School Planning for Academic Year 2009/2010

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If you have been wondering why there haven’t been any new posts lately, it’s because I have been school planning for the academic year 2009/2010 for our 5 school-aged children. And why has it taken so long? It is because I can only do focused uninterrupted work when the baby sleeps, which she doesn’t do a lot of. 🙁

School Planning is Finally Done!

Anyhow, it’s done. Completed. Finished.

Whew!

For a moment I thought I wouldn’t be able to finish it by this week. So to be able to finish mid-week is a real bonus. And I rewarded myself with some chocolate 😛

School Starts end-August

We re-start school on 31st August 2009 and will end in July 2010. If you are wondering why we have such a weird time frame, you might want to check out my School’s Out post.

Prior to this, I went online to Popular Bookstore to order the needed textbooks and assessment books. This saves me a ton of time. Ordering online ensures that all the books I want are available and can be collected at the branch most convenient to me.

Our Grand Plan for Our Academic Year 2009/2010

Besides Bible and English, which we will be using Student of the Word Year 5, I am using all of MOE‘s recommended textbooks for Maths, Science and Chinese. That makes life much less complicated for me. Yes, it may seem boring to the rest of you. But when you have 7 children to raise, you look for the most efficient way to do things. And yes, we school the textbook, traditional way.

(Note: I was once very swayed by the other more “interesting” methods out there but could never pull it off due to our family dynamics. So I felt guilty. But then I read the Maxwells Managers of Their School and was reassured that teaching the children with the traditional textbook method wasn’t that bad after all. Thank God for the different methods out there that suit different family needs and dynamics.)

No Crash Course for PSLE

I know quite a few friends who use other curricula. But in the final two years, they have to do a crash course for the child to prepare for PSLE. I know that would drive me nuts! Getting the children used to the local system from Day 1 means less stress for us when we hit the PSLE* year.

* PSLE is a compulsory nation-wide exam all Singaporeans are required to sit for, unless special exemption has been granted by MOE.

Dividing Up the Work for the Year

Once I get hold of the text & assessments, I divide them up to fit into our school year in my Master Lesson Plan for each child. I like this form from Donna Young* because it allows me to type in my lesson plan. You can choose to write it out of course. I just like the way it looks when it is all typed out and printed 🙂

Each One Gets Own Planner

Each child gets his/her own Planner based on his/her Master Plan. But not the entire year’s work at one go. Instead, I print out their individual planners once every 4 weeks, since we school 4 weeks and take a one week break all year long*. This allows me to make adjustments as and when we need to. Eg. throw out books that are not working out, increase practice in weak areas, etc. which I cannot forsee at the beginning of the year.

Each child then keeps this planner and all their books for the year into their labelled Toyogo plastic box.* To create some excitement for school, I also buy each child a new set of stationery. 🙂

BTW do you know how difficult it is to find nice and non-garish pencil cases???

My Own Planner

One last thing before I am done, I condense all the children’s planners into 2 A4-sized paper and insert them into my own DIY Planner*. This way, I can tick off what needs to be done by which child daily and it also keeps me accountable where grading their work is concerned.

And then we are set to go. If only DOING school is as easy as school planning!

Related Posts

Homeschool Planning (a more detailed post)
Raising Independent Learners (mentions our choice of curriculum plus school planning)

UPDATES to this post made 17th October 2017:

1. Donna Young no longer provides free printables. So I found editable calendars from Vertex42 instead.

2. We now school 6 weeks on and take 1 week off. Read Homeschool Schedule.

3. The Toyogo boxes got too bulky so we used plastic magazine holder boxes instead.

4. I do not transfer their planners into mine anymore. They are old enough to monitor their own work now.

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