Lesson plans

What type of lessons or school do you do at home?

 I am an organizer and yes we "school at home".  My kids enjoy having a schoolroom and working out of text books. We still do a ton of hands on activities and accomplish more material in a day than if they were in public/private school. 

What does a lesson plan look like in the School of Monkeys? 

I spent three weeks this summer working on my lesson plans for the year.  I did this last year and it worked well.  I was able to use most of Shelby's 1st grade plan (for core subjects) and copy it into Matthew's for this year.

 I start with a file folder bin or some sort of bin to hold file folders.  Shelby's is the tan box and Matthew's is in the blue lid bin. 

 I label a folder for every school week.  We will do school over 35 weeks this year so each bin has 36 file folders with a number.  The extra week is for holiday type assignments. 

(A days worth for Shelby)

I then pull apart all of our workbooks.  Yes I said pull them apart.  If I need to make copies of anything I do this and at this time.  

I do each subject one at a time.  If a subject has 160 lessons and 10 tests I divide that over 35 weeks.  I then put that many lessons in each folder.  As I am working on one subject I go ahead and input the lessons in my spreadsheet (info posted below).  I do this for every subject until all lessons are in the folders and on my lesson plan.  If I know that I will need special materials or a library book for a certain week I make note on the lesson plan.   Since I have teacher guides for most of our subjects I do not put in every detail.  Only what I need to know in advance by looking at a plan.

The above is my lesson plan for week 2.  I do this in excel or Open Office Spreadsheet.  I make 36 pages (tabs at bottom of page) and label them week 1-35.  I have an extra tab for holiday assignments.   On each page I make a chart with 6 columns.  I then put my subjects on a their own lines.  These I highlight gray and make it a title.  Under each subject I put the class and lessons.  For instance the top section on page 1 is LA Matthew.  Under that I have 5 classes.  They are BJU Press Reading, Handwriting without Tears (HWOT), Explode the Code 3-6 (ETC 3), Wordly Wise (vocab) and Reader (individual book to read).   Shelby LA is then next.  When putting in the lessons I type the title, page number of any books they need to read and page number of any worksheets.  If there are materials I need that I normally do not have on hand I make note of it on the bottom of the spreadsheet in a space called "Materials".  

I over plan.  I put in everything I think I want to do.  If I know I am going to want to do an experiment or read a library book.  I schedule it on the lesson plan.   I still pull file folder games and other center activities to help reinforce learning.  There are times I choose to not do an assignment because the child knows the material or we are going to do a game in place of it.  I still plan the whole year though in case my husband or mom needs to step in to help (I am sick, need to help my grandma or anything else that comes up).  

After I have completed every lesson I go in and add our Readers (most are Sonlight Readers) and Read Out loud books.   These books we normally have at home so I go ahead and put them in order on the top two shelves of our "library" bookshelf.  Living books (science, history, math, etc) also get put on these shelves. It makes it easier for me to pull and put in our book basket each week.

If you look at the spreadsheets above you will see there are 3 pages.  We have a lot of subjects.  Some activities are only 5 minutes long and others are a whole lesson.  We typically do school for 3 hours a day.  We do not do every subject every day.  The categories I have are:

• LA Matthew
• English/Grammar - Shelby
• Handwriting Shelby
• Spelling
• Memorization
• Reader Shelby
• Read Out Loud (Mommy reads to class)
• Bible
• Math- Matthew
• Logic
• Math Shelby 
• History (American and Ancient History)
• Geography
• Science (Astronomy)
• Music
• Art
• Spanish
• Life Skills/Health/PE
• Field Trips/Games

 

Next in my organizer folder I have a few checklists.  One is weekly chores, one is monthly and one is yearly.  This is just to remind me of what needs to be done. 

The last thing is a Teacher planner ($1 at Target) that I use for my calendar.  I write down field trips, birthday party info, appts, and any other things I need to remember.  I can quickly check this each day to see if there is something I need to remember to do.  We also are members of two homeschool groups so any activities we are planning to do with them I put in this book.  I also write down if I need to bring anything and the contact phone number. 

Kids Weekly Folders

So what do I do with each weeks assignments?  On Sunday evening I hole punch them and put them in an "assignment folder" for each child.  Each folder has 5 labels with the days of the week.  I put the papers behind their tabs.   Some projects or assignments last longer than one day or a week.  If it does we put it in the front pocket so that we can continue to work on it.  After we are done with lessons we file any papers into their subject folders/binders.  

 When we are working out of our workbox (independent work days) I put all the day's assignments in the drawers with number cards on them.   If you want to know more about our workbox read my post here.  We do not do it daily anymore but there are times I put independent assignments in it in order to work with one child at a time.

My kids have lots of wide rule notebooks for notes, journals and vocabulary.  Most of our science gets written down in to their science journal or glued in.  We keep the same notebook year after year for one subject until it is full.  This way we are not wasting paper and we can go back and review things we have learned.   There are times we do not use the papers for the day.  We may decide to skip it because they know it or we may discuss it instead of write it.  If this happens the kids put the papers in a blue bin on my Teacher shelf.  At the end of the week I put these papers back in the weekly folders so that I can use them again for the next child. 

Once every 4 weeks I go through and pull out any papers that we will not be saving.  These get recycled.  Any papers (tests, really good work or artwork) that we are saving stay in the subject folder. 

There you have it.  Now you all know officially that I have a slight case of OCD.  That's OK.  Our school weeks go pretty smooth due to all the planning I do at one time.  I have been asked if I date the weeks.  I do not.  If we decide to take a week off to explore something totally different, then we do. If life gets in the way (like my grandmother having a massive stroke) then we delay school and start when we can.  I just make sure our school weeks are Monday - Friday.  

Holiday type assignments I have in an extra folder at the back of each yearly bin.  I also have an extra page with these idea's in them on my spreadsheet.  When a holiday rolls around I just check my folder and Holiday assignment sheet.