How I Plan Our Homeschool Year | Big Picture Homeschool Planning

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Күн бұрын

Let's chat about the six simple steps I take each year to plan our homeschool year. This big picture homeschool plan helps set our homeschool year up for success.
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Пікірлер: 98

@SisiJoness 3 жыл бұрын

I have 4 kiddos ....the "do I get rid of this or save it for 10 years" is so real 😆😂

@Mschris6h 2 жыл бұрын

Right?? I’ve got a girl with Down syndrome. She might need it in the future. MIGHT. 🤷‍♀️🥴

@fordfamily-zl9bc 3 жыл бұрын

I do reverse planning. Write stuff that gets done each day

@keirajones5062 3 жыл бұрын

Me too :-) well kind of, they have a list of things to choose from them I write down what did each day

@kristiea3897 3 жыл бұрын

I do that too

@christinecortese9973 2 жыл бұрын

I call it record keeping. It’s not any kind of planning.

@Mschris6h 2 жыл бұрын

This would be correct. That NOT planning its record keeping or a journal. Planning is forward thinking.

@Dreblueskies Жыл бұрын

@@christinecortese9973 Me too. Each time I plan I usually spend more time erasing or crossing things off.

@FeReads 3 жыл бұрын

Can you please do a unhaul, purge video? Would be fun to watch

@leelens3 2 жыл бұрын

Really enjoyed your humor and laid-back but thorough approach. Thanks for sharing.

@jerilyn-ourhomeschooltable 3 жыл бұрын

I’m definitely going to try implementing a “one thing” goal. ❤️ My way of planning is to research all of the curricula I am thinking about. Then I order it. Once it comes I look at how I can teach it over the course if the year by making a Year at a Glace table in Excel. I use it as a guide, but I am not rigid in sticking to the schedule if something comes up. I keep a lesson plan book, but I usually only plan the following week on Thursday afternoon. I don’t plan too far or we wind up getting off track. 😊

@HomeLifeWithLove 3 жыл бұрын

We are structured homeschoolers. While planning for 3rd grade, I wanted to incorporate way more than was possible, so I made a full year priorities list. Everything that didn’t make the priority list, is on a secondary list to utilize after the primary list is complete. It has really reduced my anxiety about what to cover this year! For morning basket, I integrated items to reinforce primary goals and added some secondary goal items as well. Fridays will be designated for educational games, videos, crafts, etc. No workbooks unless our weekly checklist is not complete by Thursday. We take December off to study about Jesus and do Christmas activities. Last year went well, but this year is definitely going to be even better!

@Lysh279 3 жыл бұрын

This is one of the most well organized and helpful videos I've seen on planning. Thank you so much for taking the time to give all this information! And for the checklists!

@katieebendick2631 3 жыл бұрын

I would love to see a purge video!

@joyfullyhomeschoolingboys 2 жыл бұрын

I just have to say thank for the amazing game and book list on Amazon. you are making our coming summer more fun without the textbooks.

@awesomegrace6 3 жыл бұрын

Yes to this year’s priority of field trips!!

@heatherguccione505 Жыл бұрын

This was incredibly helpful!! Thank you so much for sharing. This is our second year homeschooling. I learned a lot last school year. Mainly what DOESN'T work. ;) This year we are doing interest-based/life-learning/unschooling...whatever you call it. We are going to have way more fun this year. Thank you for the inspiration and helpful knowledge. I can't wait to get started "planning" our year.

@amandamellen6937 2 жыл бұрын

Looking forward to hearing what your "one thing" is for this year!

@TheWaldockWay 2 жыл бұрын

Just posted it today!

@amandamellen6937 2 жыл бұрын

@@TheWaldockWay I just watched- thanks! So excited to see what you bought for it!

@YTVidScrn3 Жыл бұрын

You are awesome! Thanks so much for sharing! I love your straight forward videos. Also a huge thank you for sharing those lists!!!!

@juliahannigan5989 3 жыл бұрын

I love the "one thing" thing.

@keirajones5062 3 жыл бұрын

End of each January ( I'm in New Zealand, our school year goes from early Feb to mid December with breaks in between, cos you know, opposite seasons ) I sit down and write what I want my kids to accomplish that year for each subject, I also ask them if they have any goals they want to achieve, then I ask if there are any other extra things they want to learn or do. Then I find free resources/ make my own curriculums and unit studies etc. After that I just type up a list of subjects/ activities for each child ( 4 kids) And they have to do at least three a day and aim to have them all ticked off by the end of the week. I'm pretty relaxed. I also heard Julie Bogart say on her podcast ( which is so helpful for new homeschoolers) that focused attention for a child, is age plus one minute, so I take that into account when they are doing something they don't like.

@juliefiorettihughes8633 3 жыл бұрын

Thank you for sharing! Can't wait to watch!

@OdetoAbode 3 жыл бұрын

I really loved this video! My steps are nearly identical to you. We do use quite a bit of curriculum, but having focused goals helps me prioritize lessons throughout the year and stress less about finishing everything. I really appreciate you being honest and realistic, Jessica!

@TheWaldockWay 3 жыл бұрын

I am so glad you loved it!

@alexandramarek684 2 жыл бұрын

Wow, thank you!!!! I'm going to try this!! First time homeschooling mom of a 9 and 6 year old.

@lyndsaypatterson7657 3 жыл бұрын

Such a logical way of planning and very similar to how I plan our homeschool years. Thank you for sharing Jessica!

@aydriannacole2625 3 жыл бұрын

Thank you for the skills checklist!! I write out everything we’ve completed each week in my teacher planner. Works best for me.

@hannahdorrance3927 3 жыл бұрын

Girl! I am excited for this because I am the worst at planning! Can't wait and hope I can make it!

@eelore5271 3 жыл бұрын

Thank you!!!!! ❤️

@hwall530 3 жыл бұрын

Yes!! When I was in the classroom this is what I did too! It makes it so natural and planning with the end in mind allows me to be very intentional about the conversations we have and finding the learning in the every day.

@AW-lp4vm 3 жыл бұрын

Looking forward to it!! :)

@everydaywithbri 2 жыл бұрын

Very helpful video! Thank you!

@brookeboswell6612 3 жыл бұрын

This are fantastic!!! Thank you from a new kindergarten mama!

@kirstengillespie994 3 жыл бұрын

These were great tips! This year I'm going to schedule in breaks about every 6 weeks (for my sanity lol) as well as a break during Ramadan (just like some people take a break at Christmas 😁). and I'm going to estimate when we will be done our core curriculum. Another thing I will add to our planning is a list of read alouds. We did a lot of picture books and nature study for our kindergarten year and dabbled a little in longer books. I can't wait to dive into chapter books and need a list to keep my momentum going or else it falls to the wayside. I love the idea of One Thing and I think read alouds will be ours 📚🤓

@jessiepatterson9433 3 жыл бұрын

Thank you for the checklist! We take each week as it comes and sometimes that works and sometimes it doesn’t. Hoping this checklist helps us out and gets us “caught up” in areas we are behind in. Also I have 4 soon to be 5 little ones man stuff I end up hoarding for the next kid is so real. 😂

@threatlevelmidnight3588 3 жыл бұрын

This should be fun. Thanks for doing this. ❤

@jordancanter2764 3 жыл бұрын

On time awesome 😄

@nadinecollectivehomeschool7519 3 жыл бұрын

Very helpful. Thank you!

@crystalguerra2182 3 жыл бұрын

I'm excited to see your video! There are so few homeschool chats from those with an only child.

@SuperDuperBrit 3 жыл бұрын

I need to inventory based on what our curriculum covers. I want to get some additional readers and stuff we can do. I haven't wanted to look at anything until recently 😂😂😂...I got tired out towards the end. Your videos helped me realize that was normal and that it's okay to not finish everything in the curriculum. When I looked at stuff the last two units were basically review. We will ease into our year with a nice review using those! I did clear the cabinet out and reorganized things. I'm excited for our next year. We may transition back but we may not too! I'm anxious to travel when I feel like we can again and homeschool works well with that ♥️♥️

@brittanycoblentz3584 3 жыл бұрын

So excited for this! This is my second year homeschooling but first year without an umbrella school and I've been pretty stressed over the scheduling aspect. I know I'm probably over thinking it, but I'm really struggling with the planning of our days with each class subject. I will be doing your Wizards and both of your Traveling curriculums and like the idea of finishing each subject in one chunk, simply because of the planning part. Like Emily though, my daughter would like to rotate the subjects in each week (it's all a surprise to her but we discussed the rotating vs finishing each subject at once and that's what she said she'd like to do.) Hoping to make it live!

@nativetexan7114 3 жыл бұрын

This is so great. I feel like I always get stuck in the middle of the year.

@capturinglifeinprogress1999 2 жыл бұрын

Thank you so much for the checklist! It’s just what I needed. I’m still learning, my kids are in kindergarten and preschool this year based on their age, so I don’t yet have a system in place. I also have a little baby, so not much free time at the moment. By the time he’s old enough to start kindergarten maybe I will. 😆

@mearly3680 2 жыл бұрын

Great video and very helpful. Before I buy materials, I list out my priorities and our needs on a chart. Then I list each curriculum and check off the boxes when they meet a need. This helps me figure out what is actually going to work for us. I love the idea of doing inventory.

@maryanngill3576 2 жыл бұрын

My favorite part of homeschooling is you can cater it to your child's needs and your specific family needs! My family is so opposite -- my little guy is up no later than 5:30 and I imagine we will start our homeschool next year (he will be in Kindergarten next year) at about 7:00 am. I really like your 'one thing". When you purge, do you give your stuff to another local homeschooler or what? Thanks for all you do!

@julirobinson4039 3 жыл бұрын

First of all, thanks for sharing all that you do as a mom to one kiddo ❤ It has helped give me so much direction as a newbie this past school year. My daughter who is just about the same age as Emily loves seeing your videos too. She and Emily have quite a bit in common and somehow without knowing it you and I have covered similar units at the same time. Something that helps me plan is her input, then much like you I try to plug in activities, games, books, and experiences into the main umbrella. Something else that has helped us both to make sure we cover all core subjects throughout the week is assigning a day of the week where that is our focus for the day. For example Mathemagical Mondays ( MA ), Talk About it Tuesday ( LA), Write About it Wednesday ( Handwriting ), Thrilling Thursday ( Science / World History ), Fun Fridays ( Social opportunities ). Since my daughter is on the spectrum this gives her the predictability that she needs and helps me stay on track for reporting through our distance learning program. That doesn't mean we only do that core subject just that day, but we focus on skill strengthening for that subject and she knows her best efforts are required. Last year at one point we tried to cram every core class into every day at one point and it was just too much for both of us! There are so many cross curriculars in unit studies I feel she is still covering all the bases, but she needed a model so different from public school. Anyway, we love your channel and seeing another triangle family that reminds us so much of ours! Thanks for all the time and effort you put into your content. 😁

@karmamacdonald3427 3 жыл бұрын

Excited for this! This will be my 2nd year homeschooling 2 special needs kiddos in 4th and 7th grade. I am definitely interested to see how you planned the year for your 4th grader.

@eelore5271 3 жыл бұрын

It will be my first year homeschooling my first grader. She is on the autism spectrum. After the craziness of 2020 in public school for kindergarten, I decided I would just try homeschooling. We have some great homeschool groups here as well.

@hannahdorrance3927 3 жыл бұрын

This video is super helpful! I have found out that we are also resource/curriculum dabblers and we are not schedule people so this was a huge struggle for me the past year with my kiddos. Definitely looking forward to implementing more of a routine that can begin at any time we happen to wake up. My hubby works a crazy schedule so it makes it hard to stick to a schedule. This has given me a lot of confidence going into the next school year!

@TheWaldockWay 3 жыл бұрын

I am so glad you found it helpful!

@ReiverGrad14 3 жыл бұрын

Goals are hard. I know what "average" students should be but ADHD. Update: I love the checklist. Printed it off and it will help so much. Because I do have an ADHD child with Dyslexia I'm not paying attention to the grade levels but more on this is a list of what he needs to learn and how far he's come. I feel less overwhelmed now and I want to say Thank you for that.

@TheWaldockWay 3 жыл бұрын

You are SO welcome!!!

@simplyjoyfulhomeschool8627 3 жыл бұрын

We are just beginning our homeschool journey with my three yr old this fall so the checklist is a huge help. Thank you! It is also encouraging to find another Mama homeschooling an only child.

@TheWaldockWay 3 жыл бұрын

I am so glad you find them helpful!

@raisingarrowsschoolhouse4983 3 жыл бұрын

This year we have a "K" and "1st grader" so really, I primarily focus on reading, math and some handwriting. To me, reading and math are the most important subjects right now in terms of building foundation, so we follow a curriculum for each of those. Teaching them to read was one of my biggest homeschooling fears 🙈 But, those are the only two subjects we follow a curriculum as it's written and intended to be used. I am using Homeschool Year by Year for the first time this year to help keep me accountable for things they should learn, and like you, we pull from different grade levels for language and math. Day to day, we do reverse planning, writing down what we accomplish each day. I feel like this allows us more flexibility and there's a lot less erasing and moving things around.

@georginafrost3513 3 жыл бұрын

I have kiddos that just trail behind Emily...would love to see your purge items and have the opportunity to buy!

@ashleyhenderson7055 3 жыл бұрын

We just plan unit studies based on some things that my kids want to learn about. I gather ideas from each and then just plan a few unit studies bi-weekly through the school year. We home school year round. We do not have school on Mondays ( because it is Monday .. enough said) Lol Then on Fridays we have what we call fun Fridays. We just play games on Fridays. We also have Poetry and Tea time on Friday afternoons. So unit studies are only Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday through the week. I love seeing how other plan their home school year. Thanks for sharing.

@keirajones5062 3 жыл бұрын

We do fun Friday too :-D

@evawebb1761 3 жыл бұрын

I would love a purge video, please. I struggle. I always think I MAY still need this MAYBE....oneday?

@heathercates919 3 жыл бұрын

I start planning at the end of one year for the next year. I buy everything I can at the beginning of summer so I don't hit the rush at the end of summer and have things arrive late. That said one of my 3 kiddos still at home will be starting highschool. So these curriculum choices have been a bit harder for me. Annnnnnd.....purging.....ummm, I'll admit, I'm really bad at this. But always trying to get better.

@marisaturner6473 2 жыл бұрын

I have the home learning book and just referenced it. We are ahead in almost everything expect math. I didn’t realize how much a kindergartner is expected to know 😅 oh well.

@karbear26 3 жыл бұрын

I would like to see a purge video!

@fancyflamingo123 3 жыл бұрын

Your daily flow sounds a lot like ours. (We are late-to-bed and late-sleepers!)

@ceruleanskies001 3 жыл бұрын

Don't forget that 4th graders in the United States can participate in the Every Kid Outdoors program starting in September. Also, I wish I got better at purging. I still have stuff from 1st and 2nd grade and I just can't part with it yet (despite being so done with it and have an only child).

@ItCameFromAVlog 3 жыл бұрын

I feel so behind with planning for the fall. How did it get here so quickly? This is really helpful. I'll be sitting down to do this soon.

@nataliem2685 3 жыл бұрын

This video has definitely motivated and inspired me! This will be our 3rd year homeschooling and each year I’m adjusting how we homeschool. This year will definitely be more games and field trips. Thanks for the inspiration!

@amyrandell7532 3 жыл бұрын

Oh! How exciting! Will this be here on KZfaq?

@TheWaldockWay 3 жыл бұрын

Yes, right here!

@learningmadsway2859 3 жыл бұрын

I start out wanting to have things planned out, then it just goes into writing down the things we got done that day.. lol

@ingridstark5549 Жыл бұрын

Thank you so much for making this video!❤ I was wondering what software you use to make curriculums? I'm in the process of creating curriculums for a specific spiritual/religious audience. Thanks🙏🙏🙏

@NJDeXdance 3 жыл бұрын

Yay field trips! We’re feeling the same way. Question: how does Emily listen to audio books & podcasts? Head phones? Does she do anything at the same time like coloring, building, etc? My 7 yo enjoys listening in the car but doesn’t know what to do with herself when listening at home. Suggestions?

@TheWaldockWay 3 жыл бұрын

Most of the time, yes headphones. And yes she ALWAYS has her hands busy when listening to anything being read aloud or a podcast. www.thewaldockway.com/favorite-quiet-activities-for-reading-aloud/

@NJDeXdance 3 жыл бұрын

@@TheWaldockWay fantastic thank you!

@robinhill8787 3 жыл бұрын

I'm new to home schooling. My 2nd year. So still trying to figure everything out.

@libbyploof 11 ай бұрын

What is "morning basket"? Do u have a video explaining what that is in depth?

@hasmith1 3 жыл бұрын

This is so helpful! Just wondering how far ahead you start this process and how long it takes? Thanks 😊

@hasmith1 3 жыл бұрын

I am nowhere near this thorough and I feel really behind already! 😬

@anthonia4168 3 жыл бұрын

Can u make another video about a whole day in your life (u, kevin, emily-together or individually), about homeschool-chores-me time-etc? Would love to see it... thx before

@TheWaldockWay 3 жыл бұрын

Absolutely! Once our school year is up and moving I will get that on the list!

@anthonia4168 3 жыл бұрын

@@TheWaldockWay thx so much, because we both have a single 9-yo/4th grade daughter, so I would love to see it :)

@jacquelinevera912 3 жыл бұрын

I'm in the purging phase too! It's not fun.

@jennykay780 3 жыл бұрын

I love IXL. With the diagnostic testing tool it lets me know exactly what skills she needs to work on.

@jessicaTX964 3 жыл бұрын

Do you start out with a general idea of how long a unit will take, or do you just go until it feels finished. If you don't plan past the first few weeks, what is your routine for planning the next part. Its so hard for me once we are into the school year.

@TheWaldockWay 3 жыл бұрын

We just go until it feels finished most of the time, but typically 3-6 weeks is the sweet spot for us.

@mariacovarrubias6150 3 жыл бұрын

Hello, I know this is a little off topic but what camera do you use to make your videos?

@TheWaldockWay 3 жыл бұрын

Main Camera - Cannon 90d: amzn.to/3lrHxLC Vlog Camera - Canon GX7 Mark ii: amzn.to/2POsJZV Action Camera - GoPro Hero 8: amzn.to/2EJPAPV

@Jennifer83 3 жыл бұрын

I am already subscribed to your newsletter but I signed up again so I could get the grade list but it never emailed me, I checked junk mail too even though you’re listed as a safe sender. Will you be putting it in the shop on your website?

@TheWaldockWay 3 жыл бұрын

Email me at jessica@thewaldockway.com and I will make sure you get it!

@Jennifer83 3 жыл бұрын

@@TheWaldockWay thank you 😊

@dinavia4873 2 жыл бұрын

can we do this again for the "mid-year" update?

@TheWaldockWay 2 жыл бұрын

The premiere part?

@dinavia4873 2 жыл бұрын

@@TheWaldockWay the planning the HS year part. For us, once we get to January, some things get thrown out and others get added in. Curious to see if you do any kind of mid-year reflection and update too.