Planning Your Year (and holding it loosely)

I love a good plan. I love to ponder, pray, and plot out the big picture of each new school year... in pencil. After several years of homeschooling, I've learned to embrace being flexible and forgiving of the plans I make. I've learned to hold my beautiful plans in open hands and trust the Lord with them. Because as I plan my way, He guides my steps, and His ways are always higher than my own. And yet... the wise recognize that a goal without a plan is just a wish. In other words, if I don't plan it out, if I don't write it down, it will likely never get done. So, I do the diligent work of devising a plan for our homeschool year (in pencil - with a good eraser), and then remain open to the idea that it all might change, and that's ok.

What do I include in my homeschool plans?

I like to separate my homeschool plans into three main areas:

• Morning Time

• Daily Chores

• Schoolwork

These are laid out in the homeschool planner I designed, called the Beautiful Family Homeschool Planner. In this planner, there is a two-page spread for each week of the school year (up to 36 weeks), that includes space to record the daily activities in these three main areas each week.

Morning Time

In this area, there is space to plan for up to four activities. My family plans for our morning time to typically last about an hour, and include reading aloud, memory work, and Bible study every day, with other activities occasionally added in.

Daily Chores

I find it a valuable investment of time to teach my children to do age-appropriate chores. As they learn these skills and put them to practice, their confidence is boosted, my load is lightened, and our home is maintained. It's a win-win!

Schoolwork

This is the area where I list out all the individual assignments my children have each day. The Beautiful Family Homeschool Planner includes space to record assignments in the following subjects:

• Math

• Grammar & Writing

• Reading

• Science

• History & Geography

• Fine Arts

• Other (an added section for your family's unique learning pursuits)

How do you go about laying out your plan for the year?

Here are the basic steps I take to plan out our homeschool year:

1. Look at a year-at-a-glance calendar. I do this to determine the start, end, and breaks for our school year. Some of this may be contingent upon the homeschool regulations of your state. In Michigan, there are no set requirements or reporting obligations, so I like to plan on a 32-week year, starting after Labor Day, ending before Memorial Day, a light Thanksgiving week, a nice-sized Christmas break, and a week off for spring break. A year-at-a-glance calendar is also included in the Beautiful Family Homeschool Planner.

2. Gather and explore curriculum. Once I have determined our school calendar, and have procured all of our learning materials for the year, I spend a few minutes with each book, look over the table of contents, and consider how the lessons might fit within those 32 weeks. Some books may have 36 lessons. Are there any lessons that can be eliminated? Are there any lessons that can double up together? Some books may have 15 lessons. Should we spread each lesson over two weeks? Does this subject need to be done every day? Asking these questions helps me to come up with a good pace for each book we plan to work through for the year. As a general rule, we do the "3 R's" (reading, writing, 'rithmetic) every day, but other subjects of school work may only be done once or twice each week (such as science, history, or art).

3. Pencil in the daily exercises. As I work through each book considering their structure and how it fits within our schedule, it becomes clear to me how I ought to lay it out. In the back of my mind, I always know that things could be disrupted - a child might get sick, or we might all need a break from certain planned activities. However, establishing these rhythms for our homeschool helps make each day run more smoothly, and ensures that we continue moving in the right direction.

Blessings,

Beth