"Homeschooling: Thy name be Trial and Error!"
Six years ago I began my homeschooling adventure with the kind of naive enthusiasm that guarantees almost immediate failure.
Yes, I was one of those parents. The kind who knew exactly what the perfect homeschool day should look like. You know, where the children sit obediently at their desks, listen intently to every word you say and do there assignments in a timely manner... And then reality happened and I've been scrambling to keep my grip ever since!
Don't misunderstand me. I -L.O.V.E- homeschooling. And I relish the challenges it offers. I have spent
This weeks "find" wasn't actually found.
It was created (kind of) by yours truly.
I call it: PLANNERS.
Like I said, I didn't so much as it create it,
as tweek it around to suit my needs.
If you google "homeschool planners" you will receive over a half million results. And there is every type of planner you can imagine.
Some are weekly, some are monthly and *GASP* some are yearly. Yes Virginia, there are some amazing super-homeschool-parents who can actually plan out an entire year of curricula *and stick to it* !!
I am no such parent. I am quite comfortable planning out one week at a time. And when life throws us speed bumps, it's easy to move a missed assignment without messing up your entire life.
But even knowing what kind of planner I wanted, I still wasn't able to find a planner that suited our schedule and curriculum. Most of the weekly planners I'd found online break up the day into hourly increments. We don't roll like that. Considering that my kids are the ones doing the work, they choose which assignments and projects they want to work on first. Sometimes they follow the order of their planner, but most times they tackle the harder subjects first and then move on to the less intimidating assignments.
In the end, after all of my Googling and Trial-and-error-ing I had a general idea of what I wanted and sat down to make my own planners.
I ended up making two.
One for the High-school kid.
One for the Elementary kids.
This is the elementary school planner:
I like this planner because it is simple and very easy to use.
Each day of the week has a place for me to write the assignment in the upper part of the box. When the assignment has been graded I enter the grade in the lower half. And here is that same planner in use:
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The planner for the high-schooler was different because I don't need to record my daughters grades on her planner. I just need to give her a general guideline of what she's expected to complete each day. (We're using Time4learning so at the end of each week, I log-in and print out all of her grades and staple to them to the corresponding planner.)
This is the weekly high school planner:
And again, here is the high school planner in use:
If you think either of these planners would be a good fit for you and your classroom, email me at Fiorefamily14@aol.com and I'll be happy to send you a blank. (Please be sure to tell me how many subjects you want on each planner!)
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