Blessings
Jessica

My Method: Planning a TOG Unit

We're currently on a two week break from our lessons, and I'm planning out the 2nd quarter of our year. Yesterday I planned 9 weeks of TOG in about 45 minutes and a friend who struggles with organization said she wants to be able to do this too. So, I'm posting every step I take in preparing a TOG unit (minus the TOG curricula details). A disclaimer- I am only doing this for 1 child, if multiple children, a spreadsheet could be made for each child if this process is appealing.

1. Pick the level of study: LG, UG, D, R. Choose your books based on what you feel your child will do best with.
Right now I'm blending LG and UG to help transition Camille to UG by the end of the year. I cannot give details (titles) but overall I'm picking UG literature and geography and using LG selections for everything else. She's also in Level 2 of Writing Aids.

2. It helps to have in mind how your week will flow.
I know when I'm picking items to include in our week, I factor in how much time it will take to accomplish it. If it seems too much, I won't include it on the spreadsheet. I still filter things out as we do them but being able to filter some just for the spreadsheet helps.

3. Read the Introductory notes for the Unit.
This will provide an overview of the unit's objectives and help set a frame of mind as you're making your choices.

4. Create your spreadsheet.
This can be done Excel or any other program you have to make tables or spreadsheets. I use Appleworks b/c I'm on a Mac, although this is an old program. Microsoft Works should have something similar. Here is a sample spreadsheet with all the details taken out.
I love having a spreadsheet, it becomes my 'cheat' sheet and the only time I have to open our Tapestry unit is to read the Teacher's Notes.

5. Print out Student Activity Pages, MapAids (if you use it), Evaluations (if you use it)
I go to the Loom and print out the Student Activity Pages for each week as well as any maps from MapAids we'll need and Evaluations that I want to use. I also print out the page for Fine Arts & Activities most of the time and highlight with a highlight marker activities I think we'll do that are suggested.

Usually the Geography activities are listed under Fine Art so I'll also highlight those. I put these in Camille's notebook with her Student Activity page and map from MapAids. To save paper, I print the activities on 1 side of a piece of paper and the SAP on the other side.

I also photocopy anything we'll need from Activity Books or Dover coloring books we're using- paper crafts or any prep work I can do ahead of time. If I choose to go ahead and cut items I put them in a page protector within her notebook to keep them safe. I don't tend to do this although it does save time when I do!

6. Collect your books and materials on one shelf
This is a time-saver for me, I have one place to go for our materials.

Now TOG is a do-the-next-thing subject for us, with just a little bit of planning.

Both Camille and I can look at the spreadsheet to see what needs to be done in a week's time. I do not schedule out daily assignments but we still get everything done in a week. At times we drop activities or books to read. Here's look into what we currently do weekly:

MONDAY
Start reading the Core Book
Start reading the In-Depth book (if there is one)
Reading the Read-Aloud selection at bedtime

TUESDAY
Finish the In-Depth book
Dd8 starts reading the Literature book (if she didn't start on Monday due to length)
Start working on Map Work /Writing Aids or other Project (if any)
Reading the Read-Aloud selection at bedtime

WEDNESDAY
Finish Core book if haven't
Keep reading Literature book
Work on Map work/Project
Reading the Read-Aloud selection at bedtime

THURSDAY
Finish Literature reading, work on SAP
Finish any other reading for the week- I usually divide it up by days (dividing # of pages by # of days)
Work on (finish) map work/project
Reading the Read-Aloud selection at bedtime

FRIDAY
Finish up day for anything lingering
Reading the Read-Aloud selection at bedtime (most of these last more than 1 week)

How I Plan a Year

Length of the Year
First I determine how long our school year will be and our starting date. For third grade and preschool, we have a proposed start date of September 15th and the year will be approximately 40 weeks long with most of the subjects ending at 30-36 weeks.

The curricula we use determines how long the year is but also how we approach our lessons. In keeping to a 4 day week, the year gets extended.

I use Tapestry of Grace as our weekly organizer, it has 4 units which allows me to create 4 quarters of our year easily. I've decided to take at least a week off in between quarters and plan for the next quarter within that week off. I also account for usual times off like Thanksgiving and Christmas.


Curricula Weekly Approach

-Explorer's Discovery Genesis= 30 lessons, each lesson is broken down into days so it will take 30 weeks to finish

-Horizons 3 Math= 160 lessons. Since we want 4 lessons a week, this will take 40 weeks to finish.

-Prima Latina= 30 lessons, 1 lesson a week will take 30 weeks to finish.

-Explode the Code- books 7 and 8 have 28 lessons combined which will take 28 weeks to finish if we do 1 lesson a week, I plan to start Simply Spelling after we finish these.

- Primary Language Lessons will be at Camille's pace but I aim to do 2 lessons a week, which will allow us to be done with PLL by the end of 3rd grade if we stay on track. I'm not too concerned about finishing on time with this.

-Écoutez Parlez French Oral Program is designed to cover 1 unit per 9 weeks so that is what we'll do.

-TOG is designed to cover 1 unit per 9 weeks.

- Science is *my* subject to design so aligning it perfectly isn't very important to me but if I were using a curriculum, I would schedule this out according to quarters, 9 weeks each.

- Classically Cursive= 1 page a week as needed, no plan needed for this.

-Building Critical Thinking Skills Book 1= no plan needed, this is informal, I've given 1 day for this as much as Camille wants to do in 30 minutes.

-Art and Music= Drawing with Children will be organized, 2 lessons a week and the finish date is not important to me. Music is organized by quarter with an informal approach.

- Poetry Memorization= I just schedule these as I think Camille will be able to handle them but having a master list of poems to memorize for the year helps tremendously. I also took the time to schedule them according to content and when we'll approach them during the year, for example poems about Christmas happen during Christmastime, poems about Spring will be done during Spring.

Once I've figured out how each curriculum will fit into my year, I created an overview (pictured above) of the subjects I want to keep track of our progress with. History, Math, Poetry, Music and Science are the most helpful for me to have on a schedule to glance at. The rest can be "do the next thing" for the most part.

How to figure out how many lessons during the week:

Products like Explorer's Bible Study and Prima Latina have instructions or are formatted to have daily lessons so all I need to do is figure out how often we want to do them. I have chosen to do both daily which makes it easy to follow their format.

Horizons has 160 lessons, which could be 5 days a week for 32 weeks (160 divided by 5=32) but I've chosen to do 4 days a week (160 divided by 4= 40).

How many lessons total= 160
How many days a week you think you want to do the lessons= 4
Divide those and you have how many weeks it will take to finish the total lessons (160) by the number of days (4 days a week).

Creating a Daily Routine
After I have our overview of the year, I create a proposed daily routine.

I figure out what time to get up, how long it will take to get the kids ready for the day (realistically) and how much time to spend on each subject. I plug in the information about how often lessons will be for each subject to complete our yearly schedule and then work out any kinks I see. Everything after lunch is really extra, this year I'm going to try a purposeful use of our afternoon time.


Organizing for the Plan
After I have these foundational plans for the year and the week, I approach organizing each curriculum to fit what I have planned. This year that includes creating 4 quarter binders for me but it also includes figuring out how to approach each subject during the times of the week.

History has 4 days planned a week: I plan out what I think will be doable each day.

Day 1: Read core book, start weekly project
Day 2: Finish core book, do mapwork, work on weekly project
Day 3: Read supplement book, work on weekly project
Day 4: Finish supplement book, finish weekly project

If at this stage you don't have enough time to finish the workload, then you need to reassess. Which is more beneficial? Having more time to finish the workload or downsizing the workload to fit the time allotted?

I know I probably go further than most in planning: I organize our workload to fit the plan, including creating notebooks pre-filled as much as I can. This allows me to be organized but also to "do the next thing" without much thought while we are DOING.

This part is hard work- tearing apart workbooks, 3 hole punching them, copying pages if necessary and putting a cohesive notebook together, I also put in empty handwriting paper with lesson numbers on them for non-consumable products like Primary Language Lessons. If we do not do the particular lesson on the paper, no biggie, it's just crossed off with the correct lesson number. This will be a reminder of how behind/ahead we are for what I planned at the beginning of the year.

I think the most important thing to remember during planning is that the plan will most likely change. I've accommodated that by setting up our year in quarters so I can reassess what we're doing each 9 weeks and make changes accordingly.

Happy Planning!

Pencil Planning for Next Week

Click picture to see larger

All I have to add to my Mother/Teacher book is tabs to keep the sections organized. Here is the planning page I created for our week which I wasn't enslaved to the computer to create. My handwriting isn't very uniform and neat, I'll need to work on that but I did this in less time than usual due to the fact I didn't have to collect the information to input it on the computer. A quick grab of a few books and documenting what we need to do, and voíla, done!

Feel Free to use a similar one I created at GoogleDocs for your own use, below



Also viewable at http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=pxC4kC6a0EBcBkVMCTyKTeQ

Rearranging Our Day

Beginnings II: Jesus, My Shepherd
Music Appreciation
Spelling Workout C
First Language Lessons
FLL replaced with Mechanics, Grammar & Usage
Handwriting & Copywork
Poetry Memorization
Our French
Horizons Math 2
Daily Mental Math Gr2
SOTW 2 Tailored Lessons
Earth | Space | Geography Science
Independent Reading
Private Piano Lessons

We've been doing our lessons in the order listed and I'm changing it to refresh our days and see how things go. Certain items I'm either integrating or eliminating to lighten our days to focus on the 3 R's.

6:30-7:30 Chores, Breakfast & Exercise
8:00 Math
~ break if work is done efficiently ~
9:00 History (Danny's room time)
9:30 Science
~ 30 min recess ~
10:30 Recite Poem (10 min), Spelling Workout (30 min), Grammar (20 min)
11:30 French
12:00 Lunch & Bible
12:30 Preschool with Danny
12:30 Memory CD for Camille and 30 min of independent reading
*15-20 minutes of piano practice daily

Music appreciation will be on her memory cd and I'm going to play the composer she is listening to throughout the day. Explorer's Bible study is being replaced with Storykeeper DVDs after Christmas, we will be using this resource for the week so that we watch the DVD at the end of the week. I feel this is the best way to include Danny for Bible because he doesn't show any interest in Bible story books right now and I don't want to split time with them. I prefer they understand that the Storykeeper DVDs have a lesson and Bible story behind them, they are not just cartoon movies to enjoy mindlessly.

I'm also experimenting with having history and science each day instead of breaking it up- I'll probably go back to alternating days but I want to see how our morning flows having both. If we take it out then that frees up 30 minutes each day.

After church today I'll be planning out our week as well as planning the week after Christmas because I need to gather items to take with us. My mom is having surgery on Dec. 28th and Camille & I are staying to help my parents while she heals. Danny will be spending time with dh at home, school doesn't start back for him until Jan 14th.

I'm so ready to get back to school!

Preschool Decisions to Make

We've decided to do preschool at home with Danny, so I'm planning out our Horizons Preschool days. I decided to give myself a help and create a spreadsheet of our days within a week. I've hit a wall because decisions have to be made.

In the curriculum, days 1, 3, 5 have new concepts being introduced while days 2 and 4 are just reinforcement of the concepts learned on days 1, 3, and 5. I started planning out 5 days of preschool but quickly realized this would not work with our Field Trip Friday. So do I want 3 or 4 days of preschool for Danny a week?

This is what a four day week would look like:


Or a 3 day week:

I want to keep the same concepts in a week and not introduce new ones especially on the last day of the week so we will use days 1, 3, and either 2 or 4 as the 3rd day for a 3 day preschool week. Of course, the concepts will be a part of his normal day too on the 4th day.

Decisions, decisions...

Using TOG Year 2

This is the planning/weekly overview page I created for myself using TOG. Is this needed? No, but it's me so this is what *I* do. I've decided to make one of these for each week, planning one unit at a time. We're having a ball this week and I can say that I'm enjoying this much more than just using SOTW, I think it's the teacher preparation part or maybe it's the long break we've taken. Whatever it is, I'm all geared up again, including getting ready for next year (third grade).

Monday we read SOTW2 about feudalism and focused only on that-we compared serfs and lords and what type of lives they led. We discussed how the feudal system works and watched United Streaming videos. Discussing fedualism first provided an excellent introduction to castles which we studied on Tuesday (yesterday).

We're making this castle model and hope to be finished with it today after we study about knights so we can PLAY! Both of the kids are loving this and with Saturday being our Christmas day here at home, it will be a perfect time for them to receive their Playmobil castle as a Christmas gift.

Camille is reading Stephanie Turnbull's book on Knights aloud, and our days are going very well. The only thing we've neglected is french. Sigh.

I'm enjoying The Story of the Middle Ages by Harding as well as Famous Men of the Middle Ages which is scheduled in TOG but I decided to keep this week light so I'm not reading them to Camille just yet. I'm still working out what we will do within TOG's framework, what topics I feel Camille is ready for and how to approach them. The Veritas Press history cards are providing great little summaries on the people we may not be meeting in-depth at this point.

All in all, I'm very happy with the switch to TOG, I think it is EXACTLY what I needed. Another thing different we've done is use Dover and Bellerophon coloring books instead of SOTW2's student pages, it seems to bring the topics alive more for my visual learner. ***If you want a blank version of the planner page, here's the PDF file.

Pictures I've promised....

Creating my own Homeschool Mother Notebook

I have a teacher's book but I have outgrown it so I need to revamp it. I want one book to house everything that I need so here is my free write concerning this. I want two sections: Mom and Teacher.

Mom
1. Family Calendar - contains birthdays, anniversaries, appointments, events, etc. √
2. My Journal and Prayer list √
3. Food - Menus, meal planning ideas, recipes to try, master grocery list, phone numbers for take-out. √
4. Cleaning- chore schedule for kids, my cleaning schedule, to do list √
5. Contacts - Phone numbers, addresses, email addresses of family, friends, acquaintances (divided by permanent and semi-permanent info) √
6. Budget and bill schedule

Teacher
1. GA state forms storage (Declaration of Intent and Attendance), GA homeschool laws and other helps, contact info for area homeschool groups. √
2. Weekly homeschool schedule √
3. Answer keys to curriculum √
4. Master copies of blank pages I need
5. Yearly and quarterly objectives, planning and notes √
6. Educational philosophy helps and notes √ empty notebook pages
7. Area for each subject to record thoughts and ideas: Nature Study/Science, Math, History, etc. √ empty notebook pages
8. Character training /practical skills √
9. Books: list of ones to read, list of ones we've read , ones to buy, etc. √
10. Extracurricular notes and field trips √

I'm currently doing a poor job of staying on top of it all, I have a "deal with it when I can" attitude right now and I can be better. Getting organized is the first step, well the second step- the first step is identifying that I have a problem, lol.

Helpful links:
http://organizedhome.com/how-to-make-household-notebook
http://donnayoung.org/

http://www.characterfirst.com/resources/downloads/
http://www.oklahomahomeschool.com/forms.html

http://www.tipztime.com/chorecharts/freechorecharts.html
http://www.chartjungle.com/printables.html

Update: My book is almost done with forms I created myself because I couldn't find what I wanted online for free and with a mix of free printables found online. I'll be posting a link to the pdf file on the sidebar soon.

Wordy Wednesday

My dh is healing, he's sore and needs help but he's doing well. We are now doing our lessons since FIL has left and I'm grateful to give the kids something productive to do. It drives me crazy not to do something with them. I didn't realize how much purpose it gives our day, Camille is currently listening to Vivaldi and completing her independent math work.

Science
I am working on book lists, books we own, books we want to own and what age group they are appropriate for. I'm using the topics I put in our Seasonal Science chart to organize the books although we're not going to our nature studies. For an example:

Weather

The Listening Walk
Feel the Wind
On the Same Day in March
Air is All Around You
Usborne First Encyclopedia of Our World
The Cloud Book
Magic School Bus, Inside a Hurricane
The Man Who Named the Clouds
The Storm Book
and so on.

I'm actually not putting them in grade levels but I'm writing down all our titles and I'll put whatever succession of reading I think will be best for my kids. BookMooch is aiding greatly in developing a home library for science. We have a short list of books to purchase after previewing them through the library to make sure we really want them.

THE IDEA
We will work out for ourselves the balance between reading, narrating, illustrating and performing experiments. We'll read about a subject for 60-90 days and then move on. We will be keeping a science notebook, filled with whatever we want at whatever time. It could be coloring pages, illustrations from our reading, narrations, or a map about where we are talking about. I thought about creating unit studies for each book, and making it more academic until I realized that will kill the love of learning. I will follow the kids' lead on this.

Nature Studies
This will consist of backyard projects and nature walks but will be done informally. I'm reading a lot about being a silent teacher during nature walks so I will keep mum and just follow my own interests. If I see a flower I want to draw, I'll draw it. I'm so glad I bought the Handbook of Nature Study, what a multi-layer resource!

Although I can't really put the plan on paper just yet, we're going to read Mother West Wind's How Stories after we finish Mother West Wind's Children by Thornton Burgess. From there, we'll probably read Seed-Babies by Margaret Worley which I printed from online.

That's it. I'm done thinking, planning and scheming for science, it's time to DO. Actually we're still on the planets but we are reading Mother West Wind's Children and doing nature studies. I haven't written about our nature walks because LIFE has been busy. We're doing them, I'm just not writing about them. Hopefully that will change this week.

Boy this is turning into a science blog...sheesh. I'll post about our 3rd grade poems next. Yes, I know which ones they will be.

Explorer's Bible Study

What if I told you that there is a non-denominational Bible study available that covers preschool - adult?

This is what I was searching for when I was looking for a Bible study solution for our United Methodist family.
My Wishlist :
1. Character training 2. Bible stories or study (simplified for a 6-7 year old)
3. Memory scripture
4. Easy to use, not much prep. I don't need crafts.
5. Music would be nice but not essential. Would like to learn hymns (accompanying cd would be a huge plus)
6. UMC doctrine to aid in preparing dd6 for confirmation and to lay a solid foundation for her. 7. Familiarity with our church worship is essential. Doxology, Apostle's Creed, Lord's Prayer etc.

That is the list I wrote before looking at a single product. Explorer's Bible Study program covers SIX of these! Of course, I will have to prepare my children for confirmation but I have a few years to do that.

I purchased Explorer's Bible Study's Beginnings: And it Was Good. Let me share with you what it contains. First of all, this curriculum was developed to equip a scholar with a chronological and historical method of Bible study which allows the Bible to be seen in its entirety, not in broken pieces.

In Beginnings: And It Was Good here's how the lessons are set-up. Each (there are 30 weeks of lessons with daily instructions) lesson lasts a week, so that the material covered lasts one week. In each lesson there are:

Bible Love Lesson- establishes an important daily foundation each time you begin your lesson. God is love, God loves you! It is the central truth for everyone.

Bible Story with Key Points: Written in an easy to understand language and provides Key Points that can be used for a narrative exercise (excellent for my classical education preference!) Also, you can further discuss the bolded Word and Phrase Meanings.

Word and Phrase Meanings: word or phrases within the Bible Story that help develop understanding.

Guided Prayer Thoughts: A short prayer that can be used as a model for learning to talk to God.

Questions: Thinking & Remembering: There are multiple questions for each day that help the child recall and relate the story concepts in the lesson.
Bible Words to Remember: In this version, the scripture is abbreviated or parapharsed from the New King James Version to make it easier to understand and remember. The memory scripture last all week to help build a firm foundation.

Praise Hymns: A variety of songs, (including familiar worship songs!) and hymns for making worship time meaningful. You can purchase My First Hymnal (like I did) that correlates with the Beginnings Book.

Virtue Lessons: as called Choosing God's Way, incorporated into each daily lesson. This is a wonderful simple way to have character study based on the Bible story.

It seems like it's been packaged with a little bow and says "Here are tools to disciple your children." I love this. No planning, no crafts, just two books, the Bible Study book and our Bible. I really enjoy the fact that we can "praise" with a hymn each day. My children love music. So what about other age levels?

Beginnings I has two: This series helps preschool age children discover truths about God's Word. Each lesson contains a Bible Love Lesson, a Bible Story, Key Points, Word and Phrase Meanings, Guided Prayer Thought, Thinking and Remembering Questions, Bible Words to Remember, and Choosing God's Way.
(Preschool-Grade 1)

Beginnings II has two: This course is designed for the early elementary student (Grades 2-3). It features a broad overview of the Bible in an exciting and challenging way. Prayer Thoughts help each child learn how to talk with God. Bible Words to Remember encourage children to hide God's Word in their hearts. Questions about the story build Bible knowledge and understanding.

Discovery has five: This series helps older elementary age children discover truths about God's Word. Questions about the lesson help students read, examine, and understand Scripture. Map studies and Word and Phrase Meanings help them dig deeper. A weekly lesson review makes sure they retain what they have studied. (Grades 4-9)

Quest has six: Our Quest Series is designed with Jr. and Sr. High students in mind! This daily Bible study uses questions to help each student understand 1) what the Bible says, 2) what it means, and 3) how to apply it to his/her life. Questions are designed to help the student think, evaluate, understand, and apply what God is communicating through His Word. Notes are provided with each lesson to give deeper understanding and to communicate solid Biblical truths and principles.

And then there's a whole Adult Curriculum! I am very excited about this! I have a Bible curriculum for every school year, and it builds and builds. If you're looking for a Bible curriculum to fit your needs I would suggest looking at Explorer's Bible Study first!

You can purchase from the Explorer's Bible Study website or you can find it at ChristianBook.com. My First Hymnal is also available at ChristianBook.com and provides samples! Please tell me if you decide to use this. It would be nice to know that sharing this has helped someone.

My Life of Lists

I have lists coming out my ears. Most of them are in my head because it seems once I write it down, I forget it or I'm over it. Lol. This very encompassing habit has lessened since I've put some systems for myself in place but right now I'm taking a break from creating a Recipe Shopping spreadsheet.

I've made a list of recipes I want to make from the Country Italian cookbook I mentioned a few posts ago with columns for
Recipe Name \ Meats \ Produce \ Pantry Items \ Special Ingredients \ Times Per Month. This way I can see what recipes I want to cook and what ingredients I'll need, which I think will be very helpful at the grocery store. I made the mistake of visiting the Well-Trained Mind forums for a little break and saw a conversation on-going about Simply Charlotte Mason's Laying Down the Rail book that I've wondered if I should buy. It's organized in lists. I immediately started thinking, "I should get that book, so I can be organized and purposeful!!"

But instead, here I am typing instead of thinking more about it or going to the Simply Charlotte Mason website to contemplate it more. I have what I need already, goals included for habit training this year. *Smacking my wrist* No!

Lists in my head or otherwise:
- chore lists for Danny, Camille and myself
- menu planning/grocery lists
- personal growth list for myself (reading, habits)
- family lifestyle improvement goals (recycling, composting, veg. gardening, daily exercise)
- errands to run
- people to call, appts. to make (Drs., services, return calls to make, etc.)
- bills to pay with pay-off schedules
- book lists
- lesson plans


I'm sure there are more, I'm overwhelmed just with what I've already typed. Fizzle, there goes my air of enthusiasm...
I'm grateful that I finally have a clear vision of what we need and how to use what we have to the fullest, so I can focus on that instead of trying to find the 'magic' answer. Okay, back to my recipe shopping spreadsheet and lessons. :)

Our new history approach

Next year we're not doing history at all, as it's been decided to focus on geography for the entire year using Discovering the World of Geography and using our reading time to focus on literature instead of historical fiction. So our current history, Tapestry of Grace, Year 3 lost it's luster for the some of the same reasons we're not doing Tapestry next year. I need pick up and go without much thought or planning on my end.

I tried to like The Story of the World again. I really did but I'm spoiled now, as is Camille because we like whole books, Tapestry does such a fine job of presenting history with all its various regions into focus whereas SOTW just seems to jump around too much and throw too many names, events and countries at the reader. I realized that since I couldn't bring myself to use SOTW again that none of the condensed, all-in-one history books were going to satisfy us anymore.

What's left? Trusty old Usborne! Since switching to Tapestry, we've been using their core books instead of this encyclopedia. I don't want to coordinate books right now or figure out how to manage all of our reading. I want to, I want to read whole books with fabulous illustrations and rich writing but I can't. I want history to get done but reading, writing and math are much more important to me right now.

What we're doing is reading the 2 page spread, exploring the internet-links and I have maps from Tapestry's MapAids so I just have Camille label a map according to what we read about. This week it was Africa and the struggle over land, the Zulus, Boers and the British. Pictures to come this weekend.

Instead of reading a historical fiction book, Camille is reading Black Beauty and I'm reading a literature book to her as well, I'm still working on our next title-I need to find a free, online study guide to help so that is holding up the decision of the title at this time.

Weekly Report, TOG Week 18

Dh had surgery Monday. We're not having a full week but doing what we can between my nurse duties. My energy level varies throughout the day because I'm bouncing between the kids, Jack and dh needing me. It's draining when Danny is getting into something, dh is calling me and Camille is asking questions. Poor Jack hasn't had a walk in a week and is restless too.

The kids don't really understand that dh cannot be left alone and this makes us homebound for a while, with the exception of quick trips to the library, post office and grocery store. We can't even go on a nature walk although we will be spending time in the backyard today.

NATURE STUDY while confined...
We're going to observe two nests in our tree, the actual tree that is the header for this blog. The rest of the nests that we thought were being built were either blown away by strong winds we've had or they weren't actually nests in the making at all. If the weather is nice today, I'm planning a backyard picnic for lunch with a drawing session in our nature journals afterwards. Thankfully we have a phone system that allows each handset to call each other like walkie-talkies so that as long as we don't venture too far in the yard, dh can call me if he needs me.

We have a Hummingbird Feeder at our kitchen window now and a little friend that has been coming by every now and then. Our garden of dahlias, marigolds and impatiens is germinating and we have a bird feeder for our backyard birds. I suspect we have a nest of Cardinals in our tree because a male Cardinal serenades us throughout the day.

Our lesson status from this week

Bible- one lesson all week

Math- out of lessons 110-114, lesson 110-112 is done- we'll complete 113 and 114 today and tomorrow

Reading- Camille is still reading George's Marvelous Medicine and I'm still reading aloud Mother West Wind's Children

Poetry- Reviewing daily Time to Rise and Singing Time

History- none

Science- working on notebook pages for Venus and Earth, nature study

LA- so far 2 lessons of PLL have been done, another 2 will be done today and tomorrow

Phonics- Lesson 3 of Book 6 was finished yesterday in one sitting (she's getting fast!). Side note: Camille has been writing numerous letters this week on her own accord and experimenting with spelling larger words on her own. She likes to wrap these notes/letters up like presents and present them to me.

French- listening to Unit 1 of Écoutez, Parlez book 1 although we should be on Unit 2. Review never hurts, lol.

Piano- private lessons going well, we've been listening to Vivaldi each day

Next week will be our official week for TOG Week 18, we will just pick up where we left off and I will not worry about getting off the schedule. We will still take April 7-11 off for Spring Break.

Books and Science
I am working on separating our science related books into the topics to cover and putting the books in their own totes sort of like a unit study. We are building a science library through Bookcloseouts.com and BookMooch.com with occasional Amazon orders.

Here's a recent order I made at Book Closeouts:

Ocean Life from A to Z (Book and DVD)
Maps & Globes by Jack Knowlton
The Circle of Days
The Animal Family
Everglades (by Jean Craighead George), I purchased the last one but there are other books linked
Rachel Carson's The Sense of Wonder
The Story of Clocks and Calendars by Maestro
Gather Up, Gather In: A book of Seasons
One Lighthouse, One Moon by Anita Lobel
And the Good Brown Earth
Buzz Aldrin's Reaching for the Moon

I saved over $100.00 at BookCloseouts.com

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Confessions

I've been holding back from posting because there's just so much that I want to accomplish in this week. It's the week of Lent and I am giving up the The Well-Trained Mind boards because frankly, I've become addicted. I've moved further away from where I should be because I've spent too much time on the computer. This past week has been one of confession to the Lord and to a new friend who has been going through the same. I've confessed my sins to my dh as well, why is it so hard to trust others in our lives with our failures?

Anyways, I've set myself up for failure in the past by making detailed plans and posting them here. I work the plan for a couple of days and then it all falls apart. This time I'm keeping mum about my plans- I'm breaking free from the WTM Boards for Lent and I'm going to work on my relationship with God, dh and my children by whatever means God intends. I'll still blog (what a word!) and visit the Classical Education Forum but you will NOT find me on the WTM Boards. Our homeschool just needs a little attention, we're happy with our curriculum and next year's curriculum is here and ready to be planned out. The planning takes time and I can't plan when I'm talking about curriculum and homeschooling choices with other homeschoolers constantly like on the WTM Boards. I also need to reconnect with the Lord, I've moved away bit by bit and now I don't like the distance.

Please pray for me, especially this week and next if you don't mind. I'm trying to formulate better habits during Lent that will honor God in both myself and my children. Thank you.

Can you say "Road Trip"?

My wonderful, crazy, generous mother has proposed a road trip in September to Maine via Ohio to visit my (only living) paternal grandmother. We'd leave (dates may change) Sept. 11 and drive from Charleston, SC to Canton, Ohio, which is about 11 hours straight driving time. I haven't seen my grandmother in 5 years and this will probably be the last time I visit her. Camille met her when she was 2, which she doesn't remember and Danny hasn't met her at all. I'm not 100% sure Danny will be making this trip anyways.

We'll stay in Ohio for two days and then hit the road to Maine through Pennsylvania. We'll be staying in a rental for two weeks before heading back to Ohio and back to Charleston. On the agenda- antique shopping, a trip to Freeport (home of L.L. Bean and awesome outlet stores), a little sight-seeing, and MAJOR relaxation, absorbing the atmosphere and beauty of New England.

We'd be gone for about a month, possibly September 11th through October 5th. There's a lot of planning to do between now and then, not to mention details! I'm more excited than stressed at this point but there's a decision of whether to take Danny (3 years old, temper tantrums and all) with us or just use this as a "girl's trip." Danny will have opportunities in the future for "guy's trip" with my Dad when he gets a little older. He just wouldn't meet his great-grandmother, which is a factor. And I don't know how I would handle being apart from him that long. Plus dh would need help taking care of him, which I'm sure I could arrange with some of our fabulous church members.

Okay, now to think about ways to maintain sanity while traveling long distances with children!

Cleaning Plan of Action

Tell me what you think, I've been contemplating this for a while and I've even tried some other tactics but I'm at the point that we HAVE to establish a routine or we're a lost cause.

Chores are for Monday-Saturday with Sundays off. Dh argued that the Sabbath is actually Friday sunset until Monday sunrise, I told him Sundays are off. Only Sundays.

LAUNDRY. I hate laundry. I really hate laundry. I want someone to come wash/dry/iron/fold/put away our clothes. It isn't going to happen so I have to get real. Instead of doing the procrastination thing and letting it pile up, I've decided to do ONE LOAD a DAY.

Monday ~ Jeans
Tuesday ~ Towels
Wednesday ~ Whites
Thursday ~ Khakis
Friday ~ Dark Colors
Saturday ~ Light Colors & Sheets

Okay, so Saturday might be two loads, that's fine with me. Sheets are easy! No folding, straight from the dryer to the bed awaiting them and I think it would be a nice way to start Sunday. Clean, fresh, soft sheets- just enough to make you want to sleep in. Lol. Yeah, right.

My solution for socks. First off, the kids have plastic bins in their top drawer to keep their socks separate from their underwear and other items. Camille's socks have gray heels and toes, Danny's socks have Hanes written in blue, and dh's and my socks are easily identifiable. When sorting laundry to be laundered, I am putting both of the kids' socks in a zippered net bag (like a lingerie bag for washing) and dh and mine in another zippered net bag. This way, Camille can match up just hers and Danny's socks and I will do dh's and mine. I've eliminated 1/2 of the workload! Any socks that do not have matches still go in the person's drawer and hopefully they will meet their mate soon.

If not, the orphaned socks will be put into cleaning detail! Do you know how much help the kids are around the house with socks on their hands?

Socks + kids + pledge = dusted furniture
Socks + kids + windex = clean glass and mirrors
Socks + kids + PineSol = clean walls, baseboards, counters, sinks, wash the car, etc.

Just put the socks on the kids' hands and spray with whatever desired cleaning product and let them clean away! Put some fun, dancing music on and boogie throughout the house. I wouldn't suggest this for any child that would stick their sock in their mouth but Danny had a blast today cleaning the wall, dusting furniture and washing windows. I think I'm going to throw away all sponges and just use socks from now on. They can get into tighter spaces and when we're done, into the laundry they go! No worries about germs, mildew and bacterial growing in them like sponges. The only drawback is that it requires a little more elbow grease.

Daily, Weekly and Monthly Chores
I've taken each room and decided what needs to be done daily, weekly and monthly to keep our home under control. MrsCleanJeans' Housekeeping with Kids by Tara Aronson helped a lot with this and so did http://www.chartjungle.com which has free chore charts and more. I've put this in a spreadsheet for our family's use but I'll go room by room here. The daily chores will be divided amongst us and we will tackle the weekly chores for each room on a certain day every week.

Monday ~ Kitchen Weekly Chores
Tuesday ~ Den Weekly Chores
Wednesday ~ Bathroom 1 Weekly Chores
Thursday ~ Bathroom 2 Weekly Chores
Friday ~ Learning Room & Dining Room Weekly Chores
Saturday ~ Bedrooms & Hallway, Outside Weekly Chores

I've left room for modification, we could easily combine the bathrooms on one day instead of two. Saturday may have too many chores to be accomplished but we'll see. Each day the daily chores will be done plus the weekly chores of one room, seems managable.

KITCHEN
Daily:

• Empty/Fill Dishwasher
• Wipe Counters
• Sweep Floor nightly
• Set up coffee pot
• Empty trash after dinner
• Replenish Paper Towels
• Feed Dog

Weekly:

• Clean out Leftovers
• Sweep/Mop
• Clean Microwave
• Wipe Cabinets
• Clean Trash Can
• Wash Dog bowls
• Check Expiration Dates

Monthly:

• Clean Fridge Inside and Out
• Wash kitchen window inside and out

DEN
Daily:

• Toy Pickup (before lunch, before bedtime)
• Put away books
• Put movies back
• Vacuum if needed

Weekly:

• Vacuum/Mop
• Dust Furniture
• Dust Ceiling Fan
• Dust Lamps
• Clean TV screen
• Spot clean walls
• Dust/Clean Baseboards
• Clean under furniture
• Vacuum under cushions

Monthly:

• Wash blankets
• Wash curtains

BATHROOMS
Daily:

• Wipe Sink/Counter when finished
• Stock Toliet Paper
• Put clothes in hamper
• Hang Towels
• Put Toys Away
• Squeeze/hang washcloth

Weekly:

• Empty trash, preferably Wed. (day before Trash Day)
• Clean tub/shower
• Clean sink
• Clean toilet
• Clean mirrors
• Sweep/Mop
• Wash cabinets
• Wash baseboards
• Dust lights
• Restock TP supply in cabinet
• Replace towels
  

Monthly:

• Wash blinds
• Wash windows
• Clean out drawers
• Clean out cabinets

Learning Room & Formal Dining Room
Daily:

• Books & Supplies Tidy-up
• Toy pickup

Weekly:

• Vacuum/Mop
• Dust furniture
• Dust chandelier
• Dust lamps
• File papers
• Spot clean walls
• Clean baseboards
• Clean under furniture and under cushions

Monthly:

• Replace A/C filter
• Dust China
• Dust drapes
• clean windows
• Purge school items

BEDROOMS AND HALLWAY
Daily:

• Make Bed
• Put clothes away
• Put toys away nightly
  

Weekly:

• Clean sheets
• Sweep/Mop
• Dust
• Clean mirrors
• Clean baseboards
• Spot clean walls
  

Monthly:

• Clean out closets
• Wash blinds
• Purge Drawers
• Dust drapes

OUTSIDE
Daily:

• Water plants and yard
• pick up toys
  

Weekly:

• Dog Poop Detail
• Wash dog
• Clean carport and drive (leaf-blower)
• Wash car inside and out
• Weed garden areas
  

Monthly:

• Seasonal responsibilities

Here's the spreadsheet: Click Here


Okay, menu planning is next!