jillian Posted June 2, 2010 Share Posted June 2, 2010 So we aren't doing real homeschooling for awhile but we will be doing lots of library trips and field trips. I live in WA state so our weather isn't always conducive to a scheduled day for outdoor field trips, so I do need to be flexible in that regard so i can't "schedule" a day per-se for field trips. However, in order to bring some order to our day I need to get a general schedule that is flexible but also structured. I kind of want to do a MOTH schedule but realize that with dh's work schedule (military) that things might not be so easy to schedule (some days for months at a time he works til 5 or 6 but other times he gets home before lunch so we like to be home when he gets home and/or have lunch with him). How do you do your general scheduling with your preschoolers? I am really looking for something that is like I said "flexible" to account for poor weather and dh's alternate schedules. DH works long days 3-4 months at a time and shorter days for 3-4 months at a time. Also dh leaves to go out to sea for 30-90 days at a time sometimes too. How would you work in these special circumstances into your schedule. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Murmer Posted June 2, 2010 Share Posted June 2, 2010 Currently I do two 15 min activities. They are after nap time because I work ams but they are skippable activities so if we find something else to entertain ourselves we just do it the next. Then I always have rainy day stuff ready. This summer I plan to do a read aloud plus activity every morning and the two "centers" in the pm. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jillian Posted June 2, 2010 Author Share Posted June 2, 2010 Thanks Murmer, I am thinking of getting her used to the preschool timing since she will be starting in the fall Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mynyel Posted June 2, 2010 Share Posted June 2, 2010 What is the MOTH schedule? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jillian Posted June 3, 2010 Author Share Posted June 3, 2010 What is the MOTH schedule? It is the Maxwell's managers of their home (MOTH) concepts that have you breaking times into 15-20 min time slots, we would do modified and do longer time slots and not a category for the individual members of the family unless it was something that didn't involve they whole family I.e. Dh's PT schedule doesn't involve all of us since it starts and endsbefore we get up in the morning. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
m0mmaBuck Posted June 3, 2010 Share Posted June 3, 2010 We are in WA too and DH is retired from the Army so I know what you mean about weather as well as weird military schedules. I have 2 at home but if I were just to look at what the 4yo does in a day, I would think you could easily get your preschool done in a matter of 1-2 hrs. DD4 does 15-30 minutes each of math-type activities, 15-30 minutes of LA activities, and at least an hour of readalouds every day. Her "school" activites include workbooks, cutting and tracing activities, manipulatives, games, DVDs like LeapFrog Letter Factory and Schoolhouse Rocks, writing numbers and letters, art projects, piano lessons, and so on. I'm not a big one for formal "school" before kindergarten or first grade, but DD likes to have "homework" when her older brother does. On days that I know we aren't going anywhere, we fit more in to make up for the random nice day where we go to the zoo or the park. I have a plan for what I want to get through in a week and let the week ebb and flow. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amber in AUS Posted June 3, 2010 Share Posted June 3, 2010 My days look like this - Up, breakfast, dressed, morning chores School Lunch Rest time for the kids i do laundry, computer Afternoon errands, shopping, play dates, library, baking Dinner Bath, books, teeth, toilet, bed I kind of look at my day as having a rhythm rather than a schedule. It is flexible because really there are no times attached, well apart from lunch around 12noon and bed for the kids at 7. If you give yourself a rhythm you wont feel like you are failing a schedule IYKWIM. Just my 0.02c. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Giraffe Posted June 3, 2010 Share Posted June 3, 2010 I kind of look at my day as having a rhythm rather than a schedule. It is flexible because really there are no times attached, well apart from lunch around 12noon and bed for the kids at 7. If you give yourself a rhythm you wont feel like you are failing a schedule IYKWIM. This is what I do too, except everything is flexible in my world. Not military, but DH's schedule seems to vary and DD marches to her own drummer so schedules really don't work in our corner of the world. And instead of dealing with rain, we have blazing heat here that can change plans just as quickly. I'd love to set up a schedule, but they just don't work for us. Sigh.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jillian Posted June 3, 2010 Author Share Posted June 3, 2010 We are in WA too and DH is retired from the Army so I know what you mean about weather as well as weird military schedules. I have 2 at home but if I were just to look at what the 4yo does in a day, I would think you could easily get your preschool done in a matter of 1-2 hrs. DD4 does 15-30 minutes each of math-type activities, 15-30 minutes of LA activities, and at least an hour of readalouds every day. Her "school" activites include workbooks, cutting and tracing activities, manipulatives, games, DVDs like LeapFrog Letter Factory and Schoolhouse Rocks, writing numbers and letters, art projects, piano lessons, and so on. I'm not a big one for formal "school" before kindergarten or first grade, but DD likes to have "homework" when her older brother does. On days that I know we aren't going anywhere, we fit more in to make up for the random nice day where we go to the zoo or the park. I have a plan for what I want to get through in a week and let the week ebb and flow. Yeah, I am hoping to space out those 1-2 hours of "school" throughout the day and unsure how to really do it right now based on our helter skelter approach to the day *blush* My days look like this - Up, breakfast, dressed, morning chores School Lunch Rest time for the kids i do laundry, computer Afternoon errands, shopping, play dates, library, baking Dinner Bath, books, teeth, toilet, bed I kind of look at my day as having a rhythm rather than a schedule. It is flexible because really there are no times attached, well apart from lunch around 12noon and bed for the kids at 7. If you give yourself a rhythm you wont feel like you are failing a schedule IYKWIM. Just my 0.02c. Yeah a rhythm--that's the right word--there are certain things that we do that I would like a real "firm" (firm being subjective) time like wake up/breakfast from 630-8. Mass at 830 during the week (except on T/TH since we have preschool those days), lunch 1130-1230, dinner 5-ish bath/teeth/potty/bed/story 6-7. those are our inflexible times for things that i need to work around (daily mass during the week is flexible if we have doctor appointments or other things that have to get done but it's the goal to make it everyday but T/TH) This is what I do too, except everything is flexible in my world. Not military, but DH's schedule seems to vary and DD marches to her own drummer so schedules really don't work in our corner of the world. And instead of dealing with rain, we have blazing heat here that can change plans just as quickly. I'd love to set up a schedule, but they just don't work for us. Sigh.... Yeah I tend to feel if I have a super rigid schedule that I fail if I don't follow it to a T but I like the rhythm idea, something that can ebb and flow as PP said and we can make up for or skip by going to the zoo, museum, etc. We have a great opportunity this summer because we are going down to Texas for a month to visit family and we will be able to see a bunch of things we don't normally see and/or do a bunch of things we can't normally do. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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