Planning for your homeschool can be a very daunting concept to those new to homeschooling. There are many methods to consider as well as countless learning resources and curricula to try and fit into a schedule. When I began to homeschool I found many videos and articles about planning your homeschool year. I thought this was what I should be doing. If that's what other people are doing then I should do it too, right?
So, do I make yearly plans at the start of each homeschool year? Let me tell you, I don't! Does that surprise you? Perhaps I am just not organised enough or perhaps I lack the ability to think that far ahead or perhaps I am just overwhelmed with a years worth of resources! Are you like me?
Planning for the year just does not make sense to me. I mean, things change, people change, the children change. What they were interested in at the beginning of the year may not still capture their attention a few months, or even a few weeks, down the line. If you are going to plan ahead, you definitely need to be flexible.
I prefer to make more short term plans. I am probably only planning a month in advance, maximum, and this is because I need to think of supplies and resources and see which ones I will need to order. When it comes to more detailed plans, I start with looking at the coming week. There are a number of advantages to planning your homeschool week and I will share them with you now.
Benefits of weekly homeschool planning
Quick
Firstly, it is so quick. Homeschool mums are busy people. After taking care of all our daily responsibilities, we rarely get time to ourselves to think and plan. Therefore, the shorter the planning process is, the better!I like to sit down on a Sunday evening and plan ahead for the coming week. I look through the curricula we follow and choose pages for the children to study that week. Then I see which resources are needed for each day. I check some online websites to see if there are any worksheets or activities that are relevant to the ones we are doing that week. Then I write them down on my weekly homeschool planner, a FREE printable which I am sharing with you below.
Once I have the week roughly planned out, I use a separate daily planner (which I am also sharing below) to help me write a more detailed plan if I need to, though that is not always necessary.
Easy
Secondly, it is much easier to plan for a week than a year. I cannot imagine getting out all the resources I would need for a whole year and working out which topics to cover. It just seems so overwhelming to have to think of everything at once. When you plan for the week you can easily decide what to cover, which books to use and which resources you will need. It is easy and stress-free.
I have recently started using these scheduling cards from A Delectable Education blog. This has made planning even easier. It is all laid out for you on little cards which help you understand how long to spend on each lesson and how many time per week each subject should be studied.
I have recently started using these scheduling cards from A Delectable Education blog. This has made planning even easier. It is all laid out for you on little cards which help you understand how long to spend on each lesson and how many time per week each subject should be studied.
Flexible
Children often go through phases of liking a certain thing obsessively for a few months and then going off it. Do not be worried about this, it is important they try different things in order to discover their likes and passions. However, this unpredictability can make long-term planning problematic. Suppose your child is passionate about sea creatures so you plan to learn about sea creatures on and off for a few months, you buy the books and any other resources you can think of for studying this topic. Then, a month later, they decide they no longer like sea creatures. This may cause issues if you have put a long-term plan in place. It may mess up your plan and you will need to start all over again. However, if you have made a short-term plan, it is easier to be flexible. You are not so tied down to one thing and you can easily adjust the plan the following week.
Free Printables!
I use these printables, that I designed myself, for my weekly planning and now I would love to share them with you too. They are available in colour or plain. To receive your copy of the FREE printables, click on the link below to receive the printables to your email.
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