Opinions-schedule-is this enough?

[LMD]

So, following some previous threads and 2 weeks of total burnout (outside stresses!) I've put together a new schedule for us.

We have been missing things like memory work, reading together and just a nice family atmosphere; instead being stuck in getting through the list mode with no joy or spare time - we also desperately need to work on habits/chores.

 

These last two weeks I have let them mostly run free. They have pleasantly surprised me in many ways - lots of craft, reading, playing together, being outside. I've enjoyed the opportunity to read, listen to podcasts and refresh my homeschooling batteries.

 

So with all of this whirling through my mind - distraction from stress!- I've decided that we need a change.

 

Compounding the difficulty in sticking to a schedule, my husband works a rotating roster and I have a 2 year old. My kids are nearly 11, 8.5, 5.5 and 2. The 5.5 year old is just reading but not yet fluent/confident.

 

I'm just not sure if it is enough, especially for my oldest (nearly 11, 5th/6th ish).

Organisation is not my strong suit, I tend to cram in too much and freeze when we fall behind. I cannot keep a strict, detailed schedule, I've tried... I've done subject blocks before and it works well for us. Each block is an hour, each kid gets at least 15mins direct teaching time per hour and I'm still there if they need help. I'd love some opinions!

 

3 days a week our schedule will be as follows- ideally we'd be done by 2-3pm and they have the afternoon for free time/music practice/reading/chores. They will have the opportunity to get their practice/chores done before school if they are diligent ;)

 

Block 1: basket time - Bible/copy work/memory work, reading aloud our novel, reading from various science/history/picture books/biography and narrations*

 

Block 2: math block - rotating through the kids.

 

Block 3: la - start with DD- dictation/writing from main point* from basket readings*, our Shakespeare study, then she goes on with spelling & MCT mostly independently. Ds8 starts with spelling & handwriting (independent), then I do dictation* and fll/MCT with him. Then I work with ds5 with phonics, handwriting and reading.

 

Block 4: languages. Older 2 alternate Russian (Rosetta stone) and Latin while I do Fiar with the little ones.

 

Block 5: history (2x) or science (1x). Reading together then assignment/project/experiment.

 

Wednesday will be lighter as we either have homeschool group or library. They'll have spelling, maths, languages review and DD will also have logic. Less than 2hrs all up.

 

Friday is our music lessons day (they all take violin lessons) and with another family we cover Bible study and Art and a field trip about once a month/bimonthly.

 

I don't know, it seems like a lot and not enough at the same time... Am I doomed to being too busy?

We have a lot of land and they spend plenty of time bike riding/climbing trees etc. The toddler has plenty of craft, toy drawers, outside equipment, books. He likes to cause trouble lol.

 

Clear as mud? Yep, that's how I feel...

Edited May 26, 2016 by LMD

[Ausmumof3]

It sounds like heaps to me but that's probably because my kids are younger

[mamamoose]

I have 3, and they are approximately the same ages as your oldest 3. That looks similar to a typical day for us. I also sort of loop all our subjects--I have a goal for what we accomplish but if we for some reason don't, I bump it to the next day. This is especially pertinent with my 8 year old who has learning disabilities, and gets easily overwhelmed with his subjects. We have one really short day every week and Friday's are always anyone's guess!

[Critterfixer]

It's easier for me to look at it this way:

 

1 hr Electives

1 hr Math

1 hr Language Arts

1 hr Foreign Language

1 hr History or Science

 

So, no, that doesn't seem unreasonable for the fifth/sixth grade child at all. I might be inclined to spend 1.5 hours on the Language Arts block, but I have two boys who like to write. 

I think it might be a long day for the two youngest students. They might have to kill down time between rotations. 

 

 

[LMD]

Thanks everyone! Just writing it all out helps.

 

Critterfixer, I have similar concerns about the LA block but I'm trying to incorporate the writing more with history/lit.

My oldest son works at a snail's pace and I am working with him on neatness/carefulness, so he won't have too much downtime! He's also my most diligent child with his chores in the morning.

 

My 5 year old loves downtime and plays very happily in between. He likes to be left alone to do his own thing. He also loves Fiar so drawing him back shouldn't be too hard.

[Sahamamama]

Honestly, running that routine with four kids, three in school, all different levels, a toddler, a household, and a husband on rotations -- that would wear me out in no time.

 

In one sense, I like that it is laid out in 1.0 to 1.5 hour blocks, very clearly spending a defined amount of time on particular tasks. On the other hand, we've never really had success with setting up our work this way, subject block by subject block.

 

What seems to work well here (and I'm not juggling as much as you are, I think) is to split out all the work that each individual student can do independently -- that goes into the category of "Independent Work," and is set up to be carried out as independently as possible. All this work -- it could be components of Math, components of English, reading for Science, instrument practice, and so on -- is designated as Independent Work on each student's Daily Work List. So that's one piece.

 

Next, I stack all the work that needs tutoring into one block for each student (or level) -- and that is what we call "Tutor Time." Again, this might be the beginning of a Math lesson, the explicit instruction of a Grammar lesson, going over a written assignment (from independent work), and so on. I line up for each student/level as much work for Tutor Time as I think we can accomplish in 1.0 to 1.5 hours, sometimes less, sometimes more. We generally put Tutor Time first for the oldest about three days per week, and while we're doing that, the younger two are working on their independent work, chores, rabbit care, crafting, games, exercise, showers, or cooking. Then we eat and switch, but on those days, the younger students get less Tutor Time. On the alternate days of the week, the younger two have Tutor Time first, while the oldest works on her own. It works better for me to do "all" the tutoring/direct teaching on each student's level all in one shot, rather than spread it out from block to block.

 

Finally, we have everything that we do as a group, and that is called "Group Work." We have a lot of that here, since we have all girls, less than two years apart. Bible, Literature, History, Geography, Science, Composer/Artist Study, Music Theory, and a few other things can get done as a group, generally in the afternoons, an evening here or there, and sometimes on a Saturday. We don't really mind fitting that in whenever it fits, because those are the "fun" things, anyway.

 

What had you been doing, that didn't work?

 

If you use the block approach, will your students have too much "down time" while waiting for you or others to finish something? I find that having designated Independent Work for each student allows me to refocus the drifters and chatterers into productive work -- "Have you finished all of your Independent Work? No? Well, then you know what you should be doing. Please get to it."

 

There may be a lot that your oldest can handle, with some training, on her own. Possibly your 8.5 year old could handle some parts of the work independently, too? Maybe think about setting up a block for this? Some of her math, some of her English, some of her foreign language learning, instrument practice, memory work, independent reading, chores, exercise, hygiene, meal prep, hobbies, pet care. Line up a reasonable portion of these things each day, train her to do this portion of her work on her own, then meet to go over her work and teach new material. When we first started this approach (last year, oldest in 4th), we had to work a bit on time management with her, but she wanted to do it and was glad to be more independent. She really grew in her ability to do her own work, without me right there, prodding and waiting.

 

I'm not sure if that's the feedback you can use, but I hope it helps! :grouphug:

Edited May 27, 2016 by Sahamamama

[Targhee]

Just sending empathy - I have 4 kids between 4 and 13 and a DH who works variable shift work in the ER (so could be any time of day or day of week). Keeping a routine is difficult!

 

I also think your schedule sounds similar to ours - great plan IMO :P. We do science/history/electives a bit differently, but overall it's very similar. I must say that oldest does about 6 hours a day, 11yo about 5 hours, and 9yo about 3.5 (she's my most efficient worker), and 4yo gets about 45 min teaching time, 30 min with ABC Mouse or DreamBox, and 2 hours play time from siblings. I can't expect the younger kids to keep up with the younger.

[LMD]

Wow! Thanks for the feedback guys, I so appreciate it!

 

I will come back for a more detailed read and reply, but just on independent work - my older two are very good at working independently and I expect them to spend time each block working independently on that subject. My daughter gets a weekly checklist and my son gets a daily checklist so they know what to go on with.

Part of my issue has been that DD looooves the checklist and loves to choose what to do when - she actually does a very good job of rationing out her work over the week - but the teaching time is quite chaotic because I don't know what she'll want to do in our meeting time. With the subject blocking I can control for that a bit better.

[Sahamamama]

Wow! Thanks for the feedback guys, I so appreciate it!

 

I will come back for a more detailed read and reply, but just on independent work - my older two are very good at working independently and I expect them to spend time each block working independently on that subject. My daughter gets a weekly checklist and my son gets a daily checklist so they know what to go on with.

Part of my issue has been that DD looooves the checklist and loves to choose what to do when - she actually does a very good job of rationing out her work over the week - but the teaching time is quite chaotic because I don't know what she'll want to do in our meeting time. With the subject blocking I can control for that a bit better.

 

Hey, we have the same kid! LOL.

 

It sounds like a great plan, LMD. I've been thinking about those lovely subject blocks since yesterday. I may copy. ;)

 

[vaquitita]

I have four kids the same age as yours, and I schedule similar to sahamamama. The oldest two get a daily list of independent work. We also have group work (read alouds, history, science, etc) and individual lessons. They are to work on their list unless I'm doing something with them. What this usually looks like is this: they start on their list while I clean up breakfast, then we do group work, then they go back to their lists and I call them one at a time for their one on one lessons. Once I finish teaching lessons, then I'm sort of done for the day. This way if they feel like dawdling over their work, it doesn't drag out my day. When they're done they stack their stuff on the table and I check it over at some point and write the next days list. If this is in the afternoon, than I call them to fix errors. If it's evening, I add it to the next days list.

 

I'm still working on fitting my 5yo into the schedule. On days he wants to do school, he does fine at being at the end, but sometimes he's gotten too involved in playing. Also, next year he needs more read alouds then the few random picture books we do now. But if I'm reading to him, the older kids drop everything and come listen to. So I'm not sure what I'm going to do.

 

Eta: I like your time blocks, it just doesn't work for me with a 2yo.

Edited May 27, 2016 by vaquitita

[LMD]

It sounds like heaps to me but that's probably because my kids are younger

Thank you! I'm trying to recapture some joy and free time for my younger two, they've unfortunately had the short straw in terms of quality time.

[LMD]

I have 3, and they are approximately the same ages as your oldest 3. That looks similar to a typical day for us. I also sort of loop all our subjects--I have a goal for what we accomplish but if we for some reason don't, I bump it to the next day. This is especially pertinent with my 8 year old who has learning disabilities, and gets easily overwhelmed with his subjects. We have one really short day every week and Friday's are always anyone's guess!

Thank you! That is encouraging. Do you loop everything? How far ahead do you plan, or is it mostly just do the next thing?

[LMD]

It's easier for me to look at it this way:

 

1 hr Electives

1 hr Math

1 hr Language Arts

1 hr Foreign Language

1 hr History or Science

 

So, no, that doesn't seem unreasonable for the fifth/sixth grade child at all. I might be inclined to spend 1.5 hours on the Language Arts block, but I have two boys who like to write.

I think it might be a long day for the two youngest students. They might have to kill down time between rotations.

Yes, that's a good way to see it, thanks! I've tried to put the family and important subjects first, so that the younger ones can disappear and play after LA if they are just done.

[LMD]

Honestly, running that routine with four kids, three in school, all different levels, a toddler, a household, and a husband on rotations -- that would wear me out in no time.

Haha, yes. You have no idea how vindicated I feel that other people recognise this! Somehow I keep thinking that it should be easier...

 

In one sense, I like that it is laid out in 1.0 to 1.5 hour blocks, very clearly spending a defined amount of time on particular tasks. On the other hand, we've never really had success with setting up our work this way, subject block by subject block.

 

What seems to work well here (and I'm not juggling as much as you are, I think) is to split out all the work that each individual student can do independently -- that goes into the category of "Independent Work," and is set up to be carried out as independently as possible. All this work -- it could be components of Math, components of English, reading for Science, instrument practice, and so on -- is designated as Independent Work on each student's Daily Work List. So that's one piece.

 

Next, I stack all the work that needs tutoring into one block for each student (or level) -- and that is what we call "Tutor Time." Again, this might be the beginning of a Math lesson, the explicit instruction of a Grammar lesson, going over a written assignment (from independent work), and so on. I line up for each student/level as much work for Tutor Time as I think we can accomplish in 1.0 to 1.5 hours, sometimes less, sometimes more. We generally put Tutor Time first for the oldest about three days per week, and while we're doing that, the younger two are working on their independent work, chores, rabbit care, crafting, games, exercise, showers, or cooking. Then we eat and switch, but on those days, the younger students get less Tutor Time. On the alternate days of the week, the younger two have Tutor Time first, while the oldest works on her own. It works better for me to do "all" the tutoring/direct teaching on each student's level all in one shot, rather than spread it out from block to block.

 

Finally, we have everything that we do as a group, and that is called "Group Work." We have a lot of that here, since we have all girls, less than two years apart. Bible, Literature, History, Geography, Science, Composer/Artist Study, Music Theory, and a few other things can get done as a group, generally in the afternoons, an evening here or there, and sometimes on a Saturday. We don't really mind fitting that in whenever it fits, because those are the "fun" things, anyway.

 

Lots to think about here, thanks!

 

What had you been doing, that didn't work?

Million dollar question! Scheduling too much and too complicated, my brain cannot focus on all the detailed schedule stuff (like in MOTH) and still run lessons.

So then I swing too far in the other direction and we just randomly do what we can as we can, which means that it's chaos, little kids miss out and older ones push boundaries. The actual work we were doing was good, it's simply the time management issues, and I don't want to be pushing to finish at 4pm or later...

 

If you use the block approach, will your students have too much "down time" while waiting for you or others to finish something? I find that having designated Independent Work for each student allows me to refocus the drifters and chatterers into productive work -- "Have you finished all of your Independent Work? No? Well, then you know what you should be doing. Please get to it."

 

There may be a lot that your oldest can handle, with some training, on her own. Possibly your 8.5 year old could handle some parts of the work independently, too? Maybe think about setting up a block for this? Some of her math, some of her English, some of her foreign language learning, instrument practice, memory work, independent reading, chores, exercise, hygiene, meal prep, hobbies, pet care. Line up a reasonable portion of these things each day, train her to do this portion of her work on her own, then meet to go over her work and teach new material. When we first started this approach (last year, oldest in 4th), we had to work a bit on time management with her, but she wanted to do it and was glad to be more independent. She really grew in her ability to do her own work, without me right there, prodding and waiting.

 

I'm not sure if that's the feedback you can use, but I hope it helps! :grouphug:

Yes! Sounds familiar! I'm quite happy with their ability to work independently, though they can be distracted - so can I!

Thank you for your post, I appreciate it!

[LMD]

Just sending empathy - I have 4 kids between 4 and 13 and a DH who works variable shift work in the ER (so could be any time of day or day of week). Keeping a routine is difficult!

 

I also think your schedule sounds similar to ours - great plan IMO :P.

I could cry at this reply, thank you!

 

We do science/history/electives a bit differently, but overall it's very similar. I must say that oldest does about 6 hours a day, 11yo about 5 hours, and 9yo about 3.5 (she's my most efficient worker), and 4yo gets about 45 min teaching time, 30 min with ABC Mouse or DreamBox, and 2 hours play time from siblings. I can't expect the younger kids to keep up with the younger.

Sounds great, thanks for your reply!

[LMD]

Hey, we have the same kid! LOL.

 

It sounds like a great plan, LMD. I've been thinking about those lovely subject blocks since yesterday. I may copy. ;)

 

Lol! It makes my girl feel very grown up and gives her some feeling of control I think.

Awww, thank you. The subject blocking is easier for my brain, I can do math mode etc better than scattered, I'm a bit of a scatterbrain naturally so big, clearly defined blocks is helpful!

[Ausmumof3]

I find blocks helpful too I struggle with focussing on kids doing different subjects at the same time.

[LMD]

I have four kids the same age as yours, and I schedule similar to sahamamama. The oldest two get a daily list of independent work. We also have group work (read alouds, history, science, etc) and individual lessons. They are to work on their list unless I'm doing something with them. What this usually looks like is this: they start on their list while I clean up breakfast, then we do group work, then they go back to their lists and I call them one at a time for their one on one lessons. Once I finish teaching lessons, then I'm sort of done for the day. This way if they feel like dawdling over their work, it doesn't drag out my day. When they're done they stack their stuff on the table and I check it over at some point and write the next days list. If this is in the afternoon, than I call them to fix errors. If it's evening, I add it to the next days list.

 

I'm still working on fitting my 5yo into the schedule. On days he wants to do school, he does fine at being at the end, but sometimes he's gotten too involved in playing. Also, next year he needs more read alouds then the few random picture books we do now. But if I'm reading to him, the older kids drop everything and come listen to. So I'm not sure what I'm going to do.

 

Eta: I like your time blocks, it just doesn't work for me with a 2yo.

We have the same issue with read alouds and picture books.

Thanks for your reply, I'm thinking about yours and sahamamama's ideas, filing them in case I need to tweak things. Thank you!

[vaquitita]

Haha, yes. You have no idea how vindicated I feel that other people recognise this! Somehow I keep thinking that it should be easier...

 

 

This made me laugh. :D I keep thinking the same thing