How to Write a Lesson Plan

Blank Lesson Plan Template

Learning how to write a lesson plan can seem confusing when you first begin homeschooling. Don't worry, it doesn't have to be.

I'll explain step-by-step how to write your own lesson plans that are tailored made just for your children.

First things first.

If you do a search on Google for "lesson plans," you are going to find a boat load of lesson plans that are designed for public school.They will usually have some confusing information about meeting certain standards etc., etc., etc., and in the end, they don't seem to have a whole lot of usable information.

• Goals for the year
• Deciding which subjects will be covered
• How the lessons will be divided up weekly & daily

This article, "How to Write a Lesson Plan" will cover lessons plans from a homeschool approach.

How to Write a Lesson Plan - Step #1

Collect Materials

What materials?

• Last year's books or lesson plan to refresh your memory
• Notebook & pen or print out the blank lesson plan template
• Books you're considering using this year
• Catalogs

Gather all of these items so you can have everything convenient when you start your planning.

How to Write a Lesson Plan - Step #2

Brainstorm

Make a page for each child or print off the free blank lesson plan template pack.

On the "brainstorming" form in the blank lesson plan template, list each subject in the left-hand column and fill in or think about the questions in the right-hand column.

1. Teaching Materials - Are you going to use textbooks? Living books? Software? Online schools? Videos?
2. What do you want to cover? An in-depth study of geography? World Wars?

What is the next logical step in each subject? For example: Going from 5th to 6th grade math or moving to the next time period in history.

3. What were your children weak in last year that they need extra work? Think about your weaknesses your children have. What can you do to improve those skills this year?
4. What were your child's strengths?
5. What did he enjoy about this subject in previous years? How can you capitalize on that?
6. What does your child enjoy? Can you use this for this subject?
7. Does your teaching method fit your child's learning style?

How to Write a Lesson Plan

Step #3

Can You Combine?

Plan what you can or can't combine with your children. Take this into consideration time wise when making your final lesson plans. If you have 5 children you can combine some subjects, but some (like math) are impossible.

Combining some subjects will help you save time and money on curriculum.

How to Write a Lesson Plan - Step #4

Decide on teaching method Are you going to use textbooks? Videos? Online? Unit Studies?

The teaching method you use should suit the style of your child. It's so convenient and thrifty if you can use the same curriculum for all of your children. Unfortunately, that's often not the way it works.

You may have one child who is predominately a visual learner and just can't learn using auditory methods or vice versa.

Keep this in mind as you're planning which teaching method to use and purchase curriculum that teaches using the method your child learns best with.

If possible, select curriculum that uses all learning styles. This helps your child develop other learning strategies.

Auditory learners learn best if you can find textbooks that have accompanying CDs that they can listen to as they work their way through the textbook or online learning where there is an option to listen to the lesson. You can also read the work to the child or record yourself reading the text if none is available.

Visual learners do well with video curriculum, online classes, software curriculum, and reading.

Kinesthetic learners will do well if there are a lot of hands on activities involved.

If you plan your own unit studies, incorporate the teaching method that best suit your child.

How to Write a Lesson Plan - Step #5

Setting Goals

Before you begin breaking down each subject into weekly and daily assignments, set a goal for each subject. The goal could be as simple as, "Rachel will finish the entire math book this year."

If you are planning unit studies, have goals or milestones set on a semester or quarterly basis. We should have read, written, etc. "X amount" by December and "X amount" by the end of the year.

Even when using prepared curriculum, you should know where you should be at the end of six weeks periods or semesters just so you can be sure you're staying on track.

How to Write a Lesson Plan - Step #6

Prepare weekly & daily lesson plans

Complete this step after you have purchased your curriculum. You need to have the curriculum so you can get a feel for the lessons and see how the book is divided up.

Sit down with the curriculum for each subject and read through the lessons to see how it flows and approximately how long it will take for you to teach. Make a note of the time you estimate for the subject. Record this information on the "planning Schedule" form in the blank lesson plan template included in the Lesson Planning Packet.

Videos & Online Schools - If you are going to use videos or online schools, they should have a lesson plan or schedule included. You can follow exactly what they have or adapt it to fit your school schedule.

Unit Studies - If you are going to do unit studies, write down your general ideas and read "How to Put Together Unit Studies".

Textbooks - This is easy. Simply decide how many school days you have to complete. Check with your covering to get the correct number of days. The general number is usually between 160 and 180 days.

Give yourself some room for sick days and those spur of the moment field trips and divide the number of pages in the book by the number of school days you have.

You have to take into consideration how the chapters divide up. If a chapter is long, don’t try to cram it all into one week. Possibly stretch it out to two weeks.

After following these steps, how to write a lesson plan should no longer be a mystery to you. The process gets easier as you get more practice and you learn how your children learn, what works and what doesn't.

Print off the blank lesson plan template to simplify the process and keep things organized. After you finish making your lesson plans, put them in a binder with one section for each child.

Keep your lessons plans year after year. This helps jog your memory about what your kids liked, what you have covered through the years, and reminds you of things to try again.