Curriculum Mapping

I teach in a small, rural school. At times, many times, we have to be creative due to our lack of resources, whether that be financial or physical. Needless to say, I do not have, what I would call, a usable curriculum map or pacing guide. I smell a new project! Normally, I merely "borrow" whatever I can from seasoned teachers, internet sites, etc. My situation is a little different because we are a Catholic school. I have to follow their content standards which means I can't just copy from others. Although these are close to our state standards, the coding is different and there are religious aspects thrown in. So I began my search for a examples, layouts, what I thought would work for me.

I am the type of person that needs to have some sort of timeline to follow. I drive myself crazy if I go about "willy nilly". Actually, I've been doing that since I originally took my position with this school as tech. coord. The first year I would come home every night and break out in hives! I was driving myself crazy. The hives have subsided (yes they do reappear on occasion) but, I still have more anxiety about what I need to cover and how long to spend on it. Now I am teaching junior high science and they hives are beginning to return. Why didn't I start before now? For those of you who have been in the education field, you probably know how sometimes you do not know what teaching assignment you will have, until you have it. That was the case for me. I wasn't sure what was going to happen and what I would be doing so, the map was put on the back burner.

Enough about me! I would like to know how you deal with the subject of curriculum maps and pacing guides. What does your district have in place? What do you follow? I would love to have any and all suggestions, examples, ideas and tips.