I'm having a terrible time getting school going this year.. Just wondering how flexible all of you are in your school days.. We have had a LOT of stuff going on and some happen when we should be doing school. school seems more like hit and miss than anything else these days.. Is this how it is with everyone else??? How do you keep it more hit than miss?????? need some suggestions please.. Thanks
We're as flexible as we need to be. I don't fuss over missed things. Like yesterday we went apple picking, so there were things tht didn't get done. Today is copp day, so we just got home, which means we quit in 45 minutes. And Wednesday dh has an important meeting which he wants me to go with him to, so again we're off. But that's life, and life will always have interruptions.
I have some necessary daily subjects that we need to do each day. If we don't at least get those done (about 1/2 our day) I don't count it as a day of school. The rest of the day is flexible, if necessary. I'm pretty disciplined about our schedule so we don't tend to skip 1/2 our day too often (maybe 1-2 times a month).
That's one reason we homeschool, the flexibility. Plus, if you're 'too busy for school' you're probably dealing with life...there are wonderful lessons for our kids in watching us dealing with life, even if they don't fit nicely into some standard or lesson plan... I've found audio books and youtube a lifesaver! Also both kids do their phonics online by themselves. If I can squeeze in some of these types of things they can do independently or as we drive, etc I dont' stress about it at all!
I'm fairly disciplined, so we get the important stuff done, for sure. I use a weekly schedule rather than a daily one. We're heavy on Mon/Tue, and lighter on Wed-Fri, so if something happens, we have Wed-Fri to make up what didn't get done Mon/Tue. If someone gets sick and we're completely out of whack, I'll discount the entire week and use up one of our vacation weeks (that the kids don't know I've worked into the schedule ).
I TRY to be fairly flexible. I plan a schedule - that has different things required every day. And on our co-op days I don't plan anything but that on the schedule. Now...that being said, as long as all of the work scheduled for the week is done by 5:00 Friday, I really don't care how, when, in what order, etc. they do it in. As long as its done, done well, and they put 100% effort into it. My oldest, now 8th grade, I give the most flexibility to. She does a lot of her quick subjects on Monday (she does 5 days worth of Daily Grams, Apples2, etc). Then she doesn't have the nagging time fillers in her way. She usually does a weeks worth of one subject in a day....I don't really mind this as long as it's done well. And usually, she does better. For example, she'll do her IEW all in one day, it may take 2 hours or so, but she's really had time to focus on it without distractions. She likes that better. I feel this is preparing her to budget out her work for when she's in college. My middle would LIKE to do that this year, but I'm not as confident in his planning skills, so I told him that since he was only 6th grade this year he had to wait one more year. I'm hoping maturity kicks in a little this year. So far, he's working very focussed, which is WAY unlike him....hoping it's a good sign!!! My youngest, I TRY a little flexibility with her, but if you give her an inch, she'll take a mile....ha ha ha!!!! I try to keep her to what's in her book. Her problem is more that she wants to work ahead - or doesn't want to work on what's scheduled for monday, but wants to do Weds. work...etc. Sometimes, it doesn't matter (like spelling), but ....also need to work on the "following instructions" with her quite a bit, too. She's too smart for words, somedays. Anyway....
I make a weekly schedule. If we unexpectedly take a day off, we will try and make it up on another day, or I will space a little extra work over several days. I like to know what we are going to do at least a week in advance if possible. For instance, we planned on taking last Wednesday off, and I still got to work some life lesson type of stuff in there. Some math at the bakery, caterpillars and bugs at the park, etc.
I make daily assignments, but without dates to go with them. My kids put a line through the assignment when it's done. If we miss a day or a subject, we just do it the next day. I try to make sure we get LA and Math done everyday, but the others I'm more flexible about.
I don't try to be flexible...I HAVE to be! My husband travels for work. For nearly two years, probably 40-45 weeks for each year, we (child and I) drove with him to the airport on Monday mornings (sometimes Tuesdays or Wednesdays) with our one and only vehicle, sometimes getting up as early at 4:00 AM and picking him up Friday evening (sometimes Thursday or Saturday) usually at a late dinner time to 11:00 PM. He has had a different job the last nearly two years with not quite as much traveling and we have two vehicles now so we do not have to drive him to the airport, but then we began volunteering Tuesday mornings to the 4-H Horse Barn, which can go just to 11:00 AM, but if she rides a horse, we get home around 2:00 PM. Thursdays are piano lessons, errands, and grocery shopping. Because my husband travels so much and Sundays are pretty busy with my husband doing the sound and media presentations for our church (and I recently began leading praise and worship), I try to make sure we can spend most of weekends together, not grocery shopping or much house cleaning, but maybe gardening and yard work. On Saturday, he often tries to do some special thing with our daughter while I have some quiet time to myself also. I do have a general plan about what we are going to cover in our lessons, but I do not stress us out trying to squeeze in extra lessons to make up for a day we took off. We have heavy lesson days on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays most weeks unless her daddy has a rare Monday or Friday off. On Tuesdays she has BF History of the Horse and/or 4-H projects or meetings. On Thursdays she has BF History of Classical Music. She has some time on Tuesdays and Thursdays usually to get in what she did not finish on the day before. She rarely does any work on Saturday besides her piano practice and cleaning her room. Being a sequential, it is against my nature to skip around on her lessons, but she being a random does fine with it. Finally I have peace about the fact that she really does not need to do every lesson in every book to learn what she needs to know, particularly with math. I do not worry about grade levels or how much I need to fit into each year, we just continue on in whatever subject, since we have lessons year around. Plus my daughter's real gifts are in the arts: writing, artwork, acting, and music. I realized recently how easily I could discourage her creativity and limit her potential in her gifts with too much emphasis on book work and not enough time to allow her to learn those things also. When I was her age, I remember thinking how much I loved to learn but how school got in the way of that and how I would rather draw for half a day and read the other half. I probably would have learned as much or more than I did. I wrote all this out because while I appreciate the idea of a nice, neat weekly schedule, there are some of us who just do not have one, whether by necessity or choice or a little of both. Four years ago I had to help out with my sick in-laws for six weeks and I learned that my daughter's education goes on without me and even without formal lessons. Since then I have more peace (most of the time) in letting go of regular schedules and being in awe how God guides. :angel:
I'm pretty flexible about when during the day school gets done and I'm not picky about what order it gets done in. We do pull four days of school a week (on purpose) and my son can do most of his work independently enough that I can be doing other things around him. I manage to do kindergarten with my 5yr old 2-3 times a week usually, we practice sight words, word families, writing, and reading. It's very basic. It takes about 30 min or so. I do try really hard to stick to the four days of school a week. Today for my oldest that will mean math, calendar notebook, writing, journal, and our history unit.
Well, DH is now home. There was trouble at his school, the "issue" that was brought up was only an excuse. When he and the union rep got to the meeting, the principal had added other things that were completely bogus. (Ex: The principal told him to go home, and then complained, about him doing so) The principal pretty much lied to him, because he never wanted him as a teacher in his building to begin with. DH was beginning to have anxiety attacks, and has decided to go on sick leave until his sick days are done, and then retire. That means he's now home during the day. :-/ Which is throwing our schedule whacky. He's trying hard not to interfere, and I'm sure we'll work it out in time! And there's good about it. Like he's talking about taking Phillip hunting down at his cousin's property for a full week. That would be great for them!
We were flexible with our schedule when we homeschooled, after I got over the whole idea of trying to be like the school they had come home from. Duh! (Thanks again to those who set me straight and put joy back into our learning.) When Em decided she wanted to try public school again I worried that the structure would drive her crazy. It did take her a while to catch on and keep up with the pace of her new school but she loves it and is doing fine.
I am one who is pretty strict with our schedule. I kind of picked up public school and put it in down in our family room, it seems! But, it's working well. Here is our schedule: 8am: History and read alouds 9am: Language Arts (I get them started, then they work independently) 9:30AM: Break 10am: Math (they watch DVD and then do their lessons independently) 11am: Break 11:30AM: Spelling / Writing Noon: Lunch (I often pack them a lunch and they eat on their own) 1pm: Depending on the day either Piano, Science or Spanish That's about it. I work from home and this gives me ample time to complete my work while they are doing lessons and eating lunch, but I'm able to schedule time away from my job to help them when needed as well. So, it's super important to us that we stay on schedule during the day. I did rough lesson plans for the year, just because I really want to be done in May / June, and that way I can see if we are falling behind. I do more specific lessons plans by the week. So, if we miss a day of school for some reason, I can feel comfortable with a backup plan (if needed) to stay roughly on schedule to be done in the spring. I hope that helps. I'm probably kind of far on the Type A spectrum! Laura
We are flexible. As long as they get them done by the end of the week I am fine with it... most of the time we are home without a car so they don't have anything else to do but school but like today, hubby is home (a rare day off) but he is studying for Sunday's sermon while the girls are working... We will take off this afternoon and have some family time. We do what we need to do when "life" happens and then we get back on track... that is is beauty of homeschooling!
We've HAD to be flexible this week! I've had the "creeping crud" (dry cough, fever, some nausea/upset stomach). So DH (Thank you, God, for him!) ran school on Tuesday and Wednesday. They had "early days" because he doesn't do reading or English.... but they got some schooling in. Thursday was Food Pantry day, so we wouldn't have spent much time in the classroom anyway, since all our kids (grandson included) go volunteer at the FP. The kids did show up to help, as normal! Today DH is burnt out, and my fever is still coming and going a bit, so we're missing a day. We'll be hitting the ground running on Monday, though!
I got to thinking about this again today. LIFE and just daily routines ARE what this homeschooling thing is about.. It's not about sticking to a public school schedule.. Who says my 8 year old has to know how to multiply right now??? She's barely learning double digit addition.. But she is learning and at HER pace.. We can take a day off.. If the schools can take time out to spend in pep rallies I can take a day off to do housework or go to the grocery store..
