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Heart of Dakota Blog

Why Doesn’t Heart of Dakota Use a Weekly Grid for Their Lesson Plan Format?

  • Carrie Austin, M.Ed.
  • / Teaching Tips
  • / October 12, 2023
Heart of Dakota - Teaching Tip - Why Doesn't Heart of Dakota Use a Weekly Grid for Their Lesson Plan Format?

Why don’t we use a weekly grid for our lesson plan format?

During my 11 years teaching public school, I wrote lesson plans using a variety of formats. The weekly grid format was by far the most common. By the time I was teaching my own sons at home, I knew the pitfalls of a weekly grid. Any interruption to the week’s schedule meant I was “off schedule” for the week according to the grid. This left me rushing to cram the rest of the week’s work into fewer days. If I didn’t, I was off schedule for the next week’s plans.

Why do we use a daily plan format instead of a weekly grid?

When I began writing plans for my own kiddos, I made daily plans rather than using a weekly grid. If there was a disruption, I could set aside the plan without feeling like I had disrupted my entire week. Then, the next day, I could pick the plan back up and continue where I left off. This meant there was no need to double up and get back on schedule. My goal was to finish the guide by year-end, without making each week in between a cramming process.

Think of your Heart of Dakota guide as a series of days to be completed.

I encourage you to think of your Heart of Dakota guide as a series of days rather than a series of weeks. Don’t worry about Day 1 being on Monday each week. Instead, focus on completing one day of plans before moving on to the next day of plans. In this way, you will have a smoother more balanced path all year long!

Blessings,
Carrie

PS: If you want more helpful information in this same vein, check out these articles here and here!

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This Post Has 8 Comments

  1. Kelly Wade April 26, 2018 Reply

    This is oneof my favorite things about Heart of Dakota! I love the easier yoke of daily plans. I really do feel free to just live the life I actually have and go day by day in school. I have such a strong “box checker” nature and those weekly grids would stress me out so much! Thank you for going through the trouble of providing DAILY plans!

    1. Julie Grosz, M.Ed. April 26, 2018 Reply

      I feel the same way, Kelly! My sons do as well, and they are especially thankful for this format in high school. This format has made it easy to see what needs to be accomplished each day. They feel such a sense of accomplishment each day, and so do I!

  2. Sara October 12, 2023 Reply

    Hello,
    I am curious– when I have those weeks with interruptions and I need to set aside the plan for the day, I still feel like I need to cram, because there are still 180 days till the end of the guide. Eventually I feel further and further from finishing the guide as I accomplish less than a day’s work. For instance, I am working through Beyond with my girls. I am trying to decide if we need to skip weeks to finishing the guide or just plan on not being able to finish the guide by the end of the year. We have to break during the summer because of our ministry job. Thank you.

  3. Jaclyn October 12, 2023 Reply

    Like Sarah, the commenter above, I also struggle with this in a big way. We can only do HOD 4 days per week because of co-op and other homeschool classes. This leaves no wiggle room in my schedule if something comes up. Last year, I made my daughter in Preparing (4th grade) finish her science and history. We started the last week of August and did not finish until June 21st. It was a pretty big bummer as we “do school” fairly consistently. I know a lot of people would just choose a stopping point for the year and finish the guide the next year, but then I still feel like I am “behind” because my kids wouldn’t get through all the guides if I do that. It is a constant joy-stealer for me, I aways feel behind no matter what I do. This year I am going to attempt more of a balanced calendar to see if that helps us get through our guides and still do all the other things we love and need to do (fall and spring camping trips, field trips, season clothing changes, etc). Any advice and help would be so appreciated. I’ve got 3 in separate HOD guides and we have done Little Hands up to now CTC (currently).

  4. Julie Grosz, M.Ed. October 13, 2023 Reply

    Hi Sara! For most my homeschooling, I have taught 3 HOD guides and worked part-time during the homeschool year and full-time in the summer. I consider HOD a ministry, and I completely understand your wanting to give your ministry all your attention in the summer! Blessedly, the younger guides are completed in short amounts of time, and the older guides switch to 4 days a week and have independent work.

    First Tip:
    It has always helped me to pull out a year-at-a-glance calendar. I mark off the days I know we need/want off (i.e. the summer for work, Christmas break, sons’ fishing on Fridays with my hubby, vacations, etc.). I also add 5-10 days, for sick days or extra days off for whatever. This helps me make enough time for homeschooling a priority. So, Beyond… has 170 days of plans, adding 5-10 more, you’d mark of 175 to 180 days. I realize your year is underway already, but it is only October, so you can still mark off the remaining days of plans plus some extra days to finish Beyond… out.

    Second Tip:
    Beyond… only takes about 2 to 2 ½ hours a day to do. If you have interruptions in the day, do what you can and get creative with the time. Check off what you’ve completed, and the next day finish out the remaining plans first and then move on to the next day to get back on track. Even with interruptions, I’ve found it pretty easy to get back on track this way. Very rarely, were there so many interruptions that we couldn’t homeschool at least 1 to 2 hours when we looked at using our days/times creatively. If you are finding you are having too many interruptions, it is helpful to consider what can be done to minimize the interruptions.

    Third Tip:
    If you don’t finish the guide and it is a younger guide with short time allotments, leisurely spread it out to finish it in the summer. As moms of young children, we often still read books aloud to the kiddos, do artsy/hands-on projects, do little workbooks to keep them writing a little, practice math facts, listen to music, read the Bible, keep doing a little phonics/reading, etc., as little ones backslide in LA/math/fine motors skills otherwise. Instead of doing those things, do Beyond, as it has all these components already. Just do it slowly, i.e. an hour a day or so. This will slowly get you back on track and be fun too! I have done this working full-time in the summer and enjoyed it!

    In Christ,
    Julie

  5. Julie Grosz, M.Ed. October 13, 2023 Reply

    Hi Jaclyn! You have 3 kiddos just like me, so much of what I shared with Sara will also work for you! You already had the calendar idea, which has worked great for me! With 3 guides, you might have little ones in guides with 170 days of plans and older ones with 140 days of plans. I either did the Third Tip above with my little ones in the summer, so I could do homeschool 4 days a week with everyone during the homeschool year. Or, I’d mark of 175-180 days of school on my calendar and start half-speed for 30 days with the olders in 4-day a week guides. Even with 4-day-a-week-guides, we homeschooled 5 days a week through the winter, and we always have. Our winters are long and c-c-cold! It is a great time to homeschool! So, it helps to get creative with days/times homeschooling too!

    In Christ,
    Julie

  6. Julie Grosz, M.Ed. October 13, 2023 Reply

    Here is a link to my blog post about using a calendar to plan when you will homeschool:

    https://www.heartofdakota.com/2021/09/10/things-to-consider-when-choosing-the-days-youll-homeschool/#comment-70121

  7. Julie Grosz, M.Ed. October 13, 2023 Reply

    If you have multiple children in multiple guides, it is important to have a daily routine/schedule written out and provided to children. Check out Carrie’s post here:

    https://www.heartofdakota.com/2023/08/24/routine-or-schedule/

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