Planning Our Home School

Assalaamu Alaikum wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuh

Alhamdulillah,since the 25th of August, as planned, we have been trying to get things in order again, and we have been planning..preparing for the homeschool year, restocking our kitchen and household essentials, organizing our home etc. We have spent quite sometime creating  plans, schedules and lists for our home and family. (which has been long time pending, ever since Ramadan ended) .Planning ahead helps a lot alhamdulillah in the long run, It is also one of the sunnah of the beloved Prophet Muhammed saw.

So, basically what we did was, we designed a master binder,  which includes a meal plan, a freezer meal  prep day planner, a chore assignment list, a revised grocery list, a revised daily schedule and homeschool curriculum n book list for the next 4 months, homeschool lesson plan for the next month and a detailed lesson plan with all extra activities etc for the next two weeks Alhamdulillah... 

 As this post is about preparing for our homeschool sessions,I would like to walk you through the  process of designing our home school monthly lesson plans.  What we do is, I go through all the lessons and jot down the lessons for the month, check out which lessons can be merged, depending upon the theme in a particular subject and then divide it into 4 major sub-topics, a topic for a week and then make a detailed plan for 2 weeks Alhamdulillah. It might seem stressful or exhausting just imagining doing this for 6 children but  Alhamdulillah its really not.

We usually do not make extensive long term detailed plans for our homeschool year. With little kids we are bound have our order sometimes disrupted or our plans changed.. So, to be on a safer side, we plan and work with a system for two weeks ...if it suits well with everyone, then that's great Alhamdulillah and we continue likewise or else we make itty bitty changes ,when planning for the next two weeks...The key is to be flexible and relaxed.

In our plan, we also assign an activity a day,  for my little group of kids. like for example every Monday we  spend some time sewing  and then every Tuesday we do some baking and every Wednesday we do some science experiment and so on , We make sure we will do these activities based on the lessons we plan to do in the day Insha Allah, that way they have fun learning some skills and revising what they learnt at the same time.  

Alhamdulillah ever since we started this two week plan system, planning our lessons have become less stressful and more enjoyable, than what we used to do when planning 2 to 3  months lessons in advance.. 

 Its Alhamdulillah our eighth year into this blessed home educating journey and yet somehow we are still learning the right way, for now this is what is best suited for our family. With each kid growing up, their interests and ways of learning start to differ, what systems worked for some children last year may not work for them the next year and that is in a way , the beauty of this journey Alhamdulillah. 

Just a note to remember,after so many years I have learnt that, there is no one single right way, just doing whats best for your family is actually the right way. 

I hope this is beneficial for many of those starting out on this journey or to those who are still working on how to plan a good year ahead Insha Allah.

Jazakallahu khairan

Please remember my family in your prayers  Insha Allah.