Homeschool Schedule Part V
June 29th, 2008
(Sorry, this is a bit long and I don’t blame you if you skip it but it is my blog and my process so I write it my way. Live with it peeps!)
Little did I know that when I started this thread on Homeschool Scheduling, I would end up with a 5 part post on the topic. It has been very good for me to review all that God has done as I prepare to dive into our second year. There was no accidentally doing this, or just throwing things together. There has been an underlying process all along the way that has been shaping my thinking and my practice. So now you understand a bit more about our family and how we have come to this part in our journey and how I am able to do some of the things I am going to do this year.
Firstly, I have 3 children all roughly 18 months apart at 3 entirely different stages developmentally. They each need something different and because their abilities are so stretched out, one reading and writing, one staring to read and write, one just starting to hold a fat crayon, I realized a few weeks ago, that next year would need some sereious scheduling on my part in order to make sure that they all are getting what they need developmentally. I started to see, that I needed to be 3 places at once, and didn’t know how in the world to do it. I was falling asleep one night and had the thought, I wish I could hire someone a few hours a week to help me manage the three stages. So Mike and I had a talk about it and reviewed our budget and decided that that would be a perfect plan for this year.
I think as a child begins homeschooling, habit training is one of the most essential skills needed in order to move into successful life long learning. That takes time and focused attention, and to be honest, my youngest has not had enough of my undivided attention because our middle is starting to read, and write. Our oldest is reading and writing well, however, I am still doing most of his school reading because with AO you typically read several years above their skill level and don’t transition independent reading over to the student until about year 4. So I have 2 more years of having to meet three very different needs, and now because of the miracle of our budget, I am able to hire someone to come in a few hours a week, to implement very specific goals for my youngest, along side all the work that I am doing and overseeing with the others. We are also able to have our 2 oldest attend a PE program for homeschoolers in our area one day a week, while I have our youngest do a gymnastics class where he is working and interacting with his peers. So I will be running a 4 day week of schooling, with the 5th day being PE and doing art/music study and nature study in the afternoons after their quiet times.
Some of the practical things I will stick to, is morning schooling for our core work, done by lunch time leaving afternoons for “specials”. This ensures that we are all at our brightest and ready to move through our material. There are days we will have to do some things in the afternoon, as we did this year, but I am honest in saying it is not ideal for attitudes etc. so for our family, the morning is the best(getting copy work, math and reading out of the way first thing).
To make sure we all are having healthy boundaries (mommy included) as we all move along, we stick to a firm quiet time for all of us mid day. This allows us all to have some time to ourselves, to think and play without anyone else grabbing from us or directing us. We can sleep, or read, or pray and talk to God, or build or create, just as long as we are by ourselves for 1 hour each day. I am also making strong efforts to be up 1 hour before the kids so that I can exercise and be prepared for the day ahead. Getting each weeks materials ready before the week begins, so I don’t have to rely on the computer and the ringer turned off on the phone, helps us all stay on track. I am realistic that this is the ideal and that many days I will fall short of this, but I will just get back on my horse the following day, and get back at it again. There is no perfection in homeschooling, only trying to do better then the day before and you will stay the course.
We will start our school day at 8:30 with everyone doing a little poetry, memorization work and bible immersion (I hate the idea of bible stories. It seems so trite and contrived so instead we are immersing them in a thread of theological and biblical content. I’ll post on that later) . Before that, we will have breakfast, and do general chores before the day begins.
From there the older two will have a little copy work at the table. I am teaching them both cursive at once, and then back track and refine Chloe’s print skills the second half of the year. My youngest will do some patterning work/sandpaper letter or tracing work on the floor with our “helper” .
Jackson will “watch”/do his math lesson with “Mr. Steve” with Math U See (Golly I love this program - it takes all the stress out of it!) The littles will go to the kitchen and have a math lesson while preparing snack. Counting grapes, plates etc.
Jackson will do 20 minutes of out loud reading to our “helper” and I will do 20 minutes of reading with the littles using 5 in a row curriculum. Then a snack break and a quick bit of outside time. After that, I will move on to reading with Jackson some of his lessons that require narration and the Hudson will do some fine motor skill work with some of our Montessori materials and Chloe will watch her math lesson. I will then do a phonics rotation cycling them all through a 10-15 minute time of one on one time with me as the other two work on putting lunch together with our helper.
Before lunch we will all clean up our school work, say good bye to our helper and then have lunch and quiet time. In the afternoons I will teach them as follows: Monday piano lessons, Tuesday art study, Wednesday Nature Study Thursday Latin lessons and Friday library outing to get books for the next week.
There you have it. I’ve decided it is too blooming hot here in the summers, so we will probably do a yearly rotation of 3 months on one month off, because honestly, more then one month off gets boring for all of us. That way we have break months during the most beautiful weather all year. So, I will give this a good dry run starting in August and tweak and adjust as needed. I’ll keep all you good people posted!
(Hey don’t let any of this stress you out! If you are thinking of homeschooling or your kids are younger then mine relax. You grow into this for sure. Your first year is just trying things on and getting in to a good habit and routine. I always say, if you can read a recipe and bake a cake, you can homeschool. It just takes a little discipline and you grow right along with your kids. Deep breathes, excellent resources, patience with yourself and your kids and a strong support network will get you on the right track.)
Okay class, any questions? Anyone, anyone, Behuler?
Entry Filed under: Homeschool, Life
12 Comments
Add your own1. Amy Wolthuis | June 30th, 2008 at 2:28 pm
Hi, Amber
I have been secretly spying on you since Brian told me about your website…thoughts on homeschooling, esp. Sam will be 6 this fall and I am thinking through what new steps to take in his learning. (We also have Lydia, almost 4, Sophie, almost 2, and Noah, 4 mos.) I consider our homeschool philosophy to be a mix of Charlotte Mason and the Moore’s (are you familiar?) Anyway, I love the idea of copy work…what do you do as far as copy work with the little ones who are just starting to read? Also, do you find this schedule gives enough physical activity for the boys? (Maybe your boys aren’t as filled with energy as mine is!) What about work? Do your kids have jobs and when do you get yours done? One more thing…while I’m at it…which books have impacted you the most as you have thought through homeschooling?
Thanks for your thoughts,
Amy
2. Amber(Homeschool Diva) | June 30th, 2008 at 4:04 pm
Amy!!!! I am so glad you commented. One day all of us will have to meet up somewhere halfway. Mike was just saying the other day he wanted to send Brian an email just to see how you all where doing. With our spans so close, we should do a family vay-cay together:-)
My boys are super active with my youngest being the most active. He has to have outside time or we all go insane. I am glad you brought this up. I wrote that late last night and totally left that part out.We do have plenty of outside time, when it isn’t so dang hot!
What I have done until the summer heat hit, is usually take them all out to a local park for about 2 hours every afternoon before dinner. We usually “hit the bricks” around 3 or so and go different places throughout the week. We live in a small townhouse, so we take advantage of all the free parks around the area. It worked very well last year, but I did find that I didn’t leave anytime in the afternoon for special work like the ones I mentioned in the post. Those “specials” at most would only last 30 minutes leaving the rest of the time to go play.
One of the things I will be experimenting with, is having our helper take our youngest out several times during our school situation and depending on how Chloe does with her work, sending her along for some of those outings.
The CM methods stresses short 15 minutes lessons which I love. Anything past that and everyone is a mess. The day moves along quickly though, and my older needs more focused time. I get him done with school from start to finish with no stops in about 2 hours, Chloe will do about and we hour and Hudson we will see. So when you throw in breaks, moving around eating snack and other stuff, it should take me about 3 hours to get them all through the paces. We will still have a gentle CM day, but I need to make sure I plan for what I want to get done, or as I saw last year, I wont get to it. Serious bummer! Again, I will dry run it and see how I can tweak it and probably adjust a bit. I am also doing the “planned” PE thing so they get the feel of team sports without all the weekend game and evening practice craziness that the local leagues require. Keeping my life simple is super important and I refuse to become a Mom running the rat race:-)
I love copy work too. I only required Jackson last year and will begin to have Chloe do some this year. I actually use quotes from great literature we are reading, or bible verses or poetry. This year, I will start to give Jackson more lengthy pieces that he will work on on all week. That way he starts to absorb good flow and has to monitor himself to get it done by weeks end. You are at the same place I was last year with your crew, so I would highly recommend going to the AO website just for the email threads that come through daily. They are tons of help. Also, Moms upload things they have created to the yahoo groups that we all can use for free and I snagged a great copy work selection for year1. Your oldest would probably be ready for year1 come August.
Yes, they have jobs, and I am adding more as the grow a bit. They all have to make/strip their beds, get dressed and clean up their plates after eating. Jackson sorts laundry, and Chloe and Hudson “wash” dishes. OK - who am I kidding they play with the bubbles but it is a start:-)
I actually fit small chores in between each lesson, or get the started and throw a load in or fold a load. I am forever running up and down the starts each day, but such is life.
I have not heard of the Moores, but I will Google them. Once I found CM I was sold and even more once I discovered AO. “For The Children’s Sake” by Susan Schaffer Maucaly is my number one homeschool read for those just starting.
I will leave it at that as this post is already very long, but I wanted to leave it here for other “lurkers” so they could see my response.
Any other thoughts?
peace to you,
a
3. Jack's Mommy | June 30th, 2008 at 11:14 pm
howdy…did i ever mention to you how i came upon your blog? i was hunting homeschooling blogs for advice since we know we want to homeschool jack - i figured 5 years to prepare will give me a better headstart and hopefully i wont feel like i’m floundering in the unknown by then! i don’t get to talk to you much on facebook or here (i’m a shy lurker in most places) but i do love your posts. Oh..Raymond and Dorothy Moore were contemporaries of unschooling’s John Holt - they studied the effects of early formal schooling on children in the 60s-70s, and formed the beliefs that it did more harm than good to school formally before 8-10 because children needed those years to bond with parents and early formal work could cause eye problems. They were big names in the early modern homeschool movement.
4. Jack's Mommy | June 30th, 2008 at 11:15 pm
uh…8-10 years of age, should I say…
not 8-10 am…unless you live at my house, then no one should school before 8-10. hehe
5. Amber(Homeschool Diva) | July 1st, 2008 at 8:05 am
Thanks for all the info Jack’s Mommy. I am coming to realize I have many lurkers here. I took off Google analytics and the map counter because I realized at some point I was writing for “them” and not for me, so I got my little train back on track and started writing for my own process and to track our families memories.
Interesting about unschooling. I think it is a nice concept, but with three littles living in a suburban enviorment, I am not sure it would quit work for me. Plus, once you are schooling a few olders and have a younger looking at you saying “I want to do copy work too Mama” , you have to come up with some type of structure for them, other wise your house will be torn apart:-) I do agree, that relationship building is one of the main “reasons” we are homeschooling our kids. Well, I am sure you figured that when you read my tag line:-)
Because I am also influenced by Montessori methods,and Sophia Coveletti, I also think that 3-6 is a very sensitive period that so much can happen for a young one if you are just observant enough to nurture it. When a child is ready for something, they are ready and not before, so if you watch for it, you can just jump write in. Currently our youngest is ready for some things just this month as he asks incessantly, so I will happily oblige:-)
Enjoy your little punkin’ seed. Kiss him and hold him and take lots and lots of video/pictures so when he is 5 and you are teaching him to tie his shoes, you can watch him when he was a baby and wonder at how big he is.
6. Amy Wolthuis | July 1st, 2008 at 2:13 pm
A few of the things I love about the Moore’s: they encourage learning in real-life situations, they promote a balance of work, service, and study, they are big on nature study, too, and it’s all low pressure with short lesson times, as well. I don’t consider myself the unschooling type. With four little ones, I need structure or “it” (things I want to do, things they want to do) won’t happen. Heck, a lot of times “it” still doesn’t happen!
Speaking of being ready and tying shoes and being 5…Sam wanted to learn yesterday and he totally caught on after two attempts! I love that…when you wait and it just works because they are ready and not pressured. It’s happening with reading, too. I tried a few times before (we are doing Teach Your Child To Read in 100 Easy Lessons) with no interest on his part, but he asked for it this time and we are breazing through the chapters. I am so proud of him!
May Peace reign in our homes today!
7. Amber(Homeschool Diva) | July 1st, 2008 at 4:05 pm
I here ya Amy about planning for it or it wont happen with tons of littles running around. Plus you have one upped me in that regard.
The tying shoes thing came the same way with Jax. He did in about 20 seconds flat and that was it. We used 100EZ also, and it was great. I am doing a combo of things with Chloe, as she wanted to read “big books” right away like her brother. I did a few CM style lessons with some Bob books so she can read those now and we are going back through 100EZ and Phonics pathway so she has the phonetic part as well.
May peace reign in our homes every day! (I am totally stealin’ that one from you:-)
8. nicki | July 3rd, 2008 at 9:11 am
Well I am not sure I can articulate what is going on in my mind. Like Jack’s mom (ironic bc I am a mom of a Jack) I have been “preparing” for homeschooling since he was born. I have read heavily on different methods and teaching techniques, and here I am six years later feeling quite unsure. I’m wondering if this is where God has me/us. In a place of total dependence, where I am lucky if I have today figured out.
I have experienced some of the benefits/miracles of unschooling where Jack has taught himself some amazing things on his own when he was ready. I am also feeling for myself that I need the structure and progression that a laid out plan would provide. I love the Charlottes ideas of providing them with great materials. I think in the mean time we will remain ecclectic and piece meal things together.
Amber I loved reading your story - Im glad you included the background to where you are at. So encouraging to see God’s hand on your family. Its fun that we have similar thinking not only in churching but also in homeschooling. I’m also really enjoying your photography -it is obvious that you are enjoying yourself :). Peace to you all today.
9. Amber(Homeschool Diva) | July 3rd, 2008 at 2:39 pm
<p><p>Thanks Nicki for the great comment and all of you ladies by the way.</p><br />
<p>One thing I know for sure, that the Holy Spirit will lead you and guide you in your pursuit of the best for your family. </p><br />
<p>One of the most helpful pieces of information I received from a good friend and experienced homeshooler, was to write out what you want your children to be when they grow up. How you want them to be formed, and what is important to your family dynamic. Once you have that big picture view, you are able to go back and construct the best possible curriculum for your family and your families goals.</p><br />
<p>You can check mine out at the top under philosophy. It will give you an idea of what we want, and why we are moving the way we are. I know it has helped us stay true to what is authentic to us as there are sooooooo many choices and ideas out there.<br /><br />
It can honestly be overwhelming, so I try to keep my nose under the radar with all of that. I trust that Jesus will lead me right into what we need if any of what we are doing starts to fall short. </p><br />
<p>I just now what we want and where we are going, so I don’t really add anything in that doesn’t line up with that. It allows me to keep things simple and streamlined leaving plenty of time for our kids to be kids and Mommy to not be stressed out. Although it is working perfectly for us now, I do know it isn’t for everyone:-)</p><br />
<p>Be true to right where you all are at, and follow Jesus as he faithfully leads you and I know you will be “right as rain”.</p><br />
<p>Hope that helps. God bless you all as you move forward with teaching and training your young ones.</p><br />
<p>Peace to you all:-)</p></p>
10. They Call Me Bobby | July 14th, 2008 at 6:12 am
Boy am I glad I stumbled upon (literally) your blog. Funny how God can have you find exactly what you need at exactly the right time…even if you yourself didn’t know it was the right time.
Like many of the previous commenters, I have been researching HSing since I was pregnant with my first AND I have a Jackson LOL. He is 2.5 and his little sister Alex is 1.5. Jackson is, cognitively, very advanced and we are actually (at his guidance) starting to sound out 3 letter words. I am a bit overwhelmed at the thought of what the future will bring with this little guy but I am also even more sure that HSing is the right choice for him. Can you imagine how bored he would be in traditional school? He is also a child of unmeasurable curiosity and energy. So the 15 minute segments you spoke of sound right up our alley.
Like I said, I have been researching HSing but mostly just to decide if it was a fit for me and my family. I have come to the conclusion through prayer and lots and lots of reading that it is. So now, I take on the arduous task of trying to find a method that will work for me, my kids, and our philosophy. I love the tip that a friend gave you about writing down what kind of person you are trying to “grow” and molding your HSing to that. I will be working on doing just that in the near future.
With all that being said, I have a few questions for you. I am new to the acronyms you use. I know what CM is. But what is AO? What are the ages of your children right now? What advice and where would you send me for materials at this point? At the ages of my two, would you suggest I actually start a small form of curriculum with them or is it far too early (even with Jackson being crazy smart LOL)? I won’t squelch their natural need to play and get dirty but I also just want to do what is best for them.
I guess that’s all the questions I have for now but I am sure I will have more later.
Thank you so much for these 5 entries - I read every word. It really did help to have your back story and see how and why you are where you are today.
God Speed.
Mandy (AKA Bobby)
11. Amber(Homeschool Diva) | July 14th, 2008 at 7:49 am
Hey Bobby,
Thanks for commenting. I am glad my story has been helpful for you. Homeschooling has been one of the best and healthiest decisions our family has ever made. I do not regret a minute. In our area, we have a LARGE homeschool community, so there are tons of homeschool field trips etc. See if you may have a homeschool group in the area, because then you can slowly make a few friends who are thinking this way too.
CM - Charlotte Mason Method
AO - Ambleside Online - the free online homeschooling resource that implements the CM method. Just google it:-)
Your 2 are still young. You know this but the absorb everything. Fill your weeks with going to the library, lots of creative work with tactile things. (Not pre-printed coloring pages but plane paper where they are encouraged to experiment and get messy).
If a little structure is good for you, then I would recommend 5 in a row for your 3.5 year old. I am using it with our youngest. It is literature based and very gentle. You can do one a week, or 5 days a week and tailor it to what you all want and need. Limit television, and start fostering an environment of exploration.
Read For The Children’s Sake by Susan Schaeffer Macualy. It will give you good info to combat misunderstanding parents and friends. Figure out your long term philosophy first, and then go after the method. What is “life” in terms of homeschooling for us may be a disaster for you.
Your 3.5 Jax sounds like my 7 year old Jax.
My children are 7,5,and 3.5. This year I will be actively schooling them all. My 7 year old does about 2.5 hours a day my 5 year old about and hour or so and my 3.5 will be doing small little 8 minute lessons broken up by much active gross motor activity. I will slowly work him up to 15 minute lessons. First borns and third borns are completely different animals.
Observe your kids. You know what they need. Instill good habit training as it will lead to successful homeschooling and most of all have fun.
Hope that helps, if you ever need any help I am an email away:-)
Blessings,
Amber
12. Amber(Homeschool Diva) | July 14th, 2008 at 8:02 am
Bobby,
Real quick, I just reread your comment and saw your Jax is 2.5 and not 3.5. I would recommend taking things SLOW even though he is wicked smart. Remember he has a life of learning all of those things, letters, numbers etc. Knowing those things are not a prerequiste for smartness or how he will get along in life. Expose him to good classical music, join a muskigarten music and movement class, hang great classic pieces of art at his eye level around your home. If he can learn his letters, he can learn, Chopin and De Gas. Anyway, email if you are missing my point, my kids are now up and I am off to start my day!
Peace to you,
Amber
Not to squelch his love of learning, but right now give him good mental food. I would recommend tons and tons of reading, great books. Here is a great list to get you started. 5 in a row will give you a great book list and here is the AO year 0 list. http://www.amblesideonline.org/00.shtml
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