Please share your Scheduling Wisdom :)

[OLCH]

Hello,

My name is Christine & we are getting ready to start our 2nd yr. of home schooling. I’ve just found this board (not sure how I missed it, except that we really didn’t lv the kitchen table) anyways I am so thankful to be here.

Another ? I’m sure you all could help with, please. Scheduling??? Monday we’ll start 1st & 3rd grades between last yr & this summer I have yet to figure out schooling both. They are both girls & we are mostly at the kitchen table, my 1st grader is a struggling new reader so needs a lot of help, my 3rd grader does well so I feel like I’m sending her off by herself too much. And on the other hand when my 3rd grader needs help I feel like I don’t have enough independent work for the 1st grader so she’s always off to play tinker Toys & then its tough getting her to focus again.

Maybe some Queen Copywork for my 1st grader? What do you think?

Any direction/help would be soo greatly appreciated!!!

P.S. this is where our schedule ended last year, it truly didn’t work but got us through, please feel free to make suggestions.

 

9:00 Religion - Both

 

9:30 Spelling/Mallory

Phonics/Vivian

 

10:00 English/Mal

Math/Viv

 

10:30 Snack

 

11:00 Math/Mal

Handwriting/Viv

 

11:30 Science/History - Both

 

12:15 Lunch/Recess

 

1:15 Handwriting/Mal

Spelling/Viv

 

1:45 Art/Music/P.E. - Both

 

2:15 Reading

 

3:00 Pack sports bags/Pick up room

 

3:30 School's Out! :o)

[Georgiana Daniels]

I'm interested in what others have to say since I'm new to hs'ing younger kids.

 

For us, I've come up with a few "alternate activities" for the kids to work on while I'm focusing attention on the other. They are both younger than your 1st grader, but some things on my list are:

 

chores! making beds, dusting, anything they can do without supervision

 

refrigerator magnets (alphabetizing)

 

alphabet cards (alphabetizing)

 

puzzles

 

 

I suppose the trick is finding something they can enjoy so as not to feel neglected. My kids, I think, are too young for logic puzzles and such, but that might be good for your 3rd grader.

[OnTheBrink]

I think I read this idea here, or was directed to this idea from someone here, but, make up 5 boxes (or bags, or whatever) of activities your youngest can ONLY do when your working with the oldest. It could be educational games, a craft, coloring pages, legos, blocks, dolls, whatever. But, she can ONLY do these activities or play with the toys while you're with the oldest child. It keeps her engaged in learning, but also keeps her busy while you're helping the other.

 

And, I LOVE your daughter's names! :001_smile:

[OLCH]

And, I LOVE your daughter's names! :001_smile:

Ahh ~ thanks.

 

And Thank you both for the great ideas! My only concern is if it seems like too much fun, then I hear "why does she get to play?" And then "she" has a hard time getting back to "work." Maybe "'I" just need to be more firm. :)

[OnTheBrink]

Ahh ~ thanks.

 

And Thank you both for the great ideas! My only concern is if it seems like too much fun, then I hear "why does she get to play?" And then "she" has a hard time getting back to "work." Maybe "'I" just need to be more firm. :)

 

Maybe then, just keep the activities educational (flash cards, educational games)

 

And, Older DD just needs to realize that with age comes responsibility. She's expected to work as a 3rd grader, and Younger is expected to work as a 1st grader, and 1st graders often work through play. You could also schedule a time in your day for the older to have some special "play" boxes, just she doesn't feel completely left out, but really, 1st graders often learn well with "playing", kwim?

[hornblower]

The lessons seem long to me (the day as a whole too but I don't count PE or independent reading in my day so maybe it's not that long overall...)

 

At that age I would not be spending 30 mins on spelling & then 30 mins on handwriting for example. I'd combine those & make it a 20 min lesson. Then maybe add some sort of a game or rhyme or song or chant to cement things.

 

I'd suggest finding some educational activities that one child can do while waiting for you when you're busy with another child. Some math or phonics workbooks which are more 'fun' & not part of your curriculum. Or a highlights puzzle book. Or even connect the dots - anyone working on penmanship gets a lot of out of connect the dots. Or I'd let my younger one make tile designs from pattern blocks; or goof off with the balance scale; or just play with the fractions overlays; or work through a geoboard activity book. These are activities which I don't asisst with & they're open ended - I don't have any goals for them, no marking, no tests, no curriculum. Now that I think of it, when I needed to 'park' a kid for a few minutes, I usually gave them something from the math manipulatives shelf :D

 

If, using the 20 min lessons you felt you were not getting through as much stuff as you wanted, I'd suggest doing a small mini-lesson at the end of the day. I think there's a lot to be said for teaching in the a.m., having the child apply it, and then doing a very, very quick 5 min review just before you put the books away late in the aft.

 

As for working with the kids, you have to just find your flow. Sometimes I've had to help one of my kids a lot and then I 'dismiss' the other child (I do this esp if there's a lot gnashing of teeth & "I don't get it!" types of conversation. It's impossible to work with that level of distraction anyway so I send the other kid away. They're free to go outside or read in their room or make lunch - anything at all that is quiet but no tv/computer ... and then, usually after a snack, I'll reverse things & the other kid will get dismissed for an hour while the first kid catches up on all their work.

[Strawberry Queen]

:iagree:I generally agree with the pp. I did 1st and 3rd last year with my dd's. I have a general schedule made up trying to alternate between the girls. However, my older dd likes to be independent so she would want to do all her book work first. I have a set amount that I would like them to get done and then they go on to the next thing. As far as times go I generally went with the following:

 

Spelling is at most a 15 min. activity. Grammar for 1st is about 10 min and maybe 20 min. for 3rd. I would add penmanship for a 5 min lesson for 1st and 10 min for 3rd. If you have them do penmanship for too long it just gets sloppy because their hands are tired.

 

I also ended up doing math at the same time for my girls. I would just be like a ping-pong ball and go back and forth between the two.

 

Another idea for what you 1st grader could do is to listen to books on tape/cd. These are generally less than 10 minutes so it would allow you to explain something to your older dd and then your younger could get back to work. You can also have a talk with your 1st grader and let her know that during school time any play time is a bonus and she needs to come back to work cheerfully or else she won't get play time.

 

As a pp said your 3rd grader also needs to know that there are different expectations for each child. She got to play more when she was younger and it's not fair to expect the younger one to work the same amount as the older. Just like you wouldn't expect her to work the same amount as a child in grade 6. It is a hard thing to learn but it's life.;)

 

FWIW it does get easier once your younger dd can read for herself. I'm doing 2nd and 4th this year and there is a big difference to both or their abilities to be independent. :)

[Closeacademy]

Your schedule from last year makes me quiver in fear. Last year I did 1st and 3rd and most days we did 2-3 hours of work. Afternoons are for fun and errands and cleaning. Last year it looked like this for us:

 

9:00 youngest Rod and Staff Reading 1

Rod and Staff Math 1

Lapbook 2-3 pieces

 

Oldest Story of the World (I would read 1 section of a chapter)

Lively Latin (1 worksheet or story per day)

Classical Writing (we spread the lessons over 2 weeks)

Singapore math (took from 10-60 minutes, 1 lesson per day)

Lapbook 2-3 pieces

 

11:00 school ends and we have lunch

 

 

This year I am combining them so we can do more fun stuff and more review instead of just the basics. We are also using workboxes to organize our curriculum and so we have on hand what we want to do.

 

2nd and 4th grade:

 

9:00 school starts and we just do a subject and start the next afterwards.

 

Read aloud while they eat breakfast or color (I read 1-2 chapters)

 

Grammar with youngest (Ruth Heller Grammar picture books that we are notebooking) while oldest works on Lively Latin (1 worksheet per day)

 

Singapore Math with youngest, we also notebook new concepts, and use Rod and Staff for review (when she is done with this we move onto the next subject)

 

Spell to Write and Read (we notebook the rules and phonograms as well as work through the lists but we don't do both on the same day)

 

Time Traveler History (It will probably take us 10 weeks to do the 5 week unit study.)

 

Science (sometimes lapbooks and sometimes just experiments, topics last 1-3 weeks and we do a little each day)

 

Singapore Math with oldest (if the concept is easy she works on this after Latin but if she needs help we save it for the end.)

 

Art (we do a project when we have the energy)

 

We also add in file folder games and such as we have the energy and time.

 

At 11:00 if we are not finished we take a 30 minute break for lunch and then finish up. If we start at 9 we are usually done by 11 or 11:30. If we have to break for lunch we are usually done by 12:30.

 

Gym is time outdoors playing, gymanstic classes or Friday playgroup. Music is something we do in the car or as we feel like it. I let them have free access to art supplies (not paint or clay) and they spend a lot of free time creating.

 

I do find that Donnayoung.org has some great forms for scheduling and planning. I hope this helps.:001_smile:

[Georgiana Daniels]

I think I read this idea here, or was directed to this idea from someone here, but, make up 5 boxes (or bags, or whatever) of activities your youngest can ONLY do when your working with the oldest.

 

Ooo, I like that idea. Then it seems super special. Might try this for both of my girls since I'll take turns working with them.

[Sebastian (a lady)]

I ended up having to actually schedule school blocks. I have the time down one side and two tracks, older kids and my 2nd grader.

For some things we are together. For others I am working with one or the other. But I color coded when I am dedicated to one set of kids or the other. That way I wasn't trying to help everyone at once.

 

By setting it against the clock, I was able to tell my youngest that he had 15 min or 20 min or 10 min before the next subject. It gives him more of a defined time than just go play until I get back to you (which frustrates both him and me).

[OLCH]

Your schedule from last year makes me quiver in fear... I hope this helps.:001_smile:

 

Thank You ~ :iagree:! Imagine we were living it! This is just what I needed to hear we've only had school for 3 days however w/ just a little different approach & it's Wonderful!!

[phathui5]

At that age I would not be spending 30 mins on spelling & then 30 mins on handwriting for example.

 

I agree. I would have them at no more than 30 minutes total.

[Emmy]

Couple different options I see -

 

1. You give your oldest all her independent stuff first thing with a written list for her to follow. During that time you do everything with your first grader straight through. Then when she's done she can go do something else (what depends on you) while you do one-on-one with your oldest. Together subjects happen after a break or after lunch. This is how I scheduled when my oldest 2 were 2nd/k and 3rd/1st. A first grader doesn't need to sit at the table that long and I had no problem telling my oldest that's the way it is. Now I wouldn't set him free to go watch tv or play video games - that is way too hard on the other child, but toys was fine.

 

2. The other thing you can do is to set them up, like you have, with subjects that alternate on your help and fill in your first grader's independent stuff with craft stuff, free art time, dot to dot books, educational what have you type stuff. I always have stuff like this on hand so I can hand it off to a waiting child - it's better than them wandering off to play.

 

I also agree some of your times are too long for your first grader.