Comments on: School Planning

By: Rachel

Rachel — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 19:24:23 +0000

I usually buy a planner book from the teacher supply store and write in pencil what I plan for each child, I use to teach in a private school before I had Kendra – and actually enjoy the plan work. I also type up the daily work on the computer for the girls,
I make plans for my best friend’s children too – in exchange, she cleans my kitchen! Altogether this year, I’ll be making plans for Kendra – 14 – 9th grade, Vannan – 12 – 6th grade, Katie – 11 – 7th grade, Bethie – 6 – PreK5, Joel and Matthew – 4 – PreK4, and Marriana – 3 – PreK3. We do a lot of combined work. I’ll probably also be helping my little sister make up plan books for her 3 boys, 7 in 2nd, 5 in K, and 4 in PreK. We will also have 2 year old, 1 year old, and newborn in the mix.

I love seeing how other poeple plan things out – it gives me so many good ideas. Thanks!

I try to buy my books late in the spring when all the good sales are running. We use Rod and Staff, Christian Liberty, and Alpha Omega for most of our curriculum. We also use our public library a LOT.

By: Sandra

Sandra — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 09:08:41 +0000

Hi, we live 15 mins North of the Smiths, we attend the same church! Their daughter Charmange looked after our children last year while I was in the USA in Hanford, CA. I took the 2 older children for a holiday – Disney -then to friends in Hanford.

By: Anna

Anna — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 21:07:29 +0000

When you put all the kids work into their binders, are the tabs numbered 1-36 (or however many weeks you “school”)? I have some tabs that came with a Sonlight core curriculum that are numbered 1-36 and I love those things! I haven’t been able to find similar ones anywhere. Any thoughts?

By: Kendra

Kendra — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 03:47:43 +0000

Hi Mandy-

Yes, I means projects for the older kids and II are projects for the younger ones.

~Kendra

By: Mandy

Mandy — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 03:38:26 +0000

HI! I am working on planning my sons second grade year. First grade was a doozy, finding what worked and learning our styles and such. I really like your ideas and thank you for sharing them! On your history lesson you have two activities listed (I & II), I was wondering what the difference was between the two? Younger and older? Morning and afternoon? Or is it two days of the week? Thanks for all you do to help!

By: Kendra

Kendra — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 05:13:46 +0000

Hi Sandra-

Nope, not this year. We have 8, and I am typically expecting a baby every other year (the oldest is 16). But the last three years have been doozies- I got pregnant in January of 2006, lost the baby in March, got pregnant again in July, had the baby in March of 2007, found out I was pregnant in September, had that baby in May of 2008… phew!

We visited Craig and Barbara in Palmerston North in 2002. Do you live very near their home?

By: Sandra

Sandra — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 05:11:20 +0000

Me again..sorry! Could you please post a photo of your binder, I really need to SEE something to get an idea, this is a new concept and I’d love to see what you mean and how it works for you. I too have 8 children aged 14,13,11,9,6,4,4,3! I also love to glean ideas to help me be better at planning.

By: Sandra

Sandra — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 05:00:40 +0000

Hi kendra,

Just a question, are you expecting? It’s just on this post you say in years without babies? Just wondering! I’m a friend of Barbara Smiths and live in New Zealand, Palmerston North.

By: Kathleen

Kathleen — Sun, 31 May 2009 02:45:28 +0000

An idea about record keeping–my sister started me on this, and I am so happy with it. We buy a 3 or 4 inch D-ring binder for each child, place dividers in it for each subject, and fill it as the year passes with worksheets, journal entries, math pages, etc. I have a misc. tab at the end for swimming lesson medals, concert programs, notes from friends or grandma, etc. I also take pictures of big projects and make a simple page with that photo and make room for the child to write a little explanation underneath.

This has turned out to be a simple scrapbook of our year, proof that we learned a lot in case anyone ever gets nosy, and lots of fun for the kids to reminisce over. Combined with my lesson plans, it should satisfy any educational authorities, if (heaven forbid!) things get tougher in future years. And it makes me feel very happy and proud to see the fruit of my educational labors!

By: WendyLou

WendyLou — Sat, 30 May 2009 22:51:40 +0000

Angela — I plan my schedule at the beginning of the year, too. BUT instead of dating the assignments, I individually number each subject’s work as Day1, Day2, etc. Each week I then place the next 5 days worth of work on the weekly planning calendar. So if we get ‘off schedule,’ a day’s worth of work may look like: Science Day20, Math Day24, Handwriting Day16, etc. If the numbers get too out-of-sync, it’s easy to see and then catch up … but the days mostly stay together.