Attn: Homeschool Families - Daily Order of Business Question!

[jmjZelie]

Honestly, I don’t have an actual time schedule. I have a list of things that I want to get accomplished (I write list on weekend). I always start with religion because it’s most important. Then each child will work on their hardest subject. Basically, my kids can’t have any “fun” until their list is complete. Of course, some of our school is fun, but DS can’t play Legos until his list is done.

I tried the whole 8-8:30 is math, etc, but we have too many variables for that to work (e.g. Frequent migraines, etc). Plus sometimes I wake up and really want to go to daily mass, which is half an hour away. That totally messes up the schedule. I got too stressed with a strict schedule and didn’t feel like I was able to do things like have friends over for lunch. But our list works.

One thing that has really helped me when I think I’m failing is to remember that my job is to get my kids to heaven, not Harvard.

I don’t have specific time slots for everything, but I do have blocks of time reserved for lessons of a certain type. Morning is slated for religion, science and social studies, plus the kindergarten work. Afternoon is slated for language arts. Enrichment subjects are scattered here and there throughout the week, but they are the first to get cut if we are just in survival mode. Oh, and husband does math in the early evening time.

 

[jmjZelie]

I have 4 kids, and have 2 doing school now. Right now our “schedule” is to hopefully get 2 subjects done in a day! We have no routine…and feel like I need one badly. I’m horrible when it comes to following a routine/schedule. I never stick to it long enough…so i’m reading this as well hoping to get some inspiration!!

Yes, I hope you are able to benefit from this, too. Homeschooling is hard, and I love to learn from others who have been there, done that, and learned a better way to make it all work.

 

[jmjZelie]

my replies in red

MomaMary8 said:
"My day begins the night before with a shower, clothes set out and any worksheets printed and ready to go. Showering the night before has been a huge time saver.

I have tried this many periods throughout the years, because you are right, it is a huge time-saver. However, I always end up paying for it after a few months because going to bed with damp hair plays havoc with my health. So morning showers it is.

I rise early to get my prayer in, then attend morning mass at 6:00 a.m. Three days a week the kids go with me.

I want to get back into my early morning routine, but my nearly 1yo is still causing me so many hours of lost sleep each night that I am not able to do much in the early morning. My goal is to rise by 5:30, and do my devotions, exercise on the elliptical, and shower before starting breakfast. But that can’t happen until the baby is moved out of my room. Also, I have access to 8am Mass on weekdays, and it is on our schedule to go one day a week. But we haven’t done it even once yet.

We eat breakfast when we return. Kids are free to play but my 7th grader prefers to nap!

8:30 we say our prayers. 1st day of the month we create a prayer list and review our blessings from the previous month. We may talk about the Saint of the day, the feast days coming or the homily at mass. Then all the kids pull out their religion texts and start reading or working on their workbook. I work independently with my one learning to read, and give her an activity to do. As the week goes by I go over each chapter with each child, getting all in by Thursday ready for a short quiz on Friday a.m.

From 9:00ish to 10 or 10:30 the kids check their assignment notebook for that days assignment. They choose independent work if I’m busy with another, but I spend one-on-one time with each, helping with different subjects as they need.

Snack at 10:30 and finished work put away

11:00 back to work for the older kids. My kindergartener is usually done and free to play with the youngest.

11:00-12:00 more work, usually math is finished at this time. They work better in the a.m. than in the afternoon, so I need to make sure it gets in by then.

From 9-12 is our morning session and from 1-3 is our afternoon session. Kindergarten work is in the morning.

12:00 lunch

Us too.

12:30-1:00 out to play

1:00 until each is finished, they work or sit with me to review, explain, etc. Usually at this point it’s just my older two still working.

No fun til the work is done.

Good rule to follow!

I like to read from a book during snack time. I may copy a coloring page that goes with the story for the littles to help keep the fidgets down while listening. I also read in my bed on cold winter days with the little kids gathered around. Some fall asleep My older kids take that time to finish their work or do their independent reading.

I HTH. order is a lovely thing, but remember to bend with the day. The schedule I use is my baseline, but we are known to get off track I usually have their assignment notebooks filled out by Sunday night, so their is no time waisted in figuring out what is next."

It seems like my schedule is actually quite on target. My problem seems to be staying on task and keeping up. My stress has been so high that I find it hard to think and difficult to persevere and I get so upset that I have to give myself a time out. I have zero confidence and I am emotionally paralyzed by the smallest things these days. I am beginning to work with medical and counseling professionals to help my depression. If my family can hang on while I work on that, then maybe things will become easier. I will do my best to follow the schedule when we begin the next grading period.

 

[jmjZelie]

Well, I see a couple of angles of attack here. First, the global aspect. How is your overall rhythm for your days? Wake-ups, routines, daily/weekly/monthly rhythms as a family, for yourself, for your schooltime? A weak rhythm makes it easier to lose track, skip, or otherwise get derailed with the educational piece. I don’t know what “style” of HS you use, but I find the Waldorf system encourages a super-strong rhythm. You might check out the resources at WaldorfEssentials.com - she has useful discussions about rhythm (and she’s very active online - if you PM me, I’d be happy to introduce you). A book like “Seven Times the Sun” may help, too, in terms of working out your daily and weekly rhythms.

And the second line of attack is the education component. I don’t recall the ages of your children. How has your planning been, this year? Do you feel prepared, on a daily basis, for what you’ve planned out? When you say, for example, your religion lesson is taking an hour a day, can you describe what is happening in that hour? Rather than look at our days, it may be more useful for us to take a peek at yours, to see where it might be tightened up, or how it’s going off the rails?

My morning schedule is the pits right now. I used to be up and at 'em earlier, and it was breakfast at 7, walk at 7:30, finish morning routine at 8:30, and start lessons by 9. Now, I am so exhausted that I don’t get a walk in and it is hard to get through morning routine and get started with lessons by 10. The rest of the day is easier to hit. Lunch at noon. Baby naps at 1. Daddy gets home at 3:30. Our evening routine as a family is consistent and good.

My planning is good. It is execution that is not going well.

My children are in 5th grade, 2nd grade, young kindergartener, 2.5 yo toddler and nearly 1yo infant.

Religion is Faith and Life and it takes about 30 min for each of my older two kids, plus about 10 min or so for my kindergartener. We read and discuss the lesson for the day from my teacher manual, as well as occasionally practice our catechism.

My children are rather inclined to philosophical and theological discussions, so that might be why the religion portion of our day is so long.

 

[1990Domer]

I have the same sort of thing using my computer to make (and remake and remake) our daily and weekly schedule. My question is more about how you schedule, and not so much the type of scheduling materials you use. Does that make sense?

For instance, trying to schedule teaching religion to three kids requires over an hour each day, and that is just one subject! Trying to coordinate it all, and fit it all in between mealtimes, so that I can flow from one thing to the next without having to think too hard about it, well, so far I am failing miserably at that!

For me, the core academic subjects get done between 8:45 and 3 PM. Without the classroom distractions, he gets his work done quickly. I also him 5 minute breaks between assignments (we cyber school, so he has live class every day). He gets 3-5 PM to go play and practice trumpet. DH sits down with him at 7 to do religion.

I hope that helps.