Lesson Planning – Getting Organized

Getting Organized:
In your home and homeschool
              
Do you struggle with lesson planning?

When we struggle with lesson planning, it is a way that our perfectionism rears its ugly head. We don’t plan because we want everything to be perfect. Or we plan and don’t implement the plan because of our perfectionism. Let go of this negative thinking.

Keep your lesson planning simple. It will be easier to implement if it is not a complicated plan. For those of you with multiple children, you need to keep your lesson plans as simple as possible. If you have younger children 6th grade and under, you can simplify by teaching the same history and science lesson to all of your children at once. You teach to the oldest child, and the younger ones get what they understand.

You don’t have to worry about what grade to teach what time period of history. Just teach and go through history with all of your children while they are young. They are going to get it all over again in high school. They will remember history if you make it come alive through reading to them and letting them re-enact it. They will remember field trips that go along with what you have been studying. They will remember when you help them experience history.

With science, if you give them experience with experiments and hands-on learning, they will learn more about the properties of science than if they read a lesson and answer a few questions and move on. They will remember things about nature if you take them outside and let them experience nature. Nature walks serve many purposes with learning and getting in some movement.

If you use a lot of textbooks with your children, keep your lesson plans simple. Stay on top of your grading.

Another tip that I give ladies all the time is to have a regular desk time in your routines. For homeschoolers, we need to have desk time daily to grade school work and check lesson plans. This is another area where using the unit study approach helps me. I grade math lessons, math fact sheets, and language arts (spelling and writing), but I don’t have papers to grade with our unit studies. I incorporate their writing into language arts, and I don’t grade projects for younger children.

You can use a lot of materials to help with lesson planning, but I am very simple in this area. I use a composition book and a pencil. I can keep up with 4 boys’ lessons and tests in a composition book each year. There are computer programs and many different kinds of planners. Find what works for you.

Please email me if you have questions.

 

Zone Mission: Declutter 1 Kitchen Cabinet

Weekly Home Blessings of the Day: Quick Dust and Vacuum

Menu Plan for Tuesday: Taco Tuesday and a side salad

 

If you need more help with organizing your home and homeschool, you can download  The FlyLady’s Homeschool Teacher and Homeschool Student Control Journals for free.

Set your timer for 15 minutes for the Home Assignment and 15 minutes for the School Assignment
 
Home:
  • Make Your Bed (Do this as soon as you get up.)
  • Get Dressed Down to Your Shoes
  • Swish and Swipe
  • Start Your Laundry
  • Decide on Dinner
  • Check Your Calendar
  • Start the Day off with a Shiny Sink. Don’t leave the breakfast dishes sitting.
  • Clean out your refrigerator. Toss the science experiments.
  • Spend 15 minutes loving movement.

School: Consider a fun topic to study

 Afternoon Routine: 
  • Eat Lunch
  • Clear off One Hot Spot
  • Reboot the Laundry
  • Declutter for 15 Minutes (Be sure to have your children declutter, too.)
  • Drink Your Water
  • Write up a menu plan for the next 7 days. Check your pantry and freezer and make a grocery list. This habit will save you time and money. Try out some new recipes with the slow cooker. It will save you time once you start back to your school schedule.
Family Fun: Take your children for a walk.
Before Bed: (This starts right after dinner.) 
  • Check the Calendar for Tomorrow
  • Lay out Your Clothes for Tomorrow (Have your children lay their clothes out, too.)
  • Put things at the Launch Pad that you will need first thing in the morning
  • Shine Your Sink
  • Clean Off a Hot Spot
  • Go to Bed at Decent Hour

FB Cover - Tami Fox

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About Tami

Tami Fox is a homeschool mom of 6, who in age from 26 to 11. She and her husband have homeschooled for 17 years and have graduated three of their children from their homeschool. They are currently homeschooling 3 boys who are in grades 11, 9, and 6. They use hands-on learning and unit studies to ignite the fire of learning in their children. Tami is a homeschool author and conference speaker. You can contact her by email at Tami@TamiFox.com. Buy her book, Giving Your Children Wings at https://tamifox.net/giving-your-children-wings/.

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