Preliminary Groundwork (A Planning Post)

My other two planning posts were sort of random — just answering some questions that have come up. This post is a real planning post, and this year, unlike previous years, I’m going to try and give some detail on general and preliminary planning — basically the how rather than just sharing the what at the end. Please note that this does not mean that my way of planning is the only way of planning. I’m giving these details because we all need a place from which to start, and I think that when moms share details with each other, it’s like we get to collect all these ideas that we can then adapt to our own situations.

Honestly, if I hadn’t had the other two posts already published, I’d have done this as a four part series, with this being the first. This first stage is what I call Preliminary Groundwork; another name for it might be pre-scheduling. What I do in this stage is universal for all homeschools, while some of my later stages will be very particular to Charlotte Mason and AmblesideOnline homeschools.

Make Curricular Decisions

An example of this can be found in my post on Latin Planning for Multiple Students. Before we can schedule, we have to order books, and before we can order books, we have to decide which books we’re buying. I know this seems obvious, but I’ve been tempted to do these things out of order before, and maybe you have, too. I use AO almost entirely as written, but still there are decisions I have to make — what math curriculum, what Latin curriculum, what grammar curriculum, etc.

So now is the time. Make a call, and write your decisions down.

Order the Books

AmblesideOnline has example weekly schedules, so I don’t really have to start from scratch when scheduling, but still I need to see the books in order to make decisions about them. Also, ordering them early means you have time to resolve mistakes. I have three mistakes this year so far, and this week I’m asking for refunds {a book not in the condition listed by the seller, a paperback I received when I ordered a hardback, and a copy not listed as annotated when I was shopping for a full version}.

Track Deliveries, Return and Reorder Mistakes

I know I already mentioned this, but I do consider this separate from ordering my books, plus I want to encourage you to think of this as an important step. I have had books not come, and when you have a tight budget, that is a big deal if you don’t notice until term 3 {because it’s a term 3 book} and now it is too late to ask for a refund.

To the right is my simple spreadsheet that I use for tracking. I simply note the book I ordered, where I ordered it, and if it arrived. I used to record when I ordered it, but that is easy for me to look up, so I don’t do that anymore. Sometimes, in another column, I’ll note anything important {like a date that I requested a refund if something when wrong with the order}.

Remove Last Year’s Books from the Shelves

Um, you ordered new books and you need a place to put them, see? So now is a good time to make room. If you’re like me, you don’t actually have room for all of your books. I store AO books that we aren’t currently using in my bedroom closet in boxes. Each child gets a school shelf {well, the two youngest are going to share this year}, which means I have to clear an additional shelf — last year we only needed two shelves for everything, whereas this year we definitely need three.

Start a Shopping List

By this, I mean supplies you are going to need. You don’t have to buy anything right now, but as you are planning, you’re going to think about how you need new erasers or something, so decide where you’re going to keep that list and always keep it in the same place. This is hard for me because I am a notorious list-loser, so I type it into another tab in the same document where I am tracking my book orders deliveries.

If you want a list on paper, and you want it to be cute, Pam has a Resource Planning List, a Resource Shopping List, and a Wishlist — and they all coordinate. You won’t need all three, I don’t think, but the three format options are handy. The Resource Shopping List has slots for price comparison, which is good if you are in the market for expensive items, such as a microscope or computer. I even use these forms for Christmas ideas! Once I had them, I started using them for all sorts of stuff.

Map the Year

I use the one-page calendar from Plan Your Year, which I love.

Mapping out the year does not mean that you can’t change it later. I find it helpful to have a plan, even if I have to revise it later due to unforeseen circumstances. My general pattern is six weeks of school, followed by one week of “Sabbath rest.” This year, though, I can’t follow that pattern precisely due to speaking engagements. This is good to know in advance — I want my weeks off to match up with these commitments as much as possible so that I’m not trying and failing at school because I’m gone or have prep work I need to do. This way, the week before I speak, I can simply prepare and enjoy my family without getting stressed out. At least, I hope I don’t get stressed out. 🙂

You might have vacations or other travel plans that you want to work around.

I start not by highlighting the weeks we will do school, but the weeks I know we won’t. I aim for 175 days minimum in my school year, so once I have my weeks off mapped out, I start to highlight the weeks on until I have enough to fulfill our goals.

And that’s all for today. 🙂

Next time, we’ll talk about creating blank scheduling templates in order to make scheduling a lot easier.

In the meantime: what did I forget? What do you do that you consider “preliminary groundwork” for your scheduling process?