Homeschool Lesson Plans Ideas

I admit it, I'm a planner when it comes to everyday life.  However, in my homeschool, I kind of plan as I go.  I do use a lesson plan though but it's more for an idea on "what I did and when".  This is only for my records.  I live in WV and our state law doesn't require us to turn in any kind of lesson plans.  We only have to have an outline plan of instruction.  (Funny how they try to control our homeschool by adding dumb laws like this.)

I thought I would share some of my lesson plans over the 12 years of our homeschooling experience.  Some of these are old, may have even been printed off the web, but are worthy of sharing.  I also wanted to mention that the reason why I have so many different kinds of lesson plans is mainly because I like to change things up a bit.  I get really tired of using the same plans through out the year.  I actually use about 4 different ones for one year of homeschooling.  Call me weird, I would say I'm unique. ;)  I keep these lesson plans in a 3 ring binder along with my field trip logs, reading lists, etc.





This one above is my "go to" lesson plan.  For me, it's easy and stress free.  I just have to check my boxes when completed.  I place the schoolyear in the top right corner, child's name and grade in the middle and the week in the top right. Again, I just do this for me. Please don't poke fun at my self drawn boxes.  ;)




I created this one myself.  It has all five school days are on one page and I just have to fill in the lesson numbers.  There are boxes to check when completed.  By the way, kids LOVE to check boxes of completion!  




This one is a 2 pager.  Monday, Tues., Wed. on the left side and Thurs. & Friday on the right.  It is pretty plain.  You write in what they did for that day in that subject.  Small boxes of completion to check as well.





This one above I found online.  I didn't use it after all.  It was too much writing for me.  So if you are one who likes to write everything in, this one may be for you.  






This was created by me for my son (who graduated last year and is in first year in college, woo hoo).  I wanted something with very little writing and very simple.  All through high school, he chose to do all his work on his own, I just provided the lesson plans weekly for him.  This helped to keep him on track.  This is great for those independent students who want to do everything on their own with very little instruction from mom.  ;)  Basically, he just had to write in what lesson # he did, or circled it, and the page #'s.  Very simple. At the end of the week, Friday afternoon, he gave it back to me.  I would make sure everything was completed and I would have a new one for him by Monday for the next week.






This one is totally different from those I've mentioned so far.  It was copied out of a book (legally) for me to use.  It calls for more detail, writing, etc. so I didn't use it very long.  But I did like it.  It isn't all on one page, but it is very detailed.





This one I created quite a few years ago.  Everything fits on one page.  You just write in what was done or to do.  There is a place for Notes as well.  (Excuse the blue lines, this was the only copy I had.  Not sure what those lines were for originally.)





This one is for 2 students.  You could print more off of course for multiple students.  I would say that this one is for younger children as well.  As you can see, the boxes are set up for one box, one day of homeschooling.  So you need to write in all the work in one box.  This wouldn't work so well if you have older children due to the work load they have wouldn't fit in the box.  






This last one above is just another box type lesson plan.  You just write in what is needed to be done or what has been completed.  

For more ideas on how to build your own Homeschool Planner, go to http://www.donnayoung.org/index.htm

There are all kinds of great, free, printables on this site to create your own planner!

Of course, you can always buy your own if you don't want to print your own.  There are wonderful pre made planners out there.  This one by HEDUA (below) is great.  Click on the pic to go to the link to purchase.






Hope these lesson plan ideas helped!  Happy Homeschool Planning!

Homemade Dishwasher Detergent

I ran out of dishwashing detergent for my dishwasher.  I hate it when that happens.  But I've been doing research on homemade products over the past few months and I remembered that I came across a homemade detergent for the dishwasher.  So I looked it up and tried it today (with fingers crossed).

The recipe is:

Add 3 drops of your regular dishwashing liquid to the compartment
Add (ontop) Baking Soda to 2/3 full
Then fill the rest with salt


Well, it worked and my dishes are clean!  :)  This is definetly cheaper than buying it at the store.  I always have those 3 items in stock in my pantry anyway.  The only downfall is I have to get them out each time I do a load.  I could put the baking soda & salt in containers with a scoop (with exact measurement needed), then I would just have to add the dish soap drops in (first of course).

Hmmmmm.  I may be on to something here.