Tweaked School Schedule - 2014-2015

Our school days started again back in September. We had returned from a whole week at Disney World, spent, but with big grins on our faces. The hub and I felt like children again ourselves. Our children - 11, 7, and 3 - all had a blast and could enjoy something different.

Then Monday hit. Like a wall that pops up in front of you when you are cruising happily on a bike, it hit me. It hit us. We are definitely going to need some down time after a holiday like that. I expected whiny children. What I didn't see coming were the changes in the schedules and the cranky, griping teacher. It was back to the drawing board when it came to the schedule, which was way, way too long. We were doing school from 9 in the morning until 4 or 5. With my new schedule, which we tested out the following week, we could be by 2 if we started at 9. Since we like to stay up later and sleep in, we tend begin at 10 and end at around 3, depending on how many snacks we've had.

At my house it's all about the food. Something about mental effort makes my children extra hungry. That could explain why my youngest -who's not technically homeschooled yet in the traditional sense- is not on the hunger craves bandwagon, but my oldest two are. Oldest is in sixth grade and middle is in second. They are at different levels, but our schedule is so smooth now that everything has its own place.

Here's the basic idea why our schedule works. I'm sharing this in hopes this can help someone who's tackling their school schedule.

Group work:

Calendar, Poetry, and Geography on M, Tu, and Wed
Calendar, Poetry, Art Appreciation on Thu
Calendar, Poetry, Music Appreciation and Nature Study on Fri

Oldest: Independent Work
Middle: One-on-one work with Mama (about 1 1/2 hours to 2 hours)

Exercise break and piano practice for both (youngest joins in exercise activities)

Oldest: One-on-one work with Mama

Middle: Play with younger sister - also read to her

My youngest, who's three, also participates in table work by working on her Kumon tracing and mazes workbooks.

Our First Week - 2012-2013 Year, Part I

Six weeks vacation time is in our experience the right amount so we all get relaxation - Mama has some time to plan for next year - and the children don't forget everything they've learned. We started our vacation back in late July, and started school again last Monday, on Labor Day.

During those six weeks the kids created an enormous card for their grandmother (about 5 feet by 6 feet!), we visited the island of Aruba for a week (where we also visited an ostrich farm), we celebrated Ballerina's fifth birthday, read books, did Chemistry experiments from a kit Builder had received as a gift, read and did some activities from the Leonardo Da Vinci Inventions kit, went to the pool often, and culminated the whole summer with a 6-day trip to Orlando, Florida followed by Builder's birthday. We went to SeaWorld for three days and drove almost an hour one day to visit Legoland! We all had so much fun. When my computer finally wants to cooperate with posting pictures, I really want to post pictures

I find it easier to start the summer vacation around Ballerina's birthday (late July) and ending this time right after Builder's birthday - bookends. It's hard to believe my oldest is nine!

This week we have started building up to our schedule gradually. After a few years of hours lost and wrestling with complicated homemade schedules, I've decided to go the easier route. I simply typed up by subject what needs to be done from weeks 1-6, weeks 7-12, etc. in Mac Pages. These are only the subjects which require some sort of organization in our curriculum, not "do-the-next-thing" curricula. Perhaps I should write another blog post about this, especially how I organized Elementary Science Education - Building Foundations of Scientific Understanding (BFSU 2), as I know many people struggle with implementing this excellent science curriculum.

All that said, my schedule went well this week. I do suspect that I have too many things going on at the same time - for someone with a toddler. However, I like it this way. I only need to stagger, which is my favorite new tool. From Mondays through Thursdays, we do the basics (math, grammar, reading, science, history, poetry) and Fridays we do health & safety, geography, piano, and art. On Sundays, we read aloud Book of Virtues and Builder does Faith & Life on mycatholicfaithdelivered.com.

To speed things up a bit, I have Builder work the allotted time on the lesson - this year from 20-30 minutes - and if he doesn't finish, it's "homework", which cuts into his play and watching-Phineas-and Ferb-on-Netflix time. I anticipate this will reduce dawdling, daydreaming, talking, and interrupting.

To Be Continued..

Back to Homeschool!

The first week was our trial week. Does the morning routine work? Schedule? How long does it take Mama to prepare a morning snack and stuff it in a lunch box? After a few weeks of trying out, here's our schedule, each core subject taking around 20 minutes each (some days up to 30 minutes, depending on the interest and the subject). Poetry, Composer and Picture Study can take as little as 5 minutes.

MONDAYS and WEDNESDAYS

Literature

English

History

Math

Natural Science

Poetry

Geography M or Logic W

Spelling
Spanish
Reading

TUESDAYS and THURSDAYS

Literature

English
History
Math
Natural Science
Poetry
Spanish
Reading

FRIDAYS

Literature
English
Natural Science
Composer Study
Math
Poetry
History Project
Picture Study
Penmanship
Geography puzzle

So far this seems to be working great. Ds8 has Taekwondo three times a week, tennis twice a week, dance twice a week, and piano once a week. Dd4 is in a great Montessori VPK program for three hours daily, and has ballet twice a week and piano once a week. With a schedule like that, it took us a little while to figure out what days would be better for what. Having shorter days on Tuesdays and Thursdays took care of that, and dh picking up dd on Mondays and Wednesdays helps me to concentrate school on those two days. On Fridays we review, catch up, and do projects. Every day the focus is on reading, writing, and math. The other two subjects sandwiched in between are ds' favorites - History and Natural Science. These are the inspirational subjects Charlotte Mason spoke about. Ds also enjoys Picture Study, Composer Study, and Poetry.

We've already been to a NOT Back to School Party, and are enjoying the ample opportunities to socialize after several weeks of Summer's self-imposed hibernation.

Story of the World Volume I: Supplementary Reading Schedule

For Kindergarten I didn't bother too much with schedules, as I just "did the next thing" for most and if not, well, flew by the seat of my pants. This year, however, it's schedule time. I have Story of the World Volume 1: The Ancients (SOTW1) and not as much scheduled it as put a sequence so I can just follow it. The Activity Guide is so helpful and comprehensive, I don't need much else except to tell my project manager (Husband) to get the necessary materials. Doing the sequence with the supplementary reading material this way leaves me with more freedom and flexibility, which is just the way I like it. 

Here's my supplementary reading sequence for SOTW 1, with markings denoting whether the book is available in our local library system (KL) or if it's only available through Interlibrary Loan. This way I can plan ahead and request the books I need. The rest of the books I own. Following this is easy, and keeps me on track and makes me feel accomplished as a teaching Mama. I have it all pretty in a column format on my computer, but for some reason couldn't post it as an image. Here it is in copy-paste format:

SOTW 1: Chapter,  Book Title

Ch. 1 The Earliest People                                   Little Grunt and the Big Egg KL R

Ch. 2 Egyptians Lived on The Nile River              Living Long Ago

Ch. 3 The First Writing                       Science in Ancient Mesopotamia

Ch. 4 The Old Kingdom of Egypt Mummies in the Morning (MTH)

Ch. 5 The First Sumerian Dictator Abou Hassan (Arabian Nights Story)

Ch. 6 The Jewish People The Coat of Many Colors KL

Ch. 7 Hammurabi and the Babylonians Abu Ali - Three Tales of the Middle East KL

Ch. 8 The Assyrians Gilgamesh the King

Ch. 9 The First Cities of India The Token Gift

Ch. 10 The Far East: Ancient China Day of the Dragon King (MTH)

Ch. 11 Ancient Africa Anansi and the Spider: A Tale from the Ashanti KL

Ch. 12 The Middle Kingdom of Egypt Pharaohs and Pyramids KL

Ch. 13 The New Kingdom of Egypt Senefer, Young Genius in Old Egypt ILL

King Tut’s Mummy - Lost and Found R

Ch. 14 The Israelites Leave Egypt Bible Story: Moses

Ch 15 The Phoenicians The Phoenicians: Mysterious Sea People ILL

Ch. 16 The Return of Assyria The Seven Voyages of Sinbad (Arabian Nights Story)

Ch. 17 Babylon Takes Over Again! Camaralzaman and Badoud (Arabian Nights Story)

Ch. 18 Life in Early Crete Atlantis: The Legend of a Lost City KL

Ch. 19 The Early Greeks The Trojan Horse: How the Greeks Won the War

Ch. 20 Greece Gets Civilized Again The Librarian Who Measured the Earth KL

Ch. 21 The Medes and the Persians The Enchanted Horse (Arabian Nights Tale)

Ch. 22 Sparta and Athens The Twelve Labors of Hercules R

Ch. 23 The Greek Gods The Gods and Goddesses of Olympus Aliki KL

Ch. 24 The Wars of the Greeks Aesop’s Fables

Ch. 25 Alexander the Great The Great Alexander the Great KL

Ch. 26 The People of the Americas Maria and the Stars of Nazca ILL

Ch. 27 The Rise of Rome Romulus and Remus Anna Rockwell KL R

Detectives in Togas

Ch. 28 The Roman Empire Detectives in Togas

Ch. 29 Rome’s War with Carthage Detectives in Togas

Ch. 30 The Aryans of India Stories from India ILL

Ch. 31 The Mauryan Empire of India Stories from India ILL

Ch. 32 China: Writing and the Qin The Great Wall of China

Ancient China Treasure Chest

Ch. 33 Confucius The Empty Pot by Demi ILL

Ch. 34 The Rise of Julius Caesar Detectives in Togas

Ch. 35 Caesar The Hero Detectives in Togas

Ch. 36 The First Roman Prince Pompeii -- Buried Alive!

Ch. 37 The Beginning of Christianity The Bible: Jesus Born and Died

Ch. 38 End of Jewish Nation Annie’s Shabbat KL

Ch. 39 Rome and the Christians Vacation Under the Volcano (MTH)

Ch. 40 Rome Begins to Weaken The Beast of Lor ILL

Ch. 41 The Attacking Barbarians Living Long Ago

Ch. 42 The End of Rome Science in Ancient Rome

So far Son has enjoyed reading Little Grunt and the Big Egg. He needed help with a few words, but otherwise has done very well. 

My revised schedule for Kindergarten

Mondays through Thursdays

Calendar

Math

Poetry

BREAK

Phonics

Reading 

Literature

Friday

Calendar

Theology

Natural Science

Spanish

Piano Lessons (I'm the teacher) at 4 PM

Soccer Practice at 6 or 7 PM

Nature walks 2X week

Sunday

Art

Tuesdays and Thursdays 

Taekwondo 4 PM