Planning and Scheduling

In this section:

• Page 1: How I plan for the year
• Page 2: How I plan for each week
• Page 3: An overview of our weekly schedule
• Page 4: How I organize

How I plan for each week

Though the AO schedule has everything we need to do for the week on it, I have found that I need to have it broken down by day so I have a guide on how to get it all done in the week. And I need a way to tell M and Em what their independent work for the week will be. I therefore create a weekly schedule with the details of what we do each day of the week. These also serve as a way of letting the boys take responsibility for the work they do independent from me. While I mostly keep to the schedule, I allow myself flexibility to make changes in the moment.

Every year I make a template for the weekly schedules. One for our “together time,” and then one for each boy. I don’t fill out each week for the whole year but do it week-by-week. In free moments through-out the week I create the schedules for the next week based on the AO schedule and what we have and haven’t done this week and then spend a couple of hours either Friday or over the weekend making sure I have everything I need for that week.

Here’s what the weekly planning time looks like:

I review the previous week to assess what changes I need to make to the next week. I also gather all the competed work and file it in my annual binders. I make sure I have graded or reviewed all their work. This helps me to decide how to proceed with the next week. For example, we may need to spend more time on a math or latin lesson if too many exercises were incorrect.

I check the calendar to see if there are any doctors appointments, field trips, or holidays in the week that I will need to schedule around. I include these in the weekly schedule document so we are all aware of what is happening for the week.

When the boys were younger, I used a weekly magnetic calendar to help the boys know what was happening each week. This helped them when before they could read. 

I add in the weekly work and readings from my modified AO schedule. I usually keep the same readings to the same days. For example, on Mondays we’ll read This Country of Ours and on Tuesday we’ll read the biography. But if we have a field trip or other activity one day, I switch things around. Also, if I know one reading is too long for one day, I can split it into multiple days. This is also when I can slide things a week if we didn’t get it done, or decide to spend an extra week on a topic. Which is the main reason I don’t finalize the weekly schedules more than a couple of days before the week starts.

I use the completed weekly schedule as a checklist to make sure I have everything ready:

• Have I done all the (necessary) pre-reading?
• Is there anything that needs printing? (such as math worksheets, maps, latin, or grammar practice)
• Do I have a bookmark in my browser for any websites we’ll be using? (I have a menu in the bookmark bar of my browser called “This Week” where I put all the links in one place)
• Do I have all audio ready? (Such as audiobooks downloaded, songs in a playlist, poetry readings in a queue. I also have a playlist on my phone called “This Week” with our hymn, folk song, composer, & Spanish song.)
• Do I have all supplies for handicrafts or science experiments ready?

Finally, I organize the daily work. I have a file folder for each day of the week for each son. I put any work they need to do in it. In front of the folders I put their weekly schedule in a transparent folder. When they complete the work they add it into this folder for me to review. I have report folders for some subjects that I update through out the year, such as copywork, recitation, and dictation. Once I have all the folders assembled, I put them on the desks and make sure all necessary books or physical items are accessible.