When I think back over the past 13 years of homeschooling, I have to laugh at all the planners and systems that I've tried. Are you the same way? Don't get me wrong, some of them have been great for a particular season in our lives. And then something else would work for awhile. There truly are so many great resources out there. I think you just have to find what works for you.
This year, I decided to go with some simple. So simple, in fact, that you may think I'm a little nuts for not thinking of it before. I mentioned last week in my "Friday Faves" post that one of my favourite things right now is using spiral notebooks in our homeschool this year. I give huge thanks to Sarah McKenzie for her post earlier this year, How I'm Using Spiral Notebooks to Simplify Homeschooling. I think it was mainly the word 'simplify' that caught my eye. I do not need any more complications in my life, and especially when it comes to our homeschool. So, I thought I'd share some of my original planning from the end of the summer and how things have progressed these past two months.
I started out with my own personal spiral notebook which I used/use for making a master list for the school plans, a master list of meals for menu planning, a list of ideas for field trips, a list of ideas for read-aloud books, etc.
I also use it as I'm planning Ava's Beyond Five In A Row and Maya's Five In A Row lessons . . .
Okay, so unlike Sarah, I do the actual writing out of the plans every morning. It's just personal preference for me. Planning school is not something I usually want to think about in the evenings, so mornings work well for me. It really is a simple process and only takes a few minutes.
I include any and all chores I want them to accomplish that day, and then I list their school assignments, "brain breaks", and their extra-curricular classes and activities for that particular day. I know from their check marks what needs to be carried over to the next day.
This system has worked SO well for us. The consistency level is high this year, and I am very pleased. I think the older I get the more ADD tendencies I display (ha!), so this simple spiral notebook plan has done the trick for me. The kids all seem to be settled and steady in their progress this year. They like the routine and look forward to checking off those boxes each day.
Blessings and love. xo
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