Lesson plans will help keep you and your student on track, provides a written record of work completed, meet legal requirements, and compile grades which will be used to create report cards and transcripts.
What Means Do I Use to Create My Lesson Plans?
Document Templates are available through the Document Library. Document Templates are tools helpful for working together as a unit, observing performance, develop communications, managing and organizing records.
Or, the following is a list of some additional resources and recommendations:
- You may purchase a computer program that has forms set up for you to use. For example; with Home School Easy Records, you simply open the program and enter your data on the correct form. The program places your entries onto other important forms for you. A computer database can save you time, even after you consider the time you will spend learning the program.
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- You may purchase a book that contains various forms to copy and fill out.
- You may purchase a teacher's planner from a teacher's supply store, or a home school journal from a curriculum dealer.
- You may wish to use a simple notebook for basic student planner.
What Should Be Included In My Lesson Plans?
- Date
- Subject
- Assignments (Include, if applies, title and chapter numbers, pages to read or be worked on in a particular subject. If unit study, what is to be accomplished on that day.)
- Grades (Given for assignments, tests, or projects.)
- Any field trips or extracurricular activities the student engaged in on that day.
- You may also make note of time allotted for that subject. Example: 45 minutes.
Lesson plans should be worked out before the day of the actual lesson. You may be one who will plan a year at a time. Don't be discouraged if you have to change your plans. You may plan a month, or week ahead, whichever way works best for your family's lifestyle. Remember to use a pencil when writing out your lesson plans. This way if you need to move a day or more ahead, you will not have a mess to difficult to clean up.
Whether you use textbooks, unit studies, or life packs you will need to know how much to cover in order to complete the required amount of work. It is helpful to know your school schedule ahead of time as to be able to plan your lessons around breaks and holidays.
Once you have established your school schedule, add the number of days you will actually be involved in schooling. (This should be no less than 180 days as per law) Begin with one subject at a time. Some textbooks have a schedule in the front of the teacher's guide. This tells you how much to cover in a set day. If not, you will need to determine this yourself.
We use a science textbook. We simply take the number of chapters or modules, which is 16 and divide it by 4 quarters. This means we will need to accomplish 4 modules a quarter. There are 9 weeks in our quarter. We divide the number of modules (4) per quarter by the number of weeks (9) in our quarter. This means that we need to finish 1 module every two weeks or so. This formula has worked for us in every instance. We use a similar formula for the reading of a classic as well. Take the amount of time assigned for the reading of the classic. Example: 1 quarter = 9 weeks. Divide the number of pages in the book (260) by the number of weeks in the quarter (9). They will need to read 29 pages a week to finish the book on time. You may divide this even further if you wish. Divide the number of pages per week (29) by the number of days in your school week (5). They will need to read approximately 6 pages per day.
If you use unit studies your schedule might be more flexible. You may decide to cover two or more topics a quarter. Take the number of weeks in your quarter and divide it by the number of topics you will study. Plan accordingly.
If you use life packs, such as Alpha Omega, they have printed in the front of the teacher’s companion the amount of time each booklet should take to complete. If not, take the number of booklets and use the same formula from above.
Remember to leave time for field trips and what we call lazy days when planning your school schedule and lesson plans. It is important to remember, especially in the younger years, we want to create a love for learning in our children. In order to do this we must not become so stringent that we allow no time to "smell the roses".