We have kinda been doing the "fly by the seat of your pants" kind of schedule.. It is NOT working.. In other words we have had NO schedule.. No schedule means NO school getting done.. I have 2 kiddos that are not being educated and I'm sitting here feeling guilty for letting things go like this.. Both myself and my friend have been feeling this way all year lomg.. I tried to schedule last year but with two teenage boys who refused to do work I quickly gave up.. They are back in school and I thought that things would be much better this year with just the girls home.. Then illness came and things went awry.. I'm tired and I'm ready to throw in the towel.. This is our last semester to see if we can get back on track. If we can't get schooling done here I'm going to have to send them to pUbLiC sChOoL and I don't want to do that with my girls just yet!! I have one more week to get things up and going for the next semester.. It's going to be hard but I think we can get it.. We are still going to be following the school schedule for holidays being that my two older are in public school but we are looking at schooling through July.. So 2 months into the traditional summer :/ Just once I want to finish a school year out and get to start fresh the following year with all brand new curriculum not finishing up the previous year.. Please tell me I'm not the only one who does this? How do you do your schedule? Do you schedule your entire day into time slots or do you just schedule your day and when it gets done it gets done??
I am changing our day routine. I used to let ds wake up and be lazy until 10 and then start our day. I am sick of this dragging the day out and still not getting to everything. This means I will be changing our morning for both of us. No computers until lunch time. We will wake up and go outside for 30 minutes (in AZ, so a little chilly but nothing too bad). After that, we will have school and chores. Then, we will have lunch and free time. This is a change for me as well. I am used to getting up and checking email, facebook, etc. It will be good for me to shake up my routine as well. It will help me be more productive...I hope.
I plan to make a few changes as well. I agree teens make a big difference. We have to get school work done before computer time too, so I need to enforce it. It has been a hecktic fall for me with my double injuries and still healing from the shoulder at this point with the hands still working out a few problems makes it hard to stay focused on work some days.I have learned that if a kid can get away with no work done he will. So lets try and be a team and maybe be accountable to reporting in on Friday each week if we are on track for the first month back? they say if we do things 3 times it becomes a habit but the month of Jan will have about 3 weeks to get us going? I am going to make ds get up early again, he mentioned he likes it better when I wake him up early as appose to letting him sleep till he gets up. Having my dd and ds1 out in College and work is my main destructive area. How does your school day plan work around your two teens going out to school?
We haven't been keeping to a schedule much. But just this afternoon I took out a brand new calendar and marked what I hope to do, to see how long our books we have right now will last. I'm okay with it if we don't follow it exactly, but I think I'll do better with this outline. I think it's better for dd too. I had been letting her choose what work we would do, but I think it's time to learn that we have to do things we do not enjoy as well! We always do school after lunch because that is when the little one has her nap. It works much better then
Teachermom, YES! I need accountability! I would LOVE to be able to check in and have others do the same.. Our schedule would be very similar to public school schedule. I'm completely throwing out the whole "lets get done before lunch so we can play after" frame of mind. It sounds like a good thing but for us it's bad.. What that basically translates to is "after lunch no more school even if you aren't finished".. Not working out! So going out the window.. I'm planning on working in more breaks and scheduled lunch and snack times.. I would like to be up around 5 to get my self going. checking facebook, emails, and bible study and prayer time.. Then get everyone up around 7. That's what time my boys get up and I cook them breakfast and send them on their way to school. We were schooling by 8 but then Ds15 was calling about 8:45 every single day for me to come get him and that would disrupt the whole day... Hoping that he is done with that Now that football is over and no more early morning practice and a dr note excusing him from PE until Jan 28th at least.. So I want to get school going by 8 again instead of letting them sleep in until they wake up on their own.. School is out for the boys by 3:40 so the girls really should be done well before them IF I can keep them on task.. It's going to be a lot of trial and error.. Means no more being lazy. No more texting my best friend all day either. We've already discussed that issue and decided that we would not text until after lunch.. The majority of the work should be finished by lunch leaving AFTER lunch for finishing anything that they didn't get done before. We are going to get this done!!! Only two at home now I CAN do this..
We used to do the time slot schedule,it really worked well with this ds, but this year he seems to finish the class and think he can go on computer. So I want to get all the work done go ahead in the class if he finishes faster than the allotted time...I have even tried to plan his one on computer class to last. My biggest hurddle will also be his PE classes. they are twice weekly but times can vary. Still if I go as I planned to do an dstick to my grounds it should work. So my time slots would be me up at 5 ds up at 7 between there is my set up and clcean house and bible study and prayer too. not in that order! by 730 I want him on task, so that when we leave for early PE we are still doing school work properly. He should be done by 230 at the latest. and my college kids can stay there or find thier own ways home untill after that I think,
UGH, YES! We haven't had much of a schedule because Pat was just too darn crazy when we were on one, even though they say schedules help kids like him. Hhmmm. Well, now he's a TON improved since we cut casein (all dairy) from his diet and I think he can now tolerate and NEED a schedule. Plus, schedules really keep me focused. I guess I'm kinda like a kid, if I get into something it's hard to break focus (like pinterest and cooking). LOL We are going to schedule a few sparse lessons, since the boys are still young, but keeping them 15 minutes long for now. But I want to schedule art times, quiet reading time, computer time, chore time, and so on. The kids will appreciate a schedule (in time, I'm sure), and I KNOW I will! LOL Anyone ever made a home management journal??
You have a schedule?!?!?!?! Oh my life is...hectic to say the least. We had tried to add structure and schedule a bit this year but my parents are requiring so much more time and energy that our schedule has to be very, very, very, very flexible. Meg-I used to use a home management journal. Maybe I should pull it back out and update it I'm really stressing trying to find my groove now that my parents are taking so much more of my time...
The entire holiday season has been a mess, and I'm really going to try to get back to some kind of normal schedule with my little ones, including one-on-one time with the toddlers, after New Years.
Our schedule will be changing as well. I am scheduled to be induced on the 8th, and hubby leaves for Afghanistan on the 13th, so our lives are going to be crazy for a while. I am HOPING to only take a couple of weeks off, but I am not holding my breath. Good luck getting back on track! Have you thought about taking it one week at a time? I have found that if I write out a schedule every week, (physically write it down in a planner) then I feel like I have to follow it more closely. Maybe this could work for you?
I will be ajusting our schedule and trying to be better prepared for school each week also. Accountability posting sound like a good idea.
I wish I could stick to a schedule. I really do!! Things are too crazy at this house. I have 2 toddlers that constantly get us off track. I hope we can do better this next semester!!
I'm also adjusting our schedule. I want to try to have more one on one time with each of the kids and have things better planned out to have activities for the little ones available while I'm working with someone else. I've rearranged some furniture this month too that will hopefully allow for a smoother flow to things. I've worked on planning out the first couple of weeks of January's lessons and gotten the books I need from the library already. I'm not a super strict schedule keeper so I know better than to try that but I want to find a way to create a routine flow to our days as much as possible.
I think you need to make a schedule as simple as it can be. I don't do schedules that say.....30 minutes for Math....or 9:15-9:45 for math....to me, it's whatever it is it is, ya know? This year I simplified my dd's schedule and it's working pretty well. I printed off a sheet that tells me what to do each day. Here's basically how our week is: Monday & Wednesday Math Grammar Spelling Reading Science Tuesday & Thursday Math Grammar Spelling Writing History Friday Math or math game Grammar Spelling Geography Art There are some miscellaneous things thrown in there each day too. I started out with getting my dd a small planner from Walmart. Each weekend I'd fill out the week....basically what you see above. Then she'd check each thing off each day. She loved having her own planner and knowing what she was to do each day. Now lately we haven't been using the planner. We have a cart with drawers (our workboxes) and she just fills them for the next day according to my sheet I had printed. Your girls are old enough that if there was some kind of list, or a planner for them each, that tells them that today we do this, this, this......they can take a little responsibility too in getting it done. You might have to use some kind of incentive (maybe something like....if we get everything done on the list each day for the entire week we'll bake something special on the weekend....or something).
I'm gonna try this weekly form this week (download link at the bottom of the post) I like that it's one page and hold everything-top priorities for a week, daily chores, weekly chores, meal plans and a place for appointments or whatever. I simply can NOT do a 'at this time do this' schedule, a routine I can swing for a while, but not a tight schedule... Just thought I'd share.
I've realized after 8 years that simplicity is the key for us. Homeschooling means we get a lot done in a very small amount of time. My ds is 11 and in 6th grade. We do academics from noon to about 2pm. I try to spend 30-40 minutes on each subject with a 10-minute break in between each. Math and Language Arts are done daily. Science and History are done twice a week, and Art & Spanish are done once a week. We do academics year-round on a 4-day/week schedule. Here's what our week looks like: Mon: English (Hake Grammar & Writing 6), Math (Saxon 7/6), Science (Apologia General Science), Independent reading Tue: English (A Workbook for Dyslexics), Math, History (SOTW 1), Art (Artistic Pursuits JH Book 1) Wed: off (maybe a field trip and/or independent reading) Thu: English (Hake), Math, Science, Independent reading Fri: English (Dys. Wkbk), Math, History, Spanish (Getting Started w/Spanish) About twice a month we go on a field trip with or without the homeschool group (museum, Hall of Science, workshop class, zoo, botanical garden, theater, etc - we live in NYC so the list is endless). We also go to the gym together several mornings a week (cardio & weight training). Saturdays he has a drama/musical theater class and youth show choir. Sundays he goes to CCD (Catholic religion class) If I can get my work hours changed from evenings to mornings he will also do basketball or soccer 2-3 times a week. Hope this helps!
I would love to see some sample schedules of people who use time slots all day. I feel very much like the OP. I feel like our year so far has been very chaotic And not getting enough done. With 4kids I feel like I don't get individual time with them enough, and my 3.5 yr old is very lively and distracting...high needs and demanding honestly. I would like to get this problem solved by April because I have a new baby due then. My 3 older kids are 11, 9, and 7. Thanks!! Kindra
okay here is a sample of how we did our hourlly schedules before: 8-830 Bible 830-930 Math 930-10:15History/Science alternating daily 10:15-1030 recess 10:30-1130 English 11:30-12 noon- reading or PE 12:00 Lunch 1pm Science/History alternating then finish with anything not done or do Art/Music etc elective type stuff when I had the kids all three home as 'kid aged' they would alternate with my help during the math hour and english hour so that I coudl teach them each the same subject at the same time for a while. I also found it was easier once things got tougher in ages to swap so one kid had math while the other had English and reading, so that I could focus on Algebra separately from times tables. I found I was teaching over and under the kids ages once they were all doing the same subjects at extensively different ages. So keep that in mind when yours get that age
I'm ALL for short lessons.. I feel that they retain more with short to the point lessons.. We are moving back to Charlotte Mason favored homeschool.. I feel this is the best way to school my kiddos.. They LOVED school when we did it this way before but as soon as hubby decided they were all going back to school in highschool, I freaked out and felt like I needed to do "school at home" and completely lost sight of WHY I felt led to homeschool in the first place.. I've found our purpose once again.. A short schedule like what teachermom posted above would work great for us.. I HAVE to have time slots or it's not going to work.. At least in the beginning.. I've already got a pretty good line up on some curricula.Some of it free and the other very inexpensive, so now I have to just get our scheule worked out.. My girls are extremely excited about their new books and ready to get going on school again.. And I'm actually excited for the first time in a year to be able to homeschool my kids.. It's looking like a really good start to the semester.. I can't wait to see how much the girls learn..
