New to afterschooling - what's your routine?

[Faithr]

Hi all, I've been homeschooling for 11 years. Next year, however, it looks like two or three kiddos will be heading to school. The two subjects I want to afterschool are Catechism (don't care for the church's program and anyway, I don't think it's good to have them sitting in a classroom more than they need to). I also want to afterschool Latin.

 

So how do you work your afternoons and evenings? And how do fit in other activities such as sports or music lessons?

 

Thanks,

 

Faith R

[BabyBre]

We just began afterschooling this year, after 4 years of homeschooling, and I feel more stressed out with less time to myself (I guess that's by choice!) and of course with my children than before. It is difficult to fit in everything you want your children to have when they're away from you for so many hours of the day, but we're managing to do it with the help of a very careful schedule.

 

I get the kids up early because it's MUCH easier to before-school than try to get them to focus after 6 hours of the mental and social stimulation they get in school. I can't bring myself to get them up any earlier than allows for 1 hour of study in the morning because they're so tired and busy. I save science experiments which are a lot of fun for afterschool.

 

We do get less done than before, but not much. Our Saxon Math lessons are cut short, and SOTW history activities are very rare. Here's what our weekly schedule looks like:

 

Monday morning: Grammar (FLL) 15-30 min, Math (Saxon) 30-45 min

afterschool: Science (Nutshell kits) 30-45 min, Taekwondo 60 min

bedtime: History (SOTW) 30 min, Read to Mom 15 min

Tuesday morning: Grammar 15-30, Spelling (Reason for) 30 min

afterschool: Public school homework 15-30 min, Girl Scouts 60 min

bedtime: Read to each other 15-30 min

Wednesday morning: Grammar 15-30 min, Math 30-45 min

afterschool: Science 30-45 min, Soccer practice 60 min

bedtime: History 30 min, Read to Mom 15 min

Thursday morning: Public school homework 15-30 min, Spelling 30 min

afterschool: Taekwondo 60 min

bedtime: History 30 min, Read to Mom 15 min

Friday morning: Grammar 15-30 min, Math 30-45 min

afterschool: NOTHING!

bedtime: Read to each other 15-30 min

 

I know I sound harried and stressed out, and right now I kind of am, but this being our first year, I wanted to allow dd to participate in what she wanted without having to say "no" unless I absolutely had to (and I have). She's extremely social and outgoing. Keep in mind, as I try to do, that soccer only lasts 6 weeks or so, and Girl Scouts only meets every other week. I'm waiting for things to calm down any minute now!

 

We would love to add piano, maybe on weekends at first, and I'm adding Writing and Latin next year but I'm not sure where yet. I'll try to get another 15 minutes or so out of them in the morning maybe. If we need to cut out some extracurricular activities next year to avoid the stressfulness of running all the time, we will.

 

I actually made a weekly schedule on Excell, down to 15 minute increments, and have posted it in my kitchen. It's the ONLY way we get everything done. I'm happy to send you mine to use as an example of your own if you'd like. E-mail me. btreffry(at)wsu.edu

 

Good luck!

[Faithr]

I only wanted to supplement with two subjects. I think the school will be fine with the rest. Plus the kids will have homework to do as well.

 

Thanks though for giving me ideas. We are kind of a night owlish family so I can't imagine us up getting up any earlier than we have to. We sort of naturally do schoolish things after dinner and before bed, read alouds, catch up on work not done in the a.m. My older kids take classes so they have homework.

 

Anyway, I just need to work on imagining how things will be.

 

We'll see!