How to Plan Homeschool

Donna Young Explains How to Plan Homeschool

Let us say that you have researched the legalities of homeschooling and you have every part of that out of the way entirely. What you need to know now, is what to do next. Some questions that you might ask are.

• What subjects should your child study?
• What is a course of study?
• How do you choose books?
• Where do you find the books?
• How do you make lesson plans?
• How do you organize your day?

My Basic Advice - Keep it simple

If I were to give advice to a new homeschooler regarding planning lessons, it would something be this:

Do not over plan or over schedule your child's work and day. If you are spending hours planning one week, then you could be over planning. Keep it simple, or at least, keep the *base plans simple and **expand them as you see fit to accomplish certain goals or standards. The How to Plan section has a few examples of how to break down books for your use in homeschooling.

*Example of base plans:
Planning Wordly Wise
Notice that the plans simply list page numbers.

**Example of expanded plans:
Alpha Omega General Health pacs 708 and 709 Lesson Plans
Plans expanded to included other activities such as making posters, drawings, presentations, and reports.

I have listed the steps for getting started with planning as well as steps in making simple lesson plans. This section of DonnaYoung.org Homeschool Planning is divided up into several parts.

1. Homeschool Planning Beginners - A step by step for first year homeschoolers and a suggested step by step for 2nd year and beyond.
2. (Surviving) The Curriculum Fair - How to survive it
3. Scheduling Tips for Homeschool - For grades under 7th.
4. Master Lesson Plans - What are Master Plans for the homeschooler?
5. What is a Keyed Planner? - Donna has these, what are they?
6. How To Make Simple Lesson Plans for Homeschool - Several pages detailing how to plan.
   1. Alpha Omega General Health pacs 708 and 709 Lesson Plans - This shows "extended" or "enhanced" plans. I also go over the reason why plans could be enhanced as well as why you should not enhance a course.
   2. How To Make Lesson Plans for Homeschool~ BJUP Geography This shows the basic steps in planning a typical text book.
   3. Planning Easy Grammar How to plan a work book as well as tips for the teacher
   4. LifePacs Home Economics Units 6-10
   5. Planning a Moon Unit for Homeschool
   6. Spelling Planner
   7. Lesson Plans for Peterson's Success with Words
   8. Planning Astronomy Unit for Homeschool
   9. Planning The Story Of Inventions
   10. Planning Wordly Wise

The "What is"

For years I have had these what is pages, but they were buried when I remodeled my web site in 2008. They are linked at a few places, but for the most part, these pages will go unnoticed unless I link them here, on a more prominent page. here are the What is pages:

• What is English
• What is Spelling
• What is Vocabulary
• What is Language Arts