Wednesday, December 31, 2008

Lesson Planning - What Works for Me

My lesson plans for January are done. Yippee! I've also run off any copies needed for the month and made a note of any necessary supplies. (Chicken bone? Cow bone!)

My 8th grader asked for his lessons for the whole month at once. I was glad to comply. He is doing very well with working independently. He asked for a page for each subject. The first picture is of his Science assignment page. If you click, you should be able to see it larger. You'll see I am not very detailed with the plans - just the pages and any assigned experiments. He will do it all on his own, unless he has questions.

~~~~~~
EDITED to answer Jen's questions:
As far as David's monthly schedule, when he finishes the assignments for the month is he done? Say he wants to do all of his science in 3 days, or whatever? Is he done with Science for the month, or would you give him more?

If David finishes all his Science assignments in 3 days, yes, he is done for the month. I might take the increased speed into account the next month when I chose the assignments, giving him more work. Shhhh..... Don't tell him that.
~~~~~~

The other three didn't do as well with a whole month's worth of assignments, so I typed up their lessons in a weekly grid - days across the top, subjects down the left side. The second picture is of one of Emily's assignment sheets. Again, not a lot of detail. The younger kids will come to me if they don't know what to do, and some of their work is with me anyway.

I stapled to the weekly sheet any worksheets they are going to need, such as handwriting. They will get each lesson sheet on Monday and be expected to complete each day's assignments on the correct day. They can work ahead, if they want. (However, I don't imagine any of them actually will.)


I print a copy of each sheet for my plan book and a copy for the kids.

When they complete a lesson, they can check it off, X it out, or write the date - whatever works for them. I write the date complete on each lesson in my book for David and check off the assignments the other kids complete.

This is what's working for us right now!

What's working for you? Or do you have questions about how this works for us?

3 comments:

Niffercoo said...

Thanks for sharing that, Lisa! I've been thinking of giving up on the Homeschool Tracker and going back to a regular spreadsheet/grid, since so many of our assignments are the same from week to week. And then I wouldn't have to move things around so much if we get off schedule, as always seems to happen.

As far as David's monthly schedule, when he finishes the assignments for the month is he done? Say he wants to do all of his science in 3 days, or whatever? Is he done with Science for the month, or would you give him more?

I'm planning to move Austin toward more of a similar schedule when he is in 8th grade as well, beginning with a week's worth of lessons at a time (not on a grid, so he can do them when he wants). But I'm interested in your words of wisdom! ;)

Wee Pip said...

I love your lesson plans. So simple. For Feb's Monthly Support Meeting I've planned a Schedules & Routine topic. Can you bring your lesson plans for that night? I think it would fit in perfectly with the topic!

Holly said...

Thanks Lisa I just love seeing how other hsers plan!