Lesson Plans

[wcoffey]

I am new to HOD. I will be using Beyond and Little Hands. I am trying to figure out how to make up my lesson plans. What do you do? (I would love to hear different opinions and styles.) Do you record briefly everything that you do from the unit's day? Or do you just record the unit, day, and subject done with out making a record of what was actually done, and using the TM as your reference guide to see what activity you did? Do you record at all? I was going to record briefly what we did for each unit's day, but I feel like I am just writing the TM again! And what if you are working from two different manuels or you are behind in one subject, how to you record what unit and day you are on?

[Kathleen]

Wendy,

I put an orange check mark in the box when we're done with it (for Grant). I'm planning to use a different color for each child as I go through the guides again. No re-writing going on here!! Grant is ahead in math, so I have a little tab marking where we're at in math. (However I check the box when we've done math for the day on the actual 2-page spread we're on for the rest of the day. That way I can see at a glance what we've finished and what's left.) You could easily date the page when you're on it, too. I don't need to keep track of that, so I don't. Here's a picture of my guide. The red tab is where we're at for everything...except math which is blue. Yellow is our poems in the appendix. If we were doing the emerging readers, I'd probably tab that too.


Kathleen

[1GirlTwinBoys]

Here's a picture of my guide. The red tab is where we're at for everything...except math which is blue. Yellow is our poems in the appendix. If we were doing the emerging readers, I'd probably tab that too.

Kathleen,
Great idea! Thanks for sharing.

[pollo_la]

All I do to "record" is to simply put a check mark next to each box as we complete it. No record keeping here. I live in MI, and we don't have to record or keep track of anything. We don't even have to notify the state that we are homeschooling... we just do it!! It's such a blessing! I do however like to see how my children are progressing and keep some sort of memory, so for that I am keeping a blog, but that certainly isn't anything "official." I love the idea of keeping tabs in the guide to keep track of where you are for things. I am definitely going to do that now!

[3musketeers]

Kathleen,

That helped me too !!! Thanks for the pic. I just got my guides in and I am thinking through all of this, aswell.

Blessings,
3musketeers

[dale1088]

I'm with Kathleen. I had the spine stripped off mine and 3-hole punched so that I could keep it in a binder. I also have a tab for "TODAY" and then a few other tabs since we are ahead in grammar and Math. I have a tab for poetry and dictation too. I don't keep the whole thing in the binder so that it's not so big, because I also add the DITHOR genre that we are working on behind it. This way all my materials are together in one big book. I can pull out the poem for the day too if I want her to copy it. But I may have to rethink all this when I get Preparing because i think more of it will be student driven and I might have to hand over the manual more often. not sure yet.

Anyways, for each unit I date the top of the page and put a check mark when we have completed that box. In the subjects we're ahead on I date those boxes. I do it in pencil thinking that when it came time to work the book with my son I could erase all that but now I doubt I will, just use a color for him.

I'd take a pic or two but just discovered the batteries are dead on the camera. Maybe later if I can find some!

[Busymomma1]

I'm with the others. When I did LHFHG, I just put the child's initials in the upper corner of the box. But I like the suggestion to just do a check mark in a certain color, too! And if I did extras, I noted them on the bottom of the page or somewhere in a box, if it related to the subject in the box. It worked for me!

[wcoffey]

Thanks ladies. I do have to keep a record of what I do. And I don't like to write in my book, I know that sounds crazy, but that's how I am. I don't even like to buy used books, eventhough I do because it's much cheaper. Anyways, getting back to the subject... I came up with something that might work and wanted your opinion on it. But I cannot attach the file. It's in pdf.I even tried to put it in a different program but it still did not work. If you are willing to send me a private message with your email address so that I could email it to you so you can check it out. I made boxes per subject and then typed in "Unit" "Day" and "Notes." It is a week at a glance. It would take place of writing in the book, and the "notes" part would be for adding to or not doing something for that subject. What do you think? - I do like the idea of tabs to place where I am!

[Lynnw]

I understand what you are saying - I don't like to write in my book either. That has been fine with Beyond, but I will "share" the Preparing Guide with my ds and he is quite a doodler! I've always done a "weekly assignment sheet" for him (days across the top and subjects down the left side) - so I don't know whether to keep doing this? I do like the idea of cutting off the binding and putting in page protectors (then adding post it notes for additional assignments, - i.e. foreign language, extra curricular stuff, etc). So I don't know.... still thinking about it.

[Sharon]

I too understand not writing in the guides. I considered cutting the spine off and putting it in page protectors like I did with TOG, but I just couldn't bring myself to cut the book apart! We are doing Bigger and older dd is following along with us in sequence but not books. I have penciled in her books for storytime, history, extra projects, and literature for her right into the Bigger guide. I must admit that it was a struggle to "write" in them after trying so hard to preserve my TOG guides.

We are not required to keep a record, but if I did I would want it to look professional so to speak. For her I am using the Class Lesson Planner from Christian Liberty Press and I think it makes a great record of her work for the year as well as a weekly planner for her to follow and check off. There is a place to record grades, field trips, attendance record, evaluation report, project worksheet schedule, report card, transcripts, curriculum planner...and more. I am sure you can do all this easy enough yourself using the requirements that your state requires you provide as a guide.

[wcoffey]

I have a friend who spiral bond her TM. So that's what I will be doing. She also uses tabs to indicate where she is in theTM. She has different tabs..one for the student (for math, language arts, etc.), one for the history unit, and one for the poems. I think that they are great ideas that I will be using. We start Beond mid-April. All I need to do is come up with a way to record our days.

[my3sons]

Hi Wendy! I don't know if this will help you, but I made a sample check-off for Deb to use for LHFHG. Just arrow down to my3sons post (that's me ) in the link I gave below, and click on the PDF to see it bigger. Whatever you do, I would make it take the least amount of time in the day to day as possible. You don't need this record keeping for HOD to work for you - you just need it to show the state what you are doing. So, however you can spend the least amount of time on it as possible is what I advocate for you!

viewtopic.php?f=6&t=3043&p=22436&hilit=checkoff#p22436

In Christ,
Julie

[netpea]

When we did LHTH, I dated the top of each page and put a checkmark for each activity. With LHFHG, I dated each page, checked off the boxes and wrote additional stuff at the top like books we read, spanish, piano, etc... Then with Beyond, I went back to just dating the pages and checking the boxes, now with Bigger I don't even date them, just check the boxes. As I use Little Hearts now with my 2nd child, I find the marks all over the page from the first child distracting. I now use small checkmarks for my older son as we complete boxes, and small stars for my daughter as she does hers so I can tell them apart.

I am however, working up separate "lesson plans" for the summer, they include alternating between doing Beyond (I'm just writing "HOD" in my plan), gardening time with the kiddos, life skills, and quilting time with the kids. I have certain things I want to do over the summer, so I'm trying to put it down on paper. Just mornings though so they still have a "summer break".

[Kathleen]

I really can't take credit for the tabs...(Thank you, MamaMary for sharing the idea last summer! )

I just thought I'd let y'all know, too, that the HOD guides have a lay-flat perfect binding. You can really squash them down, and they do lay flat and open. Ours are holding up great, and we're not "gentle" with them. Here's a past thread where Carrie shares the reason that they chose to bind the books as they do, just in case anyone is curious. viewtopic.php?f=6&t=133

Happy Organizing!
Kathleen

[LeAnna]

I tend to write in our manuals a little bit. I like to write our verse of the week at the top, so that I can keep referring back to it through out each day. I also use tabs to show us where we are at each day. But, to record what we are doing, I use a horizontal calendar from http://www.donnayoung.org , that has August through July on one sheet. I just simply add the unit and day of where we are at in LHFHG, on the calendar in each little space. There are 4 different calendars to choose from if your school year varies too. It works for us!

LeAnna