Day 3 Planning/Record Keeping ~ Back to Homeschool 2017

I used to plan everything.  I like knowing *exactly* what to expect.  While I still like knowing ahead of time {When are we going?  What are we doing?  Who will be there?}, I often am more of a "wing it" kind of person.  If someone else wants to involve me in something, I still like to know all about it, but when it's my deal, I'm more willing to wing it.  I have at least one kiddo who is just like me, though.  He needs to know all the details ahead of time if I want him to do something or go somewhere.

I guess I'm somewhere in between when it comes to homeschool planning.  Things change around here pretty regularly because of The Crew.  My commitments to that keep me planning and help me stay on track on everything else, too.  I mentioned yesterday that one of my must haves is my planner.  I won a Well-Planned Day planner one winter.  I spent the next few months with it and realized how very much I liked it.  Ever since then, I've purchased one during the pre-sale in the spring.  Well, except this year because the only shipping option was $10 priority for an item which wouldn't even be ready for weeks, *ahem*  but I did get it again this year.  And I'm pretty sure I will next year.

While I make sure to add my Crew commitments ahead of time, I'm a little more loosey-goosey with other plans.  Usually, I'll write things down for up to two weeks out, but end up drawing a red line through one or two things each day.  As in, I just didn't get to it.  Usually, that's because I added in other things.  Sometimes, we meet friends for a walk, go to the pool or an event at a nearby resort.  Those things get added in place of all those redlined lessons.  We're much less likely to abandon school during the traditional year than during the summer.  It such a short season here, we have to jump at any chance we get to go play!

I'll tell you a secret.  I don't keep many grades.  We use so many types of curriculum that don't really lend themselves to grading.  The online math we use (CTCMath) keeps track of math grades for me, but do they really need that many grades in elementary school?  I'm fully aware of what they do and don't know yet, are struggling with, or have completely mastered.  We do lots of units and lapbooking, but not many worksheets.  I do correct those that they do, but I'm not recording grades.  I have a small bin for each boy that I save some papers or projects that show we have fulfilled our requirements for the state, so pulling things together at the end of the year isn't *too* nervewracking.

I admit to being envious of all those mamas who plan out a whole year and keep it all in some sort of folder file system.  There are so few things we actually use that would fit into a system like that, it wouldn't be worth it to set it up.  How do you handle planning and record keeping?  Check out the links below to see what some of my fellow Crew Mates are writing about today.