Hello again! If you’ve been following the blog, you’ve noticed that I don’t do regular “blog posts” but instead post regularly on Instagram, so be sure to follow us there! But blog posts are still really good for letting you know what I’m thinking, where we are and where we’re going. Before the beginning of this school year, I posted a “curriculum” post that detailed all the resources we’re using this year. At the same time, I also created an annual plan of how we would cover all that curriculum over 37 weeks. We’ve been using that plan for 14 weeks now so I thought it would be good to comment on how it’s been going.

So here is the plan and, as you can see, it is really rough. Along the left are the Monday dates for each week. Across the top are the headings: Math (Operations & Geometry), Language (Words Their Way, Cursive, Grammar, Essentials in Writing), History, Science and Health. Everything highlighted in blue has been completed, the rest is our goal for the next 5.5 months.

You’ll notice that not every week has blue highlighted text. Those are the weeks we didn’t get that subject accomplished. When that happens, I just shift everything down a week, or if possible double up on the next week. For some subjects that’s easy to do, like Geometry that doesn’t really have enough work to fill all 37 weeks. But with Math Operations in particular, I try really hard to stay on schedule because there is just SO MUCH to cover!

You might also wonder why there is a three week gap in December except for History. That is the winter break which we are currently enjoying. I decided to continue History through that break because I’m working to get the level we’re working on to match the year my son is in. For his Year 1, I chose to use Bookshark History K, which was an excellent introduction to history studies. That meant we were covering History Odyssey Ancients 1 (which is meant for Year 1) in my son’s second year. While there is nothing wrong with that, I would like to have them more aligned in future years when I’ll need to track coursework for high school credit. And History is my son’s favorite subject (along with science) so he has no problem continuing it. In fact, when I told him we were breaking from every subject except for History, he immediately said, “Can’t we continue science too?” Hah!

So here is how our annual plan looks on a weekly basis. I print a page every week and my son uses it to choose the work he wants to do each day. He crosses off what he completes and then I update my Word doc by highlighting what he completed in blue. His directive is to choose three items from the top section and do both items from the bottom each day. That takes us about three hours a day of focused work.

The top row has the new subject presentations from the annual plan. The second row is Language work that he can complete mostly independently, although it’s rare for him to do it alone. The main difference is I don’t have to prep for those lessons! The third row has his homeschool community classes, for this week it was a baking class, Swim&Gym and a swim social.

For the new year, we’ll have a few new options on the weekly work plan. Danny received the PinItMaps World Bundle for Christmas, so I’m planning to add that in an open ended format. Basically, at least once a week, he’ll choose a map and a set of pins and work with them. Another excellent learning opportunity that I don’t have to plan for! I also now have Checkboard multiplication on the plan every week even as we continue forward in other math topics. He completed Reflex Math addition/subtraction the first week of December but I’m not going to start him on multiplication/division just yet. We both need a break from Reflex Math! I may at some point have Checkerboard multiplication and Test Tube Division required daily or multiple times a week.

So that’s where we’ve been, where we are and where we’re going. This is the first year that I’ve “planned” in such detail and I’ve been really impressed with how well we’ve stayed on track so far. But I also know that I get major spring fever in April/May so it will be interesting to see how things play out towards the end of the year.

Happy New Year to all!