It’s time to start thinking about how to plan your homeschool year. If you start now it can be a relaxed, enjoyable task. Getting an early start also allows you to maintain control of your budget by giving you time to search for bargain resources. Use these tips to keep your plans on track. Grab a notebook, an iced beverage and some colored pens and get started!
Check out my top 10 homeschooling tips and tricks here!
Have a Home for Your Homeschool Planner
Start off your school year by having a plan for your plan. You can download your homeschool planner online. Use the downloads to create a master 3-ring binder. It’s portable, you can add a calendar, grocery lists, important phone numbers, notes for future ideas and a section for each child.
If you prefer working online, Homeschool Tracker is an established, proven way to plan lessons, track attendance and grades. There are other software programs available for homeschoolers. Check out reviews before you buy any program to be certain it will fit your specific needs.
Plan to spend a few minutes each day updating your notebook. At least twice a month, look at your plan and make adjustments based on how real-life has affected your initial plan.
Start Your Homeschool Lists
Make a list for each of your students of the subjects you plan to cover. If you know what resources you want to use add those to either your list of “Things I Have” or “Things to Purchase.” If you do not know what resources you want to use, check out reviews at homeschool message boards. Rainbow Resource offers a gigantic catalog with reviews of thousands of projects on nearly every subject. Their website features reviews as well. Use these reviews as a guide.
Look at the list of things to purchase. Can you find the material used at local homeschool sales or online on sites like VegSource? Don’t forget to check your local library’s book store or sales. This is a great way to pick up books and audio books. If you have more than one child, it’s worth investing in items that can be used multiple times.
Finally, make a list of school and art supplies you will need to pick up. Take advantage of back-to-school sales and stock up on paper, pencils, notebooks, crayons, etc. It’s worth comparing online prices with local prices. Take advantage of online deals for free shipping – many homeschoolers find that the Amazon Prime membership pays for itself when buying books.
Pull It All Together
Put together a plan for the whole year. Note the local school schedule if your children have neighborhood friends. It’s easy to get overly-ambitious when making plans. Keep in mind your child’s age, personality, outside activities and other factors. Make the whole year plan very general, noting what you would like to accomplish each month.
Now make a detailed day-by-day plan for the first six weeks. With young children a four-day week of half days is usually ample time to cover schoolwork. Save one day for field trips, errands, etc. As kids get older, let them have some input on their schedules and anticipate longer days.
At the end of each week, make a note of what you accomplished and adjust for the coming weeks. Don’t panic if you find yourself constantly revising the plan. Every homeschooler does it! And, finally, if you are trying something new and you and your child are miserable after a few weeks – call “Uncle!” and find something that is a better fit.
Do you have any questions or comments on how to plan your homeschool year? Let me know in the comments below!
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Hi Maureen! Yes, some states require this. I am fortunate to not have to report grades in my state so we don’t grade in our homeschool. Each state has it’s own requirements. Here is a website you might find helpful: http://www.hslda.org/ Happy homeschooling! 🙂
You’ve included a lot of great advice. I’m glad you chose to assure fellow homeschoolers that we all access how our plan is going and adjust as necessary. Thanks. 🙂
Thanks for stopping by Tonya! 🙂
Hello 🙂 I really like your approach to putting together the year…I am shooting for 36 wks of undated plans that we just cross off as we go in a year round learning lifestyle…but I am having trouble getting it on paper…it feels it should be ‘as we go’ but last year we lacked with discipline and I was thinking of checklists ( but need something for me to know what materials Mom needs for each lesson, not just the kids assignment checklists) Do I just spend the numerous hours to fill out both (mine & 3 kids) I am a paper person and not having it outlined and referenced easily is killing me! Not sure how to get from rough plans/ideas to an intentional open week on paper!! Any advice on how to get it on paper for our flexibly planned year?? I wanted to start next week and can’t seem to get my crap together…I know I am making it too hard on myself and it’s leading to nothing getting accomplished.
TIA, Betty
P.S. I COMPLETELY agree about the boxed curricula…making our own and putting it together is difficult, I now see why they charge $300-$800 per grade LOL
Yes, it takes a lot of work! That is basically why I switched to Timberdoodle last year. I will tell you a quick tip on how Timberdoodle outlines their boxed sets and I think it is GENIUS! They create a spread sheet with all the books, science kits, art kits, ect listed. along with how often each week they need to be done. Then you simply check off the boxes next to them as you complete them during your week. So for example, ours says “A Street Through Time” read 4 pages a week. So as we read the pages we simply check off the boxes. Another example, Dejeco Painting Kit once a week. We check that off when it is complete. “Developing the early learner” 7 pages a week, just check off the boxes as you go.
I have everything for the year on one book shelf (labeled nice and neat!). I look at my printed spreadsheet that I keep on the clip board and see what we still need to do for the week. Maybe we have 2 more pages for “A Street Through Time” so I will pull that off the shelf for the day. While I get all of this together (takes only a few minutes) kiddo is doing a morning worksheet that I found on Teachers Pay Teachers. It only takes a few minutes to decide what to do. This leaves a lot of flexibility for us. I know he gets frustrated with handwriting so if he is having a hard day I can easily leave that for the next day. Nothing is set in stone and that works for us. We still end up getting everything checked off by the end of the week and if for some reason we miss something we either carry it over for the next week or finish up for 1 hour on Saturday. No biggie. I was doing it just like you before and drove myself mad! LOL!
AGREED! LOL Just pushing through to choose a system is….seemingly impossible 🙂
Would you happen to have a picture of their layout?
Maybe I could create a similar table or something…If I had the option of boxed curricula I would!! Also, most of my stuff is on my computer…which makes it hard to let the kids do stuff on their own. I am definately going to try for actual books for them next year…all the affordable/freebies seem amazing until you try to use them for EVERYTHING!
I can’t find a picture of the spreadsheet if I do I will link it here for you. It’s pretty basic though.
ok 🙂 no worries though…I went to look at Timberdoodle and found a sample through the teacher guides..there was one in there. THANK YOU!! May be helpful for others who read through these tho! 🙂 I think that is the simple I was looking for…with more journal type pages for Moms teacher details/resources! Now to figure out how to turn the subject titles sideways on the spreadsheet LOL The joys of the journey…Best wishes on yours!!
Homeschooling absolutely fascinates me so I loved reading your post! I don’t have kiddos yet so it’s hard to imagine all the different bits and pieces that go into planning a homeschooling year… it seems so hard! Thanks for linking up at the Welcome Home Wednesday link party… we can’t wait to see you next week!
Great post! Thank you so much for linking up to Merry Monday this week! I am sharing your post today on my G+ We hope to see you next week for another great party! Have a great week!
Best,
Kim
I’ll be working on our homeschool plan over the next couple of week. The kiddo will be attending preschool 2 days a week, and we’ll be doing some things at home, too. I sooooo love planning. I’m a huge nerd. Haha.
Thanks for sharing your tips at the Get Your Shine On party. Pinned!
Hi! Awesome post! We have talked about homeschooling before but haven’t decided to try it at this point. I am a little scared to but I think we would be alright. Thanks for sharing and linking up with #Alittlebitofeverything! Have a great night!
These are great tips! Instead of sending my daughter to preschool, I’m going to teach her at home and get her prepared for kindergarten, so I really could use a great planner! Thanks so much for linking up at the Submarine Sunday Link Party!
Navy Wifey Peters @ The Submarine Sunday Link Party
What a great post! Thanks for sharing on the Thoughtful Spot Blog Hop!