scheduling - how to reduce time blowout?

[IsabelC]

I know this has been discussed in the past, but I can't find any specific threads.

 

I would love to know what is 'normal' wrt how much time you plan vs how long things actually take.

 

For example, if you had 2 hours of 'school' to get through with 3 kids together, plus half an hour of individual work for each kid, theoretically this would take you 3.5 hours to finish. But how long does it take in real life (not including planned 'in between' time such as a snack break)?

 

What do you do to make things run more smoothly and not take all day?

 

 

[PeterPan]

Have you made a master chart showing where each person will be when a given type of thing is being done?  And have you made checklists, at least for the older two, so they know exactly what they're doing and can proceed forward?  And have you ordered their things so that they're doing independent things at times when you're working with someone else?

 

Have you looked at your lives to figure out what it is that creates the differential between what you want to get done and what you do get done?  If they're waiting for you, that's a different fix from if they're dawdling or can't find things.  There are a number of reasons why things take longer.

 

If they have processing speed and focus issues, they might either need breaks OR the inverse (work straight for an 75 minutes, hitting all the subjects, and then just STOP).  

 

If you answer the questions on why things are hanging up, you can problem solve.  Like if your kids all have attention issues and all have issues with transitions, they might actually do better if you work with each one sequentially, kid A for 75 minutes (while the others do their independent checklist), then kid B, then kid C.  And in that way you'd be more on track.  But if the processing speeds are the big hang-up, maybe everybody has a 20-40 minute task (which in our house means one to two 20 minute tasks) that they do for a given hour.  Then when they're done they get to break and play till the start of the next hour.

 

So yes, that for us is pretty realistic: 1-2 20 minute sessions done in one hour.  And I PLAN for my sessions to be 10-15 minutes with my ds, the greyhound/gymnastic/dyslexic/off the walls.  I think I'm saying if we get 30 minutes of work done in 1 hour, that's pretty good.  

 

A 5th grader might have longer sessions (I have no experience with NT), so maybe a 35 minute chunk done in one hour.  But if transitions are a problem, then plan 3 of those 35 minute things, back to back, for 2 hours.  

 

That's how we roll.  And lots of checklists. The checklist is to create structure and clear expectation, but it doesn't necessarily eliminate her choice.  It might say something like "read 30 minutes from the book you picked".  It's just something so the plan is very obvious.  Sometimes it will have the afternoon for sewing.  Whatever it is, it's on there and obvious.  

 

We use OneNote now, btw.  I've done paper checklists, pocket charts, all sorts of things over the years.  It's nice to shake it up and do what fits your kids.

[Desert Strawberry]

It usually takes me considerably less time than I plan, but we are super flexible, I'm an expert mutlitasker, and we don't do everything every day. I prioritize those things that MUST be done, and deprioritize those things that are somewhat optional. For instance, I don't expect my 8yo to do a phonics lesson with me everyday, but I do expect him to do math, read independently and write his handwriting work. If we do phonics, great. If not, we will get to it another day. He doesn't NEED it. He can read. But he could use the extra instruction. My kindergartener doesn't NEED handwriting practice every day, especially if he is writing in his math lesson. But if he hasn't written anything, I have worksheets for him. 

 

I overschedule time. I schedule 30 and 60 minute slots for things that really take 20 or 45 minutes. This gives us some breathing room in case things take longer than expected. 

 

I work with two kids at the same time. Aries and Gem are both doing MEP. I have each one sit on either side of me with their worksheets and a learning toy. As I finish with one and set him on his worksheet, I switch to the other. If they finish their worksheet before I'm done with the other kid, they can play with the toy until I'm done. Two scheduled hours turns into 30 minutes of actual time. 

 

We have a rotation during which we put our energy into just ONE topic at a time (history, science, art, music, foreign language, etc, for a month). We don't have to read our science book every day, but when it's time for read alouds, that what I reach for first. If we get four days in, great! If we only get two, okey doke. 

 

My kids are little, except for Sagg. He works on his own for the most part. I feel good about being flexible with the younger ones. Sagg only needs me for one subject, and if that has to be back burnered for a few days, it's not a tragedy. 

 

We are extra flexible right now, but once things settle in, it will be the same deal, just more stuff added into the mix. 

[Desert Strawberry]

To give an idea, when I scheduled times last year ( I didn't this year because I knew things would be different), each kid had approximately 4 hours of work and I had 4.5 hours between all three. This was a full load of all subjects. I don't know that I ever put in all 4 hours, and actually added in three or more additional subjects at the end because we had free time left over. 

[Ellie]

When I taught in a one-room school with up to 15 dc of all ages, I tried to use materials that would allow me to instruct some children while the others worked independently.  I don't think I ever spent a whole half hour at a time with any child or group.

 

It was pretty much that way when I taught my own dc at home. I could give one child something to do independently while I worked with the other, but still not a whole half hour at a time of individual instruction (Spalding sort of pushed the envelope of that, though, but by that time older dc was 8 or 9 and capable of doing her own thing, even though we were at the kitchen table together).

[happypamama]

I schedule like this:

 

Blocks of 45 minutes, followed by 15 minutes of break, every hour. We really try to minimize drink, bathroom, laundry-switching, etc. breaks during the 45 minute blocks, for everyone, myself included.

 

During the first 45 minute block, I work one on one with either DD, DS1, or DS2 (and DS3 is usually at DS2's elbow), and I try to have anyone I'm not working with wait to ask me questions. Then the next 45 minute block, after the break, I work with a different child, and in the third block, the other child. We rotate who is first, second, and third each day. Group subjects are usually after the three blocks (or after lunch), and then I help anyone else in the afternoons as needed.

 

When they aren't working with me, the two big kids each have a list of things they can do or at least look at. So, they can read their lit assignments, make math corrections, and look at their writing assignments and such, so as to make our time together as productive as possible.

 

So on a typical day, let's say that DD is first. She and I will do Latin, go over the day's math lesson, and read and discuss a chapter from Fallacy Detective. If she has questions or corrections from the previous day's math, writing, or history work, we can go over those too. Then I send her off to read lit, and do whatever else is on her list for the day, but at the end of 45 minutes, she's completed at least two subjects, sometimes three, and she's gotten the direct instruction she'll need for math that day. In the meantime, DS1 has read his WWE selection if there is one, and he's probably also read his lit assignment and/or his history and/or his science reading if there is one. If he's the third block, he will probably have all three of those done, plus computer language. If they really run out of stuff they can do, they can do music practice and typing. So then when I sit down with DS1, we can do spelling or poetry (depending on the day), math, and writing (and Latin on days when he doesn't have computer language). If he's the third block, he does occasionally finish everything independent in the first two blocks, and then when I'm finished with him, he's done with everything, except for any group subjects.

[IsabelC]

Have you looked at your lives to figure out what it is that creates the differential between what you want to get done and what you do get done?  If they're waiting for you, that's a different fix from if they're dawdling or can't find things.  There are a number of reasons why things take longer.

 

If they have processing speed and focus issues, they might either need breaks OR the inverse (work straight for an 75 minutes, hitting all the subjects, and then just STOP).  

 

If you answer the questions on why things are hanging up, you can problem solve.  

 

Well right now we are on a light schedule of formal schoolwork, but I want to increase this when the new school year starts (that's beginning of February down here). This will be the first year I have all three kids doing a 'full' load so I'm trying to really hammer out what will get done when, without being too ambitious and flirting with mom-burnout.

 

I would say our issues are a combination of both general organization issues and learning issues.

 

The general issues are things needing to create a stronger daily and weekly rhythm so we are all ready to get started by a reasonable time, and getting our environment and Stuff organized. I have lots of ideas on how to deal with these things . One of which is killing the Pencil Monster who, I assume, comes out every night and eats the pencils (Because honestly, every. single. day. it proves impossible to locate three functioning pencils for the dc to use!) But seriously, I am already halfway through cleaning and organizing all of our 'school' stuff, so that should help.

 

The learning issues mainly revolve around the fact that I just haven't had much success in getting the kids to work independently. (I have posted about this previously, and although we have had some improvement since then, it's still a big problem.) 

 

Mr. 11 has multiple learning disabilities. He is doing really well with catching up on math (I expect to have him onto 6th grade level work by second term next year) and can now sometimes do a bit of math on his own. But he is still years 'behind' with writing (can't formulate a paragraph) so I need to be sitting with him for any written work. He was doing independent silent reading, but I have gone back to having him read aloud because he hasn't made any significant progress this year with comprehension (although he has been working on his eye exercises so that helps). The only thing he can reliably do independently is his music compositions, which he does on the computer so no writing required.

 

Ms. 9 has low processing speed and is a reluctant reader, which means that as well as one on one reading support, she needs me to read out the instructions for her other work. 

 

Ms. 6 is the most independent - she can actually take a few pages of MM and bring them back all done. But I actually need to slow her down (because if we keep up her current pace she'll go through 3 grades of MM per year) so I was planning on doing more fun 'playing with math' stuff with her. Also I need to work with her on handwriting, as we have done a lot of stuff orally in the past so even though she can come up with a decent paragraph, she still isn't writing all her letters quite correctly.

 

I am thinking about trying to do almost everything as a group (with eldest child majorly delayed, middle child mildly delayed and youngest accelerated they are all at roughly the same level with things like history), and mostly concentrating on the math separately, plus whatever else they need the most. 

 

Might just have to ponder it a bit more...

[Coco_Clark]

I'm only juggling two students but they are neither independent AT ALL.

 

--I combine everywhere I can, with differing levels of "output".

 

--When I can't combine I work one-on-one in a longish chunk. Switching back and forth between them at the same table always created chaos, comparing, watching the other work, yelling out his answers, ect. Switching back and forth between them while the other is off playing always created long transition times and grumpiness about the tiny play breaks.

 

--I "schedule" 10 minutes for a 5 min lesson, 30 min for a 20 min lesson, 45 for an hour, ect.

 

--I set a timer and we stop when it does, the rest is saved for the afternoon (aka play time). So even if it takes THEM all day, it won't take ME all day.

 

SO,

 

First we do an hour of "together" time. Read aloud, nature study, bible, ect. This is actually 45 min remember, but there is switching books, pushing each other off the couch, ect, to get through. The toddler always needs his diaper changed right as we are sitting down. Always.

 

Then ds6 and I head to the table. We do a 20 min math lesson and 20 minutes of either phonics/spelling or grammar/handwriting. I set 30 min for each. If he finishes early yay for him, we play a math or reading game. If he's still dawdling when the timer goes off, we move on and it goes in his afternoon folder. If he worked diligently and ran out of time, because it was hard to grasp or I just misjudged the time it would take, I let him off the hook and we get back to it the next day.

 

Then ds5 is called to the table. We do the same- 20 min math and 20 min either phonics or handwriting. He always finishes within the hour. Both because he is a stronger worker and my expectations are a bit lighter.

 

We break, play, eat lunch.

 

After lunch we do another hour (aka 45 min) together. History, science, ect.

 

Then they have to do their afternoon folder before they are allowed to use a screen (TV, computer, ect). It always has a book to read, a worksheet they can do independently ( math facts, copywork, journal entry, ect), and of course whatever they didn't accomplish earlier in the day. Sometimes it never gets done, but I figure since that means they never looked at a screen it's a win/win. They read to their dad after dinner every night in "trade" for a chapter so they still get reading in.

[stutterfish]

"But how long does it take in real life (not including planned 'in between' time such as a snack break)?"

 

 

All day?  :wacko:

 

Planning is a clever ploy to make me feel as if I have control over our chaos. The reality is that I don't  :laugh: 

 

We tend to stop when I get bored ...of helping someone who doesn't want to be helped...of watching someone sharpen a pencil down to a stub very, very, very slowly...of trying to finding the pages I photocopied 5 minutes ago that have vanished into thin air...of bribing the dog/child/myself with biscuits/biscuits/chocolate biscuits to stay where they should be. Completion of our day is rarely determined by plans or schedules!

[8filltheheart]

Hi Isabel,

 

I do not really like grouping my kids together for the most part, so my approach may not be what you are looking for. But fwiw, here are my suggestions.

 

I like to work with my youngest first and finish with them completely. Since your older 2 need a lot of assistance and aren't really independent, I would have them working on multiple step mental strategies while I worked with the 6 yr old. I would have them play strategy games together during that time, games like chess, Mancala, advanced mastermind, Othello, etc. If they aren't used to playing games like that together, you could start off with No Stress Chess.

 

After working with the 6 yr old on reading and writing, I would choose one of the older 2 to play math games with her. Playing games like war by flipping up 2 cards together and adding, subtracting, multiplying, making them fractions, etc and having the highest number win is an easy game that an older sibling should be able to do with her while equally working on their own rapid recall skills. (You could even alternate days between the older kids and the type of math game that enhances both younger and older's skills.)

 

While those 2 children are playing, I would on instructing the other child on what they could sit beside me and complete independently after the instruction. When that child is ready to work independently, I would either have the 6 yrnold off playing or doing MM on her own. And I would work with the other older child on instruction on something they could then work on independently.

 

My goal would be for the 6 yr old to be finished and off playing quietly or outside while I sat between the older two so that I could focus on being beside each one so I could teach and assist as needed. Or, I would give the 9 yr old time to go and play with the 6 yr old and crank out a solid hr of intense reading/writing with the 11 yr old. Then I would let the 11 yr old have a break and do the same thing with the 9 yr old.

 

Fwiw, bc you are dealing with disabilities, I would be more skill focused than amt of time or pre-planned lessons. I would call it a day when you feel like they have made a significant grasp of a concept or when they are too frustrated to focus with the obvious limit of age appropriate time on task.

 

Fwiw, I could not finish with 3 kids the ages of yours and with disabilities in 3 1/2 hrs. It would take at least 6 hrs.

[KSinNS]

We schedule nothing (doesn't work for me or the kids) but we have a pretty consistent rhythm/routine, so we all know what's coming next. My oldest needs a routine without time pressure and D needs transitional time. So we start with me reading (sometime bible, sometimes novel, sometimes both). Then I work with S for 45 minutes to 1 hour (Latin, math, grammar, writing, music theory). I check the prior day's work, fix any problems, teach him the new stuff, and send him off to do his work. He is quite independent, and needs quiet so he works in his room. We talk about what to do (instead of crying and having a meltdown) when he can't do something, and away he goes. He usually comes back if he can't do something and gets help.

 

Then I work with T. She is not independent with much (though wants to be). We do everything in about 15 minute chunks, alternating between things with more brain power and less brain power. We usually do 2-3 chuncks of math, phonics, spelling, copybook, cursive, and sometimes writing. Then I get her to do what she can do independently (math sheets, sometimes cursive). That usually takes about 1:00-1:30.

 

About 10 minutes before we're done, I warn D it'll be his turn. He can't do anything alone, so then I work with him. Usually takes about 10 minutes to get him going. We read, do some math, some copybook or printing. He needs constant support, encouragement, trying to slow him down, so usually by the end of his time, I'm exhausted, and it's lunch time!

 

My husband usually reads history with kids during afternoon snack while I'm at work. I do poetry teatime some other afternoon snack when I'm home. And we do science when we are out and about. They do independent reading in the afternoon-they read lots and pick good books so I don't usually make a fuss about what they read. I'm planning to "assign" more reading to S after Christmas, because he's not reading as much again. His current obsession is music, so he looks at music books in his free time rather than reading. In the past, his obsessions involved lots of reading....very convenient for me.

 

The combining and blocking is the key for us to get everything done. Wow, that's long. Sorry. Maybe there will be a few ideas that can help you there. 

[happypamama]

Ah, yes, the pencils. Each of my children, including the 3yo, has a spot at our work table, and a pencil box at his/her spot. Each box has pencils, pens, scissors, glue sticks, and crayons/markers/colored pencils. Part of their "I'm done for the day" includes tidying up their work areas, which means tidying the books up, putting pencils and pens back, etc. I opted to have separate pencils boxes, rather than a communal one, because one, I want them to take on the responsibility for their own stuff, and two, I want portability for co-op, carschooling days, etc.

[....]

What do you do to make things run more smoothly and not take all day?

 

I normally don't plan more than just the "what we're going to do this year".  I don't write out daily plans or weekly plans, etc.  We also school year-round.  

 

We're very efficient this year with schoolwork.  I work with each kid one-on-one, like tutoring (with the exception of their independent reading - they do that on their own).  Each kid has a plastic bin with their books for the year in them.  Every morning, I pull out what we want to do for the day and I set the books on the kitchen island.

 

Once I call a name, that's it.  No more breaks, searching for food to eat (my son is constantly looking for something to eat), distractions, answering the phone, etc.  The two of us sit down and work until we're finished.  Sometimes, I will let the oldest take a break for a few minutes after algebra...algebra is rough.  Also, she'll spend time independently on science (if she's doing an experiment).  Periodically, I'll do a unit study with the 3 youngest kids, so we would normally do that in the afternoon for about an hour (I'm not even sure my kids consider that schoolwork).    

 

I probably spend sitting down with each kid in the morning (this doesn't count their independent reading, my 7th grader's experiments):

30 minutes with the 1st grader  

about an hour with the 4th grader

about 1.5 hours with the 6th grader

2 hours with the 7th grader

 

So, I'm able to work with a 1st, 4th, 6th and 7th grader in about 4-5 hours.  I had to pare down and be efficient this year.  I have one daughter taking ballet, one daughter that takes classes at an art studio (and is also trying to teach herself some computer programming), all 4 kids in martial arts and 2 kids that are student instructors at the martial arts school.  They are all very busy.   :tongue_smilie: 

 

Oh, and I agree about working with the youngest ones FIRST!  That makes a huge difference in our day!    

[PeterPan]

Well right now we are on a light schedule of formal schoolwork, but I want to increase this when the new school year starts (that's beginning of February down here). This will be the first year I have all three kids doing a 'full' load so I'm trying to really hammer out what will get done when, without being too ambitious and flirting with mom-burnout.

 

I would say our issues are a combination of both general organization issues and learning issues.

 

The general issues are things needing to create a stronger daily and weekly rhythm so we are all ready to get started by a reasonable time, and getting our environment and Stuff organized. I have lots of ideas on how to deal with these things . One of which is killing the Pencil Monster who, I assume, comes out every night and eats the pencils (Because honestly, every. single. day. it proves impossible to locate three functioning pencils for the dc to use!) But seriously, I am already halfway through cleaning and organizing all of our 'school' stuff, so that should help.

 

The learning issues mainly revolve around the fact that I just haven't had much success in getting the kids to work independently. (I have posted about this previously, and although we have had some improvement since then, it's still a big problem.) 

 

Mr. 11 has multiple learning disabilities. He is doing really well with catching up on math (I expect to have him onto 6th grade level work by second term next year) and can now sometimes do a bit of math on his own. But he is still years 'behind' with writing (can't formulate a paragraph) so I need to be sitting with him for any written work. He was doing independent silent reading, but I have gone back to having him read aloud because he hasn't made any significant progress this year with comprehension (although he has been working on his eye exercises so that helps). The only thing he can reliably do independently is his music compositions, which he does on the computer so no writing required.

 

Ms. 9 has low processing speed and is a reluctant reader, which means that as well as one on one reading support, she needs me to read out the instructions for her other work. 

 

Ms. 6 is the most independent - she can actually take a few pages of MM and bring them back all done. But I actually need to slow her down (because if we keep up her current pace she'll go through 3 grades of MM per year) so I was planning on doing more fun 'playing with math' stuff with her. Also I need to work with her on handwriting, as we have done a lot of stuff orally in the past so even though she can come up with a decent paragraph, she still isn't writing all her letters quite correctly.

 

I am thinking about trying to do almost everything as a group (with eldest child majorly delayed, middle child mildly delayed and youngest accelerated they are all at roughly the same level with things like history), and mostly concentrating on the math separately, plus whatever else they need the most. 

 

Might just have to ponder it a bit more...

That's a lot of logistics!! I'm like you, where I'm not by nature super tidy but can't get peace or function without some measure of tidyness and order.  Hmm... I can tell my great cover the butt trick is redundancy.  Someone sabotaged me recently and decided all the scissors in the house should be in ONE place!  I looked and looked for scissors for months!!!  I keep multiple of everything (combs, dog leashes, scissors, my head, oops not my head) and I put one or two of each wherever I'm likely to use it.  It's the only way to cover for my own EF and scatterbrain issues, lol.  And for things I only have one of, I have ONE PLACE for them and they go obsessively only in that one place.  So my hair brush only has one place.  But scissors, pencils, crayons, gluesticks, I just buy a bunch of them and put cups or tubs to hold them anywhere I use them.  (mudroom where I do mail, my desk, school table, secondary school table, etc.)  I also do multiples on tape dispensers btw.

 

That's amazing that your ds is so into music composition!  What an interesting picture to think about, a dc who has so many LDs and struggles but who, when then sit down at the computer, can get out their thoughts and be as productive as they are in their mind.  I assume you know it's ok to nurture that and give it time in your schedule, but I just wanted to say it.  For my dd that thing has been her sewing, sculpting.  It shifts a little in emphasis, but it's very important to her.

 

What's coming across to you as being behind in writing might be due to the EF.  I think it's nice if we nurture their ability to get their thoughts onto something (paper, screen via dictation software, whatever), but I don't think the *category* or genre is so important.  I don't think it has to be paragraphs vs. acrostics or blog pages on their favorite composers or a pinterest board where they comment on things or whatever.  My dd wrote recipes one year.  You're going to find these kids' writing comes in later.  It just does. And we can buck that and force it, but my dd's came in in 7th mid-year.  I've heard 7th as a blossom point for some kids all the way up through age 16 for some.  I think anything in that range would not be shocking with very special kids.  And I think when you have this big discrepancy between what's inside and how it's able to come out that it's ok not to force them into simplistic writing too early that doesn't match how they think.  I think sometimes when we WAIT and focus on the FOUNDATION (ability to get our thoughts out somehow) we get better writing in the end.  

 

And if somehow what he was writing about connected to that success and strong interest when he sits down to compose, it might drive him.  Like maybe he'd like to read aloud about composers and copywork sentences about composers.  Maybe he'd like to keep a copybook of inspiring quotes about composers, googling for one each day, rather than writing paragraphs.  Maybe he'd like to make a blog and put the quote and then say something about what he thinks about it.  Maybe he'd like to be on Facebook as his favorite composer (dead obviously, don't steal identities) and post every day to FB as that persona.  

 

Independently working *our* list is one thing.  Self-driving their *own* thing is another.  My dd has never wanted the responsibility to have ALL her education be that self-driven, because somehow it doesn't work out well.  Here we mix.  I think you can find a balance on that.  Some kids actually really blossom if you let them drive their own thing.  It's different from asking them to be independent with our list.  It's at least something to think through, whether you could harness that for part of your time.

 

Are your kids learning to type or use dictation software?  That can be an independent thing in their day. 

 

That's awesome that you're working on the vision side of the reading.  Is it possible part of the comprehension issues are due to language or social things?  

 

That's great that you're going through your things and getting organized!  Maybe splurge on a few things.  I don't know that you have Ikea there, but I got these adorable red plastic holders, sort of overgrown cups.  I guess people store flour or something in them.  They hold maybe 6 cups?  Anyways, I have crayons in one, pencils in another, etc.  You may need to have some kind of cup like that at each child's work area.  

 

My struggle with schedules for years was it felt like (to me) pinning it down like that was like forcing Peter Pan to grow up, like it would steal all the creativity and spontaneity out of our day.  And it was really hard to admit we really weren't going to get to do all my ideas, sigh.  And yes I'm really crazy like that, with ideas and never getting them all done, lol.  I'd definitely encourage you to get something down, something that is realistic.  I don't think changing start time is realistic.  I tried for years, and it's this sort of inertia issue.  It just takes more energy to make it happen than what I have to give.  So she sleeps in till 10, starts at 11, and works till 7.  Big whoop.  I say on that, if you don't have the energy to change it, at least acknowledge who you are and where you are.  And you know, this past summer I put us in swim lessons every morning crazy early so we'd HAVE to get up early and get going!  We had a great time.  It's sort of a way of creating structure for ourselves when we don't have the energy to make it happen otherwise.  I know it's easy to worry they'll never wake up earlier, never hold a job, but they do.  :)

 

Sounds like you're figuring it out!  

[lea_lpz]

I am using our break to re-evaluate.

 

One thing that's been a struggle is getting it all done with baby. We usually do school when she naps or in bits and chunks where before we started at 8:30 am, broke at 10:00 am for recess / snack, and wrapped up school between 10:30-12:00 pm. Then we'd have lunch and I would read to kids and then quite time was daily, 1-3 pm.

 

Now we tend to do school from around 8:30-10, then baby's up until lunch and we might squeeze stuff in or just end with a 2-3 hr break. Then ideally we try to do school from around 1 pm to about 2 or 3 o'clock in the afternoon but it's hard to get the momentum back after that and sometimes it seems like stuff comes up and lately I feel like I really need that 1-2 hr slot of quite time back for my own well being and to things done.

 

My kids are 5 & 7. I think we may try to rework our schedule so mom gets quite time back and we're done by 12 pm again.

 

I also want to scheduled in some regular exercise in our day and make it part of our routine.

[lea_lpz]

^^ I am thinking of trying to give my dd stuff to do during quiet time like maybe an hour of independent work and an hour to have free play. She seems to get bored after more than one hour and starts to venture out of her room.

[happypamama]

Older infants are harder. I find young infants so easy because they nurse or sleep all day, and toddlers can play, but older infants can't do a lot yet and want to grab everything. I do remember that stage being a little trickier with some of mine. My current baby was easier because I set all of his toys in the schoolroom and gated him in there with us. He's more of the independent sort, though, which does help a lot, and it really helps that my two little guys have each other and are best buddies. It'll get easier in a few months, lea_lpz! Do you have a back carrier? When the little guy just wants to be held, I put him on my back, or he sits on a sibling's lap. Math is more fun when you're snuggling a baby, say my big kids! (My fourth child still comes, even at 3, and just lets someone pet on him while they're working.)

[lea_lpz]

Yeah. When she was an infant she slept or nursed in a sling so our regular schedule was not disrupted at all really. Then she started being active and getting bulky / in the way if in her forward facing carrier and a lot more demanding, so for the last 3 months or so we tend to really not do school during her up times but that means I have a small window for school, chores, running errands and getting kids school done (not to mention daily showers and eating before noon would be good) so I am trying to work on ways to get more things done with baby up. I have had her in my Ergo on my back so we could get chores done and she can play on the ground with toys while we are on the same room for bits of time. We also got her a high chair recently so she'll sit and snack on Cheerios when the kids play board games or we do crafts. Right now the idea is for me to tweak the schedule and find what would work when without actually having to do school, kwim?

[idnib]

I have a checklist for each child generated daily by Homeschool Tracker. It took a lot of time to set up, but now it saves me time and ensures I don't miss things.

 

Things take about the amount of time I think they will. Partly this is due to just setting time limits on some subject, regardless of how far we get. So "20 minutes of spelling" takes 20, "45 minutes of math" takes 45, and "one hour of silent reading" takes an hour. 

 

I rarely allow lesson lengths to dictate our day, except to sometimes cut a session short, for example I would't start a new math unit with 10 minutes left.

 

There are some things I do by number: sentence diagramming (2/day), handwriting (1 sheet/day), WWE (1 lesson/day), critical thinking (2 sheets/day) but the rest is time-based.

 

I work with one kid at a time at the same table unless I've sent one of them to do silent reading. But I alternate "talking" and "non-talking" topics for them. So I'll set up DD with a handwriting worksheet and because she's not talking I can work with DS on math. Later, once he's silently doing math problems, I'll read her WWE. And so on.

 

Another big help has been 60 minutes of silent reading for DS and 30 for DD. I can send them off to do something productive while I work with the other child go get good traction with focus during that time. They enjoy reading and are happy to be doing a checklist item.

[Ausmumof3]

I know this has been discussed in the past, but I can't find any specific threads.

 

I would love to know what is 'normal' wrt how much time you plan vs how long things actually take.

 

For example, if you had 2 hours of 'school' to get through with 3 kids together, plus half an hour of individual work for each kid, theoretically this would take you 3.5 hours to finish. But how long does it take in real life (not including planned 'in between' time such as a snack break)?

 

What do you do to make things run more smoothly and not take all day?

I haven't read all the responses. I'm finding it's better to plan a little less than I want to. This means that with toddler interruptions and cleanups or a concept that needs extra explanation I have a buffer. If we don't need the buffer great I get some extra housework in and the kids get more playtime. It's easy with this homeschooling thing to think we can do far more than school and not allow for a) life happens and b) kids have only got so much concentration to go round and they have other things to do.

 

Eta I find filling up a time slot just because tends to demotivate my kids to get work done as they know they will have to do more. If they know how much they have to do they get on with it most days.

[Ausmumof3]

For the pencils I bought a 100 pack. I'd give them 5 minutes to locate it otherwise break out a new one. When the others appear put them back in the pencil pack.

 

That gives you almost 2 new pencils per week over a year... Should be enough... Maybe... Hopefully. Get onto colourific or one of the teacher supply sales or someone.

[idnib]

I wanted to add that the main thing that keeps us on track is what I'm doing and I am also the person who can get us most off track. If I answer the phone, get into the boards, call my mom, etc then the kids wander off, lose focus, and overall take advantage of the situation.  ;)  I unplug the phone during school time and don't answer the door unless I'm expecting a handyman or a package. Sometimes I put a sign on the door if public school is out and we're doing a school day because the neighborhood kids interrupt too often.

 

I'm not saying you're doing that, I'm just suggesting if you keep getting off track you might examine your role in that as well. Modern life has so many distractions.

[IsabelC]

Wow thank you for all those responses :)

 

So many useful ideas we will probably use a few of them. 

 

 

[Miss Mousie]

 

I overschedule time. I schedule 30 and 60 minute slots for things that really take 20 or 45 minutes. This gives us some breathing room in case things take longer than expected. 

 

 

I haven't read all of the responses yet, but I do the same as Strawberrymama. 

 

I only have one student, and we have 3.5 hours together 4 days a week.  So I do my best to plan our 3.5 hours carefully, but I include buffers as described above; when we are working diligently and efficiently we finish early - exactly the kind of behavior I want to promote in DS, so I am happy to reward it!

 

All of his other school time is independent work, and I don't care how long he takes to do it, as long as it is done.