Planning and Preparation
From the Alveary Team:
“How much planning and preparation time will I need?”
As the school year winds down, many of us have entered a season of planning for the upcoming school year. Here are some tips on what to expect as you prepare for another year with Alveary.
Yearly Planning: This will depend heavily on how old your children are and how large your family is. Typically, new members say they spend anywhere from several days to a few weeks getting ready for the next year.
This time will be spent reading about Mason’s methods, creating a school calendar and a school schedule, deciding which age groups you can combine for which subjects, placing students, and organizing your materials. Once school starts and you find your rhythm, you will likely need to make some adjustments. Our opening registration on February 1 allows ample time for this planning.
Term Planning: The time between terms offers you a great opportunity to take a break, assess student progress, evaluate what went well and what did not, and make preparations for the next term. We call this process “reflective practice.” We recommend taking at least one week off from school after exam week for this purpose.
Week/Day Planning: We believe that the best educators are well-prepared. There is no doubt that your days will run more smoothly if you have read through your lesson plans and gathered all your materials. This habit will make you more effective and at peace, and that will benefit your students. We recommend taking an hour or so each week for planning and a few minutes each morning to look everything over.
Our Reflective Practice Plan Book helps you with all of this planning and more. Head to the comments below to share some of your planning tips!
Notes:
- Office Hours: Here is a link to the recording of this week’s Office Hours with Andrew Chambers of Excel College.
- NEW! Courses & Certifications: Looking for some structured time studying Charlotte Mason’s ideas and methods? Registration for our summer courses is now open, and, after getting your feedback, we’ve redesigned our certification programs as well!
- Common Place Quarterly: Have you checked out the newest issue of CommonPlace Quarterly yet? This issue is all about books. Inside you will find three articles by CMI staff. For just $25 per year, you can enjoy digital access to all 25 back issues of CPQ, plus the new issues coming out this year! Use code CMIdigital25 at checkout.
- Conference: Session descriptions for the conference are now up! Browse all the workshops and fireside chats and stories we’ll get to enjoy at Guiding with Grace, and make plans to join us today! Use code WELCOME25 to receive a special Alveary discount—valid through the end of the month.
- Open House: Know a friend interested in Alveary? Send them this link to sign up for our online Open House.
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Mason Quote:
“Children should have the joy of living in far lands, in other persons, at other times — a delightful double existence; and this joy they will find, for the most part, in their storybooks.” (Home Education, 174)
