Lessontrek is an online lesson planning tool. That’s right! It’s a tool, so you can customize it and use it to make your own printable lesson plans! You can also just use it online like I do to save space and ink. You can see more of my posts about Lessontrek Here.

We’re sorry! The Freemium version of Lessontrek was only available for the first 10,000 members! However, Lessontrek is still amazingly affordable and you can try it out for FREE for 14 days! 

Learn about what an online lesson planner can do for you here. Or, learn how to make easy lesson plans here. Maybe you need some great time management tips here?

Lessontrek can help you do all that and more! New features, like subject sharing, a gradebook and more, have been added! It’s now the most comprehensive and easy to use tool for lesson planning! 

Online Lesson Planner Freemium

Whether you’re using it at home or in the classroom, or even for yourself, Lessontrek can help you create your whole year of plans in minutes! Just try it out for free! First, go to the Lessontrek Website and click on the 14 Day Trial Option. 

Don’t wait! Try it out and then lock in your low price while you still can! 

The post Lessontrek Freemium – Online Lesson Planner first appeared on True Aim.

Benefits of an Online Lesson Planner

Web-based, digital lesson planners are excellent productivity tools for homeschool moms and teachers because they help you manage your daily, weekly, and yearly lessons all in one easy-to-use program. You can login from any computer and your entire curriculum will be there. Digital lesson planners like Lessontrek give you flexibility to create, manage, and work from one screen which helps you focus on what matters most; teaching your students.

The freedom you gain from not having to spend hours and hours writing in your own lesson plans is priceless. Let’s not forget that the space (and trees) you save is of equal importance. You never have to worry about losing an online version, spilling something on them, or having to spend a lot of money to recover them from a broken computer.

Lessontrek

I use Lessontrek as my online lesson planner because it is so affordable and easy to use. The tool has drag and drop features that makes it easier than any other tool to reschedule your week.  It took me just minutes to learn how to use Lessontrek and plan out my first week. My whole year was planned out in less than an hour thanks to the copy and paste features!

Still attached to having a paper copy? With Lessontrek, you can print off all lesson plans for records and student accessibility. Try it for FREE with a trial account.

Want even more?

Lessontrek has been building new features for its customers and wants to include Shared Subjects, Attendance Tracking, Grade Reports, and many other useful features that improve the functionality. They need to hire a small team of software programmers to help make this program even better!

Have you ever heard of Crowdfunding? Lessontrek is lowering their one year subscription price for the first 10,000 customers to $15 for the first year. They want to make this tool for everyone so they plan to use the proceeds to hire programmers in order to quickly add all the new features listed above, and other features customers want to see in the program. All new features are included in your $15 price!

If you want the most amazing lesson planner on the market, sign up with this great price while you still can!

Discount Code must be applied to the Yearly subscription plan, the code is below: 15BM offer ends 12/31/16

The post What an Online Lesson Planner can do for your Homeschool first appeared on True Aim.

This post is sponsored by Lessontrek. For more information, read my full disclosure.

5 Ways to Maximize Your Time

1) Wake Early

Diligent and productive people know that time is a precious commodity. Waking up early gives you personal time to focus on what truly matters. Whether it’s praying, reading, preparing for the daily schedule or exercising. Daily devotions and quiet time spent with God are essential ways to spend morning.

Bottom line: Productive mornings start with early wake-up calls.

2) Exercise before it falls off the to-do list.

Early morning exercise has many scientifically proven benefits. But it’s surprising how few do it. Some guaranteed results exercise gives you are: a healthy heart, makes you feel good, reduces stress, weight loss, stronger immune system, reduces risk of cancer, reduces blood pressure, and increases overall productivity and energy levels.

Nutrition, sleeping habits, and stress levels also affect your energy levels.

3) Work on top-priority projects.

The quiet hours of the morning without interruptions allow you to give your undivided attention to important projects. During the day there are many distractions that can take your focus away. Early mornings can help you concentrate. So do the most important tasks in the morning!

4) Connect with your spouse.

Most evenings are centered around the children, winding down from an exhausting day’s worth of activities. Try putting the children to bed early, allowing them time to read for a while so the two of you have focused one-on-one time. We call it ‘Couch Time’. It might be hard at first, but once you work it into the routine, your children will get used to it. This is when quality discussions can take place between the two of you.

The time you spend with your spouse is not only important for your relationship, but also for coordinating schedules and managing finances.

5) Plan and strategize while you’re fresh

Planning your day, week, or month ahead is an important time management tool to keep you on track when you’re in the middle of the hustle and bustle of homeschooling. Reviewing your plan in the evening and the morning will help you prioritize and set the trajectory of the day.

The post 5 Ways Homeschool Moms Can Maximize Their Time first appeared on True Aim.

Now you might be asking, what kind of goals and where do I start?

This post contains affiliate links. For more information read my full disclosure.

The first thing I like to do with my preschoolers is to establish a routine. This helps my children transition from one activity to the next and teaches them independence. It also allows us to cover the most material possible. My children know what to expect and that results in a more peaceful homeschool day.

As for goal setting, it all depends on your homeschool philosophy and teaching style, but you can see some of our goals for what to teach in preschool here.

The First Week

To introduce your new routine, you’ll want to start slow and gradually add more activities. Usually, I do one thing consistently for a week and then add 1 or 2 more the next week and so on.

Keep in mind that often, when it comes to learning, less is more. You could teach on the same thing for an hour but your children may tune out after the first half. Keep lessons short, simple, and review constantly. You may even want to break up your school day to 2 30 min – 1 hour sessions.

For more teaching tips, you can download our free How to Homeschool eBook

Simple Preschool Routine

I consider the most important subject to be Character Development and Biblical Studies, so I cover those everyday. After that, reading, writing and math are our focus. Everything else is extra and I like to vary those throughout the week so each day has an exciting element to it.

As you start working through your lessons, you’ll quickly learn what subjects your preschooler loves, and which ones they don’t. Schedule your routine accordingly. If they LOVE story time, save that for the end. If they struggle with writing, do that first. Whatever you teach first is usually what your children will retain the most.

Here’s what a typical day of preschool looks like for us:

8:00 – 9:00 am – Getting Ready, Breakfast

9:00 – 9:30 am – Bible Reading, Bible Memory and/or Character Development Activity

9:30 – 10:00 am – Phonics, Writing, Sometimes Vocabulary (4 Days a Week)

10:00 – 10:30 am – Math, Sometimes Geography & History (4 Days a Week)

10:30 – 11:00 am – Computer, Sometimes Science, Art or Stations (3 Days a Week)

11:00 am – noon – Free time, Show time, Play Outside

12:00 – 1:00 pm – Lunch

1:00 – 2:30 pm – Review if needed, Free time, Play Outside, Walks, Park

2:30 – 4:30 pm – Quiet time, nap time (coloring, puzzles, reading, outside)

4:30 – 6:30 pm – Chore time, dinner time

6:30 – 8:00 pm – Finish any work needed, Free time, Bed time

This is how most days go and it works really well for our family. If your children fight the routine, you may need to back off and give them more free time at first or use a kitchen timer.

The kitchen timer helps take the command of transition and staying on task off of you and onto the timer. Don’t forget to reward your children for their work and keeping their routine. This could mean rewarding them after every subject, day, or goal accomplished.

Even if you are taking an ‘unschooling’ approach, you may still want to have a simple routine with bigger blocks and more freedom or have your children make up their own routine. All children will benefit from some sort of organization to their day so when they become adults they have skills in time management, planning and goal setting.

Preschool Lesson Planning

I plan my lessons each month because I like my children to set the pace. Sometimes they will be determined to finish certain projects and books. Other times, they only want to do the minimum, or need extra time on a certain subject. We also homeschool year round and take extra long breaks for sickness, holidays, and family visits.

To help me plan my lessons and keep track of what we need to cover and what we’ve accomplished, I use Lessontrek. It is so simple to use and has a great layout for printing. Instead of spending days or weeks, with my simple routine and this lesson planning tool, I can create all my lesson plans for the month in about 15 minutes!

Lessontrek goes perfectly with my Christian Preschool Curriculum. You can match the colors of our eBooks to the colors in the Lessontrek online planner. Watch the video below to see how I plan out my whole month.

I’d love to hear how you plan your preschool days. Do you use a curriculum or just play it by ear?

For more posts in this series, click the image below!

The post How to Homeschool Preschool: Routines and Lesson Planning first appeared on True Aim.

That was years ago.  Now, I plan out most everything including our homeschooling day.  God has given me a limited amount of time and I want to use it wisely.  Plus, it’s just easier and helps me get more done.  For years, I used printable planners and excel worksheets.  That’s why I’m so excited to show you how to make easy lesson plans online with Lessontrek.

I was sponsored by Lessontrek to review their homeschool lesson planning tool and am excited to share my experience as well as an awesome giveaway!  All opinions are mine alone.  For more information please read my full disclosure.

Why Plan Lessons?

Even though we have a relaxed homeschool schedule, I want my daughters to develop a healthy routine and get used to planning their day.  That way they don’t run into the same problems I used to.  By planning out our week, everyone knows what they should be doing that day and we never miss an important date.

You might not want to plan every detail, but it certainly helps meet goals and keep track of activities.  Remember that lesson plans are to help you, not to be your master.  Don’t think of it as the rule and get frustrated for not completing it.  Think of it as a compass; it will help guide you in the right direction if you need it.

Why Lessontrek?

Lessontrek helps you plan lessons quickly and easily.  You never have to worry about losing them, spilling something on them, or having to spend a lot of money to recover them from a broken computer.  There are no papers to deal with if you don’t want to and it takes half the time to complete.

With Lessontrek, I simply map out my routine for the week and copy and paste that routine onto the whole year.  Then, I fill out individual assignments for the month.  I like to do it monthly that way I can adjust if my child is moving fast or if she needs extra time on a subject.

After I have everything scheduled.  I can print it out as a guide for my eldest daughter.  She feels independent being able to manage and check off her tasks each day.  I also use it to plan learning activities for my 2 preschool aged children.

The tool has drag and drop features that makes it easier than any other tool to reschedule your week.  It took me just minutes to learn how to use Lessontrek and plan out my first week.  It is the most affordable planning tool on the market and you can try it for FREE with a trial account. Don’t wait to get started managing your time and getting more done with Lessontrek.

Special offer!

Get a lifetime membership for free when you subscribe to our newsletter!  Or, get the full version for just $20 a year! Use code EBK20 under the Annual plan option.

How to Make Easy Lesson Plans

To see just how easy it is to set up your lesson plans, watch the video below and meet the founder!

The post How to Make Easy Lesson Plans first appeared on True Aim.