This year I found a new obsession...spreadsheets. They used to intimidate me to no end. But, my husband gave me an assignment last winter to make a chart comparing various educational options for high school and the *only* way to accomplish that was to take on the challenge of a spreadsheet head on. So, I did. Who knew that once I got going I wouldn't be able to stop myself!?!
So, I thought I'd list the projects I've been working on this year. I've learned that if I make them in google documents, I can share them easily and work on them from any computer that's accessible. That's helpful to me. Just thought I'd let you know about that in case it would be helpful to any of you. If you have some charts, lists, or other fun things you'd like to share, let me know. I love seeing how others thing, organize, and sort their lives. ;-) I think that's why I've become so smitten with spreadsheets. It's a whole new way to organize my duties. All of those little gridlines are like a shelf that holds the thoughts neatly in place. Oh, how I need that!
My initial assignment led us to make the decision to switch the bulk of our learning materials to textbooks. From there, I developed a couple spreadsheets to use to compare the various textbook curriculum out there to help us make a decision on what we'd like to use. I focused on 8th grade history and science, as we had already made decision regarding math and language arts. These charts may prove useful for someone else, so here you go. :-)
Click on the titles below to get to the spreadsheet links.
8th Grade History/Geography
8th Grade Science
I then made a chart listing all of the curriculum items I was considering for all of our children for the coming year in each subject. Over several months I researched, shopped, and narrowed down our options until I had a complete plan for the coming school year. The spreadsheet was very helpful, as I was able to keep tweaking it as I went along.
2011-2012 School Year Curriculum Plan
I also made a shopping list to help me see what I needed from each provider I was using. That, however, I changed as I purchased items, eliminating what I bought. So, not it's pretty much empty and isn't all that helpful to see. I did organize it in such a way that I could see how much each item cost new from the source I found the lowest price and used that when I was shopping the used curriculum sales. That was a great way to see just how great my savings was when I found something from my list being sold second-hand.
The past couple of weeks I have been working on planning out the full year of lessons. I get a little detailed, and I don't anticipate us actually accomplishing *everything* on the chart. But, I find it very helpful for me to see what our year could look like, when we would/could/should begin and finish materials to end the year strong. I like having a "map" of sorts that gives me the general direction we are heading, how to back on course if we side-step a bit, and what we may need to set aside for a while should it become too much for us to keep up with. I color coded this one, helping me see which materials go with which child. ;-)
Lesson Plan 2011-2012
Then I moved on to work on a weekly plan, getting an idea of how much time each subject would take and which days we would work on them. This chart is still a work in progress, but it's close to done. Again, color coded for easy reference. I've really grown to like using colors in my charts. :-)
Weekly Lesson Plan
Next I'll be working on our daily assignment sheets. These I print out for each student at the beginning of the week. They can see what needs to be completed each day and check it off as they go. When I review their work, I also check it off. Then, when Daddy gets home, he looks for my checkmarks and is able to see just how great (or not so great ;-)) a day each student had. I need to go over these yet and customize them a bit for the coming year so I'll wait to load them on here until I do so.
So, that's what has been keeping me busy this last month. I also re-worked our chore schedule for the new school year and I'll post those charts next. For now, I thought I'd share what I've been learning and working on in the hopes that it may encourage or help another homeschool mom that visits here. And hey, if I print them out and tuck them in my binder I'll have a quick answer for that ever-popular question us homeschool moms always ask each other, "What curriculum are you using this year?" :-D
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