Within the Lines

Scheduling

I've had several requests to get back to my scheduling info, just not the time to do it.  (I've been working out some "bugs" in my schedule, "bugs" that left me with little discretionary time for things like blogging.)   I gotta say, despite the occasional changes, I'm really enjoying settling on a school day that fits well on us.  --Just a note about that:  I know everyone is much quicker to grasp the "every family is different" thing, but I always have to try a seemingly great idea out before I get that it's not for us, sometimes more than once.  Starting the school day with math is one of those - for me.  Nearly every year, I think, I've tried to start with math; or, at least to start with the 3Rs-stuff, get it done, and then get on to the fun-together stuff like social studies and science.  NEVER works!!  I cause us a bunch of stress for a week or 2, only to remember this doesn't work for us.  Bug9 cannot accomplish math quickly for the life of her; so we all end up sitting around (with Son5 getting stir-crazy, and me saying, "Are you done yet? Hurry up!" every few minutes -- which is very inspiring  to my math-hating Bug9) waiting and waiting and waiting, and then ending up with no time for the fun-together stuff.  All that to say:  Do what works for your family!

My schedule is now laid out in on-the-hour blocks, generally with 2-3 items listed for that hour.

5:00   - wake up, quiet time*, exercise

6:00   - shower/dress, start laundry (continues to be cared for throughout

            school time tho not noted -- I plan on 2 loads/day)

            kids up at 6:45

7:00   - animal chores, housekeeping area chores,

            breakfast & clean up

8:00   - (school begins with...)  Bible:  family devotion, worship, prayer;

            then recitation (of Pledge, Lord's Prayer, memorywork)

9:00   - Spanish; then social studies or science

10:00  - language arts (grammar, spelling, writing)

11:00  - phys. ed.; then math (& preschool activities w/Bee2)

12:00  - music, lunch, clean up, outdoors

1:00   - nature walk, read aloud; then Mom has quiet time* while kids

            read aloud to each other

2:00   - Mom practices guitar, then completes something on to-do list; 

            Bug9 has quiet time*, then reads; Son5 reads, then rests;

3:00   - varies by the day -- Mom blogs, crafts or bakes (with Bug9),

            followed by bookkeeping or correspondence;

            Bug9 crafts, bakes or rests;

            Son5 rests, then has quiet time*

4:00   - Mom begins dinner prep while kids alternate days to read aloud

            and then join in the dinner prep (other kids have free play)

            (Bug9 helps Mon & Wed; Son5 helps Tue & Thurs)

5:00   - prep continues until dinner at 5:30

6:00   - kitchen clean up (kid that didn't help prep, helps clean up);

            then animal chores

7:00   - family time -- reading or games -- then kids get ready for bed

8:00   - kids have quiet reading in beds (w/lights out at 8:30)

            Mom & Dad have time to read &/or talk; then prep for bed

9:00   - Mom & Dad pray together; lights out preferably by 9:30

*quiet time refers to prayer, worship, Bible reading usually in our "prayer room" which we built into our garage.

Rarely do our days flow serenely thru this schedule from beginning to end, but it does help;  it gives me a "track to run in", helps me to see what works and what doesn't, and gives me room to balance work & play.

Also, my housekeeping does mostly happen in 20-30 minutes in the morning, other than cleaning the kitchen as I work in it and picking up/straightening as I walk thru a room.  I've had a policy since the kids were babies that there's a place for everything:  outdoors for yelling - running - throwing, school room for crafts and school, living room for quiet sitting and reading, and bedrooms for play or rest.  Therefore, things generally do not spread very far.  (Bee2 currently makes that more difficult, but she's learning.)  In addition, a few years ago, I came across (and immediately implemented) the tip of dividing your house into different areas for each day of the week.  For us, that means Monday-bedrooms, Tuesday-downstairs, Wednesday-upstairs, Thursday-bathrooms, Friday-misc odds & ends.  Saturdays I made the same rotation for each Saturday of the month (ie. 1st Saturday-bedrooms, 2nd-downstairs, etc) to do some of the deeper cleaning jobs that don't get done weekly.  Each of the kids and I have jobs to do in the day's area; then housekeeping is done for the day.  Life is not rigid and therefore we don't accomplish 100% of planned tasks 100% of the time, but it's regular enough that it doesn't hurt to miss occasionally.

Anyway -- a really long post that hopefully has offered someone a bit of helpful information.

"The mind of a homeschooling mom plans her way, but the Lord directs her steps."

The coming year is planned as follows:

     1) We will begin the 2007-2008 school year on October 1st. 

     2)  The first term runs October thru December, 10 weeks of schooling with one week off for Thanksgiving (and Christmas card prepping) and the last 2 weeks of December off for Christmas.

     3)  Second term runs January thru mid-March, 10 weeks with first week of January off for decluttering and bookkeeping and ending with the middle week of March as spring break (starting plants, spring cleaning).

     4) Third term runs late March thru May, 10 weeks.

     5) Thus, 30 weeks of "regular school".  We cover regular subjects --Bible, memorywork/recitation, Spanish, social studies, science & nature, language arts, math, health/P.E., music, art-- in (mostly) regular ways, definite in-school hours, regular routine.

     6) After two weeks off the beginning of June (garden-planting, decluttering, garage sale), we begin the fourth term, 6 weeks of "summer school".  Those 6 weeks will actually be spread out thru September by doing 4 half weeks followed by 1 week off (ex: week 31A, week 31B, week 32A, week 32B, off).  Thus 2-3 day weeks that can flex around the week's work and fun.  Summer subjects will be memorywork review (review of pieces memorized during the year), Spanish review, math games and drill, individual unit studies according to interest, individual garden plots w/journalling, and state studies (possibly tying in to vacation when available). 

We'll see how it goes...

Planned vs. Actual Day

Thought I'd share the plan I follow for our days, with accompanying examples, as necessary, of how it plays out in reality.  Disclaimer: The times we follow are obviously what work for our family and in no way an implication that everyone should do likewise.

5:30 - Up to pray and exercise  (reality check: some days it's 5:00, some days it's 6:30, sometimes I have great prayer times, sometimes I have great exercise, sometimes I have great sleep )

6:30 - Start laundry and/or shower, and make bed

7:00 - Kids up - They must wash up, dress, make bed, quick-straighten room, feed & water dogs and chickens before breakfast.

7:30 - Breakfast - I have a scheduled rotation of breakfasts to avoid morning brain activity and so that Husband or I (or kids as they get older) can easily get breakfast on. I can post this if requested.  (It's pretty fun!)

8:00 - Family Devotion - Husband leads story/discussion and prayer often including a favorite guest of the kids, a sock puppet named Lonefeather.

8:30 - Housekeeping Chores - I have divided our house into 5 areas; we work as a team, covering one area per day with kids doing age-appropriate chores in that area.  It's brief, but keeps the house tidy, with deeper cleans happening when company is coming.  (reality check: kids do their chores virtually without fail, but mine often get done later in the day or combined with the next days as I get caught with baby duty, or kitchen clean-up, or extra laundry, or bread-baking, or pre-meal-prep or          , or         , or          ...)

9:00 - Begin school work ...

I will continue next time with more of our day and specifics about our schooling schedule.  Right now, gotta go!

Grateful Praise

I am so thankful for God's provision.  We live in northern MN, the middle of nowhere by some standards, not even civilized (and certainly not habitable!), by others.  But I have some wonderful places out here in the "middle of nowhere" that God uses to meet the needs of my family quite happily. 

There's the ARCC, a local second-hand clothing store that's one of the best I've ever been in.  They collect their goods from a consignment shop and then sell them for much less than even the consignment shop had marked.  4 or so times per year I go in and spend a couple of hours shopping, leave with a pile (usually several large bags) of great quality clothes (some even with store tags), one item of which would cover my cost of $20-$30.  It's like Christmas and my birthday all rolled into one when I "have to" go clothes shopping!

Then there's Share & Care, a second-hand clothing and variety shop.  They are a great place to take the clothes we outgrow or no longer use.  Best yet, they are a fabulous source for stocking our library.  I don't know where they find them, but I can count on filling our Christmas book box (and more) with wonderful old classics and all those "gotta own" quality books.  All children's books are 10 cents apiece.  I've gotten Kingfisher encyclopedias, numerous children's classics, Golden Books, Arch Books, Scholastic science readers, etc, etc, all for just a few dollars.  Every time I leave, I am overwhelmed with God's provision for our kids' education and enrichment.

And -- last (on today's list) but not least -- we are just minutes away from what I understand to be the last volunteer-run food co-op in the state.  Nuts & dried fruits, bulk spices, flours, beans, cereals, cheeses, many other natural/organic items all for excellent prices and great quality.  They emphasize fresh and bulk rather than "health food" so it truly is an old-fashioned food co-op.  Besides the volunteers are generally neighbors, so it's a great place to run into people you know from the area!

What a blessed homemaker I am!

Spring Cleaning

I LOVE our school schedule!!  I just have to say that again -- after 4 years of working out what works for us, I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE our school schedule!!!  We began January 2nd, have completed our first term of 12 weeks, and are now on "spring break".  The kids are happy, I'm happy; this is just so, so good.  And the timing of this break is perfect, a perfect time to start some seeds and do some spring cleaning. 

Spring cleaning has thus far been kind of overwhelming to me, an impossible list of must-do's.  Several years ago, I made a spring/fall cleaning checklist to remember each area needing cleaning in each room.  That helps, but it also makes me feel like going back to bed with a good book (not that I do, just plenty of wishful thinking).  This year, I tried something new that I'm really enjoying.  I decided to follow our regular weekly cleaning rotation while adding more detail.  Thus, Mondays are bedroom day.  So the kids did their regular bedroom cleaning chores and then reported in for deeper cleaning assignments (closets, drawers, shelves, etc).  I meanwhile did the same in our room.  We were done by nap time leaving the afternoon free for me to rest a bit, do laundry, work on some anniversary cards, and make dinner.  Tuesdays are assigned downstairs.  So yesterday after regular chores (which generally don't take more than half an hour), the kids worked on dusting and picking up in the guest room and tv room while I dusted the office and did laundry.  Then while I tackled the office desk (which had stuff in the drawers that was 7 or more years old!!), the kids cleaned their desk drawers in the school/craft room.  We were done by lunch, making it possible for me to focus the afternoon on starting our onions, peppers, tomatoes and some flower seeds.  Wednesdays are upstairs.  So today the kids did some extra dusting and cleaned out the games cupboard that desperately needed it.  Then while I dusted shelves and the hutch, I gave the kids a break from cleaning to play in their rooms.  My son joined me in the kitchen when I began cleaning the grease layer off the tops of the kitchen cabinets and trimming dead leaves off the plants I have in baskets all around.  He loved the job of gathering up the leaves to throw outside.  Now I have laundry half done and want to clean the kitchen cabinet fronts and trim a few more houseplants.  Tomorrow is bathroom day, so we'll do some extra deep cleaning in the bathrooms.  And Friday will be sit-back-and-enjoy-it day.  (Then we'll leave for the library.)   AAAAHHHHH.  It just feels so good to bring order without utterly killing ourselves off in the process.  And all this cleaning will make us really glad to get back to school next week!  LOL!!

Oh-- I gotta get going.  I forgot to start the french bread to go with lasagna for dinner tonight!!

Ready, or Not...

Our School Day Routine

(I avoid calling it a schedule to help myself remember to be flexible.)  I'm posting this for those of us who like to see how other homeschoolers' days look.  I have spent the last 4 years fretting and struggling to find a workable and balanced routine for us, and f-i-n-a-l-l-y got it.  We've actually stuck with this for over a month now, and all like it.  We "school" 4 days per week with 1 day (usually Friday) for doing errands, field trip, or Daddy Day.  (We also go year-round.  I'll post that schedule another time.)  This is our routine for school days, with bolded subjects:

7:00  -  kids up, dress, make beds, feed dogs

7:30  -  breakfast, clean up, brush teeth

8:00  -  Bible: family devotion

8:30  -  Life Skills: housekeeping chores (a rotation keeps it short)

9:00  -  Littles Learning: dd8 does toddler time w/dd18mos; ds5 does kindergarten crafts; I continue housekeeping

9:15  -  Music: Mon-dd8 teaches recorder lesson to ds5, Tue-Thu online music appreciation; I prep am snack, bottle, and math worksheet

9:30  -  Math: dd8 and ds5 do MUS video & worksheet; I rock dd18mos & do computer (if dd8 and ds5 finish math early, dd8 reads to ds5 until I'm done)

10:00 -  (baby down for am nap) Literature: kids snack while I read aloud (always includes discussion and vocabulary)

10:30 -  Language Arts: phonics, penmanship w/ds5; dd8 works alone on varied lessons in grammar, penmanship, spelling, etc 

10:45 -  Language Arts cont.: ds5 takes break-playing alone in room while I work w/dd8

11:00 -  Social Studies: w/dd8 geography/culture/missions read aloud and discussion

11:15 -  (get baby up) Social Studies cont.: w/ds5 people/places/maps read aloud; dd8 does timeline, mapwork or report

11:30 -  Health & P.E.: w/all kids read aloud from human body encyclopedia; then exercise to kids aerobic dance cd

12:00 - (throw in load of laundry; kids clean up) Spanish: while fixing lunch, teach kids basic Spanish conversation

12:30 -  (lunch) Bible: memorywork & recitation prior to leaving table

1:00  -  Science & Nature: nature walk or experiment & research (whatever presents itself)

1:30  -  ds5 rests till 3:30; I continue laundry, rock dd18mos, then lay her down for nap till 4 (my "free" time--laundry, bookkeeping, sewing, etc--roughly 2:30-3:30); dd8 reads Bible & journals 1/2 hour, has free reading 1/2 hour, rests 1/2 hour, and electives 1/2 hour (sewing w/Gramma on Mon and computer Tue-Thu)

3:30 -  Reading: read aloud about 20 min to each dd8 and ds5 (seperately...special Mommy time)

4-ish -  Music Practice (15min): ds5 practices recorder and drums; dd8 practices guitar

4:30 -  Home Ec (and free play): a mixture of alternating playing w/baby, helping Mom w/dinner, and free play

5:30 -  supper & clean up

6:30 -  Family Activity Time: a rotation of art lesson night, craft project night, story-telling night, & game night

7:30 -  handwork, quiet reading, baths, radio program

8:00 -  (kids ready for bed) Faith: read aloud kids version Pilgrim's Progress; then Daddy prays and talks w/kids individually

8:30 -  Reading: free reading in bed till lights out at 9

     (History is covered during the various reading times throughout the day and a timeline; I follow a 4-year cycle and order books from the library for the period we're covering.  I love All Through the Ages by Christine Miller for guidance w/this.)

So, that's it.  Not for everyone, I imagine, but great for us.  Lots of educating gets done, and I have some individual time w/kids and time to care for home.