Are you a "school at home" hser?

[shinyhappypeople]

Spin off of multiple threads, I guess. I'm just surprised at the number of families that take a more "school at home" approach. I'm thinking: Set hours, formal learning, um... ok, I don't know how to really define it, I just know it when I hear about it. So, if you do take this approach to hs'ing maybe you could share how you define it? Please?

[shinyhappypeople]

I replied... we're RELAXED to the point of almost being unschoolers. We readily kick aside formal lessons for other stuff, especially on sunny days.

[Sarah CB]

Spin off of multiple threads, I guess. I'm just surprised at the number of families that take a more "school at home" approach. I'm thinking: Set hours, formal learning, um... ok, I don't know how to really define it, I just know it when I hear about it. So, if you do take this approach to hs'ing maybe you could share how you define it? Please?

 

Well, yeah. We have set hours and well, "formal learning" (I guess), and even a school room, but how we learn and what we do looks nothing like classroom learning.

 

We are family centered learners who follow a classical model for education. So, there's a lot of reading aloud, a lot of discussion, and even some projects. There is also a formal grounding in things like grammar and spelling (although both are radically different from how those subjects are approached in the local schools).

 

I love the way we school. It's comfortable and homey and pretty darn different than being in a classroom - even if we do have set hours and "formal" learning and a school room :)

[nukeswife]

We have a room where we do school that has desks for each child a white boards on the walls etc, but we don't do everything in there and we don't have a set schedule. What time we start is kind of a fly by the seat of your pants thing.

My kids like it this way they like have a room and desks but like that we start whenever we're all ready to, they don't have to get up early and they don't even need to be out of their pajamas.

[Daisy]

Well, it is rather hard to claim to be something that hasn't been defined.

 

If you define "school at home" as dedicating mornings to formal learning, using curriculum (although not necessarily textbooks), having well defined and rigorous expectations, clear assignments, and a lack of democracy, then yes, we are "school at home."

 

However, if you define "school at home" as neat little rows, everyone wearing polos, and turned to listen to teacher point to the chalkboard, then no. If it is nothing but boxed curriculum, workbooks, & textbooks, then no.If it ringing a hand held bell and reciting the pledge, no. If it is daily schedules broken down into 15 minute increments....heck no. :lol:

[Chris in VA]

A little school-y. We usually start by 9, but I don't stress if it's later or earlier. Sometimes we do lessons outside, or dd reads or does math in her treehouse. As my kids get older, more is added to their plates. Still doesn't look as schoolish as it could, but it's definitely school.

[MyLittleWonders]

From your poll, I voted we are "school at home" homeschoolers because we have set hours (not that we always stick to them - this whole week, we have been starting 1 hour to 1 1/2 hours later than our "schedule"). We have formal studies (we are mostly Latin-Centered, though we deviate a little). Dh and I have a general idea of what we want for our boys academically and how we are going to get there. Formal school starts here by 1st grade (usually half way through K). We are structured and follow the same basic routine each day. And, we tend to enjoy what we do (though it's not always "liked" or "fun"); we spend a lot of quality time together. We read a lot (from twaddle to classics). We talk "school" subjects at dinner time (math, history, and current events come up frequently, alongside conversations about the various zombies in Plants vs. Zombies). And my boys seem to be thriving.

 

All that said, I do not like the term/description "school at home". Despite having a chalkboard on the wall in our dining room, and a low bookcase along another wall in the dining room full of our books and supplies, we do not live in a school. This is life. It is full of learning specific subjects as well as whatever pops into our minds. It is structured, which is very beneficial for my children. And it is a very positive experience (most days - we all have our days!). "School at home" carries, typically, a very negative connotation. Our homeschooling experience, though structured and formal, is far from negative.

[Suzanne in ABQ]

When the kids were younger, we were relaxed. But, now (especially with 8th grader) we're much more structured. Well, we're structured in what she is expected to do every day. But, she is responsible for how and when she gets everything done. We don't have a schedule (math at a certain time, grammar at a certain time, etc.) But, she has a check-off list that she uses, and a planner that she uses to keep her on track.

 

6th grade ds has a list too, but I'm the one who makes sure he gets his work done on a daily basis. Again, no schedule, just "get this done today".

 

I'm very relaxed with my K'er

[Caitilin]

If you define "school at home" as dedicating mornings to formal learning, using curriculum (although not necessarily textbooks), having well defined and rigorous expectations, clear assignments, and a lack of democracy, then yes, we are "school at home."

 

 

I am with Daisy. We are a little more relaxed now, when spring has finally hit here in the frozen north! We try to really enjoy these first couple of weeks of sunshine, but otherwise, it's basically "what she said."

[Sputterduck]

Noooo. Not at all. It doesn't work at all here. But then again we have an unusual situation.

[mycalling]

I guess I should check half-way, since we don't have set hours, but we do have all of our curricula shelved and organized in the dining room and each child has a mark-off sheet of what to do each day. We use a set curriculum for many subjects, but wing it for others.

 

We only school 4 days a week, though. Plus, we drop off subjects at the end of the year as my set "year's worth" gets done in each. Then we keep going, delving into whatever interests us, all summer.

[Snickerdoodle]

Well, it is rather hard to claim to be something that hasn't been defined.

 

If you define "school at home" as dedicating mornings to formal learning, using curriculum (although not necessarily textbooks), having well defined and rigorous expectations, clear assignments, and a lack of democracy, then yes, we are "school at home."

 

However, if you define "school at home" as neat little rows, everyone wearing polos, and turned to listen to teacher point to the chalkboard, then no. If it is nothing but boxed curriculum, workbooks, & textbooks, then no.If it ringing a hand held bell and reciting the pledge, no. If it is daily schedules broken down into 15 minute increments....heck no. :lol:

 

 

:iagree:

[EKS]

I guess we do school at home. We have a set start time because if we didn't we would be going into the evening. We have an area with desks and books and school stuff where we do lessons. And we have lessons, which is more like how a tutor would do a lesson rather than a classroom teacher.

[Lolly]

These days, we are definitely school at home. It wasn't so much that way when the kids were younger. But, along the way, I have learned that my kids prefer textbooks. I would have been so happy being an unschooler.:glare: The kids just wouldn't cooperate. They wanted workbooks.:lol:

[6packofun]

I said somewhere in between because I have so many grade levels that I'm teaching. From K-5th or so, we are pretty relaxed. Lots of read-alouds and not much formal writing or textbook science stuff. BUT, as our kids reach the end of middle school, they are much more self-sufficient and with our input, *choose* to use more textbooks. They want the info and they want their assignments. Not a lot of extraneous activities, although they do enjoy science experiments and some research. :)

 

I also want them to be in a more textbook mode by the time they leave to go off to college for easy adaptation to that environment. But I think that when we get to that point, they are very good at finding neat resources on their own to help themselves to a more well-rounded education. Not all the time or for every subject, but because of our more relaxed beginnings they seem to *know* when they need to dig deeper and don't necessarily choose another textbook to do so.

[abbeyej]

I wouldn't say it's like "school at home" at all, but we *are* pretty structured. So I picked the "in between" option. We have formal lessons, plans, a schedule. We also sprawl on the couch for many of our lessons, occasionally take off during the school day to go ice skating or some such, if we can fit the lessons around it. (Easy for the 3rd grader, tougher for the 6th grader.) I'm definitely able to be more relaxed with little ones, but now? For the 6th grader? School just takes *time*. I really don't see any other way to do it. And by having fairly set times and expectations for school, the kids also know when they're going to be set free...

[jujsky]

I put "somewhere in between." We have a set curriculum, but we don't have set school hours. We do try to start around the same time every day, but it's not super-early. We do our work at the dining room table, on the living room couch, on the floor, and sometimes outside. Although we are definitely more school-at-home than not, we are not super strict about when and where school gets done so long as it gets done every day.

[FO4UR]

Well, it is rather hard to claim to be something that hasn't been defined.

 

If you define "school at home" as dedicating mornings to formal learning, using curriculum (although not necessarily textbooks), having well defined and rigorous expectations, clear assignments, and a lack of democracy, then yes, we are "school at home."

 

However, if you define "school at home" as neat little rows, everyone wearing polos, and turned to listen to teacher point to the chalkboard, then no. If it is nothing but boxed curriculum, workbooks, & textbooks, then no.If it ringing a hand held bell and reciting the pledge, no. If it is daily schedules broken down into 15 minute increments....heck no. :lol:

 

:iagree:

 

I'm finding my dc do very well with a *basic* structure. Start school at 9am, eat lunch at noon, play outside for an hour, quiet time until 3pm, dinner at 6pm, bedtime at 8:30. We are somewhat flexible in that frame. Our actual 3 hours of school looks very little like "school" although it's 90% mommy-led. It looks very much like 3 dc getting their turn at intensive tutoring in between read alouds on the couch. The only exception might be our word building on the white board...and the kids love sitting in their chairs in a row when it's only 15min a few times per week.

[Donna T.]

I voted "school at home." We have a daily table time (the kitchen table), we have particular subjects that are taught daily or almost daily, and we do it. We "school" in the morning, very rarely in the afternoons, usually four days a week, sometimes five, never on the week-ends. Yes, they are learning all day long, but that's not school. School is that work that I've planned for them and that must be done. If I didn't enforce some structure for their educations, I'd have one outside eating wood-sorrel & watching birds all day and the other would be playing with Legos and demanding to play video games all day. The first would read nothing but natural history books and the other would read nothing but Garfield comic books.

Edited April 16, 2010 by Donna T.

[shinyhappypeople]

Well, it is rather hard to claim to be something that hasn't been defined.

 

Good point ;) I think that's part of what I'm interested. How DO we define that? It's an interesting question to me.

 

FWIW, I don't think of it with a negative connotation. It's just another way of doing things with certain advantages and disadvantages, just like everything else.

 

I actually started out last fall with the intention of being way more "school at home" than has actually happened. Our current way of doing things has evolved as the girls and I have tried to find our groove.

 

I anticipate slowly introducing a bit more structure as they get older (maybe around 8 or 9 yo or so?) But, for know, the girls follow their interests (mostly) and we just sort of accomplish stuff as it's convenient.

 

Hope this doesn't get me kicked of the board :D

[Ester Maria]

I voted "school at home", but we were actually far more structured when they were lower elementary (right now they're 6th and 7th grade age-wise). I started to allow them to loose it up a little as they were growing older and having their own preferences on when to do what, what to do first, etc. I still insist on the basic structure, hours-wise, and we have very set hours and days and things they have to prepare for those "meetings", and set things we do together, as well as deadlines on when to hand in what, but they have a lot more freedom of organization now. Can't fight that, as they grow up they start to rebel :), so in my opinion better to indulge them a little instead of facing them going off the track you planned a lot.

 

While I'm not very flexible on the level of individual *days*, and while our school days might really resemble school at home a lot, on the level of a *year*, we tend to be pretty hectic, starting school year somewhere in October, finishing about mid July, breaking the routine for travels abroad a few times a year (the kiddos are currently on sort of late spring break), etc. - so from that point of view, we're all but a traditional school.

 

I do have a very clear yearly plan though. While I can postpone individual elements with regards to taking some time off, the structure IS there for every subject and I'm careful that they advance more or less as planned.

[Pamela H in Texas]

We have ranged from unschooling to school at home. It really depends on the kid and circumstances. We LOVE the freedom homeschooling allows and yet we love the opportunity to go deeper, faster, broader. We really took advantage of it all.

[NoPlaceLikeHome]

Well, it is rather hard to claim to be something that hasn't been defined.

 

If you define "school at home" as dedicating mornings to formal learning, using curriculum (although not necessarily textbooks), having well defined and rigorous expectations, clear assignments, and a lack of democracy, then yes, we are "school at home."

 

However, if you define "school at home" as neat little rows, everyone wearing polos, and turned to listen to teacher point to the chalkboard, then no. If it is nothing but boxed curriculum, workbooks, & textbooks, then no.If it ringing a hand held bell and reciting the pledge, no. If it is daily schedules broken down into 15 minute increments....heck no. :lol:

 

:iagree:

[lisamarie]

These days, we are definitely school at home. It wasn't so much that way when the kids were younger. But, along the way, I have learned that my kids prefer textbooks. I would have been so happy being an unschooler.:glare: The kids just wouldn't cooperate. They wanted workbooks.:lol:

 

Yup, this is my house. I tried this year to do more of a charlotte mason approach--learning through reading aloud, oral history, recitation, etc. But my kids just seem to really like their workbooks better. They barely tolerate my talking, but will sit happily doing their workbooks without complaint. :confused: I think I am just the mother of very independent kids, which is fine, but slightly disappointing when you were hoping to school using a certain method that is a total flop with your kids.

 

To answer the original question, I am a school at homer for the most part. School starts between 8 and 9am every day but Thursday when DD has preschool. We usually work through everything in one big swoop, but occasionally I will let the kids cut out early and we'll finish up over lunch (I will do the read aloud parts) or after rest time. The location of where we do school work varies day by day between the kitchen, dining or sunroom tables.

[Night Elf]

Yes, we have a structured school-at-home approach. The majority of our subjects are with Keystone, high school for older two, middle school for younger two. However, we do not have a set schedule. We do not wake up at a certain time or check off boxes when a certain amount of work is done each day. We do what I feel we can do each day. That means we have days of no schoolwork.

 

My definition of school-at-home is doing schoolwork at home. :D It doesn't matter if I'm relaxed or highly structured. If I'm doing schoolwork with my children, it's school-at-home. It's homeschooling. Formal separate subjects like Mathematics, Biology, Chemistry, American History, Grammar, etc. are not normal happenings in our life. It's part of something called school. So yes, we school at home.

 

When I unschooled, that was not school-at-home. Unschooling is a different thread though. In our lives, however, homeschooling is the best way to educate our children in academics. I'm not surprised to see so many school-at-home people on this board hosted by the author of a classical education homeschool book. :tongue_smilie:

[Nestof3]

I have goals and materials (texts to finish, etc), but we don't start at a certain time, and I'm okay with finishing stuff up during the summer.

 

I have lots of daily goals, and my boys' education is one of them, but my others are important too. Some of them are: exercise (usually late morning), keeping the books for my husband's business, taking care of all personal finance matters, weekly date nights, friends, keeping the house up and serving meals. I also aim for down-time for everyone; I think it is very important to one's health to have playtime/free time.

 

So, I just aim to accomplish all of these as much as I can.

 

This time of the year, we spend more time outdoors (including reading aloud), but I also let my boys have more time off from school and allow them to finish anything up over the summer. It's too beautiful outside now, and the yucky summer is coming. They've finished Rod and Staff Grammar, and they're on track with everything else.

[Tree House Academy]

Well, it is rather hard to claim to be something that hasn't been defined.

 

If you define "school at home" as dedicating mornings to formal learning, using curriculum (although not necessarily textbooks), having well defined and rigorous expectations, clear assignments, and a lack of democracy, then yes, we are "school at home."

 

However, if you define "school at home" as neat little rows, everyone wearing polos, and turned to listen to teacher point to the chalkboard, then no. If it is nothing but boxed curriculum, workbooks, & textbooks, then no.If it ringing a hand held bell and reciting the pledge, no. If it is daily schedules broken down into 15 minute increments....heck no. :lol:

 

DITTO:iagree:

[Jean in Newcastle]

Well, yeah. We have set hours and well, "formal learning" (I guess), and even a school room, but how we learn and what we do looks nothing like classroom learning.

 

We are family centered learners who follow a classical model for education. So, there's a lot of reading aloud, a lot of discussion, and even some projects. There is also a formal grounding in things like grammar and spelling (although both are radically different from how those subjects are approached in the local schools).

 

I love the way we school. It's comfortable and homey and pretty darn different than being in a classroom - even if we do have set hours and "formal" learning and a school room :)

 

Ditto for me.

[laurad1125]

We do school at home in that there's a schedule and specific assignments that each boy is expected to complete at a specific time.

 

However, where we deviate (in my mind) from school at home is that the boys have a lot of input in what we study (we're studying Oceanography right now). I ask their opinions about subject order (do you want to do math or Latin first) and curricula (Saxxon or Horizons Math, R&S or ABeka Grammar - we have a homeschooling store in town where I can take him to look at choices). Also, I speed up or slow down as the child's needs dictate

 

In short, we follow a definite plan, but they get to help make the plan.

[Avila]

The closer we are to school-at-home, the more we get accomplished. Or maybe it is just easier to quantify when we are more structured.

 

I am certainly not a-workbook-for-every-subject though. We tend to be school-at-home with language arts and math and literature-based/unit studyish with everything else.

[Mrs Mungo]

We're somewhere in between. We do structured style school in the mornings with math, grammar, etc. We're more relaxed with history, science and other more hands-on and/or literature-heavy subjects.

[Donna T.]

My definition of school-at-home is doing schoolwork at home. :D It doesn't matter if I'm relaxed or highly structured. If I'm doing schoolwork with my children, it's school-at-home. It's homeschooling. Formal separate subjects like Mathematics, Biology, Chemistry, American History, Grammar, etc. are not normal happenings in our life. It's part of something called school. So yes, we school at home.

 

 

:iagree: - yes, that's what I consider "school at home" also. For my oldest son, Biology would be a normal part of his life whether or not we ever discussed it during "school" but Grammar, Greek, or Math would not be. For my little guy, Math would be a part of life, but not Spelling.

 

I follow a "Charlotte Mason" approach quite closely but even that is school at home.

[Reya]

"OTHER"

 

We are VERY structured, but now that I've seen Calvert up close and personal, I realize how much we AREN'T like that!

 

No fluff. No stupid busywork. No extraneous assignments. No assignments of every reading. No "analyzing" everything to death. No lock-step. No "teachery" instructions. No silly projects. None of that time-wasting activity that fills in for real learning.

 

Instead, we sit down and learn. Four hours a day, 5 days a week. We just learn.

[wy_kid_wrangler04]

Well, it is rather hard to claim to be something that hasn't been defined.

 

If you define "school at home" as dedicating mornings to formal learning, using curriculum (although not necessarily textbooks), having well defined and rigorous expectations, clear assignments, and a lack of democracy, then yes, we are "school at home."

 

However, if you define "school at home" as neat little rows, everyone wearing polos, and turned to listen to teacher point to the chalkboard, then no. If it is nothing but boxed curriculum, workbooks, & textbooks, then no.If it ringing a hand held bell and reciting the pledge, no. If it is daily schedules broken down into 15 minute increments....heck no. :lol:

 

 

:iagree: :iagree: :iagree: Couldnt have said it better myself!

[TravelingChris]

I put as relaxed but that is because we don't have specific times to do work nor specific places to do work. I also don't write down lesson plans or keep a log book. THey had work they do and they do it. SOme days, not everything gets done because we are concentrating on a specific subject or doing something else like Co-op or testing. But compared to many people I think I am fairly relaxed. Nobody would look at us and think we were doing school at home.

[missmoe]

But I have an idea, you might consider us a school at home type of family. We don't have a school room though I would love to have one. We have a set schedule(exact details for one day of our schedule is listed on our blog). From 9-10 is math. Math happens on the computer for my 7th-grader and usually on the floor for my 6th-graders. We have curriculum we use, but also games, projects, and books. Field trips are a big part of our school as is lots of discussion. I have found that a firm schedule is what we need to get done all we want to do. When my kids were younger, I was much more flexable.

[Melissa in Australia]

we have set work, and a formal routine, with each kid having their own desk. but the hours are flexible. it all depends on how long the child wants to take.they just have to get each day's work done.

[Heidi7Sue]

We don't have a set schedule; it wouldn't be good for my sanity. The main way we differ from unschoolers (as I understand unschooling) is that we have a defined list of subjects, determined by me (though I allow & sometimes seek input from the kids). For each subject, I choose curriculum materials, which we follow more or less closely. If we had a child-led arrangement, we'd have a Disney princess/Lightning McQueen curriculum, and no one would learn any math.

 

All in all, it looks nothing like school in a classroom.

[Wee Pip]

I constantly struggle with reaching a good balance. Philosophically, I think kids can learn *most* of what they need to know through an unschooling approach. And in my mind, I tend to think once kids are reading and writing for their own enjoyment, Language Arts as a formal topic is mostly busywork and a big waste of time (hold your tomatoes, please! lol). Despite feeling that way, I'm having a hard time actually letting go of LA, and still seem to be enforcing some LA. This year has forced me to be less school-y, and I don't entirely like that feeling. I think my kids do well with structure and at least LA gives them something to do to fill their time, other than argue with each other and play video games. With a preemie baby this year, dh's new high stress job position (80+ hrs per week), running a home business, & an increase in dr appts, errands, etc. I dropped A LOT from our school list. Now, I try to enforce Math most days as #1 to get done. 2nd is Grammar & copywork. 3rd is science of some sort. We've done very little history (taking us 2 years just to read thru SOTW 2 - ugh!) We've also done a ton more nature centers, field trips, & fun classes out of the house. So this year is very relaxed, and a lot of "not at home" learning! I don't know what next year will bring, but I'm hoping for a little more formal.

[Osmosis Mom]

Well, it is rather hard to claim to be something that hasn't been defined.

 

If you define "school at home" as dedicating mornings to formal learning, using curriculum (although not necessarily textbooks), having well defined and rigorous expectations, clear assignments, and a lack of democracy, then yes, we are "school at home."

 

However, if you define "school at home" as neat little rows, everyone wearing polos, and turned to listen to teacher point to the chalkboard, then no. If it is nothing but boxed curriculum, workbooks, & textbooks, then no.If it ringing a hand held bell and reciting the pledge, no. If it is daily schedules broken down into 15 minute increments....heck no. :lol:

 

Lack of democracy....LOVE that one. That is *exactly* what school is about, ahhaahha!!!!! At least in our home. School and well, raising kids.

 

Well, at least that was my hope and intention, but now that they are getting older and have opinions and great suggestions....I just change my expectations and voila, life is still run by me!

[Peela]

Would you define TWTM approach "school at home"?

Or Ambleside/ CM approach?

Or any of the many other various structured programs that do require actual sitting down and doing work?

How they are implemented around here is pretty structured- morning and early afternoon studies, but no strict break times, no homework, and plenty of free time. No text books either.

So, it doesnt feel like "school at home" but might look like it to an unschooler. But on the spectrum represented on these boards, I think we are pretty relaxed.

[melissel]

I put "somewhere in between." We have a set curriculum, but we don't have set school hours. We do try to start around the same time every day, but it's not super-early. We do our work at the dining room table, on the living room couch, on the floor, and sometimes outside. Although we are definitely more school-at-home than not, we are not super strict about when and where school gets done so long as it gets done every day.

 

This describes us pretty well too. However, I'm also a bit too willing to pitch our day's lesson plans to, say, spend the day at the zoo or accommodate our visiting family members' schedule (need to work on that, but it's SOOO hard in the spring and when you only see the family members once a year, and they have kids the same age as yours). But yes, what seems to work best for all of us is school with a generally firm (but flexible) structure and resources that I can count on to lead me through a progression. The rest we pin down as we need to.

[Closeacademy]

We spend time every day working on skills: math, phonics or spelling, and writing.

 

The children get to pick history and science to study as well as lapbook topics that they want to pursue.

 

They spend a lot of time playing and exploring the world. They know a lot about the natural world around them from intereacting with it. We watch documentaries, pursue rabbit trails, play games, and try to have fun.:001_smile:

[Carrie12345]

We have a very loose schedule, and kids can often be found doing work in bed or on the staircase or hanging upside down off the couch.

 

But we do use pretty structured curricula with specific time frame goals. We use workbooks. We drill.

 

And then we watch movies and read books and dig in the dirt.

 

So I do consider us to be "relaxed" homeschoolers, but with firm, clear objectives that sometimes look like "school-at-home".

[Hedgehogs4]

Well, yeah. We have set hours and well, "formal learning" (I guess), and even a school room, but how we learn and what we do looks nothing like classroom learning.

 

We are family centered learners who follow a classical model for education. So, there's a lot of reading aloud, a lot of discussion, and even some projects. There is also a formal grounding in things like grammar and spelling (although both are radically different from how those subjects are approached in the local schools).

 

I love the way we school. It's comfortable and homey and pretty darn different than being in a classroom - even if we do have set hours and "formal" learning and a school room :)

 

this sounds exactly like our experience. we are not so structured that we don't knock off lessons in favor of a hike or anything like that, but i need to have a kind of structure in place so that the kids have the expectation that lessons will be done, otherwise, give them an inch and they'll take a mile.

[TXMary2]

I voted somewhere in between. We have a school room where we do most of our work. We have a white board and I have been known to stand there and "lecture" a math lesson. I write key words or important terms on the board as well.

 

I consider us ecclectic because we do a little bit of everything depending on the day or our mood.

[chiguirre]

We do school at home for math and LA, but we've moved to a more unschooling/carschooling approach for science, history and geography. We listen to a lot of books on tape, watch a lot of educational TV and read a lot of books. Now that we've done an overview of world and American history and I realized my kids know a lot of science, I feel better about just following our interests and being less formal.

[Renee in NC]

Somewhere in between. We do formal schoolwork mostly daily (I have been known to call a field trip or two!) What they do skill-wise is formal - reading, writing, spelling, math, etc. My younger ones have more imformal literature, history, science, etc. but my 6th grader is doing more formal work.

[Guest Virginia Dawn]

We are in between.

 

We school Tuesday-Saturday from about 9 a.m. to 4 pm.

 

I say about because it is not rigid, but everyone must be up and had breakfast and be on their way to do school work. If I see they haven't started by 9:30, I light a fire under them.

 

They are allowed to do their work in the order which they wish, but that really turns into a routine pretty quickly in the year. The two oldest go off and work and read independently while I work with the kindergartener, then I help the 5th grader with whatever he needs, last order of the day is one on one work with the 16yo.

 

The youngest is done by lunch, the next usually by 2, and the teen by 4. The oldest works in his room for the most part, the middle at the dining table, and the youngest with me on the couch or my bed. :-)

 

We definitely have a routine but it does not feel stressful. I don't do things on a blackboard or whiteboard, and we are often in pajamas or sweats. If someone gets overwhelmed they are allowed a break. I don't have a "school room" with school type stuff set up.

[Liza Q]

In-between here.

 

Structure - weekly assignment sheets. Reading, writing, spelling, grammar, math, history, science, foreign language, etc. all 3-5x per week. Extras like typing, music, art, sewing are also *assigned* so I know they get done.

 

Relaxed - we never start at the same time. One of children likes to be up and doing work as early as possible. I am rarely ready before 9:30. We frequently school in pajamas. I am generally available at the table or on the couch, though sometimes I will do a subject that involves mostly reading/discussing in my bed. The kids are free to work at any of the computers (we have four plus a laptop), in their beds or on the floor, on the couch or at the table or in any available bedroom (does not have to be their own!). The only rule is to be thoughtful of others - we can't all have the same space at the same time.