August is in full swing! As a homeschool mom, I’ve spent the last several weeks diving deep into back-to-school planning. In addition to curriculum and school supply purchases, I have started the process of preparing and organizing materials and lesson planning.
I use Logic of English with my three school-aged kids; two will be in Foundations and one will be in Essentials for the 2023-24 school year. We use a combination of printed materials and the corresponding eLearning courses. Having the flexibility to switch between using the scripted, open-and-go teacher’s manuals and using the online instructional videos and activities has been a game changer for us. From the moment I started combining the printed curriculum with the eLearning courses, I felt that the effectiveness of each lesson and the ease with which it was delivered increased significantly. I didn’t think it could get any better… until I started using the planning guides.
You see, I am part of an ever growing group of home educators who also maintain full-time employment. My husband and I both work from home and both contribute to our children’s education. Because of this, planning is key to our homeschool success. The planning guides for Foundations and Essentials have taken the legwork out of my LOE planning process.
The activities in each lesson are broken down by title. It is easy to match the titles in the planning guides with the titles in both the book and the online course.
There are icons indicating if the instruction or activity is included in the book, online or both. This makes it easy to keep track of the portions that need to be completed by me versus the portions where I have a choice between teaching the section myself, using the online component, or choosing to use both for reteaching or review. Then, I can clearly see where extra practice exists in an online activity that doesn’t show up in the teacher’s manual.
To prepare for back-to-school, I have printed the planning guides for each of my kids’ levels, hole punched them, and put them into a binder. Now, as we complete each lesson, I can jot down notes, such as the date of completion, and I can check off each topic or activity for that day.
Want to add the planning guides to your list of homeschool hacks? You can download them for free at the links below! They are also available for download within each eLearning course.
Foundations Online Supplement Planning Guides
Foundations A Online Supplement Planning Guide
Foundations B Online Supplement Planning Guide
Foundations C Online Supplement Planning Guide
Foundations D Online Supplement Planning Guide
Essentials Online Planning Guides*
Essentials 1-7 Online Planning Guide
Essentials 8-15 Online Planning Guide
Additionally, if you are planning to use Logic of English this year, I recommend checking out the Foundations Free Resources and Essentials Free Resources. The planning guides can be found on these pages, along with placement tools, scope and sequences and even certificates of completion! Happy planning!
*Essentials 16-22 and Essentials 23-30 Online Planning Guides are currently in development.
