Preparing For the Week Ahead
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Fridays are a great time to get ready for the upcoming week. By preparing for the week ahead, your weekends are free for relaxing and having fun! At least in theory. Laundry, cleaning, and grocery shopping always seem to still be there. But at least all of the schoolwork is ready to go!
Preparing for the week ahead doesn’t actually take very long. I can usually get it all set within 10 minutes once all the materials are available. The key to being ready in a short amount of time is planning and organization.
Preparing for the week ahead…
Lesson planning
I write out a scope and sequence for our curriculums each summer. This means that I just need to refer to my planning binder to see what we are scheduled to do each week. I take those plans and break them down into the daily goals and write them in the weekly plans section of the binder.
I try to have all lesson plans prepared by Thursday so I can gather everything before I need it. Nothing gets my day off track faster than having to search for supplies. It really is easier to just keep things organized.
Printing/copying
I do not own a printer. Surprising, right? What homeschooler doesn’t have a printer? We had one a few years ago, but it was always such a hassle making sure it had ink and was cleaned. Don’t even get me started on the times it randomly decided not to talk to my computer. When it broke I decided not to replace it.
Instead of printing at home, I print at our local library. This might not be practical if you have to pay for printing, but our library offers this service as a perk of having a library card. We are able to print 70 black and white pages each week per library card!
I email myself links and attachments that need to be printed so it is all easy to access away from home. If I find something later in the week that I want to print, I hit reply and add it to the email string. When I am at the library, I just open my email and print everything at once.
My library also has a copy machine that allows me to make copies for $0.10 a page. I usually only copy a few pages from our Story of the World Activity book so this costs less than a dollar each week.
*Update – I recently bought a printer. Printing at the library is still a great deal though, so I do it whenever my schedule allows.
Reserve library books
Each week I log in to my online library account and request the books we will need for the upcoming week. It is quick and easy to know what books I want because my lesson plans are already finished.
My library sends me an email when the books are on the hold shelf. I swing by to pick them up when I go to print and copy. It sounds like I must spend a good bit of time at the library, but because everything is ready to go, I only spend about 15 minutes a week on library tasks.
I also use this library trip to return or renew books. This simple strategy helps me avoid library fees.
Organizing for the week ahead…
Baskets
I use three baskets from Dollar Tree to organize paperwork and supplies for the upcoming week – 1 basket for Hannah, 1 for Ben, and one for joint lessons.
The baskets live under my console table near my dining room table (where we do the majority of our schoolwork) so they are easily accessible.
Each child’s personal basket typically holds the book they are reading, their writing journal, any worksheets needed, and sight word and math review cards. The joint lesson basket usually holds any supplies we need for our history or science lessons.
Books
Each Friday when I am preparing for the week ahead, I take a quick look through our schoolbooks.
Most of our books stay the same from week to week – Story of the World, Math Mammoth, NOEO Biology 2 teachers guide, etc. Every once in a while our science books change. We might need to use Mysteries and Marvels of Nature one week but need our Science Encyclopedia the next.
I set any books we will need in the upcoming week on my console table. This keeps the books we need close by. The books that are not currently being used live on my main children’s bookshelf.
How are you preparing for the week ahead?
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