What "Lesson Planning" Looks Like For a Homeschooler

We have about 2 weeks left until school starts again.  While I'm sad for the lazy days of summer to come to an end, I'm totally prepared.  I spent a ton of time lesson planning and organizing in June so that I could get it out of the way and enjoy the rest of vacation without having that on my mind.

However, as I talk to fellow homeschooling moms and public school teacher friends, it occurred to me that when I talk about lesson planning for our homeschool year, it's almost nothing like the Lesson Plans that public school teachers have to make.  Before having a gaggle of children, I was going to college with the goal of earning a credential and teaching elementary school.  Plus, Hubby is almost done attending a three-semester teaching credential program.  With that background, I have an idea of what a "lesson plan" looks like for a public school teacher in California.  What follows is what I mean in this current phase of my life when I refer to lesson planning.

I got a standard Teacher's Plan Book for free during a promotion from Lakeshore.  Instead of using it to record what we plan to do on each day, I record what we actually accomplish as a group.  The great thing about homeschool is that we don't have to do certain things on certain weeks.  We don't have to complete any textbooks in a set amount of time.  We just go at our own pace and I write down what we have learned as we go.

Stapled to an inside page of that book is this list of all the workbooks/textbooks that the kids will be using this year.

Stapled to another page in the Plan Book is this list for our Physics curriculum.  I have written here each chapter from the text book, each lab, and any supplies I need to collect ahead of time for the labs so I can easily see what's coming next.

Following that is History.  We use Story of the World so I have listed here every chapter title and all supplemental activities we plan to do, with supply lists.

My Teacher Plan Book is for all the learning that we do together as a family.  For the subjects that the kids do individually, they each have their own clipboard.  On their clipboard they have these assignment sheets.  It lists all the things that they should be able to accomplish in a week.  As you can see, there are no page numbers.  Again, we write down what they actually do, not what I hope they will do.  Each day, they just open up their workbooks and do whatever the next lesson is.

On the back of their clipboards, they have these three handy lists.  On the left is "Writing Ideas."  Each week, they do 3 writing activities (in addition to their writing curriculum).  Unless I need them to do something specific, the kids get to choose for themselves what to do.  This list helps them remember what their options are.

On the right is a list of educational board or card games they can do with their free choice time.  On the bottom is more "Fun Choice" activities.  These are all the fun, educational things that they get to pick from at least 3 times per week.

Finally, something that took up a lot of my lesson planning time this summer was Literature for each of the kids.  The girls will each study three chapter books.  And Tertius and Quartus will be doing comprehension activities and crafts for picture books using some curriculum from Evan Moor.  There was an awful lot of photocopying and assignment sheets to be made!

They each have their own construction paper book where all the writing assignments, crafts, and activities will be glued for presentation upon completion.

 This is what an assignment sheet for one of Secundus' novels looks like.  While I'm working with the boys, the girls will be able to do their literature study independently.  They just have to follow the list.

What does your homeschool lesson planning/organization look like?

The 3 D's of Kindergarten

Don't judge him for his Jar Jar shirt.  He's a smart boy, I promise.

This year I promoted my third Kindergartner.  I believe Kindergartners need to still be doing most of their learning through play and exploration.  They should not be sitting at a desk for several hours, staring at a whiteboard.

But also, if your child is ready and capable for more academic school work, by all means, let them have it!  When it comes to language arts, there are three things that I always do with my kinders.  And conveniently, they all start with D's.  So here are my 3 D's of Kindergarten

1. DISTAR
This is a reading program also known as "Teach Your Child To Read in 100 Easy Lessons."  I've written several times before about why I love this reading program.

Some children are just not ready to read in Kindergarten.  They may not start until 7 or so.  And that's fine too.  I've read enough studies that show these kids are not behind academically for the rest of their lives.  But for me and my kids so far, starting to learn to read at 4 works for us.  And Distar is a fabulous way to do it.

My personal philosophy is that if a child can read, then they can learn anything!  Independence is very important to me in our family and especially in our homeschool.  Being able to read the instructions on your math page by yourself makes it possible for you to teach yourself many things while Mom is occupied elsewhere.

2. DOLCH
Once my child completes Distar, then we move onto phonics readers and Dolch to further their reading skills.

Dolch is a group of 11 lists of sightwords.  I expect my kids to be able to read each word properly on three separate occasions (without sounding out) before they get the word passed off.  That link I shared has free printable flash cards, record sheets, and games.

3. D'NEALIAN
When it comes to handwriting, I still think it's important to learn cursive.  I hated cursive writing as a child and only use it today to sign my signature and to help the girls practice their own cursive.  But I'm still glad that I learned it.

I think it's easier to learn cursive if you learn D'Nealian Manuscript first.  This is the type of writing where all the letters have little "kicks" or "monkey tails" at the ends.

We do only a little bit of writing standard block letters in preschool.  In Kindergarten is when I finally give formal instruction on how to form letters on paper.  And we start immediately with D'Nealian.  By the end of second grade, my girls were both eager and ready to learn true cursive.  It has been a smooth transition for them because they already see how each letter can easily link to the next because of those little kicks.


What are your favorite curriculum choices for Kindergarten?

Speech Therapy

Secundus is a talker.  Always has been.  She started talking early and would just babble on and on.  The problem was, none of it was coherent.  As her mom and dad, we were usually able to understand enough of her but others needed us to translate.

 By the time she was 3, it was very clear that she needed speech therapy.  That fall, she kept telling us something about a "gay-go."  For days we could not figure it out.  Finally we realized she was talking about the scarecrow out on the porch.  She was a scarecrow for Halloween that year.

She got evaluated and we were told that she had the articulation of a less-than-18 month old.  Ouch.  She started speech and loved it.  She made awesome improvement quite quickly and was released from the program after a year (I think?)

The beginning of last school year she was 7, starting second grade, and our supervising teacher suggested we have her evaluated again.  Clearly some things (like her r's) are still a struggle and she's reaching the age where that should have corrected itself by now.  Her bad articulation is also effecting her spelling.

I started the process but procrastination happened and she didn't start going to appointments until the last month of school.  But now we'll be all set up to start again immediately after school starts.  The therapist revealed to me that one of her underlying problems is that she does all her sounds in the back of her mouth.  But sounds like "sh," "r," and "ch," need to be brought forward with lips in an O shape.

I'm so glad Secundus has such a good attitude about needing speech help.  She never complains when I stop her (even mid sentence) to help her correct a word.  And she thinks therapy is fun.

One thing she used to constantly say wrong was "breakfast."  She used to call it "bref-kist."  Many hours were spent teasing her about that one.  She now says it right.  The new one that's funny to us is "character."  She says, "care-up-ter"  I don't understand why she puts that p in there!

I'm still here!

It really annoys me when bloggers blog about blogging.  They'll post interesting stuff for a few weeks, disappear for a month, and then come back to blog about why they haven't been blogging and promise to blog more frequently.  Repeat.

And yet, despite how dumb I think it is, here I am...blogging about blogging.  Being real (hypocritical.)  I just feel like I need to write after such a dry spell and I don't have anything else on my mind.  So here goes...

I haven't posted since February.  Five long months ago.  It's not because we haven't been homeschooling or making cool discoveries.  Like most moms, I've just been super busy.

I maintain a household, with all the chores and responsibilities that entails.  This year I homeschooled 3 students (plus a preschooler), with all the work and driving around to classes that entails.  I host a weekly park group.  I frequently help with a weekly mommy-and-me music class.  I'm in charge of a 2-hour Nursery (Sunday School for babies 18 months to 3 years) every Sunday.  I facilitate a weekly support group for those that have loved ones in addiction.  I own my own home business.  Many weekends are filled with hosting family and friends for dinner and games.  And I maintain a homeschooling blog.

Schedules fill up and there aren't enough hours in the day.  Priorities have to be set and some things get neglected.  That's life.

Lately at the end of a long day, I've tended to curl up with the computer and vege out watching Netflix.  It's not a very productive use of my time, especially since there's always more dishes or laundry to do.  But sometimes you just don't feel like it, ya know?  Sometimes I just want mindless entertainment in place of busy-ness.

 And I definitely haven't felt like blogging!  But I want to get back in the saddle. I've never considered myself a "writer" but I do like to share our adventures and joys and struggles with the world.

So hopefully I'll get motivated and get a few more good posts up before the start of the new school year.  If there is anything specific you would like me to blog about, or a question you'd like me to answer, please don't hesitate to let me know in the comments!