Finally finished school schedule, opinions needed please

[Katiebug_1976]

I have ALWAYS struggled with setting a schedule for school and sticking to it. There always seems to be some reason that I feel the need to alter it many times over. This year I am trying to come up with a good schedule that will hopefull not require much/any tweaking. I would appreciate it if those of you that use set schedules would look over this one and tell me what you think. Thanks so much,

 

Daily Schedule

 

6:00 Mom quiet time

6:30 kids up/morning things(shower, dress, tidy rooms etc.)

mom shower & cook breakfast

7:30 Breakfast & clean up

8:00 Morning Chores

8:30 Bible

9:00 Vocab/Spelling (rotate through oldest 3)

9:30 History(M/W)/Science(T/TH) (together)

10:00 Phonics & FLL w/ dd 6

10:30 R&S 4 & Writing Tales 1 w/ds 9

11:00 R&S 7 w/dd's 12 & 13

11:30 Math w/ dd 6

11:45 Math w/ ds 9 (older dd's make lunch)

12:00 Lunch & clean up

12:30 Quiet time/nap time (all kids must be on beds w/ quiet activity)

1:30 Read aloud time (together)

2:00 General Science w/ dd's 12&13

 

*Math for older dd's is done mostly independently so I did not schedule it.

 

Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

 

Thanks,

[Hsmomto4]

Looks good. My problem with scheduling is that some days the kids don't need that long and on others they need longer. I gave up on splitting the time up between subjects and just blocked out a school time for my kids. We haven't "tried" it yet, but I'm praying it works better. I however still have a schedule for me and the kids during non-school time.

[Brindee]

Does it work best for them to get up that early? If so that's fine. Our schedule worked very similar to that for a couple of years! Now that the kids are older though, they like staying up a little later and getting up a little later. Seems to be how their internal clocks work best.

 

Do the olders do their own math while you're working with the youngers?

 

You have Quiet/Nap time for an hour (Love that! We did that, and it helped ALL of us to get rejuvenated and face the rest of the day better!), followed by 30 minutes of read-aloud time. That would've been way too much "down/quiet/no wiggling" time for my kids, especially my middle guy! Maybe after the nap/rest time you can have a recess/exercise time? Then settle in for the read-aloud?

Best wishes!

Edited August 5, 2009 by Brindee

[Katiebug_1976]

Does it work best for them to get up that early? If so that's fine. Our schedule worked very similar to that for a couple of years! Now that the kids are older though, they like staying up a little later and getting up a little later. Seems to be how their internal clocks work best.

 

Do the olders do their own math while you're working with the youngers?

 

You have Quiet/Nap time for an hour (Love that! We did that, and it helped ALL of us to get rejuvenated and face the rest of the day better!), followed by 30 minutes of read-aloud time. That would've been way too much "down/quiet/no wiggling" time for my kids, especially my middle guy! Maybe after the nap/rest time you can have a recess/exercise time? Then settle in for the read-aloud?

Best wishes!

 

For the most part they will get up w/o much complaint. The problem is I have a couple that get up at the crack of dawn, and 1 that would sleep until noon if allowed to. I find it easier if we all get out "together" work finished first, then everyone can go their own way with other assignments/activities.

 

Yes, my older dd's will find time to do their math while I work on Language Arts with the younger 2. If that doesn't work, then they are good about doing it later on in the afternoon.

 

As far as quiet time followed by read aloud time, they seem to like that much "down time." They get out their crayons and color while I read, but maybe it would be better to have a break between the two. Thanks for the suggestion.

[Brindee]

For the most part they will get up w/o much complaint. The problem is I have a couple that get up at the crack of dawn, and 1 that would sleep until noon if allowed to. I find it easier if we all get out "together" work finished first, then everyone can go their own way with other assignments/activities.

 

Yes, my older dd's will find time to do their math while I work on Language Arts with the younger 2. If that doesn't work, then they are good about doing it later on in the afternoon.

 

As far as quiet time followed by read aloud time, they seem to like that much "down time." They get out their crayons and color while I read, but maybe it would be better to have a break between the two. Thanks for the suggestion.

See, this is why homeschooling is so great! You can fix your schedule how it works best for you! It IS hard when one or more are up so early. That's the way my oldest used to be, and my middle ds was the opposite! For a couple years, as I said, this kind of schedule worked, though, and we got a lot of good stuff accomplished! The kids liked that they had almost 2 hours of schooling stuff undertheir belt before their ps neighbor friends were really even started! :D

 

If your kids like that reading time afterwards, then that's great! I can see how nappers could used that time to completely wake up and get moving!

 

I just noticed those things that I ended up changing as they got older, so mentioned them. But the schedule looks good to me! I wish I could still do the early morning stuff, but it just doesn't work well for them anymore. Actually, though, my youngest will be the only one homeschooling next year, so she'd be more likely to go for something like that so she could get her work done sooner! Hmmmm, I may have a chat with her! Thanks for the idea! :001_smile:

[EmeraldGirl]

Wow! Up at 6:00. My husband was beaming. That doesn't happen here. Looks like a tight schedule. I need to figure out how to work w/ the littles individually. Nap time is great too! Just remember to be willing to change it if necessary.

[Katiebug_1976]

Wow! Up at 6:00. My husband was beaming. That doesn't happen here. Looks like a tight schedule. I need to figure out how to work w/ the littles individually. Nap time is great too! Just remember to be willing to change it if necessary.

 

I am absolutley flexible w/ the schedule, DH thinks a little too flexible at times, thus I am always "changing" our schedule. I think the excessive changing of the schedule is taking it's toll on my kids, too. I am trying to add a little more regular structure to our day w/o losing the flexibility. My oldest dd has shown her frustration, respectfully, with too much flexibility. I think she needs to know, for the most part, what is going to happen each day. I know that you cannot expect the same exact thing from every day, but maybe we can be a little more structured this year.:001_unsure:

[MariannNOVA]

out subjects but not assigning actual 'times' to each. I have found that indeed some days we need more time, some days less, some days the kids want to continue, some days perhaps someone is less cooperative and (in an effort to give the illusion that I am in control :glare:) we have to go on to something else. I have found that this works at home and it worked when I was teaching in a school classroom.

The order of the courses is good b/c it gives the kids (and me) a 'map' so they know what is coming next; not having specific times gives us the flexibility to go at the speed (or tortoise pace) that works for us.

If I had my way, I'd sleep till 9 or 10am, the kids would all sleep till noon, start school at 2 or 3pm, take a dinner break, and maybe finish up at 7 or 8pm and get to bed by 10 for the kids, and I could stay up till after midnight. No matter how hard I try to fight it, I AM a night owl :(.

[Mommy2BeautifulGirls]

out subjects but not assigning actual 'times' to each. I have found that indeed some days we need more time, some days less, some days the kids want to continue, some days perhaps someone is less cooperative and (in an effort to give the illusion that I am in control :glare:) we have to go on to something else. I have found that this works at home and it worked when I was teaching in a school classroom.

The order of the courses is good b/c it gives the kids (and me) a 'map' so they know what is coming next; not having specific times gives us the flexibility to go at the speed (or tortoise pace) that works for us.

If I had my way, I'd sleep till 9 or 10am, the kids would all sleep till noon, start school at 2 or 3pm, take a dinner break, and maybe finish up at 7 or 8pm and get to bed by 10 for the kids, and I could stay up till after midnight. No matter how hard I try to fight it, I AM a night owl :(.

 

:iagree: This is me, too! Except I usually AM up until midnight but get up at 7-ish with my husband. Some days I get to sneak back to bed, but I'm usually better off if I stay up, as my oldest likes to be up around 8 on most days.

 

Katiebug, your schedule looks really good to me! I would love to be able to schedule like that, but we have school from 9 until 11 and then from 2:00 until 3:30 I have blocked out a time for history 2 days a week and science and music/art the other 2 days. I decided to go with the workbox idea this year as far as putting the actual subjects in order.

[Jane]

Katie, your schedule looks great and very do-able to me. It's quite similar to ours. My children *love* for me to schedule in blocks of time because they work diligently and then are rewarded with a break between each subject when they finish early. They usually use that time to prepare a snack for everyone, read a book, play with a little one, finish up those last few math problems, or entertain themselves with one of our special education toys. This type of schedule also results in less conflict over whose turn it is to use the computer for a certain subject. (We do typing, vocabulary, and algebra on the computer).

 

Blessings to you and your family!