I am not planning too much. The last few years, I had to plan because we belong to a public school program. My planning this year consists of just a few steps:
1. Talk with the children.
2. Come up with a pile of books and see which ones they want to work on for the next few months.
3. Accept that they all have a difficult time seeing an entire years worth of work. They are all content to see what they are going to work on right now.
4. Print out logging sheets without dates. I like the build your own schedule sheet at Simply Charlotte Mason. I think seeing what we actually accomplish each day feels good for everyone.
5. Consider everyone's weaknesses when picking work that they "must" do. Each child has a so called weakness. Math, Reading, video games. I consider making plans an opportunity to work on our weaknesses. None of these weaknesses are bad per se. I am not throwing out all of our TV's. But, a certain child, who shall remain unnamed, will need to prioritize his work if he wants to get to his play. We are considering a move this year to a state which has ridiculous homeschool laws. I am, personally, concerned about certain weaknesses that may cause a child to test poorly.
6. Don't write anything down unless it is something fun that I need supplies for or should be done on a certain date. Those things can go on the calendar. For the most part we use curriculum now, read lots of books, journal, draw, and create. There just isn't a lot to plan anymore. Plans seems to ruin the creativity around here. Creativity is important to us.
7. No dates. We have plenty of time to finish things. We don't need to date everything and then have to redate everything when we are a day off because we wanted to go bowling or chocolate hunting.
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