This is the bit I wish someone had told me in the first year. I now write down what we did on a Friday instead of what we should do on a Monday, and it looks far more impressive.

This is us. I made a beautiful colour-coded timetable in September and we followed it for about nine days.

I still write a rough list, but I treat it as a menu rather than a schedule. Some days we pick two things off it, some days none.

The week we abandoned the plan was the week he taught himself to solder. I’d never have put that on a timetable.

I needed about a year to stop feeling guilty about this. Now I plan the resources, not the days.

We do ‘three things a day’ and I don’t mind which three. It’s the only system that has survived contact with my children.

Same, though I keep a diary of what we actually did. Reading it back at half term is what stops me panicking.

My husband found this hard at first because it looked like nothing was happening. Then our daughter started explaining tides to him over dinner.

Honestly the plan was for me, not for them. Once I admitted that it got much easier.

I’ve kept one fixed thing — Tuesday mornings at the library — and everything else is loose. That single anchor seems to be enough.

We ended up on a two-hour tangent about Roman roads yesterday because of a puddle. No plan survives a good puddle.

The bit nobody says out loud: the plan makes you feel safe when you’re new. You can put it down later.

I plan a fortnight of ideas rather than a week of lessons. Less to feel behind on.

This gave me a lot of comfort this morning, thank you. I’d written five days of maths at the weekend and we’ve done none of it.

Ours works in bursts. Two intense weeks, then a fortnight of what looks like nothing but is actually where it all settles.

I gave up planning ahead and started planning behind — writing down what happened. Turns out we do far more than I thought.

so ture

I couldnt agree more

this is me every sunday night writing a plan nobody follows

ha same here

needed to read this today thankyou

we do the same and it works out fine in the end

guilty as charged