We took the month of June off for the sole purpose of planning. If you are connected with me on Twitter or Facebook, you have seen the updates-
“Making copies. I’ll be doing this until I run out of ink-or paper. May be soon.”,
“Year mapped out, almost finished with lesson plans for science for the whole year.”,
“Science finished. Tomorrow- plan the year of history :)”
And so you asked for a post that detailed how I am planning our year. It is much different from the last two homeschooling years-I hope I have learned some things! Without further ado, my planning process:
1. Schedule for 2011-2012
I sat down and decided our schedule. We have moved into a year-round schedule, and we decided to keep it. We will have school Monday through Thursday with a couple of short breaks. Our family just doesn’t do long breaks well-we lose our schedule and motivation. These 4 day weeks translate into 45 weeks of school.
- July 5th- School Year Begins
- August 18th- Birthday Off for Christian {all other birthdays are ironically on weekend}
- November 23-24th- Thanksgiving Break
- December 26-29th- Christmas Break {the rest of the holiday is on a weekend}
- May 31- Last Day of School
This schedule gives us 185 days, so we can have 5 free days, or finish a week earlier next May.
2. The printer is my BFF
I started making copies. Lots and lots of copies. I made copies for planned curriculum for the entire year. I ran out of ink, and then I ran out of paper. Rick brought my wireless printer downstairs to my desk, so I could oversee the hundreds of pages printing.
3. Putting It All Together
This is where the real planning started. I was left with this:
My planners, totes, binders, curriculum, and some of my copies.
I decided to go one subject at a time, and sat down with our Zoology from Apologia, my Well-Planned Day, and my favorite Frixion pens. {They erase with friction and are perfect for my planner if I ever need to make changes, write very smoothly, but do run out faster than most pens.}
Keeping the 45 week schedule in mind, I take either the number of lessons in the curriculum or the number of pages {as with zoology}, and determine our workload.
For zoology, we need to complete 5 pages per week, giving us plenty of room to do the extra activities, as well as the notebooking pages I purchased for the year. Although I haven’t read every lesson yet, I did skim and scan each page, and noted which activities we will do. I also made a list of items needed for those activities.
I then planned our history this way, using the week approach instead of pages. I will play grammar and math by ear, as I think getting the concepts mean much more than finishing a certain number of lessons or pages.
4. Filing
I then filed my notebooking sheets into the correct week in my file system.
These are my notebooking pages for zoology, as well as my coloring pages for The Mystery of History 2.
To make sure I stayed on track, I wrote which week of 45 we are in inside my planner, as well as days off, so I wouldn’t accidentally schedule work for off days.
5. Binders
Each child has a color forever {hope they chose wisely} for an easy visual reminder, with matching sharpied labels. They were able to customize the covers themselves for a little fun.
These binders will hold all of their work for the year. Since I spent $70 on pretty binders, I decided to go the cheap route for the inside! I 3-hole punched cardstock, and used Post-It tabs to make the dividers.
And, since you guys keep asking, I will again share my big filing/storage crate with you.
The Desk Apprentice™ Rotating Desk Organizer from Staples.
You can buy it online, but it is much cheaper in-store. And as a warning, this thing is handy, but has a large footprint. Keep in mind as well, you will want to have room to spin it.
As for the planning- I still have character training and scripture memorization I need to plan for the year. I will probably find more things to print, and need more ink and paper. My style of using the planner is going to be different than the past, a big change will be how much info I record. Last year, an entry was very detailed for each day. This year, they look like this for the week- “Lesson 2- cover pages 21-25, notebooking & go through field guide”-which gives us much more room to do the extras we missed out on this year, as well as freedom.
If you have any questions, please feel free to ask- I will answer within your comment in case others have the same question- so please make sure Disqus has your email, or check back later. There are links within this post for you to peruse, but none are affiliate links, and I will not benefit from them in any way.
In the next post, I will be going over record keeping for the year, which has been a problem for me in the past.
© 2011, Sam Kelley. All rights reserved.
Sam Kelley
Wife to one and mom to six. I love my Lord, my family, organizing and fitness. I'm a homeschooler who takes pictures obsessively. I love good tea. I don't eat meat.
Where do you get your binders?
They are only sold at Staples. They are called Better Binders. :)
Eek! My post went under my husband (see below)! I can’t wait to hear from you!
Thanks,
Sheri
Thanks for sharing! I LOVE your organization! Just to clarify… do you take the finished work and store them in the binder OR is the work for each week stored in the binder (pre-worked)? :) I’m trying to figure out a good ‘flow system’ for all the paper school generates. I’m stuck with where does the finished work go and where does the copied worksheets go for the weeks ahead? Is that the ‘tickler’ system you have labeled by week #s? HELP! I would love to try out your system and tweak it to fit our family! Thank you so much!
I keep the worksheets for the week in paper clips, and finished work goes into a folder for each child during the week. At the end of the week we put the papers in the binders. The folders are numbered by weeks, but we have switched curriculum and I haven’t been able to take the time to print everything again.
Hope that helps, let me know if you have any other questions!
Great post! I loved all the pictures and the forever colored binders!
Me too!
Girl- This is getting bad. I think I have become a Kelley Eight stalker with planning and such! Seriously! Thanks for all your help!
Stalking is encouraged here ;)
Wow! I am so impressed! I am terrible at organizing – I can plan it in my head, but it just never seems to come out as great as what you’ve done. I’m intrigued by homeschooling (my oldest is about to start kindergarten in 2 weeks), but I don’t know that I’ll be able to convince my husband we should homeschool. Maybe you could come live with us for a month or so and get me into shape? :)
Maybe ;) I hope you can convince hubby to homeschool, it is wonderful!!
Um, this looks familiar now. A clear sign that I have too much on my plate when I can’t remember where I have been on-line. *blush*
This is a huge help, I am going to get to work on things tomorrow, wish me luck! :)
Ha!! That is too funny! Good luck!
Okay, I need lessons…you are so organized!!! I will be rereading this and your other posts as I begin to plan our year next week. I so want that desk apprentice, but our nearest Staples is 38.5 miles away, sigh! I may have to break down and pay for the shipping.
I guess shipping wouldn’t be so bad at that far away!
I’m new to your blog and this is a great post! I have our calendar planned, but need to sit down and look at each subject. I love the Desk Apprentice!
I’m looking forward to reading about your record keeping.
I hope to have it next week, we are out of town right now :)
Subject: [thekelleyeight] Re: The Kelley Eight: Planning, Planning, Planning
Hey Sam! I just found your blog by one of my readers . . . I’m sure I’ll be scrolling all your posts at 1 a.m. :)
I have the desk apprentice – LOVE <3 But where did you get your other filing bag?
Thanks for visiting :) It is from Thirty-One.
You are my hero…I will be referring to this post when I organize this year! :)
Aww. Thank you!
You are one organized momma! I like your filing system and may adopt that when planning our unit studies. Thanks for sharing!
Thank you!
P.S. What do you use for character training?
We use Bible verses and The Book of Virtues.
You are so organized! I wish I was even 10% as organized as you are. Teach me your ways!!!
I bought my Desktop Apprentice today! It is HUGE! Too bad you aren’t getting a commission – since several readers probably bought one after seeing yours :)
You are the third that I know of from yesterday :D
Where did you purchase those pretty binders? Can you post a pic of the inside of a binder. I’m still trying to figure out how to set up mine. I need all the help I can get ;)
http://www.staples.com/office/supplies/StaplesSearch?searchkey=better+binder&storeId=10001&catalogId=10051&langId=-1&fromUrl=home
I will post inside pictures in my next post.
After seeing this post, I absolutely had to have the Desk Apprentice! :) I looked online and of course found it, but $10 for shipping?? Hubby found it today (last one!) for less than online…and no shipping! Yay! I love, love, love it! I am really hoping that it solves the out-of-sight-out-of-mind problem that I seem to have. I have all these wonderful resources tucked into their neat little binders & folders on shelves…and I forget about them. I’m planning to use it similar to your set up, so hopefully with everything at our fingertips we’ll actually be able to enjoy them! Thanks so much for the idea!
I told you not to buy it online ;) Mine was on sale as well, so it was a win-win! Another friend bought one today as well.
I love planning for a new school year.
Our kids also have a color for life. They have cups, notebooks, journals, toothbrushes, etc. all in their designated color. The only problem is that often things don’t come in enough colors for everyone to have a different color. :)
I have been having the same problem! I had to buy the more expensive binders because they were the only ones with that many colors. What if we have another child? I hope there is a color left!
Oh, Sam! I would say you amaze me, but you don’t. I know you all too well by now. ;) So, instead I’ll say that you IMPRESS me beyond belief. Here you have six kids and are more ahead of the game than I am with one. I will definitely be revisiting this post for ideas. Thanks for sharing!
You are very welcome Robin :)
This post is so helpful! I know I need to be more organized, but I have felt at a loss as to how to do it. Seeing your pics helps me visualize better what I need to do. I’m really looking forward to your post on record keeping!
I am a very visual person as well, which is why I try to post as many pics as possible! Just reading a “how to” never helps me.
Where did you get your binders! I love the idea of giving them a forever color! I will be using that idea!!!!
They are “Better Binders” from Staples. http://www.staples.com/office/supplies/StaplesSearch?searchkey=better+binder&storeId=10001&catalogId=10051&langId=-1&fromUrl=home
Thanks! :)
Wow! Thanks so much for this!! I LOVE detailed help!! You have motivated me to start planning our year… although my poor husband will not be happy that our just-recently-cleaned-off table will be cluttered again! I’ll just have to hurry! Thanks and I can’t wait to read about your record keeping!
Our table is currently a mess while I finish!! :O
Love this! And hey – that’s my friend Erin down there commenting! ;) I am encouraged to print out our notebook pages. We are doing the Presidents this year, and I always get stopped when I run out of ink. We have ink now so. .. . . Yes, I think my project for today is to print the notebook pages for the year, instead of just a week at a time. I’m off to look at your pens and file holder!
Thanks for stopping by! I love Erin, she is an absolutely lovely person :)
I am so impressed! If I planned that far in advance I could never keep up with the schedule!
By the way, Australia is TOTALLY worth the long plane ride! :)
I bet it is!
I LOVE IT ALL! You really make organizing look easy :) I struggled with finding my footing with this last year so I am determined to improve this go round. Thank you for writing this, I’m inspired!
Thanks Alicia!
Oh, please fly to Australia and do my planning….. You’ve done an awesome job! So jealous :)
Another Australia invite?? If you can drug me to get me on a plane-I am so there!
I’m ready to go to Staples and buy one of those Desk Apprentice things! I use a pretty basket, but everything gets lost in it.
The binders are nice too. Love the colors.
I like how you wrote Week 1, Week 2, etc on the files. I had first thought of writing the dates, but I think this is better.
Do the kids put the papers in their own binders after completing them? I end up with a big stack and procrastinate getting them in the binder. I’d like to change that!
The older kids will-and I will teach the younger ones to as we go.
This is great! That spinning thing is quite awesome. And I am a pen junkie so now I want to try those!
You should totally buy them!! I can’t leave Staples without a new pen, but this is my fave for 3 years now!
*sigh*
I love the plan.
I love the planning.
I can DO the planning.
It’s the pulling off of the plan that I seem to be… ‘not so good’ at… maybe not at ALL good?
oh – and if you’d like to come help point us in the right direction, in person, then can I suggest Melbourne Australia? ;)
oh and we do the colour coded thing too – it extends to drink bottles and water cups, lunch boxes and towels as well as binders, book boxes and tape for labeling paint sets, markers, pencils etc
I am a color junkie as well-and I would love to visit Australia!!
Oh I love this!! I have a feeling I’d do a lot better if I took a week and printed out everything for the year and filed it away like that. That’s so awesome. =)
Give it a try!
Sam,
Okay! First, thank you so much for sharing your schedule/planning/getting ready for school “stuff.” We also start back on July 5 and I’m still in the trenches putting everything together. I only have three children, but have a lot of work to do to get ready. I am really excited and as Aileen mentioned, I’ve got to do things a little differently this year. Our past few years have been a bit haphazard and I’m now out of the years where I can “wait until next year” for me to get it together. I am using June to plan for the new year and am still on vocabulary with only six, seven, eight (I’m sure more) subjects to go. It is planned through 40 weeks, but I’m probably going to plan for at least 20 weeks for the other subjects and call it good for now. Actually, you have inspired me a bit to tackle going for the whole year w/whatever material I have. Here is to late nights as I figure everything out.
I love the binders. Did I miss it as to where they were purchased? Also, I’m going to look through your posts to see what you do w/the end of the year school work. I have my 36+ weeks folders, but last year is still in them. Ah, so much to do.
Mine are still in those binders-as we aren’t using them this year. I am going to make a crate for each child with the school years already mapped out, and then I will load them in at the end of each year.
The binders are “Better Binders” from Staples.
Do you use First Language Lessons? ( I saw your print out of the noun.) Anyway if you do Homeschool Creations has made some print outs for the book.
Kelly
Yes, and I have them! I made some for the parts of speech on my own for a visual reminder.
I love planning!!! I am such a nerd!!! I kept my copies for the year in a binder divided by tabs. Where are you keeping the rest of your copies that are for later weeks?
Kelly
I have 45 week folders in the organizer, they are all in there. We don’t have a huge amount, so they all fit. I will be storing saved work in the binders.
So the kids (if older) can store their paperwork in the binders after they finish? Are they labeled inside by subject? Folders inside? Also What do you have in the 31 bag? What do you put in those files? Thanks! Working on it now!
Patty
We store papers together at the end of each week in the folders. We are using a different curriculum now, and we don’t sort by subject, as the papers are labeled, but there were tabs of subjects before.
The 31 bag housed forms I needed, like for attendance and such. Right now, I needed the bag for travel, so I recently stole it. :)
Sam Kelley latest thoughts..A New Journey
I love the binders Sam! You go girl!
Me too, thanks!
Hmmm – thinking I need Frixion pens and The Well Planned Day. I also looked into TOG – SO LOVED everything about it with the exception of knowing myself too well. I would be completely overwhelmed and discouraged. We went with Sonlight and have continued to be exceptionally happy with it. I saw explode the code in one of your pics – we have used that fun program as well! What do you use for math, Sam?
Math U See is what we have currently landed on. It has produced no tears. So far, so good.
LOVE it! Thank you for sharing. I think I can manage that. I use the Pampered Chef Tool Round-about to hold our pencils, papers, pens, rulers, scissors and glue.
You’re welcome :)
Awesome Sam! You gave me inspiration on how to use my Well Planned Day book! I wasn’t sure how it was going to work, but now I know. Yay!
Each of my children get assignment sheets that they can mark off themselves once they’ve completed a lesson/subject.
But the Well Planned Day planner can be MINE for lesson planning purposes. :) I may need to look into those pens you have. I am a pen junkie! Normally I would use pencil, simply because I can erase. But I prefer pen because it’s bold and dark. Thanks for all the useful info, friend! Looking forward to sharing my planning days.
The next thing I’m working on for my homeschool blog is a post about how I utilize Tapestry of Grace and it’s ins and outs. Many people have asked me and I thought it would be fun to do sort of a series on it. :)
I looked into that. I became overwhelmed with the preview and decided not to use it. I have used Frixion pens since my first Well-Planned Day came. They are great for the planning, but are my fave pen period. I get mine at Staples, WM doesn’t sell them.
Yes, I think upon first looking at it it can be overwhelming. When I was
introduced to it, I went to a friends house who was using it and she sat down
with me and went through it. Even then it was a little confusing simply because
there was a lot to remember. But really, it’s easy once you learn the in’s and
outs of the curriculum. :)
Joy In Him,
Christin
Blog: Joyful Mothering ~ Faith. Laughter. Life.
Twitter: @christinwrites
________________________________
I love my Desk Apprentice (I scored it at Goodwill 2 years ago for $5.00)… I need to redo our Classroom (it is actually going to become more of a library room as we end up on the dinning room table to do school work…) and start planning for next year…
I planned last year but not the whole year; only a portion of it. We get off track too easily, so I’ve been flying by the seat of my pants. I think if I could print and organize everything I wanted to do for the whole year and be 100% prepared for the whole year, it would change things; I’d stick with it longer. I got bogged down by Christmas. Up until then, I was good. But that’s how long I had planned and prepared too. Hmm. Thanks for getting me thinking again. I’m going to have to plan again. And we plan to work year round too.
I hope the extra planning works for you-your thinking is exactly where I was when I made the decision to plan that way.
Wow, you are so super organized!! I need to try some of this organization with our schooling. We’re starting our official school year in mid-August and will complete our school year in 180 days. I try to figure it out by weeks, but I’m nowhere near as organized as you! Again I saw WOW!!
I think I’m going to work on some US History plans now. . . :)
Go you!
I don’t think that you believe me when I say that I wanna be like you when I grow up. Seems i’m not the only one! ;)
Thanks for posting this. I have ideas swirling in my head because of your inspiration.
I could use some of your less OCD as well Kela. <3
Oh, and that’s where all the ink went!
;)
Wow, Rick is rather impressed by the awesomeness as well!
I’m coming straight to “The Man”. Rick, would you please grant your beautiful wife to come visit SC to help a organizationally challenged home educator get her stuff together? It would be much appreciated. Thank you :)
U got it! But you gotta convince her to get on a plane, ’cause I need the car.
Since you said I was beautiful….. ;)
I love you Mr. Dork!
Just amazing! I’m totally inspired and for the first time ever, excited about a new school year. I really can’t continue doing homeschool in the disorganized, haphazard way I’ve been doing it. Thanks so much for sharing your creativity and passion for homeschooling!
Thanks Aileen. Let me know if there is anything I can do for you!
Great post, Sam! You’ve inspired me to finish my planning…sometime. lol
Sam you are such an inspiration and so organized! You should teach a class on how to do this for all of us “newbies”. :) I do have one question. Since you plan a year at a time, what do you do if something happens and you can’t get your work done that day (sickness, unexpected death, etc.) How does that change your schedule or what do you do to stay on track with your schedule? We ran into that this year with Sidney’s ear surgery and it totally threw me off course and completely messed me up with her curriculum.
bamagv at aol dot com
I would most likely pick the most important things I want them to learn that I had planned for that block of time, or briefly cover it.
…and it’ll have to be a class for “oldies” too! LOL
THAT is a good question, Gretta!
I’m scooping up my jaw off the floor now. In complete awe of your awesomeness. Hope to be this organized for when we start homeschooling…any tips on how to be intentional NOW – even though he’s little? I’ve heard of some “Tot School” stuff from 1+1+1=1…it’s on my reading list. Do you have any other resources.
Carissa’s stuff is really great, you can’t go wrong with following her path! I have other things, but I don’t do a lot of formal Pre-K. If I had been homeschooling from the start, maybe I would have. I made a really big jump from not homeschooling-to 4 kids at once-and this year 5, with one waiting. They pick up a lot from the older kids lessons as well.
You should also check out Erica’s site: http://confessionsofahomeschooler.blogspot.com/