Homeschool Lesson Plan Templates

Homeschool lesson plan templates are not very easy to find, mainly because a homeschool lesson plan tends to be very individualized for the particular family and subject. What works for one family may not be what works for another. That said, there are a lot of websites and ideas that others give to get you started or help you organize your thoughts to create a lesson plan that works for you. The general idea of a homeschool lesson plan is to organize all the material that has to be covered by breaking it down into a workable schedule for your homeschool.

What is a Homeschool Lesson Plan
Every homeschool lesson plan is different and every homeschool approaches lesson planning in a different way. Some like to get a general schedule for the year, for example lets say you have a total of 30 math lessons that need to be covered. First, figure out how many weeks you will have school and then divide the total number of lessons by the number of weeks. If you do 30 weeks of school, you will have 1 math lesson per week. Do this for each subject and then decide which subjects will be covered each day. If each of the 30 math lessons cover one main topic you can choose one topic to cover each week and then create monthly or weekly lesson plans that detail how you will cover that topic. For instance if week one is about basic addition, you may introduce the topic on Monday with some simple examples and a game. Then the remainder of the week will work on practicing and reinforcing the skills and concepts needed to thoroughly teach the concept.

Don’t forget to leave some wiggle room in your schedule because we all know “life happens”. Emergencies come up, people get sick, we decide to take a trip, we need a week off for holidays, etc. If you don’t have a little wiggle room you will likely get to the end of the year and not have all your lessons covered. Often if you take a quick glance through the lessons you will find short ones that can be combined or similar topics that you can teach together. Also, if you are planning a homeschool field trip day take advantage of that and go somewhere that you can teach two or three concepts at once, or plan to go to a couple of different places to incorporate more than one subject into the day.

Homeschool Lesson Plan Template
For some, having a simple template for each lesson is the best way to keep the day organized and make sure that you have a plan for each child and a record of each subject or topic that is covered. A simple lesson plan template can make sure your records are accurate and all the material and goals are covered. The following lesson plan template is just an example and will vary with your individual needs.

Name:
Date:
Grade Level/Year:
Activity Summary/Goal: In this activity (Child’s Name) will learn ______ by doing __________
Objectives: This lesson will cover (topic) to fulfill requirement (state requirement). Steps to meet objective:
Step 1:
Step 2: 
Step 3: 
Materials: For this activity we will need (make a list of the materials you will need)
Evaluation/Assessment: What method will be used to evaluate if your goals and objectives were met.

Using a simple outline like this and keeping it in a binder by child, with dividers for each subject, will give you a record and quick reference to ensure that each of the state requirements are being met. Whatever lesson plan you use, it needs to be what works for your and your homeschool environment. Some people prefer to use a computer or homeschool software, others like something they can write out and customize. Whatever type of homeschool lesson plan you choose, take advantage of the work you put into it and keep it as a record. These lesson plans can also come in handy if you are homeschooling more than one child and using the same curriculum as you can reuse them from year to year . 

Sources:
www.educationbug.org