This is our first year homeschooling. This summer I planned out the whole year, what we’ll be doing, when we’ll be doing it. That was my first mistake! Lesson learned! Next time I’ll plan a month or two in advance and then have general plans for the rest of the year and as the time get’s closer do a more detailed plan.
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I usually plan a week at a time but I want to be more organized for next school year and would like to plan for six weeks at a time.
Definitely love the idea of just planning out the WHOLE year in a few months!!! Going to use this method for my homeschooling!!!
I planned in 8-week quarters this year and love it. I’ve always tried to plan anywhere from 2-6 week chunks with spreadsheets with check boxes, and end up dropping it fast.
This year I made 8-week schedules with a check mark page for each week. I made my girls (6th and 4th) 8-week assignment journals, with each week separated by a tabbed page and spiral bound the whole “journal.” Behind each week’s assignment page is all the pages they need for that week - including blank/lined paper for math and spelling. Everything they need for the week is behind that week’s tab. If it’s a page from a workbook, it gets torn out and put behind the right week. I also only plan 4-days of assignments because of co-op on Friday, so it’s easy to “catch up” if needed.
This method has really helped this year! Especially for my 6th grader.
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I made my own planner last year using free printables and had it bound at office max. It was great to have exactly what I needed.
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Because I do a LOT of curriculum reviews, I can’t plan too far in advance. It’s worth it to me to be so flexible/loosey-goosey, though, because I never have to buy curriculum 
I don’t have a plan yet. My goal is to plan over the summer, and then evaluate at Christmas time to see what is working and what isn’t. We are starting Kindergarten this fall, and we were really lose with Preschool stuff.
That’s exactly why I need this forum!!! I’m in my 1st round of planning for this Fall! I need all the help I can get!! 
I typically plan one to two weeks at a time, except for the high schooler. I plan months at a time for her. It is helpful to plan the 2 younger ones weekly (or biweekly) because we have to adjust as they need extra practice or life rearranges their schedules.
I try to have all of my standard curriculum set for the year by mid summer. Then I can think of additional unit studies and supplements for along the way. Despite good planning, things always change, which is one huge gift of homeschooling. Just this year, we changed Literature and Science for my 7th grader mid stream. Very positive changes. So even the best laid plans… 
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I love planning and organizing! I will hopefully start your letter of the week program with my toddler this fall. She will be 3 in October. I’m sure your planner will help us organize our new homeschooling adventures!
Just new to the homeschooling ad only starting in kindergarten. So my plan is to take the learning objectives from the gov’t crucculumilm and plan it out so they are all covered by the end of the year.
Hello All - we are planning to homeschool our daughter beginning next semester (only child, going into 4th grade)…and MY head (personality) is leaning towards trying to have planned out the entire year…'course I figure there are changes and tweaks that will be made weekly or whatnot…but I pretty much am aiming for a year outlined and planned. We’ll see…just beginning to get into it all, curriculum, schedules, PLANNERS/Software, styles, etc. I think we’re going to try unit studies mode and see how it goes…adding in some selections for math and LA, electives, etc. Just found COAH today…so jumping in and looking forward to gleaning from the wisdom of seasoned homeschoolers!!
Thank you for the information. This will help me start narrowing down my choices for curriculum next year.
Tasha
Your book was the first homeschool book I bought. We do year round and I do more goal setting than planning. I have things to cover for different months/seasons. Then week by week I set goals, pages of handwriting, math, books read. I don’t use a lot of curriculum. The more I HS the more relaxed I get about it and the more relaxed I get, the fast she seems to learn
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I am just beginning. My daughter is almost 4 and I have a 2-year-old and newborn. I am enjoying reading all of your posts to get an idea of how others plan.
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I generally plan a week at a time and base it off of how well (or not so well) they did last week. I have two 10year-old’s so it’s easy because they are in the same grade. I tailor the lessons to fit their personal interests and planning a week at a time allows me to make course corrections as needed before the errors get too big. There are a few things that I plan ahead though, like going through the 50 states (using the COAH Road Trip USA ) and then we will be doing the presidents. For our literature, we are currently reading the Chronicles of Narnia, and next is the Harry Potter series. So some things I like to know ahead of time, but others, like art, I go off of their current interests.
I have been all over the place! Planning, not planning, completing, not completing. Lol. Thankfully I found confessions of a homeschooler. I am currently trying to organize our day using the system found in homeschooling 101. Thanks Erica, for all your hard work in putting all of this together. It is such a blessing.
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At the beginning of every year I do a general timeline for each subject - to get an idea of how much to cover each day. Then I plan (detailed) 6 weeks at a time. This lets me reevaluate and see if we’re moving the right speed with the right curriculum. – This being said though, I only fill in the upcoming week in my planner - just in case we get off track.
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I normally do week to week planning. I am starting to get the hang of planning now that It has been one year of HS. Last year the evaluator said she thought I needed to relax and enjoy more. I was so focused on making sure I was doing enough for my dyslexic daughter that I was constantly stressed. This year I have tried to be more flexible and go with the flow. I do wonder if I am doing enough. I think I am, and I see growth and I am really enjoying school this year (minus the 10 weeks of morning/all day sickness) haha
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