**UPDATE**
July, 2005 -- I am making available a scanned image of one of my own Daily Lesson Maps to show how it looks in "real life." ;) In the sample, my notations for Self Tests and LifePac Tests can be seen. At the right of a day's page numbers I make a note of "ST" for Self Tests. When we have a LifePac Test, I always try to have that be the only work done in that subject for the day, so the day's 'Begin" column says "Review" and the 'End' column says "LPT." [br][br] Lesson Map Snapshot

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September, 2004 -- At the request of a visitor to Homeschool Country, I am adding a new form. It is a very simplified Grade Book form that is based directly from my Lesson Map form. Anyone using the Lesson Map form to plan lessons will find it very easy to post daily grades to the Grade Book form. You will need to print out one Grade Book form for each subject.

Grade Book - Microsoft Word document

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September, 2001 -- I've revised the Average Pages Worksheet to make it easier to use. Scroll down to learn about this form and get a look at the new layout.

In the hope of assisting others with managing the lesson-planning aspect of homeschooling, I offer here my own method. This will be most helpful to others using Alpha Omega LifePacs or other similiar worktexts, but can be adapted for use with any curriculum. I use these same charts and worksheets for planning my children's A Beka math lessons as well.

If you are familiar with Alpha Omega's LifePacs, you already know that each subject has ten LifePacs for the year. I choose to divide mine up so that we do three the first quarter, two the second quarter, three the third quarter, and two the fourth. This is simply my preference. I like having the second and fourth quarters a little lighter loads since the 2nd quarter is done through the holiday season and we like time to do family projects, and the 4th quarter takes us to the end of the year when we all like to have a lighter load!

So once you print out the charts, WHAT NEXT? I will outline my method, step-by-step, and fill in charts for an example. The example will be numbered to correspond with the numbered steps given. The charts for actual printing will be linked from this page.

This chart, my Average Pages Worksheet, is where I begin to prepare our LifePac lessons for each year. I do it this way for two reasons: 1) It averages the LPs out over the number of days I plan to school, and 2) It gives me an opportunity to quickly overview each LP.

The columns each represent 45 days--1 quarter. I use a 180-day school year. Each "numbered" box shows the school day we are on [from 1 thru 180] as well as the actual date. Under BEGIN I put the number of the first page or first lesson for that day, and under END I put the final page or lesson for that day, or any quizzes or tests. Youu will notice that some of my sample lessons show an "x" after a page number--this is because I go through each LifePac individually, marking each day's endpoint with an "x." Most days this is the end of a page, so the "x" isn't needed in the lesson plan, but when the endpoint is in the middle of a page, I note that with a lesson plan entry like "3x," for example.