I have made 5-10 year plans and “what if” scenarios for myself since I was 11. My kids being 1 and 4 haven’t changed that 😂 I love having an idea of where the ship is sailing. It brings me a lot of peace of mind and confidence with my decisions in general.

We also use Sonlight for History, Science, and LA. We use Saxon (Dr. Shormann's Dive Mathematics for Saxon) and Spelling You Can See as well. Homeschool sisters lol

I would love a template of that homeschool long term planning spreadsheet!!! Genius!!!!! Going to have to create one for myself! Love this! ❤

I totally love long term homeschool planning. I have my older 2 girls’ years planned out through high school (they are in 6th and 7th right now). But hold loosely, yes!

I think its super helpful to run it out and see what it would look like. It lets you know if you need to speed it up or slow it down or stay the course. It definitely gave me some peace of mind knowing it was ok to be exactly where we were. Yes of course things could change in the future but its still nice to see it typed out! and typed out makes it really easy to edit and change. Thanks for the video. I always love them.

For me, with literature-based curriculum for history...it's helpful to plan ahead because it helps me with slowly acquiring the books and literature needed. I have planned out the next two years after our current school year...I think with the early age of my kids and our overseas lifestyle...that's far enough for right now, but when they're a little older I may plan longer. The Sonlight J looks SO interesting to me. Sonlight's high school cores are some of their best programs, I think!

I have 2 kids in the pre-k HBL and I'm already looking at which HBL we'll be in in 10 years if we stick with Sonlight haha. Even if we change course at some point, long term planning gives me a sense of purpose!

I have mine planned for 2 years in a notepad. This is such a great idea.

Great video! Glad to know I’m not the only one who likes to plan ahead. 😆 And I appreciate your insight into HBL-K. I’ll have a kindergartner next year and I think I will wait on that core till 2nd grade. Just now looking into Sonlight and I’ve really liked watching all your SL videos. Very helpful!

This is really interesting to hear. Thanks for all the ideas for long term planning. It's good for me to think about.

I made myself a long term plan last year and it has brought so much peace! I like to know where I’m going, even if I have to shift or change, it’s not overwhelming anymore.

I do this exact thing! 😂 with four kids I also write out their long term plans in excel so I can see what curriculum I can use again and where they fall in Sonlight and other curricula. My boys are two years apart and my girls are two years apart so my hope is also to include them until high school. But again these plans change continuously and are held loosely. It’s more of a fun guide for me.

Great video! I think I will do this for us as I have have a rd grader and newborn. We use my fathers world and sunlight so I would be interested to see what my state requirements are for high school to see which programs I need

I definitely have had to long term plan. I’m homeschooling just 1 son, 14, in 9th grade in PA and it’s been necessary to make sure he has the required classes and also that he’s ready for it. It’s been a juggle since we came into it. I’ve had to learn to be flexible too.

I absolutely do long-range planning. However, I almost always adjust my plans as I zoom in to smaller time frames. When I first started homeschooling with Emma, I laid out everything through high school, and, a lot of that has actually been what we have done. I think it helps that I have always been very committed to the resources that we purchase from Sonlight - it has made it relatively easy for me to stay on track. Of course there are always little things that I want to change or add throughout the years, and I do tend to make changes as needed, but our overall plan is still in place. I know a lot of people say homeschool one year at a time, and don't plan too much out, but it helps me know where we are going, and I like to do it. It is fun to look at what we may be studying a few years down the road, and always gives me time to seek out other resources to complement what we are hoping to get to through the years.

I also long term plan. I’m a veteran homeschooler mom of 5. My oldest is a junior and has been homeschooled since the second grade. I’ve made mistakes along the way and successes. So yes…. I do long term plan for my 4th, 2nd, 5 and 3yo. Looking at the big picture is helpful in decision making and I personally feel it’s our responsibility as homeschool mothers.

I love long-term planning. It gives me peace and directions. It really helps me feel like we don't have to do everythright now became I have it planned for later. I do hold it loosely - it's my plan I can change it if I want - which really helps too.

This level of organization is brilliant. I have done long term planning but never quite like this. I tend to look at curriculum when considering it and make sure it will fit us (not just one child) for years to come and not just be a bandaid to a bigger “problem”. As usual, i’m inspired by you and the way you are so intentional in your home education.

I agree with the forward planning. I only have one student, but I loosely keep a few different rough plans in my head for where we're headed. 💜

This was soo helpful for me. This will be my first year of sonlight with my two boys who are 15 months apart, and I have had a lot of these same thoughts. We are starting to do the HBL and Science together, but I really like your thinking of when to keep them together and when to split them 😊

Yes, I have currently planned out 5 years. I determine to hold this plan loosely knowing I will probably need to make changes along the way. However this plan does keep me going towards my ultimate goal.

Ah! Your spreadsheet looks like mine!!! Yes, I try to plan so that it's not just my first that covers the full scope of history or the branches of science I want to cover. I'll have my younger ones hoping in as the get older, and it's too much to juggle in my head. I don't want to go year by year and just hope that I don't make a choice one year that messes up our flow. I also don't want my younger ones missing out on fun kindergarten or preschool things, but I need to be sure I coordinate our subjects so that I don't end up going too many different directions.

I absolutely long term plan. My oldest is graduating with her wildlife and zoology degree in May and my son is graduating with his degree in criminology. until Highschool we did history and science together. Then in Highschool their tracks were different because of their interests. She took higher math classes, marine biology classes, participated in zoo camps, marine biology camps and became a certified diver. He took more anatomy and nutrition/exercise type classes, has a second degree black belt in karate (also an instructor) became an EMT and worked at a gym and is waiting patiently until he is old enough to apply to the state police academy. (He just turn 20) My youngest is now in 1st grade. I long term plan his academics but since he is still young we are trying out different extracurricular activities to see where his interest are and we do a lot of field trips.

Yes long term plan. Also may be a upper limit to combined subjects is 7th grade so 8th grade can be solo in preparation for the crucial high school years.

I started out homeschooling with long term planning but only what I expect to teach thru out my kids school career!!! More long term goals!!! I didn’t put subjects for high school for the kids idk what their future career is!!! I’ve changed my long term plan especially after my kids told me what they want to do in their future!!! My older daughter hates math but needs math for science related classes!!! We have my nephew with my twins for sonlight and he’s a grade level below!!! We pick and choose with language arts!!! My older son is different to my twins but I try to learn form teaching him!!! My older son and daughter work together for science as he’s below grade level in science and she’s above grade level in science!!! There’s 3 years apart tho!!!

I've been spending some time on this actually! My oldest is in first grade with 4 brothers behind her. I want to do family learning for as long as possible so I've been mapping out where we're going. My youngest two are twin boys! They'll be a year in March so I have some time until all my children have joined my homeschool.

I might try this. I'm not sure how to group my kids for some subjects because my first and second sets of twins are 17 months apart, followed by my third set of twins 22 months later and the singleton straggler about 3 years later.

Hahaha my spreadsheet looks so similar! I think Sonlight cores and combining lends itself to planning like this. Although not being American I'm much less concerned about D. I still did this same thing to map out roughly combining vs not combining and which combos for my 3 kids.

I've had an excel with the exact same format for years lol. Except I many have multiple resource per subject category, because I like to dabble. They are pre-k and first right now, and I have loose plans through high school. Definitely not every box filled in, but ideas and in one font color, and I change the font color once I settle on a decision. I also have a future read aloud list year by year, when I hear a good one, I can add it and not forget about it.

Yes I am!!! Not in every subject. But like Geography/ History you kind of need to know where you’re going so you can plan it right. Math is Apologia for us hands down. We will continue as long as they keep making Math books. I have also for Writing, Spelling, LA, History and Science. I want my daughter to dial credit I’m 11th and 12th. So I worked out a contingency for that. I love the spreadsheet. I’m a spreadsheet guru. You should see my budget 😂 😂

I long term plan but it's less kids specific and more of a brainstorming page where I keep ideas of books/ curriculum/ skills/ courses that look good that I may forget about when the time comes. Or tips that I may not be able to find again later. For instance there's a small list of math programs at the bottom that shows a couple tougher well reviewed programs and a few ideas for less intensive programs that I've seen people recommend. Overall though it looks very similar for subjects in left and grade level at the top. I have child specific options on a separate sheet that tends to remain emptier until we get close to the grade.

I actually spend my time doing this! 😂😂 And I have done it since my boy was 5 and he is 9 now. I have planned the Language Arts in English until 12 Grade. After we finish LOE Essentials, we will hopefully do about two years of Logic (Material and Traditional) and a year of Rethoric and those by Memoria Press. And then for Writing, after Writing with Ease, we’ll try to do All Things Fun and Fascinating by IEW and then Classical Composition by Memoria Press. For History and Literature we are loving Curiosity Chronicles and we are adding a good chunk of Torchlight next year, plus some of my choices in Spanish that align with our History. After we finish with Curiosity Chronicles, my husband has asked to teach History in High School because he is a History and Church History Scholar, so he wants to guide our son to read primary sources (ancient texts) and personal letters and writings by historical figures… and try to teach History in a more global way including Church History that includes Africa, Latinamerica, the Middle East and the Far East. Math: We will try to stick with Math Mammoth and after that either Video Text or I will attempt to teach Algebra with my Spanish book by Baldor. I teach Spanish Language Arts and we are using Yabisí, a curriculum written for Puerto Rico’s private schools and it is fantastic! It goes all the way through High School so I don’t have to use anything different. My son absolutely LOVES Real Science 4 Kids so… we will stick with it through Middle School but I am not sure what we will use in High School. We shall see, if we get there first 😄

I love this! I don't have it written down, but I am always thinking long term. Now you've inspired me to get it jotted down. We use Beautiful Feet for history, and I also try to keep several years down the road in mind to help me decide how to pace things in the present. I am trying to figure out what to do about science next year. My twins will be starting TK (we homeschool through a charter, so that's their designation since my twins were born 7 days after the cutoff for K). So I will have two in TK and one in 2nd grade. We have loved Sonlight science A this year for 1st grade (thanks for your video that helped me to go for it!). I definitely want to do science B next year. But the question is whether or not to also do science K for my twins. What are your science plans for your twins next year?

Did you see that simply charlotte sason planning video about this topic

What year do you switch your kids into Sonlight LA if you start them out with A beka? I would love to see a video specifically about how to use Sonlight. I love all the literature but honestly so confused over how it works. Seems overwhelming. 🥴

What are your thoughts on doing 2 HBLs at the same time? Do you have any plans on how to handle that?

I did this planning on Google Sheets many years ago. Basically, I started with the end in mind and worked my way backwards with each child. My kids are 20, 14, 10, 9 and 4 and planning this way has worked to keep all subjects, but specially math on track. I wouldn’t do it any other way. On another note, I’m also trying to keep my 9 and 10 year olds into a single SL Core. We are finishing C this year but im not sure that my 9 year old is ready to start D next year. I’ve done D twice already to know the level of maturity and commitment it takes and my 9 year old is not there yet. Any suggestions on what to do between C and D? 🤷🏻‍♀️ although my 10 year old is ready for D… I don’t know what to do.

I am in my second year of homeschooling with a 6 year old who is way ahead in school. Planning a few years ahead may not work for us right now.

I want to plan for the future but right now it’s month by month and week by week 😬

I am curious as to why you’ll be starting your kindergartners in Saxon 1 and not Saxon K?