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It’s the middle of February and I’ve been deep into planning for a new Homeschool year since the month began (it’s now April so this post is a long time coming). We’ll be starting Ambleside Online Year 3 in the summer. I’ll go over more of what we are using in detail in another Youtube video and blog post but today I’m just focusing on the ‘How’ of things.
Our budget varies each year, and really depends upon how much I’ve found thrifting but I like to shop around and really be more on the frugal side leaving room for field trips or any changes. Our main curriculum is free which really helps me put my budget towards other things.
Whether you’re new to homeschooling or are you looking for ideas for planning a Charlotte Mason Homeschool I hope sharing how I plan is an encouragement to you!
How I plan for a new Homeschooling Year:
Research Curriculum & Print out AO Schedule
Now we’ve been using Ambleside Online as our spine for a few years so this part goes much quicker than in the beginning but honestly it’s my favorite part (after the new curriculum arriving part of course). There is so much out there so it can also seem daunting at times too. I like to focus on our Philosophy of education to narrow things down. If something catches my eye I’ll watch flip throughs and read blog posts about it. I’ll also lurk in Instagram Stories for a few months watching other Homeschool Moms share it in action. I like to print out the schedule for our new AO year and look over the 36 weeks. Reading through everything is really helpful so you know what to expect.
Pro Tip: Pay attention to when companies you like offer sales, I snag some things for an upcoming year during black friday, and some in summer for back to school sales. This gives me the best deal and the earlier I start looking the more time I have to thrift things too!
Select Curriculum that AO doesn’t cover
Make a Booklist of Books we want to read for the year
Acquire Books for the new year and any New Homeschool supplies needed
I check my shelves first to see if I have anything already in my Home Library or if I can substitute anything out instead of buying something new that might be harder to find (I tend to skip those if my library doesn’t have those). I do like using the library for some things but other books might be used all year so I will have to own those.
Make a Prereading list and start Prereading
Any books my daughter will be reading independently I’ll try to listen to or find questions online in the AO forums to discuss what she’s read together. I’ll Mark chapter books and books for lessons with the weeks we will be reading them and add in my prereading journal questions, places to stop, anything that would help me like how to say names or places, captain idea and recaps.
Prep My Mother Teacher Binder: Print Out Artwork, Find Composer Playlists, Biographies
Ambleside Online has great Biographies of Artists and Composers Lyrics in the facebook group. I’ll also prepare the Student Binder with similar things and anything I come across that would be useful. The files section in the AO group is a gold mine.
For Mother Culture:Read Homeschool Books, Listen to Podcasts, etc anything that will help me along the way with homeschooling, I’m always looking for ways to improve myself. Conventions are great helps as well!
Mission Statement and Goals
Creating a mission statement (your vision for the year, goals and why you homeschool, etc) I’ve found helpful to read over each year to make sure my goals are still the same and what we’re doing aligns with what I want out of Home Education. Something I can pray over and also help encourage myself in any hard times or hiccups.
Get My Planner & Set Aside Time Each Week
I get my planner from Schoolnest usually, it’s doubled in price this year so I’m still debating on it but I really like her planners so I’ll probably stick with it (Update: I love it and here’s a youtube flip through). I really like filling in my planner with ideas and goals I’d like to get to in the new Homeschool year. I use a time table too for laying out each homeschool day but I’ve found a weekly time set aside to look over what I’m planning to get done in the next week and mark it in my planner really helps me stay focused and keep things realistic.
I print out a Calendar to mark our planned breaks and vacations and see how that’s going to work out. I start ours in June-May.
Organize our Homeschool Space for the New Homeschool Year
I do this twice once in January/February and once more in summer right before we begin anew in July. June is our Summer break of sorts but we do a summer rhythm instead of stopping completely.
I try to be prepared while also staying flexible because things change, or don’t work and thats the beauty of Homeschooling is how flexible it can all be!
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