A new homeschool year is right around the corner. School at home can be overwhelming because it seems there are both no handbooks and a million handbooks. Here you will find action steps that will take you from overwhelmed to prepared. Last year in the thick of the pandemic, I shared some posts on homeschooling. If you’re new around here you can begin with The First 3 Steps to A Simpler Homeschool or Choosing Curriculum. Today let’s talk about how to plan A Simpler Homeschool Year.
You have an entire school year ahead for you and your kiddos. A big picture plan for the year can assist you in meeting your goals for the year as well as teaching what you want to teach. I sit down every summer and plan the upcoming school year. It’s something I enjoy and look forward to because there is a big part of me that loves a good plan. This planning process takes about 3-5 hours, which I sprinkle over the course of a week or so. I suggest working on one step as long as it takes, then moving on to the next step. Here is the process to plan A Simpler Homeschool Year.
***A NOTE. If planning an entire year seems overwhelming, simply plan one quarter of a year or eight to ten weeks. Go through this process with a mindset of Quarterly Planning.
Plan A Simpler Homeschool Year
1) Decide what weeks you will teach.
Open up an Excel document and grab a calendar. If a spreadsheet isn’t your thing, use a notebook. Go through the year and decide what weeks you will teach and what weeks will be breaks or holidays. Each state is different in their requirements for how many days or hours of school a homeschooling family must complete, so be sure to check HSLDA for your state’s specific laws or this post for more information.
What I Do
Excel is the tool I use for big picture homeschool planning. I use the same Excel document every year, adding a new tab for a new year. Using my Apple calendar and Excel spreadsheet, I go through the year and decide what weeks we will formally do school. In Iowa we are required to teach for 148 days, so I need to be sure to plan 30 weeks. This year I planned 35 weeks.
2) Decide what to teach.
If you’re using a set curriculum, this will be done for you. You simply will teach what they tell you to when they tell you to teach it. If this is the case, there isn’t much you need to add to your notebook or Excel spreadsheet. If you’re not using a set curriculum, now is the time to lay out what you will teach each month.
Those of you rockstars creating your own curriculum, check out Common Core Standards, which links to your state and lists the standards by grade level. You can also check out SchoolhouseTeachers, which lays out an easy to read scope and sequence for each grade level. Now is the time to write your curriculum for the year!
When it comes to lesson planning for multiple aged kids, many homeschooling families teach subjects together. This cuts back on separate lessons and also adds a sense of community in the home. Art, History, Science, Music, Foreign Language, Read Alouds, and some Language Arts are subjects that can be taught across multiple ages with the same lessons.
What I Do
Our language arts and math curriculums provide schedules on when to teach each topic. We rotate back and forth between History & Social Studies, Art, and Science. We still start this year focusing on Art and then move onto History and Science. I note on the Excel spreadsheet when we will cover each subject. This year I am moving towards a more student led approach. For example, we will cover Ancient History in the fall and my kids will help choose whether we focus on China, Egypt, Greece, or Rome for these months. They will get to choose their studies for Science as well. We gather as a family for a few subjects: Art, History, Science, and our read alouds.
3) Plan the read alouds.
Reading aloud to our kids can be one of the most powerful things we do with our day.
If your curriculum doesn’t include read alouds (Sonlight curriculum does), then make a list of books you would like to read throughout the year. This list can include books that go with a History or Science unit, an author study, or a series of books like Narnia, The Boxcar Children, or The Magic Treehouse. If you have multiple kids, try and choose books that will appeal to everyone so you’re able to do them as a family. A great resource for choosing excellent read alouds is Sarah Mackenzie’s Read Aloud Revivial. She has great book lists for different subjects and ages.
If you want more literature on the importance of reading aloud, check out The Read Aloud Family and The Enchanted Hour. Both are great reads on the importance of reading aloud as a family.
What I Do
In past years, I have done a lot of author studies and seasonal themes. This year I am using Read Aloud Revival’s monthly book lists to choose the picture books I read aloud each month. We will also read aloud books that go with the kids’ chosen studies.
Our family always likes to have a chapter book going. These books come from Read Aloud Revival, Ambleside Online, and Sonlight’s listed read alouds. Sometimes we make it through most of them, sometimes we make it through half. Creating a list guarantees there is always another chapter book on deck.
4) Plan the extras.
What else do you want to do this year?
Devotions? Poetry? Calendar? Music? Art? Cooking? Scripture memorization? There are loads of other things to teach our kids that aren’t included in the core subjects. If you’re feeling these are important, schedule them into your year. If this overwhelms you, simply skip and add in these subjects as you have time and energy.
What I Do
Our extras are simple and don’t take a lot of time and planning. We use Our 24 Family Ways by Clay Clarkson as our family devotional. We will also memorize a few hymns, songs, and poems this year.
Planning the year is absolutely attainable if taken in small chunks and completed step by step. Remember to work through and complete each step before moving to the next. At the end you will have a plan for A Simpler Homeschool Year.