How do you prepare?

[Angie in CO]

I'm just curious to know how each of you prepare for rowing a book. Do you prepare for each book as you prepare for the year, two weeks in advance, fly by the seat of your pants?

[Kendra AU]

Well, last year was our first official year homeschooling and it was our rowing. So we started off with Ping because, well he was at the start of the manuals! From there though we fed off on things the kids were really interested in. I would do a quick library list on Thursday or Friday and we'd go on Saturday morning.

This year is a bit different. We did school until the week after Thanksgiving. Didn't start back up until February, and schooled through until July. Now we're suppose to be on break until our new school books all arrive (along with everything else) so i've been using the time to plan out (basic rough drafts) of what our school year will look like.

Only, my six year old said, "Mom, I really want to do school again." Their cousins are in complete shock that they love school. :lol: So until our school "stuff" comes we're rowing non-FIAR stuff "just for fun".

Which brings me back, in a long winded way, to your question. This year I'm making a rough outline of what we'll be doing for the entire year. I read, once upon a time, about a women who planned her school years in the summer. She'd make a list of what she hoped to accomplish and while doing so she'd make prayer lists for each child of things she wanted to cover praying FOR them. I remember thinking, "wow, what an awesome Mom on so many levels!"

While I haven't finished the school plans, or written them in ink, I did get them outlined and wrote a few prayer requests while I was at it. ;) Because I know I could look at the manual and say "right I'll attempt to cover this and this, oh and that!" and then actually start rowing and get lead off in another direction by my children I figure rough plans this far in advance are nice as a guideline, and we'll go from there.

Kendra

[Paige P]

I usually prepare the weekend before or sometimes the week before, which usually works better since I have more time for library trips and "craft" runs. I'm HOPING to be better this year. We haven't started school yet, but I'm not "ready" yet, either :sad: I *know* what I want to do; I just have to get things printed off, etc.

I would like to plan two or three books at a time. Our library lets us check out books for 3 weeks, so that would cover me. Also, it's easier to make ONE trip to Michaels than one every week....... Unfortunately, I want to start next week, and I have yet to get ready for that......... my school room is still a mess from the move. I've actually started organizing that, and often that just makes it worse until you can get things where they actually belong. Today's job........ :D

[Hollie in SC]

Well, I prepare like this:

1. Write up my schedule for the coming year in early spring. We generally school 4 weeks on and 1 week off and legally need 180 days. Then I fill in the books I want to cover each week. I may move things during the year as needed, but this gives me a structure to start with.

2. I start working book by book with my planning sheet for a week (or 2 weeks with Vol 4). I look for United Streaming go-alongs, glance at the archives, and print anything else that will go along with our story. I put the folder away. I try to get about 10 weeks planned out before school starts.....then I try to plan 1 book per week once school begins.

3. When my brain is functioning well :eyes:, I make library requests about 1.5 weeks ahead online.

4. The Friday before I glance through my plans to refresh my memory and see if I have everything I need.

5. On Monday we start a new book! :thumb:

I have done the last minute thing but this is better for our family. :) Our school year is very busy day-to-day and if I haven't planned ahead then it falls apart. :( With a tornado-toddler in the home we have to be very efficient with our time or the house may come down around us. ;) It sounds like a lot, but it really takes me about the same amount of time total that it did when I figured it out the Saturday before we rowed.....

[DeniseR]

Last year usually found me in the library on Fridays scrambling to put something together for whatever book I could find. This year, since I wanted to a bit more structure/go a bit more in depth, I told myself that I would plan at least a few weeks at a time. I picked out the first four books that I wanted to do before we left on vacation and then...um...

Last week I did plan Red Clogs and started yesterday morning with everything I needed for the week. Today, while dd is at "camp" for a couple of hours, I plan on at least sketching out the next three books (I already have some ideas). I figure I can fill in the details and gather things up the week before. Sometime in the next week or two, I need to decide at least the first couple of books for when we come back from vacation. We'll be rolling back into town either on a Wed. or Thurs. so I will be scrambling to unpack, catch up here and trying to get organized for the following Mon.

[Mary FL]

This will be our third year rowing. This is the first year I've planned two books per month for the whole school year taking into account holidays and so on.

I'm so excited about this year and so are my kids. They're ready to start now but we won't until we have a break.

[Jen in SC]

I do something similar to Hollie. :)

[amyIL]

This is my first year...but I've planned quite a bit already. I'm scared I'll throw in the towel otherwise. I just mapped out which books (I'm starting with vol. 1 only) I wanted to do and when. I chose 3 a month with a week off for review or unexpected things. I've already gone through the archives and www.thehomeschoolmom.com/schoolroom/fiar for ideas to add to the manual and put that on the planning sheet found in the manual and tucked it into a file folder. Now I will plan for the next two weeks. Order library books, make a list of things I might need for art, science experiment, etc. We have started school this week, but will start rowing next week. I guess I wont' know how well my planning has worked until I actually start!

[Julie in AZ]

I plan similar to Hollie too. :)