Reflections on planning & organization after 6 weeks
Six weeks ago I shifted a bit in my approach to our homeschool preschool planning and prepping. Perhaps the shift started sooner (with my digital tracking tool + bullet journal) but six weeks ago is when I started *attempting* to prep for the next six months and wrote a lesson plan for the next six weeks. Here’s my update on how that is going, what’s working, and were I still want to improve.
Prepping
We are year round homeschoolers. It is HARD to prep for the next six months while you are still prepping for the next six weeks. I may not be able to get as ahead as I want until I hold some extra space for prep. I need to turnover the garden beds and prep the fall garden. I also need to get a few things transitioned for the season and get some things done in the house first. Once those items are done (after this week) I am going to pause and time block homeschool prepping in my schedule. That said, I should really give myself some credit. I am not completely last minute with my prep and have been able to be ready the weekend or week before for much of this summer which is truly a breath of fresh air compared to the night before or even the day of. I DIY some projects and print, laminate, and cut out my own three part cards and things.. Sometimes I even write my own. This takes time. I think I would like to have our weeks or days off prep free and some weekends prep free. I am hoping to achieve this by prepping further ahead.
Verdict: I honestly am happier with having things done before the week starts. After this week, I will be able to make more space for prep and this will allow me to have a little buffer with less prep or even (gasp) no prep sometimes. We shall see how it goes.
Planning
Planning is a strong suit of mine. Prior to this summer, I planned for the year in outline form and planned quarterly. I shifted this summer (with the start of our new school year) to a yearly outline, six months planning (really looking at my tracking tool + outline to ensure I have ordered materials and such), and more detailed planning for six weeks out. I looked at materials needed for the next year and grabbed or planned DIY’s for what we need for the next six months. So far I am really loving this shift. I feel like I know what comes next in the sequence and can balance this with observations which makes following the child smoother. Less scrambling to get something together or learn a lesson to present.
Verdict: I feel pretty confident with my system and planning at this point. Will continue this format this year I believe.
Organization
Since I am such a planner, one might assume that I am organized… I am not. It’s gotten bad ya’ll. My space for the materials out of rotation, books, 3-part cards, posters, etc. is way out of control. That’s one of my projects right now in the house. I plan to have the sun porch functional this week (where I finally consolidated most of my homeschool related things at the beginning of the summer). I am grabbing a shelf or two and am organizing everything by subject and age. I need to decide how to store all my infant materials. I am pulling some sensorial materials that we are done with for now. I have saved most of the boxes that the materials came in so that should be helpful. I’m not 100% sure the best way to store. I think I just need to do it.
Our homeschool space and main living area (one in the same!) stay pretty organized. I do need to add a couple more shelves. I will add a second one like the one we already have and then get a couple from Ikea. We are not close to an Ikea so… we have to make plans to make a trip. I so wish they could find a better way to ship in the US!
I also watched Trillium Montessori’s decluttering challenge and found it helpful. I need to actually hold space to apply what I’ve learned. Highly recommend! Now to put it to work.
Verdict: Main focus in the next couple of weeks.
Game Plan
- Organize materials out of rotation
- Continue with planning as is
- Time block prepping to get further ahead
Let’s see how the next 6-8 weeks go!
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