We’re almost to the end of our year! While homeschooling is fulfilling and awesome, and just, all that good stuff…. I’m tired! So tired! We’re ready for lazy summer days, going to the splash pad and easing into the sweet life for a bit. It’s time now to start wrapping up the school work, most of our curriculum at this point is just reading, and review. But, to try to ease some of the work I’ll have waiting for me in August, I like to start planning out next year now!
I like to make a checklist using this book for the grade we’re heading into. I can keep it right in my planner and reference it throughout the year. This is especially helpful if you are making your own curriculum.
File Folders and Calendars
I like to organize our homeschool year using file folders. Most school years are around 180 days, that usually equates to around 36 weeks. I label 36 file folders and divide them among the months that we will have school. We tend to go from late August through May. I look at each month and think about what plans we already have, or might make as we get closer. I put a folder for each week that we are planning to do school in that month. So for august we will probably only do school the last week, so August gets 1 folder. September and October don’t usually have much that keep us from school so each month gets 4-5 folders. In November we tend to take a whole week off for Thanksgiving so it will only get 3 folders. December gets 2-3 and we take the rest of that month off for a winter break.
Plan ahead when to take time off
Some families do around 6 weeks of school and then take 2 weeks off and repeat that all through their year. Sometimes, after a year or two, you can see where you really find your slumps to fall. Almost every homeschool parent will tell you the toughest months are November and February. So taking that into account, figure out around what time you might want some extra breaks to fall. You can ALWAYS change it later, but roughly planning now helps you out have an idea of what to expect through the year.
Now that my rough planning is done, and I have a general idea of what needs to happen next year, it’s time to put up my feet, and enjoy the sunshine! By having a plan I don’t have to stress through the summer wondering what we will do, or what they will need to learn. I have most of my plans all laid out and even without my curriculum in front of me yet, I am still prepared for the coming season!
Until next time friends!
–Ashley
